The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 21)

(Audio)

John 4:46-54; Ephesians 6:10-17; Genesis 1:1 – 2:3

 

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

The seventeenth century French philosopher, mathematician, and Christian apologist Blaise Pascal posited that human beings all bet with their lives either that God exists or that He does not exist. Given the possibility that God actually does exist, and assuming the infinite gain or loss associated with belief in God or with unbelief, Pascal concluded that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God, for if God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.) instead of an infinite loss (the loss of eternal life and the receipt of eternal death and damnation). Pascal’s argument first appeared in his Pensées (Thoughts) and has come to be known as “Pascal’s Wager”.

It must be understood that Pascal’s Wager was not intended to be a proof of God’s existence, but rather an exercise of reasonable probability in how a man should live his life. His argument goes something like this: Either God exists, or He does not exist. According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions. Nevertheless, you must wager; it’s not optional. However, if God exists, and you have wagered accordingly, you gain all. And, if God does not exist, whether you wager correctly or incorrectly, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is, for there is an infinity of infinitely happy life to gain, while what you stake is finite.

I trust that while you can see the reasonableness of Pascal’s Wager, you can also see that betting on God’s existence according to mere rational probability in respect to what you will either gain or lose accordingly is a far cry from what the Holy Spirit calls you to believe about God and His goodness in the Holy Scriptures and in the proclamation of His Gospel message. And yet, this does not make Pascal’s Wager incorrect, for, indeed, it is true – you do stand to receive infinite gain by believing in Him and trusting in Him, while unbelief in Him and rejection of Him will gain you infinite loss. Is this not what St. Paul teaches, at least in part, by saying, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain?” Ah, but there is a difference, and not an insignificant one: St. Paul is speaking in faith in the eternal, benevolent, and Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and not merely in consideration of what his faith will benefit him. Paul is speaking about how he will live his life in the world because of His God who has loved Him to the end in Jesus Christ.

Bo Giertz wrote in his notes on today’s Gospel, “Only he comes to God who loves Him and seeks to do His good and gracious will, whether it pays off or not.” What this means is that you must not believe in God and trust in Him merely because He gives you what you want, but you must believe and trust in Him because His Word is true and good, even when it accuses and scolds you, even when you do not receive what you want. In today’s Gospel lesson, an official, probably from Herod’s court, wanted Jesus to come to his home and heal his son who was dying. No doubt he had heard, maybe even observed firsthand, the miracle He had previously performed in Cana, turning water into wine. Jesus rebuked him for demanding a sign, His physical presence in attendance to his dying son; He said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Then He told the man, “Go; your son will live.” John tells us that, “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.”

The lesson here is that, while signs and wonders are indeed significant and wonderful, they are not the one thing needful, but the one thing needful is the Word of God. Indeed, signs and wonders are nothing apart from the Word of God, just as baptism, without the Word, is only water, and communion, without the Word, is unsatisfying bread and cheap wine. But with the Word of God, the water of Holy Baptism is a cleansing, regenerating, and faith-creating flood, and Holy Communion is the real and true body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. As the story goes, before the man reached his home, his servants came to him with the news that his son had recovered. He knew that it was at the very moment Jesus said, “Your son will live.” Though he did not see the miracle being performed by signs and wonders, it happened nonetheless – just like the water being changed to wine at the wedding in Cana.

But this is the continual revelation of Holy Scripture: God’s Word is powerful and creative, bringing into being what it says. In the beginning, God created all things that are by His powerful and creative Word so that “All things were made through [the Word], and without [the Word] was not anything made that was made.” Moreover, the powerful and creative Word of God, by which all things were made, “became flesh and dwelt among us,” Jesus, “the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When Jesus heals, He is re-creating and restoring His fallen and broken creation. When Jesus forgives, He is doing the same. He takes the world’s sin and brokenness and uncleanness upon Himself. He takes it to the cross, to your cross, and there He dies with it and for it so that it is no more, and He buries it in His tomb, your tomb, from which He has risen, leaving it dead and buried behind.

The official wanted signs and wonders. That’s ok, there’s nothing wrong with signs and wonders. However, your God would have you love Him, not because of signs and wonders, but because of His goodness and the truth of His Word. He has performed countless signs and wonders, and He performs them for you every day. But signs and wonders are a secondary thing to His Word, even a fruit of that true and life-giving Vine. Pascal was right, if for the wrong reason: There is infinite gain in believing and trusting in God. You gain in this life by living in accordance with His Word. Through His Word He blesses you; and through His Word He makes you a rich blessing to others. And, when this life is ended, He will bless you with eternal life. It’s a win-win situation, a no-brainer! For the Christian, to live in this world is to live Christ’s life in humility, kindness, charity, mercy, peace, forgiveness, and most of all love. Then, when this life is ended, to die is only gain.

