The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (observed)

(Audio)

Matthew 18:1-11; Revelation 12:7-12; Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3

 

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

When you think of God’s holy angels, I would venture to guess that the word humility does not immediately cross your mind. For, in the Bible, angels are described as beings glorious and dazzling, powerful, and even terrifying to behold, but not humble, right? Well, actually, the angels are quite humble. In fact, they submit themselves as servants of the LORD to do His bidding, and they submit themselves to serve men, the Church, to you, and to me.

Likewise, we must humble ourselves when we think and speak about God’s holy angels, for, in truth, the Bible has but a few things to say about them and we must humble ourselves to neither say too much or too little. For example: When did God create the angels? Well, the first mention in the Bible of an angel of any kind is the introduction of the serpent in Genesis chapter three. As we learn later, that serpent was actually Satan, a fallen angel and the prince of demons; thus, it seems clear that the angels were in existence at least some time prior to the tempting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We may speculate, then, that they were created within the six days of creation as described in Genesis chapter one, and we may even speculate that they were part of the heavenly host before creation, but that would, indeed, be speculation, for Holy Scripture simply has not explicitly specified when the angels were created.

Additionally, the Bible is clear that angels and human beings are distinct, unique creatures of God. Thus, angels do not become men, though they may appear in the form of men, and, similarly, men do not become angels. Now, I know that this goes against many a Hallmark card, Hollywood movie, and popular television program, but, nonetheless, we do not become angels when we die. Jesus does teach that, in the resurrection we will be like the angels, but being like them, in terms of eternal life and holiness, is different from actually being angels.

The Bible speaks of ranks or hierarchies of angels: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, archangels, principalities, and angels. The hymn “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones” names the ranks of angels that make up the choirs of heaven. The seraphim are the highest rank of angels and are closest to God and immediately behold His face and glory. They are described by Isaiah and St. John in the Revelation to be surrounding the throne of God singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The seraphim were also depicted in the form of statues guarding the Holy of Holies in the temple. Most of the ranks of angels serve primarily in the heavenly realms in the choirs of heaven and as ministering angels. Powers and principalities are actually named by St. Paul as amongst the kinds of angels that rebelled against God and fell from grace. However, it is the Archangels and angels that make most of the appearances to human beings in the Bible. Specifically, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel are named and appear at important events in connection with God’s plan of salvation and the birth, life, passion, and resurrection of Jesus. The rank of angels simply called angels constitute the multitude of the heavenly host that appeared to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus.

The chief function of the angels is to serve God and to protect His Church and to deliver messages from God to men at momentous occasions. In the Old Testament, a particular angel called The Angel of the LORD, whom many theologians believe to be the Son of God prior to His Incarnation, made physical appearances to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The archangel Michael appears in Daniel and Revelation, and, of course, Gabriel figures prominently in the birth narratives of St. Matthew’s and St. Luke’s Gospels. The word angel means messenger of God, and angels have often served in such a capacity. Additionally, there is something to the idea about personal guardian angels that keep watch over and protect each of us, particularly the weak and defenseless, young children, the poor, and the elderly.

In respect to the angelic role of protector and guardian, this is a key aspect of the propers for The Feast of St. Michael and all Angels. In Daniel, the Archangel Michael is said to be “the great prince who has charge” over God’s people Israel. Though it was spoken to Daniel in the seventh century B.C., and the seeming referent would be God’s covenant people Israel, the fact that the prophecy was for a later time likely indicates that the referent is the New Israel, that is, the Church of Jesus Christ. This interpretation is only bolstered by the reference to a time of great trouble and the awakening of “those who sleep in the dust”, which surely denotes the resurrection on the Last Day. Similarly, today’s reading from Revelation describes “a war in heaven” in which “Michael and his angels” were fighting “against the dragon.” Many have speculated as to when this “war in heaven” occurred; was it the original rebellion of Lucifer before the fall of man, or is this a war that is yet to come at the end of time, or is this war in connection with Jesus’ death and resurrection? You may rest assured and know that this “war in heaven” was indeed in connection to Jesus’ death and resurrection, by which He “crushed the serpent’s head” and took away the sting of death forever. Because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, Satan and his angels, that is, demons, were no longer granted audience with the LORD God in heaven and were thrown out, down to the earth. They were conquered, the Revelation states, “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,” a clear reference to Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection. However, a great woe is proclaimed to the earth, “for the devil has come down […] in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.”  Satan knows that his time is short because he knows that he has been defeated. However, he will still work endlessly through lies and deceptions to make sure that God’s people do not believe that. Therefore, do not be deceived, but trust in the Lord and remain in His Word and His Wounds that you may persevere through temptation, suffering, and even death, but do not be afraid, for the Lord is victorious and He has given His holy angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways.

Here I will return to the subject of humility once again, for it was the sin of pride, which is idolatry, which prompted Jesus to teach about humility and even angels in the Gospel from St. Matthew appointed for The Feast of St. Michael and all Angels. Jesus’ disciples came to Him inquiring, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” In answer, Jesus placed a little child, a paidion in the Greek, meaning an infant or very young child, in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” You see, pride is said to have been the sin of Lucifer, idolatry, which caused him to rebel against God and fall from His grace. Lucifer wanted to be greater in importance, rank, and power than the man, Adam, that he had made the crown of His creation, and Lucifer wanted to be greater than God Himself – hence the proverb, “Pride goeth before the fall.” One of Satan’s greatest and most effective temptations is pride and idolatry. In fact, pride and idolatry were the temptations he used to conquer and enslave Adam and Eve. And pride and idolatry are effective temptations he uses on you today. Perhaps our greatest defense against Satan’s temptations of pride and idolatry is humility, selflessness, and servanthood. For, when you think more of others than you do of yourself, then you will find contentment and peace in who God has called you to be and you will draw your strength, your purpose, and your fulfilling from Him.

