The Third-Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 25)

(Audio)

Matthew 24:15-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Exodus 32:1-20

 

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

The theme of these last three Sundays of the Church Year is very similar to that of the beginning of the new Church Year in Advent: The faithful are to wait and to watch for Jesus’ return. Now, the return of Jesus means many things, but primarily it means two things: Judgment and redemption. Thus, Jesus’ return will be a fearful thing for those who have rejected Him, for it will mean their judgment and condemnation. However, for you who place your faith and trust in Him, even though the world itself is passing away, there is no need for you to fear, for the coming of the Lord means your redemption is complete. Your Lord Jesus Himself says to you: “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The Lord is coming. That is a promise and a fact. The Lord is coming at a day and an hour you cannot know. Therefore, you must be prepared for His coming at any time. However, this is not a new situation, indeed this has been the situation for Christians ever since Christ’s ascension into heaven, when God’s holy angels promised, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” Now, if this seems like a long time to be waiting and watching, be grateful, for “the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

And so, even when you hear a Word of judgment from the Lord, like today, and the next several Sundays, the Lord’s Word of judgment is typically mixed with words of mercy and compassion. For instance, in today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus mercifully provides an advance warning for the faithful to watch and to flee. The judgment that was coming was specifically upon Jerusalem and Judea, namely, the siege and destruction of that city by the Romans that would occur less than a generation later. In 66 A.D., the Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus laid siege to the city until the Roman army finally invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and her temple in 70 A.D. The suffering and the horror were beyond imagination, as the Romans had prevented food, water, and fresh supplies from entering the city for more than three years while also preventing garbage and waste, and the sick and the dead, from leaving the city. Thus, when the Roman army finally entered Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they found entire families dead within their homes, the dead decaying in the street, evidence of cannibalism, and horrors beyond imagination. And anyone who remained alive, they ran through with the sword without mercy until the streets of Jerusalem ran with blood.

However, Jesus’ words of warning concerning judgment are also filled with compassion for His people: “Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.” These words of our Lord parallel those in St. Luke’s Gospel as Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of her impending judgment: “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Additionally, Jesus warns the faithful of false christs and false prophets who will arise in those days to lead the faithful astray. Such figures always arise in times of stress, and, in desperation, people follow them to their own destruction. This is true in the twenty-first century even as it was in the first. Such false prophets and false christs will often sound prophetic and inspired, perhaps they will appeal to reason and appear full of wisdom, some may even have powers of prophecy, hidden knowledge, and may perform wondrous signs and miracles. How will you know if they are true or false? You will know them by their fruits: Do their preaching, teaching, and works accord with the Holy Scriptures? If they do, then there is nothing to fear. However, if they do not, the Spirit cannot lie or contradict the Word of the LORD; therefore, you will know that they are false. Beware of them and flee from their poisonous doctrine.

The judgment upon Jerusalem and Judea was the result of their apostasy. For fifteen centuries God patiently dealt with Israel. But most of that time Israel was stiff-necked and hard hearted. After many warnings, the northern ten tribes were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Then, after many further warnings, the southern two tribes were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. While many of the people repented and were allowed to return years later, the people soon proved to be impenitent once again. Finally, the Savior came unto His own, but His own received Him not. God became a man and tried again and again to call His covenant people to repentance. Most of them refused. Even after Jesus ascended into heaven, God granted the covenant people another forty years of grace. But then the time of mercy was gone.

Interestingly, and comfortingly, Jesus says that the judgment upon Jerusalem would be tribulation “such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” This means that neither the Great Flood, nor the end of the world, nor any other judgment in history was, is, or ever shall be as severe and awful as was the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Jesus also says that “if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” Thus, whatever tribulation you may face, you can be certain that it will not be greater than your strength to persevere in faith. St. Paul teaches the same when he writes: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” The faithful, the elect of the Lord, you – you will face temptation, trial, and tribulation. That is a promise and a fact. However, do not be afraid. Your Lord Jesus will see you through it if you trust in Him. He will see you through financial problems, problems with your children, health problems, marital problems, wars and terrorism, the death of your loved ones, and through your own death if you trust in Him. He is your Good Shepherd, and He will Shepherd you through the valley of the shadow of death into His Father’s house. He has already passed that way Himself, and, in His death and resurrection, He has knocked down the gate that would keep you in suffering and death. Now that gate is an open door to eternal life. It is your life even now, through faith in Him. No one can take His gift from you. Only you can reject it.