Yes, the world and men will assail you, but they are not your true enemy. Indeed, St. Paul exhorts you that you “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, abut against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This means, no man is your enemy, for we all have but one enemy, Satan, the evil one, the enemy of God, His Son, His Word, and His people. However, you do not face the enemy or his flaming darts alone or unprotected. You are covered in the holy armor of God: Truth, righteousness, and the Gospel of peace. These are the Word of God that mark you, guard you, and protect you – they are defensive armor against the assaults of the devil, the world, and the flesh. And you have the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God to protect and defend you from the attack of the evil one.

Be not afraid; the Lord is with you. He is faithful and true, and He keeps His Word. As in the miracle at the Wedding at Cana, when Jesus changed the water into wine, the Lord works through His powerful and creative Word, often hidden and unseen, without signs and wonders. But He works, and He is working. By His Word He created all things, sustains all things, and re-creates all things for the good of those who love Him in Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is through you, more than through signs and wonders, that He does much of His work. It is through your hands, your mouth, and your heart that He comforts and heals, helps, and befriends, serves and intercedes for all His people. It is through your vocations as husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, teachers, bankers, managers, carpenters, nurses, caregivers, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers that He serves His people and provides for all their needs of body and soul. He does this all through you “who [love] Him and [seek] to do His good and gracious will, whether it pays off or not.”

Of course, it does pay off temporally; and it will pay off eternally. For, His Word has spoken so, and His Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, has died and has been raised to new and eternal life, the only sign and wonder that truly matters. And, to strengthen, keep, and protect you from the evil one in this new week, He gives you the sign and wonder of His body and blood in Holy Communion. “Be not afraid. I go before you always. Come follow me, and I will give you rest.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

No Place for Utopia

“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. – Romans 3:19

While the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt for 430 years there was law and order – Egyptian law and order. After leading Israel out of Egypt in the Exodus, however, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments – Divine law and order. You see, it wasn’t good, it wasn’t possible, that the people could survive and thrive without law and order of one sort or another. Men delude themselves believing that freedom means anarchy (no-rule) and utopia (no-place). Utopia literally does not, and cannot, exist, and anarchy is chaos and disorder, ensuring that no one is truly free but that all are the slaves of someone else’s power and tyranny.

From creation’s beginning God established law and order for our good. The first chapter of Genesis, above all, is the account of a divine order being established by God’s creative word (law). The laws of physics, chemistry, and biology were all set in place, and clear distinctions between plants, animals, kinds and species, male and female were set in place, remain to this very day, and will continue to remain until there are no more days. The primordial world of the first day was described as tohu wa-bohu, Hebrew words meaning chaotic and empty. Into the chaotic emptiness of the first day God spoke His creative word (law) and brought order to His creation. Without law and order, the foundation of which is God’s law and order, there is chaos and emptiness, a true and terrible utopia – no place.

 

Today many believe that we are near to realizing utopia and are rushing and pushing us evermore towards it with great fervor.  They seemingly believe that once we have thrown off the shackles of Judeo-Christian Biblical morality (the Law of God) and natural law we will be truly free. Indeed, thanks to contraception and abortion, we have seemingly freed ourselves from the consequences of sexual intercourse. And, thanks to no-fault divorce and same-sex marriage, we have freed ourselves from the constrictions of marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman. More recently, we have freed ourselves from the constrictions of anatomy, biology, and chromosomes defining our sex and gender. In effect, we have freed ourselves from reality and truth. But that really isn’t possible.

 

The so-called “freedom” we are experiencing today is chaotic and empty – tohu wa-bohu all over again. It is not so much the un-doing of God’s law and order – that is impossible – than it is rebellion against it. And so, we stamp our feet, raise our fists in the air, and scream and shout in rebellion against God’s law and order insisting that we are free to believe and act however we choose apart from any external law of God or man. But reality can only be denied for so long, for the reality is that we all die. Moreover, the exercise of this so-called “freedom” is not innocent and harmless, as many claim, but it affects the lives of our family members and our neighbors, our community, nation, and our world. This so-called “freedom” is truly selfishness and a lack of love, care, and concern for our neighbor. This so-called “freedom” is the very opposite of the true freedom God’s law and order call us to, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

 

The reality is that God’s law and order is good whether anyone believes in Him or not: “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God (Romans 3:19). This reality is reflected in the laws of nations: Every nation has laws against murder, taking another’s spouse, stealing, lying under oath, etc. God’s law and order is the foundation of human civilization built upon marriage as God created and instituted it, the procreation and rearing of children, and the forming of communities, cities, and nations. Charity begins at home, literally, for that is where we learn to love and to sacrifice ourselves one for another and so obey and keep the law of God.