Indeed, this is how it is for a little child. An infant child does not boast of anything at all, nor does she seek greatness in the eyes of men. But a little child trusts completely and unwaveringly in her mother to feed her, clothe her, and protect her from harm and danger. Likewise, Jesus would have you become like little children and trust in Him and cling to Him alone for all your needs of body and soul. He would have you, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and […] not lean on your own understanding.” Further, Jesus attaches a wonderful promise of great blessing to childlike faith, trust, and selflessness: “I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” Yes, the angels have that kind of access to the Father; they behold His face as none of us in the flesh can presently do. Now we see the Father through a glass dimly – that is, through the Word of God proclaimed and the Sacraments worn and consumed – but then, in the resurrection, then we shall be like the angels and see the Father face to face. However, until then, we take comfort and find strength in Jesus’ promise that God’s holy angels are watching over us, guarding us, and protecting us who will humble ourselves in repentance and faith and thereby receive God’s gracious gifts in Jesus Christ. Moreover, we take comfort and find strength in the message they bring us: We are forgiven by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Come now and receive the gifts He died to give to you: His Word and Spirit, His washing of renewal and regeneration, His absolving Word, and His body and blood. You may not yet see His face, but He knows you and He calls you and He remains with you to sustain you and keep you that you may persevere through all temptations and receive the crown of eternal life that no one, not even Satan and his evil horde may take from you.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

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.

Along with the Incarnation, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the flesh is the fundamental mystery of the Christian faith. For, these three are intimately connected – the Son of God was conceived and born into human flesh so that He could die in human flesh, so that He could be raised in human flesh, so that all human flesh could be raised in Him. This was, and is, and ever will be the eternal will of God the Father. Before the foundation of the universe, before the creation of Adam and Eve, yes before their fall into sin, God the Father had a plan, an eternal plan, for the redemption of His people, for your redemption, in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of His Son. Thus, Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection are before, after, and underly everything in between; Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection are the underlying realities of your present existence.

So, when Jesus says that He is the resurrection and the life, He is not using metaphor, simile, or analogy, but, rather, He is speaking an ontological truth and reality. Jesus literally is the resurrection of all flesh and the life of all flesh that will believe in Him. To paraphrase Robert Capon, that is why Jesus never met a corpse that did not sit up right on the spot at His word, presence, or touch – He has that effect on the dead. They rise because He is the Resurrection even before He Himself rises – because, in other words, He is the grand sacrament, the real presence, of the mystery of a kingdom in which everybody rises.

This truth is illustrated in iconography of the Resurrection of Jesus, where typically depicted are a man and a woman being raised from their graves or coffins. The man and woman, in such depictions, are none other than Adam and Eve, our First Parents. For, Jesus’ resurrection is their resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection is the resurrection of all humankind. Jesus’ resurrection is your resurrection too, and not just at some time far off in the future, but Jesus’ resurrection is your resurrection now.

So, you’re not dying a little each day, because, you’re dead. You died with Christ long ago in Holy Baptism and you have been raised with Christ, not at some time in the future – notice the past tense “have been raised” – but you have been raised with Christ in the past, and you remain raised with Christ now. Jesus said, “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.” Resurrection is something that happens now, not only in the future – it is a present reality rather than just a coming one. “You died,” says Paul to the Church in Colossae, “and your life is hidden with Christ” – now.

The Holy Scriptures record Jesus raising three different persons from the dead: His friend Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the son of the widow at Nain in today’s Gospel. However, Jesus may have raised many others than these three, for, as John writes at the end of his Gospel, “there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” But, in each of the resurrection accounts, the raising of the dead is directly attributed to Jesus’ word and touch, and, in the case of the raising of Lazarus, Jesus’ word alone.

For, Jesus is the Word of God made flesh; He is the Word of creation spoken by the Father that brought all creation into existence ex nihilo, out of nothing. So, too, Jesus, the very same Word of God, incarnated in human flesh, brings life out of the nothingness of death by the power of His word, both spoken and incarnated, enfleshed, in His touch, His body and His blood. As He brought forth everything out of nothing, so does He bring forth life out of death. In fact, it is only the dead that can be brought to life.

Jesus teaches that to save your life you must lose it. This is nothing other than to say that you cannot save yourself, but you must be saved. You must confess, admit, that you are dead in sin, dead to God, and unable to right this situation of your own will and power, but trust in Jesus to right it for you, trust in Jesus that, by His incarnation, death, and resurrection, He has righted it for you. And this is not only to your benefit at some time in the future, but this is the reality of your life now in the present.

Again, Paul says, “You have died,” and “You have been raised – in Christ”. You have been called out of sin and death into the life of Christ by the Word and touch of Christ in Holy Baptism. All that belongs to Him is given to you now, today, tomorrow, and on the last day and forever. This is what is real and true, and this is what your enemy, the devil, would have you not believe. He will lie to you and deceive you so that you do not believe that you have died to sin and death and have been raised to life in Christ and that this is real and true and will not, cannot, be taken away from you. But the devil wants you to reject this for yourself, to believe that you don’t need that free gift of life because you’re not all that bad, because you’re better than most, or to believe that you don’t deserve that gift of life because you’re too bad, because you’re beyond saving. These are lies, the both of them! For, the reality and the truth, again, is that you have already died to sin and death and you live, now, in Christ, a life that will never die.

The question, then, is this: Because of the present reality of Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, “How, then, should you live?” Now, there are lot of churches, ministries, cults, philosophies, self-help and motivational speakers, psychologists, talk-show hosts, authors, and countless others who would love to answer that question for you, who, in fact, make a lot of money and achieve great notoriety from answering that question for you. Do not read, hear, mark, or digest any of it, but learn only from your Lord Jesus and His inspired apostles and evangelists who repeatedly exhort you to live resurrected lives, lives free from the fear of death, lives free from worry about tomorrow, lives free to live, love, forgive, give and share. In sum, for you to live is Christ; for you to die is gain.

The Son of God became man to die and to be raised for you. Receive His free gift of forgiveness and life. Receive sustenance in His life-giving Word. Receive nourishment in His body, which is real food, and His blood, which is real drink, acknowledging, believing, and receiving His real presence now, and when you leave this sanctuary, remembering that He goes with you, in you, and that He works through you for the sake of others to the glory of His Father.

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.

Everyone has a master, and most of us have many masters; but, nonetheless, everyone has a master. As Americans, however, we don’t like to think that way. We don’t like to think of our boss as a master and we don’t like to think of our possessions as a master. But we do like to think of ourselves as masters of ourselves. Indeed, the American dream is to work hard, to earn a respectable wage for your labor, to purchase for yourself a home and a car and to put food on the table for yourself and for your family. We think that at the end of each eight-hour day a man ought to be able to sit at the dinner table with his wife and his children and say “Life is good. I’m the master of my house. I have built for myself a family, a home, and a life. I am the king of my castle. Life is good.” But we deceive ourselves. We are not kings unto ourselves, and neither are we masters of ourselves. And yet, everyone has a master, and most of us have many masters, but everyone has a master.