Therefore, do not permit your Enemy Satan to make use of a good crisis. When you face trial and tribulation, suffering and death, do not be anxious and fearful, but turn evermore to your Lord and to His Word. Do not listen to the voices of false prophets and false christs. While they may impress with their rhetoric and charisma, their works, power, and wealth, and their great number of followers, you will know them to be false prophets and false christs by the fruits they bear – their teachings and their works. Do they accord with God’s Word in the Holy Scriptures? Do they proclaim the Law and Gospel of the LORD? Do they proclaim Christ and Him crucified, God’s free gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation for all who believe? Make no mistake, when the Lord returns there will be no mistaking and no second-guessing of who He is, from whence He has come, or of what He has come to do. “For as the lighting comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” On that day, every eye shall Him, every tongue shall confess Him, and every knee shall bow before Him in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and God the Father will be glorified. That is a promise. That is a fact. Believe it, for Jesus’ sake and for your own sake.

Therefore, as we near the end of another Church Year in God’s grace, let us strive to be more vigilant and watchful for Jesus’ Second Advent and Parousia, His coming on the clouds as King and Judge. Let us not live like those uninformed brothers who have no knowledge, no faith, and no hope. For we have heard the Word of the Lord and have been raised from the death of sin to life in the Spirit. Therefore, as the vultures of false prophets and false christs gather around us as a corpse, let us gather like eagles around the corpse, the body and the blood of the Son of God who died, who is risen, and who lives and reigns at the right hand of His Father in heaven, who will return at a day and an hour only the Father knows to raise our bodies from their graves to be reunited with our eternal souls and live with Him forever in His kingdom in heaven. Let us put no trust in our own merits but let us trust in the Word and promise of our Lord fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the true temple, built without hands. He is our rock and our fortress that cannot be moved. In Him we have hope and plenteous salvation. “Have no fear little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of All Saints (observed)

(Audio)

Matthew 5:1-12; 1 John 3:1-3; Revelation 7:2-17

 

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

St. Peter writes that there are mysteries “into which the angels long to look.” What a marvelous and mysterious thought, indeed! To think that are mysteries still that even God’s holy and perfect angels long to know should give us comfort as we consider mysteries so bright that human reason and wisdom are all but blind. One of those mysteries is the subject of today’s Epistle Reading by St. John: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. […] Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” The mystery is that God loves you so that He has adopted you as His own sons and daughters in Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son. In the incarnation, the Son of God became a man. And, as a man, Jesus fulfilled God’s Law for you; He suffered and died, and He was raised and has ascended to the right hand of His Father in heaven for you. And, at a time known only to the LORD, Christ will return and raise your bodies from their graves and restore you to life that will never die, an eternal life with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the kingdom of heaven. Surely, that God would make His Son a man so that He could make men His sons is a mystery even God’s holy angels could not have anticipated!

Likewise, the Preacher to the Hebrews states: “It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified [by the Psalmist], ‘What is man, that you are mindful of him or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet’.” No, not until the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, when the Word of God became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us, so the Scriptures say, did the holy angels of God begin to see the unveiling of the great plan their Creator and ours had for humankind. In His Son, He has made you to be sons, and heirs, and kings with Him over heaven and earth – yes, even over the holy angels themselves!

We are granted a glimpse of this happening in our Reading from the Revelation today: “And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,” etc. It reads like a divine roll call! And, all the while, God’s holy angels look on in amazement and great joy. In fact, the LORD has His holy angels do the sealing. God’s holy angels serve Him, and they serve you whom God loves so dearly in His Son Jesus Christ. And then, we are granted a glimpse of an even greater scene, “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’!” St. John describes God’s holy angels “standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen’!” Thus, to the redemption and the sealing of humankind, of God’s children – thus, to your redemption and sealing in Jesus Christ – God’s holy angels say, “Amen! Yea verily, it is so! Amen!”

Then, in a most interesting scene, one of the twenty-four Elders encircling the throne of God and the Lamb –  Elders representing the Old Testament Church of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the New Testament Church of the Twelve Apostles, and thus, the entire catholic Church of God of all times and all places – one of the Elders asks John, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” Indeed, God’s holy angels were not the only ones kept in the dark before the LORD’s time. But, now the time was ripe and the Elder was granted to see and to confess, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” These are the newborn saints of God, the LORD’s adopted children, whose sins are washed away in the blood of the Lamb Jesus Christ in the purifying waters of Holy Baptism. These saints are the Church of Jesus Christ on earth – these saints are you! – with one foot in heaven, because of God’s grace and forgiveness in Jesus, and with one foot in the grave, because of your sin, but always moving towards, and longing for, that day when both of your feet will stand, with palms and white robes, with the 144,000 and with the multitude no one can count of the heavenly host before the throne of God, serving Him day and night in His temple, being sheltered with His presence, hungering no more, thirsting no more, weeping no more. What the Spirit has granted us to see in the Revelation is the unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam, the one holy catholic and apostolic Church of all time and of all places on earth and in heaven. And, while we long to be amongst the multitude of saints in heaven, we take comfort and we confess even now that we are part of the sanctorum communionem, the communion of saints who inhabit heaven and earth.