 

Of course, these are precisely the institutions that have been under attack for God only knows how long – since the beginning. Let us repent of our selfishness that insists on defining reality on our own terms, enslaving us in self-love curved in on itself at the cost and casualty of others. Let us be the men and women, husbands and wives, sons and daughters God has made and called us to be living in accord with God’s law and order, being fruitful and multiplying in all things good to the glory of God and to the welfare of humankind.

 

Rev. Jon M. Ellingworth

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Waverly, IA

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 20)

(Audio)

Matthew 22:1-14; Ephesians 5:15-21; Isaiah 55:1-9

 

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

To say that Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Feast is perplexing might seem to be an understatement. Our Lord seemingly turns upside down our expectations and our understanding of the meaning of some fundamental terms concerning our Christian faith – invited, worthy, called, and chosen. To be invited is not necessarily to be worthy. To be called is not necessarily to be chosen. What then do these words mean? Jesus would have you see that your invitation to His wedding feast in heaven is not on account of your worth, your value, your merit, your decision, your choice, or anything in you at all. That you are invited is the gracious gift of the King, God the Father, and not an indication of your worthiness to be invited.

No, your worthiness is bound up in your host, your King and LORD, alone. Will you receive your host’s gracious invitation in Spirit-created and given faith and trust and bear forth its fruit of fear, love, and trust – that is, obedience, – or will you reject it in sinful, rebellious unbelief, demonstrating that your fear, love, and trust are in other things that you have set before your LORD, the stuff of His creation which you worship as false gods and idols? Similarly, Jesus would have you see that, simply because you are called is not the same thing as your being chosen. And, herein lies the mystery of predestination and election – “Many are called,” says our Lord, “but few are chosen.” What does this mean? The LORD’s Gospel call goes out to all, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. Therefore, many, even all, are called. As in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, the Sower scatters His Word/Seed everywhere, upon all kinds of soil/hearts, without discrimination. However, just as the seed only takes root, grows, and bears fruit in the good soil, so only those are chosen “who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” And so, it is the fruit that you bear – fear, love, and trust in the LORD, along with obedience – that makes you worthy and chosen and elect.

In Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Feast, the King, His Father, sent His servants to call His invited guests to the feast, but those who were invited refused to come. The King, being good and kind, patient, and longsuffering, sent even more servants proclaiming that everything was prepared, that there was nothing they had to do but come and enjoy the feast, and still they refused to come, and some even treated the King’s servants shamefully and murdered them! Those invited who refused the King’s gracious invitation and murdered His servants were the religious leadership of the Jews, the Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers, and scribes. They were invited by their gracious King, but they refused the invitation and rejected Him. The King was angry, and He destroyed the cities of those murderers. Those invited were called, but they were found not worthy. They did not fear, love, and trust in the LORD, and they did not bear the fruit of faith. They murdered the LORD’s servants who were sent to them with His gracious invitation, the Gospel, and, ultimately, they murdered the King’s Son, Jesus. It is no coincidence that this parable follows directly after the Parable of the Tenants in which the tenants of the Master’s Vineyard murdered His servants and, finally, His Son. Both of these parables occurred in the days following Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus had the religious leadership of the Jews squarely in mind.

Still, the King sent out His servants yet a third time, this time “to the main roads,” to call and to invite “all whom they found, both bad and good.” You see, there it is, as clear as day – your invitation is not based upon your merit, your worth, your works, your faith, or anything else inside you, but your invitation is by the grace of your King and LORD alone. And so, the King’s hall was filled with the bad and the good regardless of anything attributed to themselves, just like this church today! For, only the sick can be healed. Only sinners can be forgiven. Only the dead can be raised. If you are a guest of the King, it is because of His gracious invitation. And do not think saying, “Well, I still had to accept the invitation and come,” that you have contributed something. That’s sophistic nonsense. Before your accepting and coming was the LORD’s gracious invitation. Truly, you remain invited even if you reject His invitation. This is the LORD’s doing, alone, and it is glorious in our sight. Do not succumb to the devil’s temptation to reduce the LORD’s grace from a truly free and unconditional gift to a mere prod in the right direction. You are either saved by grace alone or you are not saved at all. You are either invited or you are not. But all have been invited in Christ Jesus, therefore all are without excuse.