What it comes down to is this: You cannot serve God and mammon. Yes, I know that many Bible translations say money, and that’s a fair translation, but the Greek word is mammon, and it denotes much more than just money. Mammon is all manner of material wealth and possessions. Further, the connotation of the word mammon is negative: lust, greed, and avarice. In the New Testament, mammon is often personified as a false god that is worshiped by men in their lust, greed, and avarice, and in their anxious worrying about acquiring and preserving material wealth and possessions.

You cannot serve God and mammon. And you cannot, despite what you think and feel, you cannot serve two masters, for either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Whether you are a willing servant of your master or an unwilling slave, it doesn’t really matter, for, either way your master is he (or it) that you depend upon for your life and for your livelihood, and thus you fear him (or it), and you trust in him (or it), and maybe you even love him (or it). And so, you cannot serve God and mammon, and you cannot have two masters, for, if your master is not the true and only Triune God, and if it is not He alone that you fear, love, trust, serve, and worship, then your master is the false god mammon and you are an idolator who worships that which has been created rather than the One who has created all things.

We Americans cherish our freedom, but we deceive ourselves, for we make ourselves to be slaves to the false god mammon. We worship mammon by fearing the loss of our material wealth and possessions, by loving our material wealth and possessions, and by trusting in our material wealth and possessions for safety, health, and happiness. But who amongst you has not felt at times that the things you possess, in truth, possess you? Who amongst you cannot relate to the idea expressed in that anti-drug commercial on tv a few decades ago where the cocaine-addict dialogues with himself saying, “I do coke so I can work longer, so I can earn more, so I can do more coke, so I can work longer, so I can earn more, so I…, so I…, so I….”? Particularly in this time of economic uncertainty, three years now into a recession, when fuel prices and food prices keep going higher and the stock market keeps going lower, when your personal income has plateaued, if you managed to keep your job at all, and the cost of everything you need and want keeps climbing higher and higher, people are afraid and they are worried and they are anxious about tomorrow. Well, when you fear, love, and trust in mammon, that is what you are left with – fear, worry, and anxiety. You are servant and a slave of a false god that cannot hear you or answer your prayers, that cannot comfort you, relieve your fear, worry, and anxiety, or add an hour to your life.

When you worship the creature, you cannot worship the Creator; you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon makes you a slave to material wealth and possessions. You are in chains to these because you can only be concerned with acquiring more and protecting what you have. Mammon keeps you incurvatus in se, turned inward to yourself, therefore you are not, and cannot be, concerned about your neighbor. In contrast, the true worship of the true God frees you from these chains so that you are not worried and anxious about food and drink, house and home, clothing and shoes, and all other material and bodily needs because you recognize that God provides all these out of Fatherly divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in you. Only by serving God alone as your master are you freed to live and love without fear, worry, and anxiety and to love your neighbor freely and without coercion. And, in serving your neighbor, you serve your God – not the false god of material wealth and possessions, but the true God who lovingly provides you with all that you need to sustain your body and life now and forever.

God has made you and all creatures and still takes care of them. He provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field which are here today and gone tomorrow, and you are much more precious to God than they. And God provides for the Gentiles and unbelievers as well as you, but how much more will you receive if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? All the things of creation are passing away. The money you work so hard to earn is worth less today, and less still tomorrow, than when you earned it. The car, tv, computer, and appliances you purchase today will last five to ten years, but they will be out-of-date and out-of-style long before that. The clothes that you wear get a little thinner and less beautiful with each wear and wash. Your home needs constant repair and maintenance and still it slowly decays. And need I remind you of your body and your health? No, you know the transient nature of the flesh well enough. Like the prophet has spoken: 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. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

But your Father in heaven, your Creator and God, has not created you to wither, decay, and die; that was not God’s will for you, but Satan’s will for you. Rather, God has created you for life, eternal life in communion with Him. You were conceived and born in sin, and the wages of your sin is death, thus, you die. But in Holy Baptism, your sin-corrupted spirit has already died and has been raised to new life in Jesus Christ. Your new spirit, your new man, knows his God, fears, loves, and trusts in his God and therefore loves his neighbor as well. But your flesh, well, that’s a different matter altogether. The flesh is still corrupted by sin, and it will die. But it too will be raised in the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day. Until then, however, God has called you to live and to walk by the spirit, bearing one another’s burdens, sharing all good things with one another, and doing good, especially to those of the household of faith. To live according to your corrupted flesh is to serve mammon and to worship mammon in fear, worry, and anxiety. But to live according to the spirit is to live Christ’s holy life in thought, word, and deed, to know the Truth incarnate and to be truly free. If you abstain from your fleshly desires and passions and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all that you need to support your body and life will be added to you and you will be content and at peace, which is unspeakably better than the fleeting pleasures and peace that the world and material wealth and possessions can give.

And, as the flour and the oil belonging to the widow of Zarephath was not depleted or spent, but nourished those of her household throughout the prophet’s stay, so even now, where God is feared, loved, and trusted above all things, these simple elements of mammon are pressed into bounteous service in bread, which is Jesus’ body that you may eat and be of one flesh with Him, and in simple wine, which is Jesus’ blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Likewise, the oil of the Holy Spirit has christened you to be God’s own beloved child in Jesus Christ so that you are clothed in raiment more glorious than that of Solomon, the holy and perfect righteousness of God’s own Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. For, you are of more value to God than anything else in the world that He has made. May He, likewise, be of the greatest value and of love to 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.

There were ten lepers. All ten were healed. But one leper returned to give thanks to God. Now, you, go and do likewise. Amen. Have you heard that sermon before? I know I have. I’ve probably even preached that sermon before. And to be sure, there’s a bit of that teaching in the story of the ten lepers. However, if that is all that you take away from Jesus’ teaching today, then what you will have received is but a nice lesson in morality, a teaching in the Law that says to you, “You, go and do likewise,” a command that you do not and cannot keep, but you will have missed out on the rich and profound Gospel that Jesus would lavish upon you today. For, the story of the ten lepers is about thanksgiving only in a secondary, or even a tertiary, way. But what the story of the ten lepers is truly about is finding life in death.

For, the ten lepers in the story were dead. Because of the disease which ravaged their skin and made them unclean, they were dead to their families, they were dead to their friends and their community, they were dead to all manner of livelihood and providence, and they were dead to worship and prayer and making the necessary sacrifices at the temple. In fact, their flesh was literally dead and dying, for leprosy is a disease caused by an infection which deadens the skin to feeling, particularly pain. Thus, lepers would accidentally cut, tear, and puncture their flesh without knowing and the wounds would become infected. In some severe cases, lepers became living, stinking, decaying, corpses of men.

But what should get your attention immediately in this story is Jesus’ response to the lepers’ cry for mercy. Jesus doesn’t acknowledge their leprosy, He doesn’t wave His hands or touch them or do anything physical at all, He doesn’t even give them His typical “I am willing, be healed,” but He tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. Now, showing oneself to the priests is what the law required after one had been healed from leprosy. A healed leper must show himself to the priests in order to be pronounced clean and thus restored to their families, communities, and the rites of the temple. But Jesus didn’t heal the lepers. Rather, He instructed them to go, in their leprosy and uncleanness, and present themselves to the priests. What must they have been thinking? What would happen when they appeared before the priests? Wouldn’t they be sent away in disgrace, maybe even arrested, or worse?

Nevertheless, away they went. What faith they must have had in Jesus to go, in their leprosy, to show themselves to the priests as He commanded? Yes, it appears that all ten lepers trusted in Jesus despite what their eyes and their ears told them. I posit to you, however, that these ten lepers could only place such faith in Jesus because they were effectively dead to this life and this world. That is to say, they had nothing to offer, they had nothing to boast of, they had nothing to fall back on, therefore they had nothing to lose. The ten lepers were so lost that they had nothing to lose by trusting in Jesus with all their heart, all their soul, and all their mind. They were brothers in faith with both the Good Samaritan of last week’s Gospel and the man left half-dead in the ditch. Did they know that they would be healed on the way? I don’t think so. But, you see, it didn’t matter! They couldn’t be any worse off by trusting Jesus and obeying His command. What, would they become even more leprous, more cut off, more dead than they already were? No, of course not.

But then the story takes a turn. As the ten lepers journeyed to show themselves to the priests, all ten were cleansed and healed. Then, one leper, when he realized that he has healed, returned to Jesus and fell at His feet giving thanks and praising God. Presumably the other nine continued on their way to show themselves to the priests and return to their lives and livelihoods. And therein lies the crux of the story. Jesus doesn’t raise the dead so that they can return to their old way of life, living to themselves and to the flesh and the world, but Jesus raises the dead to live a new life in Him. All ten lepers believed and trusted in Jesus. All ten lepers went at Jesus’ command to show themselves to the priests despite what their own eyes and ears told them. But when they discovered that they were healed and clean once again, nine of the cleansed lepers thought to themselves “Hallelujah! I’m free! Now I can get back to living once again!” But the one leper realized that, despite his healing and being made clean, he was still a leper – a cleansed leper, to be sure – but a leper nonetheless. That is to say that his cleanness and his healing was because of, and dependent upon, Jesus, even still. Alone, he knew that he was nothing, that he was dead in his sin and uncleanness. But in Jesus alone, and still, was he clean and whole. And, because of this, the cleansed leper returned to Jesus and laid down his life before Him, thanking Him and praising God. He would not return to his former life, for, there was no former life to return to. Only by confessing his deadness could he receive and live a new life, Jesus’ life, in the world but not of the world.

You see, to understand the story of the ten lepers as a story about giving thanks is really to miss Jesus’ point altogether. As wonderful and precious to God as thanksgiving is, thanksgiving is but a fruit and a response to the even greater and more precious thing that has happened, which God Himself has worked, faith itself, bringing life out of death. The thankful leper returned to Jesus because he knew that he was alive, in every way that you can understand that word, in, through, and only because of God’s Word in Jesus Christ. Now, I’m fairly certain that the other nine lepers were very thankful for their healing and cleansing too. But the difference is that they thought that they had been raised from death to live a life like their old life, to continue to love all the same things they used to love and to desire all the same things they used to desire, to live as if this life were our own to do with as we please in amassing possessions and pleasures and platitudes and power. In contrast, the thankful leper knew that he shouldn’t be alive at all, thus the life he lived, he lived to Christ, and his death was, and is, and will be, only gain.

But are you not often more like the nine healed lepers who did not return to give thanks than you are like the one leper who returned and fell at Jesus’ feet? Do you not treat your forgiveness as the beginning of a new life, a second chance to go forward and live a better life in this world much like the life you had before you believed? Do you give thanks for the mercy and forgiveness shown to you, for the life given you, or do you take that for granted? How have you lived differently from when you first believed? How have you lived differently from when you last received absolution?

Do these questions make you uncomfortable? Good! They should, for that is the Law of God reflecting how far you fall short of what the He in His Law demands. That is why you should focus much less on the giving thanks in this story and much more upon the deadness of the leper who returned. For, the leper who returned was truly grateful because he realized how dead, how truly lost he was, and he realized how found, healed, and alive he was made to be. Likewise, you are found lost sheep, healed and cleansed lepers, and raised dead. That is to say that you always live in Christ as forgiven sinners and that you carry your failings, even after mercy and forgiveness, as glorious scars. Along with the thankful leper at Jesus’ feet you may see yourself whole: dead and risen, an outcast and accepted, a leper and cleansed.

Ten lepers received life that day two thousand years ago, but only one recognized that the life He received was Jesus’ life. Nine of the lepers understood their new life as a second chance to try do better. Only that one leper was willing to confess that he was still dead, still a leper and an outcast, but that, despite this, by grace alone, he was blessed to live a new life that was not his own, not merely a second chance to better himself, but a chance to live to Christ and in Christ, and through Christ to his neighbor.

The Samaritan leper returned to give thanks to Jesus and to praise God. This was not the first work of his new life, but it was the first fruit of his death. Only those who are truly dead to themselves can bear the fruit that the True Vine Jesus causes them to bear. One of those Christ-borne fruits is thankfulness, but the first fruit to be borne in death is faith itself. You are carried to Jesus as helpless infants. You are found by Jesus as lost sheep. You are raised by Jesus out of death. And you are restored by Jesus to sonship with the Father even though you are prodigal sons and daughters. And, as St. Paul teaches, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires and have died to themselves, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will save it.