However, “when the King came in to look at the guests, He saw there a man who had no wedding garment.” Now, this was an impossible thing, for the host, the King, provided even the appropriate wedding garment for each invited guest. The only way that this one guest did not have a wedding garment was that he refused to wear it. He didn’t sneak in. He was one of those bad or good who were invited. However, now that he was in, he must have refused to wear the provided wedding garment. Now, much ink (or bytes) has been spilled attempting to explain what the wedding garment represents. However, the wedding garment is not what is essential here, for this unclothed man was already in, he was already a guest just like all the others, he was invited. So, the wedding garment cannot be baptism as many are want to claim, and neither can it be faith, for the unclothed man was already an invited and present guest. No, the wedding garment must be something else. What we must focus upon, however, is not what the wedding garment was, but how it came to be that this invited and present guest, who was most certainly provided a wedding garment, came to be found not wearing one. Again, he must have refused to wear it. If that is the case, then you can well see the disrespect and the irreverence this man showed toward his King. His refusal to wear the provided wedding garment was a display, even a confession, of his lack of fear, love, and trust in the LORD. Now, if the King were merely an earthly monarch, we might consider his reaction to be overly harsh and extreme. However, this King is the LORD God who alone is righteous and holy. He had provided everything for the feast and had graciously invited and clothed all present. To refuse His grace now and disrespect and dishonor Him so would be the height of rebellion and treason meriting the fullness of His wrath against the man’s sinful rebellion and unbelief. This is a parable of judgment, just like the Parables of the Tenants in the Vineyard and of the Wheat and the Tares. The King had the man bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. On the Day of Judgment, the tares, like the unclothed man at the wedding feast, and all who refuse the LORD’s gracious invitation in Jesus Christ, will be bound and thrown into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Once again, it must be stressed that it was the Jewish religious leadership whom Jesus had squarely in mind in this parable, though it has application for all of us. The LORD had sent them numerous servants bearing His gracious invitation through the prophets of old up to John the Baptist who pointed squarely at Jesus in their presence proclaiming, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” and they rejected them and murdered them, and, finally, they murdered God’s only-begotten Son. They were invited. They were in. But their refusal to believe, in fact, their rejection of Jesus in spite of who they believed and knew Him to be, damned them to hell. They were invited, but they were not worthy. They were called, but they were not chosen. And, even worse, they were false shepherds, even wolves in sheep’s clothing, and they failed to tell their flock that the LORD’s invitation was for them as well. Therefore, because of their refusal and rejection of the King and His Son, the invitation went out to others, even to all, to the bad and the good, and the wedding feast was filled with guests.

The wedding feast is for your Bridegroom Jesus and for you, His Bride, the Church. God the Father is the King and host of the feast, and He has graciously invited all the world in His Son. Many are called, indeed all are called, but few are chosen. To be chosen, to be elect, is not only to be invited, but it is to hear the Word and “hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” The fruit you bear is obedience and good works. They are not the cause of your invitation, but they are consequence and confirmation of it. Thus, your Lord Jesus proclaims that He is the Vine and you are the branches saying, “remain in Me and I will remain in you, and you will bear much fruit.” Fruit bearing is not an option. Producing the fruit of obedience and good works is the living proof of your being chosen and elected. Therefore, St. James declares, “Faith without works is dead.” This is NOT works righteousness. Your righteousness is in Jesus and is the sole reason you have been invited. But faith in Jesus is living, not dead, bearing the fruit of fear, love, and trust in the LORD, that is obedience, and love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness for your neighbor without discrimination or exception.

Therefore, if you are concerned that you are not one of the chosen (the elect), know that the chosen are chosen through the call of the Gospel. Worldliness, hostility to the Word, and distractedness from the Word plague all Christians because of our sinful flesh. If this cuts you to the heart, this foretaste of the Great Wedding Feast to come is precisely for the purpose of binding up your hearts and comforting your troubled consciences. “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” You are invited, but only the life of the Vine Jesus flowing through you and bearing fruit makes you worthy. You are called, but only fear, love, and trust in the LORD above all else makes you chosen in Christ Jesus. Behold, the feast is prepared. Everything is ready. Come and eat. Come and drink. The life of Jesus the Vine is poured out for you to forgive your sins anew, to strengthen your faith, to equip you for good works, and to send you forth bearing good and much fruit in service of your neighbor to the glory of the LORD. Jesus’ blood and righteousness are your glorious dress, even your wedding garment. You are invited and worthy, you are called and chosen, that the world may see it. Go forth in peace.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

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.