For you to live is Christ and to die is gain, for, Christ and His Word are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. And, your Jesus, who is Himself alive out of death is present for you now in His life-giving Word and healing Wounds for the forgiveness of your sins, the strengthening of your faith, and for your communion in His holy and perfect life. Return to your Great High Priest who has raised you from death to His most glorious life and has washed you clean in His precious blood. Give thanks to Him in this Holy Eucharist and live in Him who is life today, tomorrow, and forevermore.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 13)

(Audio)

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

 

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

The Gospel lesson assigned for this day is the so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan. I imagine that about half of you will soon tune me out and begin thinking about today’s football game, where to have lunch, or what you need to pick up at the grocery store because you’ve heard this parable many times before and you believe that you understand it well enough. But I say to you, you’ll want to pay attention to this sermon today, for I venture that you haven’t heard it taught quite this way before.

As for the other half of you, I imagine that you will be listening extra attentively today because you love this parable and you receive a considerable amount of comfort in believing that you imitate the Good Samaritan in the parable pretty well and thus obey Jesus’ command to “Go, and do likewise”. But I say to you, you’ll want to pay attention to this sermon today, not because it will confirm you in your justification by works, but because it will teach you how to receive and to give grace.

For, this so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan is not a parable of the Law and judgment, nor is it a lesson in morality concerning how you should treat others, but it is a parable of grace – free and boundless grace. And, contrary to popular opinion, the so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan is not really about the Samaritan at all, but it is about the naked and beaten half-dead man lying in the ditch.

No, the parable is not about the Law, for the Law cannot help you. The Law must, and will always, leave you alone, naked, and dying in a ditch. The Law cannot help you. That is why the Priest and the Levite pass by on the other side of the road. It’s not necessarily that they don’t want to help you, maybe they don’t, but they probably do. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because they represent the Law and they can’t help you. They can’t even help themselves.

And there’s the crux of the situation: Because of the Law, we are all like the poor fellow in the ditch, wounded, bleeding, dying, and utterly alone with no ability to remedy our situation. If we’re going to get out of the ditch, be bandaged up, healed and restored to life, someone’s going to have to help us, someone’s going to have to lift us up out of the ditch and carry us and care for us at their own expense. Thus, the crux of the situation is this: Do you confess that you are the man in the ditch? Do you confess that you are dead in your sins and trespasses, unable to change your dead and sinful condition? Do you depend and trust upon the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ to step into your sin and death and to raise you up to new life? Or, do you insist upon your self-righteousness and good works, believing that you are not dead in your trespasses, but that there is at least something about you that makes you better than others and more worthy in the sight of God? That is to say, do you identify with the good, pious, and self-righteous Priest and Levite? Or, do you identify with the selfless Good Samaritan? I say to you today, it doesn’t matter, either way you remain in your sins. For, the Law cannot help you. And, no works, no matter how good they may be, no matter how pure and selfless your motives may be, no works can save you from sin and death. No works can raise you from the ditch of the grave to new and eternal life. Only Jesus can do that. And Jesus has done that, not because He was the Good Samaritan and was better than most, but because He became what you are, the man in the ditch, and He died your death and God the Father raised Him to life because He loves Him, because He laid down His life for you.

Now, I recognize that this is a somewhat unorthodox treatment of the so-called Parable of the Good Samaritan, but I make no apologies for that. For, despite what you’ve heard, despite what I’ve heard, Jesus is not teaching you in this parable to imitate the Good Samaritan when He says to you, “You go, and do likewise.” Rather, Jesus commands you to imitate Him and Him alone. Yes, Jesus did indeed act like the Good Samaritan many times throughout His life and ministry. Yes, He most certainly did step down into the ditch with unclean sinners with absolutely no concern for himself and lift them up, care for, and heal them. But Jesus never saved anyone by His selfless acts of kindness anymore than you can save anyone, even yourself, by imitating the Good Samaritan. Rather, Jesus saved the man in the ditch, and Jesus saved you and all men, by becoming what you are, by becoming that man who fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. And it is that kind of selflessness, it is that kind of good works that Jesus calls you to imitate and to go, and do likewise.

For, the way of Jesus is not the way of good, pious, or even gracious and merciful works, but the way of Jesus is the way of death and resurrection. Jesus came to save sinners, and only sinners can be saved. Jesus came to seek the lost, and only the lost can be found. And Jesus came to raise the dead, and only the dead can be raised. In fact, Jesus Himself exemplifies the least amongst men, the poorest amongst men, the weakest amongst men, the most pitiable amongst men, and the most unrighteous amongst men as men and the world count these things. He came from the heights of the heavenly Jerusalem into the ditch of our Jericho and there He fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and left him half dead upon the cross. But He did this willingly, He did this selflessly with no concern for Himself and His own well-being. He had everything to lose and He willingly lost it all for you.

Now, what keeps you from going and doing likewise? Is it not that you believe that you do have something to lose? Is it that you have your money to lose? Your health? Your reputation? Your life? What is it that you love more than you love God? What is it that you love more than you love your neighbor? Jesus invites you to lose it. Jesus invites you to become a loser like Him. For, Jesus’ “You go, and do likewise” is not a command of the Law, but it is an invitation to receive grace like the naked, half-dead man lying in the ditch. When Jesus says, “You go, and do likewise,” it is tantamount to the call, “Take up your cross and follow me.” No, this is not a parable meant to inspire us to go out and do good and then feel good about ourselves because we have been good neighbors. This is a parable about entering the way of Christ.

In baptism you died with Jesus and in baptism you have been raised with Jesus. The life you now live is His life and you live it to God and to your neighbor. Jesus sends you out to your neighbor as lambs in the midst of wolves, that is, He sends you out to die to yourselves for the sake of your neighbor. He has not called you to good works. He has not called you to virtuous worship. He has not called you to outward piety. But He has called you to die with Him and to live with Him in selfless, sacrificial service.

As St. Paul writes in today’s Epistle, “promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.” One of those promises was that an heir of Abraham’s own flesh would inherit the blessing of the covenant God made with Abraham that in him all the nations of the world would be blessed. Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. Thus, Paul writes, the righteous will live by faith. When you confess that you are in the ditch, naked, helpless and half-dead, then you sinners will be forgiven, you lost will be found, and you dead will be raised. Only when you have lost everything are you in a position to receive everything by grace. Only when you have received everything by grace are you in a position to lose everything for your neighbor. The man in the ditch had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The Good Samaritan had everything to give because he had nothing to lose. To embrace Jesus (the biggest loser) is to be lost to the world and to everything in it. But the promise remains that “He who loses his life will find it.” And, your lostness is the one thing no one will ever be able to take away from you.

Losing is the name of God’s game, and it’s the only game in town: follow Me, or follow nothing. Following Jesus does not mean imitating the Good Samaritan, but it means taking up your own cross and dying to yourself. It means being so lost that you have nothing to lose so that you can be truly merciful to your neighbor. Don’t worry about imitating the Good Samaritan and his works, as good as they are. Rather, spend your time and energy losing the things that keep you from being lost, dying to the things that keep you from being dead, and then join Jesus in His Passion for sinners, the lost, and the dead. For, the highest worship of God is not in your praises, thanksgivings, and works, but the highest worship of God is in receiving His gifts. Then, when you have died to yourself, repeatedly, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

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.

If you listened closely to the Lessons today, if you truly prayed with me the Collect, if you chanted with me the words of the Introit, then you have heard with your ears and you have confessed with your own lips the fundamental ailment of our human race: We are not open to the Word of the Lord to hear it or to speak it, unless the Lord Jesus uses His finger the Holy Spirit to blast away our deafness and to open our mouths to speak His praise.

It is no coincidence then that the opening words of the liturgy for Matins, the traditional morning prayer of the day, come from Psalm 51, the confessional Psalm of King David: O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. These are indeed appropriate words to begin the day for if we are to praise the Lord this day, or any day, if we are to glorify Him in word and deed by selflessness, service, and sacrifice, then He is going to have to open our closed lips. Apart from His gracious activity by the Holy Spirit we are like the man in St. Mark’s Gospel, deaf and tongue-tied, unable to hear or to speak.

The lesson the Lord offers us today is perhaps the most difficult for us to hear and to believe, for it says to us that we cannot hear or know the Lord, that we cannot praise His Name unless He opens our ears and looses our tongues. We cannot hear the Lord, we cannot praise the Lord, we cannot know the Lord, let alone chooseHim, on our own. To be sure, this is not a new lesson. You have all confessed in the words of the Catechism: 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. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies, that opens ears and loosens tongues, that creates faith in Jesus our Lord. Not you, not me, not by anyone’s own will and volition.

And that’s what makes this lesson so hard. And that’s what makes this lesson, once learned, so liberating. Honestly, this lesson is what makes one a Lutheran. Faith in Christ Jesus is not a work that you do or a decision that you make. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, the finger of the Lord, given to you as a free and perfect gift. Your ears were closed, He has opened them. Your tongue was tied, He has loosed it. You were unbelieving, He has called you and given you faith. You were spiritually dead, He has raised to you to new life. You could not, would not choose Him, so He chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.

Why is this lesson so hard for us? Well, as enlightened Americans of the 21^st century, we consider ourselves independent. We don’t want to have to depend on anyone for anything. We like to believe that if we study hard and work hard that we’ll be able to get good jobs and earn an honest living, purchase our own home, purchase our own car, put our own food on our own table, etc. That’s essentially the American Dream, right? And, in itself, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, as self-centered, self-serving sinners, what we really want is to be our own god. At the very least, we’d like to think that our faith is the result of our own decision and choice.

How then can learning this lesson, that only by the Holy Spirit can we truly hear the Word of the Lord and speak His praise, indeed, even believe in Him, how can learning this lesson be liberating, even make us Lutheran? Because it restores the proper relationship between Creator and creature, between your Lord and your self. You see it’s nothing less than a First Commandment issue: When God is truly your God, then you can realize and receive what it truly means to be His beloved. And that, my friends, is liberating, for it releases you from the bondage of the Law. Now you can serve the Lord and your neighbor, not in fear and guilt or under compulsion, but in response to His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Now you can truly love God and truly love your neighbor, because your Lord loves you, and it is with His perfect love that you love.

Christian faith begins in passivity – it is the Lord who creates, opens, resurrects by the Holy Spirit. We are as fruitless as soil until the Sower sows His Seed. We are as lifeless as Lazarus until the Lord calls to us with His life-giving Word. But we do not remain lifeless, fruitless, or passive, for He who has chosen us has also appointed us to bear fruit. More often than not, the fruit of the Spirit is not quantifiable or countable, but it is a way of being, a way of life – for it is nothing less than, nothing other than, the life of Christ lived in and through us.

What does this Christian life look like? Well, what does the life of Christ look like? What are the qualities that mark the life of Christ? Are they not mercy, love, compassion, forgiveness, grace, charity, peace, humility, selflessness, sacrifice, and the like? These you have received from the Lord in abundance; these He gives to you even now. Your ears have been opened to hear His Word. Your tongues have been loosed to speak His praise. By His finger the Holy Spirit, through the Word of the Gospel, the Lord calls, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps you. And He who is the True Vine has appointed you His branches to be fruitful. There is nothing for you to do, but there is something glorious for you to be – for you are a member of the very Body of Christ, His Church, His beloved and you have been called to share His life, His love.

Almighty and merciful God, by Your gift alone Your faithful people render true and laudable service. Help us steadfastly to live in this life according to Your promises and finally attain Your heavenly glory.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 11)

(Audio)

Luke 18:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10; Genesis 4:1-15

 

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

The scene in Jesus’ parable is played out week after week, each and every Lord’s Day, in this modest temple of the LORD and in Christian churches, basilicas, and cathedrals large and small, glorious and humble, throughout the world. Two men go to church to pray, one a self-righteous Pharisee of a Christian, the other a humble and repentant sinner and beggar of a Christian. The former trusts in his own righteousness by his works and so stands condemned in his sins; the latter boasts of nothing in himself but instead confesses his sins and unworthiness and pleads for God’s mercy. And, as in Jesus’ parable, it is this latter man who leaves church today justified, that is, made right with God, and not the former.

Each and every one of you must come into this temple each and every Sunday, and each and every day, were it offered, to confess your sins and your unworthiness and to plead for mercy from your God and Father through Jesus Christ. For just as there is no distinction between the Pharisee and the tax collector, so there is no distinction between the disobedient child, the petty thief, the adulterous husband, the murderer on death row, and the outwardly pious, respected, and obedient Christian – there is no distinction when it comes to justification, being made right with God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and [all] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

However, what you must understand is that the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable was telling the truth. All the things that he boasted of before the LORD were true and they were good. He wasn’t an extortioner, a blackmailer, or a thief. He wasn’t outwardly unjust, he wasn’t an adulterer, or even a tax collector. Rather, he was faithful in his prayers, he fasted twice a week, which was more than what was commanded by the law, and he gave tithes on all of his income. He was pious and he was fervently religious. He kept the law better than anyone else and everyone respected and revered him as a faithful and pious man of God. Indeed, the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable is the kind of man every pastor would gladly have in his parish despite his sometimes boorish arrogance. He is the kind of man you would look up to as an outstanding example of godliness, faithfulness, and piety, even if he did look down his nose a bit at the hoi polloi of obvious and notorious sinners.

But the tax collector, in contrast, I wouldn’t invite him into my home, and I’d watch him closely around the collection plates, my wife, and the children of the parish. The tax collector is the kind of man that you’d pass by on the street, likely crossing to the other side to avoid. You might even report him to the authorities. He made his living and a whole lot more extorting people by charging whatever he wanted in taxes he collected for the hated Romans. He likely lived in luxurious squalor at the expense of his own people, spending the peoples’ hard-earned money, which he stole from them, on wine and women and worse. Though he wins the day in Jesus’ parable because he is humble and repentant, and Jesus says that he, and not the Pharisee, went home that day justified, don’t you suspect that the next day, and every other day of the week after that, the tax collector was right back at his old ways? And then, the next Sabbath, there he is once again in the temple in humility and repentance, beating his breast in sorrow over his sins, pleading for mercy from God? And you know what? God will forgive him again, and again, and again, and again.

But why? That’s unfair! That’s unjust! Yes, it is, thanks be to God! Thanks be to God that He does not give us what is just. Thanks be to God that He does not give us what we do deserve, what we have earned, and what we have merited. For, there is no distinction between the Pharisee and the tax collector when it comes to justification. Indeed, despite all of the Pharisee’s good and pious works, and despite all of the tax collector’s wicked works, there is no distinction between them. And, likewise, there is no distinction between you and the worst sinners you can imagine. For, as St. Paul writes, “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and [all] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

What this means is that your righteousness, your right relationship with God, does not depend upon you, or upon anything you do, or even upon your repentance or what you believe, but it depends upon one thing, and one thing only, Jesus Christ’s atoning death and resurrection. This St. Paul also writes in what can only be described as a creed, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Thus, the reason that the good and pious Pharisee went home that day still in his sins and not right with God is because he could not see that he was dead in his sins. The Pharisee believed in a God that would work withhim and his good works, cut him some slack and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But what the Pharisee truly needed was not a God that could work with him, but a God who could raise Him out of death to new life. In contrast, that is exactly what the tax collector was looking for. He knew that he was a sinner. He knew that he had nothing to offer God. He knew that the best of his works were worse than filthy rags. He could not begin to look up to heaven, but he bowed himself down in the dust and cried out, not for grace, not for leniency, not even for forgiveness, but the tax collector cried out only for mercy, fully believing that he didn’t deserve even that! He likely knew in his heart that he’d fall right back into the same sinful wickedness tomorrow. That only served to drive him deeper into the hopelessness of being saved by his works so that he depended all the more on God’s mercy alone. The tax collector didn’t need a God to pat him on the back and send him on his way. He didn’t need a God who would overlook his failings and say, “That’s ok.” He needed a God who could raise him from the death of sin and from eternal death. And that’s the God the tax collector had. And that’s the God that you have too. You have the one and only God of Life who alone can raise you from death to life.

For, in death, as in life, there is no distinction. Indeed, death truly is the great equalizer, is it not? The good and the bad, the rich and the poor, it matters not, we all die. Each and every descendent of Adam and Eve is conceived and born in sin, and the wages of sin is always and invariably death. “Who can deliver me from this body of death?” asks St. Paul. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” For, Jesus Christ your Lord did not come to reform the reformable or to improve the improvable, but Jesus came to raise the dead. Jesus came to raise those dead in their sins to true and eternal life in Him. But if you insist that you have no sin, or that your sin is not so bad as to be fatal, you deceive yourself and you remain in your sin and in death. For, only the dead can be raised, and only sinners can be forgiven. Therefore, empty yourself of your pride and your arrogance. Confess your sins and repent. Throw yourself daily before God’s mercy and trust that, through Jesus Christ, God is merciful, and God has forgiven. And live a new life, Jesus’ life, to the glory of the Father. But beware of the complacency of measuring your goodness against others. Rather, measure yourself against God’s standards—then repent. For, God is ready to justify the worst of sinners, even you, by His generous grace in Jesus Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 9)

(Audio)

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

 

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

“Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words to His disciples but a little before today’s Gospel text. The point is this: What will you do throughout this time of your life in which you have been given management over His blessings and goods? And what will you be found doing when He returns at a time and an hour you cannot know? Do these questions unsettle and distress you? If so, repent of your pride and idolatry, for you have clearly forgotten that all you have, even your life, your reason, and your strength, are not yours, but they are the Lord’s, over which you have been given management, stewardship, throughout the days of your life. In truth, you have often made these gifts and creations of the Lord to be your idols and gods, and you have lusted and coveted for them, and have greedily clung to them, placing your fear, love, and trust in them before the LORD who has given them all to you.

No, Jesus’ Gospel should not unsettle and distress you, but it should bring you great comfort, contentment and peace. For, Jesus is the “faithful and wise manager” whom His Father, the Master, has “set over His household.” Jesus has done all things necessary and well that you may cease from your striving to acquire and to preserve and to protect what you have, both material and spiritual. Jesus has set you free from slavery under His Father’s Law to live in the freedom of the Gospel, freely showing mercy and freely giving of what you have freely received, to all, without distinction, without loss or resentment or sorrow. For, the one who humbles himself and is merciful will be exalted, and the one who loses his life in this world will keep it in eternity.

The Parable of the Unjust Steward, if it is indeed a parable at all, is one of the most challenging of Jesus’ teachings that we have. Let’s face it, it is challenging to understand Jesus’ meaning in commending a man who squandered his master’s wealth and then dishonestly reduced his debtor’s bills in order to win their favor and save his own skin. What could this possibly mean? Well, here is a case when the titles we have given pericopes (stories) in the Scriptures often do us a disservice. Truly, this parable is much less about honesty than it is about showing mercy. Indeed, one of the most important details in this pericope is that, when He learned that his manager had wasted his possessions, the master did not cast His manager into prison, but he merely terminated him from his position. Thus, this parable is very much like the account of our First Parent’s sin in the Garden when the LORD gave Adam an opportunity to confess his sin and be forgiven. The LORD did not destroy Adam and Eve, but He banished them from the Garden and from access to the Tree of Life. This was an act of mercy on the part of the LORD then, and an act of mercy on the part of the master now.

As in the Parable of the Prodigal Son – another misnamed parable – both of the main figures in the story do unexpected things. The prodigal son shockingly treats his father shamefully, but his father, even more shockingly, forgives him and restores him. In today’s parable, the dishonest manager shockingly cuts deals with his master’s debtors, and the master, even more shockingly, commends him. What is going on here? Well, first, we must consider the actions of the dishonest manager. This man had been caught red-handed squandering his master’s possessions. In fact, the very same word, squandered, was used also in regard to the prodigal son. He knew that he had no way to rectify his situation with his master and that he deserved imprisonment or worse. He was soon to be out on the street and penniless, a pariah among his peers. Holding no faith or trust in his own works and aware of his own weakness and inability, he confessed that he was not strong enough to dig and that he was too proud to beg. Like the prodigal son, he had hit rock bottom. But, that’s when he came up with an idea – an idea based, not upon his own works and merit, but upon his master’s goodness and mercy.

The manager went to each of his master’s debtors and told them to sit down and quickly write a fraction of the debt they owed. He had them do this quickly so that they would not think that he was the one granting them the reduction, but his master. The manager was counting on two things: By showing mercy to his master’s debtors, he was hoping that they in turn might show mercy to him when he was penniless and unemployed. And, he was counting on the goodness and mercy of his master, that, because his debtors would think well of him, he would honor the reduced debts. What he was not counting on, however, was that his master would commend him for his shrewdness.

But, why did the master commend his dishonest manager? Jesus explains saying, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you in to the eternal dwellings.” The manager is not being praised for his dishonest and illegal activities. Rather, he serves as an example of how one may use unrighteous wealth to make friends for oneself. We are all managers, stewards, of unrighteous wealth – the material, monetary, and even spiritual “stuff” of this life and world. None of it belongs to us, but it is all the Lord’s and we are but managers and stewards of the Lord’s goods.

We are the manager in this parable [as we are the prodigal son in that parable]. We have been entrusted with the Lord’s possessions to manage, to steward, on His behalf. But we have squandered and wasted them. We have managed them poorly. We have put our fear, love, and trust in them before our LORD who created them and us and have made them into false gods and idols. We have greedily sought to acquire them and have fiercely clung to them. We have covetously desired those things that belong to others and secretly wished that we would have them and that they would not. It is not that we have been dishonest with our management, but we have been utterly merciless, and that is by far the greater sin.

The Prophet Samuel confesses, “With the merciful You [O LORD] show yourself merciful, with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you deal purely, and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.” The LORD desires mercy from you before obedience and sacrifice. The LORD desires that you show mercy to others as He has been merciful with you, for mercy is faith, hope, and love in action, and love is the fulfilling of the Law. When you show mercy, you show love for the LORD and for your neighbor. Mercy is also faith, hope, and trust because the merciful love not their lives or the things of this world more than they love the LORD and their neighbor, and they are free so to do because their hope and trust are not in men or in possessions, but in the LORD alone.

However, while we are the manager in this parable [and the prodigal son in that parable], there is someone who is the manager and the son with us, and before us, and in our stead, and that is God’s Son and Steward Jesus Christ. Jesus became these men for us and redeemed them and us. As God’s Manager and Steward, Jesus didn’t merely reduce the debt we owed to our God and Master, but He paid it off in full in His own holy, innocent, shed blood. Therefore, our God and Master has commended Him and has given Him all authority in heaven and on earth and the Name that is above every name. And, as God’s Prodigal Son, Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself and placed Himself into the mercy of His Father who has restored Him, and us in Him, to full and complete Sonship and has blessed us with an eternal inheritance. “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?” That one is Jesus.

We are called as managers, stewards, to use what has been given to us to help and to support our neighbors in need. By aiding them with our financial and spiritual resources, we make friends of them. But rather than being received into their houses, as the manager had hoped, we will be received into the eternal dwelling of our heavenly Father on the day when unrighteous wealth fails, that is, death. What will you do throughout this time of your life in which you have been given management over His blessings and goods? And what will you be found doing when He returns at a time and an hour you cannot know? Show yourself merciful as you have received mercy from the Lord. Keep yourself blameless and pure in the absolution of Jesus’ blood. Humble yourselves. Die to yourselves and to the passions of your flesh. Live in the freedom of the Lord’s mercy and grace and permit these to flow through you and from you to your neighbor. This is what it means to be a manager and a steward of the Lord’s possessions. This is what it means to be a Christian.

And do this quickly. Do it now! Do not procrastinate as men are want to do. For, a day is coming when you will be called to account for your management of the Lord’s possessions. But do not be afraid! You are not asked to give of anything that you have not freely received, only not to fear, love, and trust in it so that it becomes your idol, your god, and you become enslaved. That is to say, be as shrewd in your use of unrighteous wealth in the service of others as you are tempted to be in service to yourself. In this way you serve your true Master, your Lord and your God.

Yet, you cannot serve your neighbor, and consequently your Master, Lord, and God, unless you are first served by Him. Therefore, also be as shrewd in obtaining the heavenly things of forgiveness, faith, and the Spirit as you are in obtaining material wealth, for the heavenly things are certain and do not fade away, while the things of this world are perishing day by day. And behold, your Master’s Steward and Manager Jesus is here now to forgive your debts anew, to strengthen your faith, and to equip you for service in His kingdom to the glory of His Father. Jesus summons you and proclaims to you that your debt is paid in full. To God alone be the glory.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.