And, so you see, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you are not alone – you are never alone – but God has knit you together with all faithful people of all times and of all places into one holy communion, the mystical body of His Son, Jesus Christ. Those who have died in the Lord are said to be blessed, for they have run the course of their lives in faith, and they have received the promise of unspeakable joys in Christ Jesus their Lord. Therefore, you may give thanks to the LORD for them and follow their example in all virtuous and godly living, knowing that the LORD is faithful and true, and that He will keep His promises to you just as He has kept His promises for those who have gone before you. No, you are not alone – you are never alone. Indeed, even now we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses! In this Divine Service, heaven descends to you who cannot ascend to it, for the Lord is surely with you, just as He promised; and the Lord is never alone, but His saints accompany Him, for they stand in His presence with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven! “O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Yet, still, as glorious and wonderful as this truth is, you must take caution not to fall into the devil’s snare and settle for something less than the Lord would give to you. For, the enemy will tempt you settle for your soul being in the presence of Jesus upon the death of the body. Now, while it is truly good that the soul is with the Lord, there is nothing at all that is good about death. Only what the LORD has created is good, and the LORD has not created death. Death is not good, but it is the final enemy. Death destroys a person, separating body from soul as was not meant to be. While it is true that, upon death, the soul of the faithful goes to be with Jesus, the soul is not the person that the LORD God created and that the Lord Jesus died to redeem. No, that person is a body and soul, and nothing less. This is why the saints in heaven long for that “yet more glorious day” when “the saints triumphant rise in bright array.” My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do not be tempted to sell out the resurrection of the body for the mere presence of the soul in heaven. No, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, “He will transform your lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” Again, St. John exhorts you, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” Maintaining this hope, this faith, this confession, now, will keep you pure even as He is pure, until He comes.

In this way, you can find blessedness in having a poor spirit. You can find blessedness in mourning. You can find blessedness in meekness and humility. You can find blessedness in hunger and thirst for righteousness. You can find blessedness in showing mercy. You can find blessedness in purity of heart. You can find blessedness in peacemaking, even when it paid back to you with reviling and persecution and evil. For, so they did to your Lord Jesus Christ, and so also will they do to you, His body. But remember those saints coming out of the great tribulation and filling the heavenly courts of your God and King. They have passed through the valley of the shadow of death and are in the Father’s house. And, Christ, your Shepherd, has passed through that valley before you, and He accompanies you through that valley now. Even now, He leads you beside the cool springs of the baptismal font and beckons you to return to the waters daily in repentance for the remission of your sins. Even now, He anoints you with His Holy Spirit, sealing you in His grace and forgiveness. Even now, He feeds you with His own life-giving body and blood in the presence of your Enemy. And He promises you that He will be your Shepherd and that He will guide you to springs of living water, and that God, His Father, will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Festival of the Reformation (observed)

(Audio)

Matthew 11:12-19; Romans 3:19-28; Revelation 14:6-7

 

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

It is often said that justification is the doctrine by which the Church stands or falls. But what does this statement mean? What does justification mean? Justification is about how you are made to be right with your God: Are you made right with God by your works, by being obedient under the Law? Or are you made right with God by grace, by the works and merit of Jesus? The former is the way of the Law, which leads only to death, while the latter is the way of the Gospel, which bestows forgiveness, life, and salvation.

St. Paul teaches you plainly in Romans, “By the works of the Law no human being will be justified in His sight.” Likewise, Paul teaches, “Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, […] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

And so, God’s Law is the great leveler, condemning us all equally without exception: The Law of God condemns the Jew and the Gentile, the clean and the unclean, the Pharisee and the prostitute, the good and the bad, the saint and the sinner. However, the Gospel, likewise, forgives and redeems equally and without exception all who believe in Jesus Christ “whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” This is to show God’s righteousness, that, though He has all things against you, He willingly holds nothing against you, but forgives you all things through Jesus Christ. Therefore, God retains His justice and righteousness, and at the same time He justifies you who have faith in Jesus.

There is no cause for boasting, for there are no works or merit you can (or would want to) take credit for, for God has done all things necessary for your justification. He has done what you could never do: He has made you right with Him once again. Likewise, there is no cause for despair, for your sin-corrupted works and worthless merit have no role in your justification at all! As they cannot count for you, neither do they count against you if you repent and trust in Jesus for forgiveness.

However, the flesh does not like this arrangement. The flesh insists that it deserves credit and merit for its good works and that it, on the contrary, does not deserve judgment and condemnation for it’s bad works. The flesh considers the wisdom of God in justification to be foolishness. Often, the proclamation of the Gospel is met with rebellion, anger, and violence. Thus, Jesus lamented, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”

The Prophets and the Law are the entirety of the Old Testament scriptures. As our resurrected Lord taught the Emmaus disciples, these all testify of Him. What they teach, specifically, is that God’s Law is Holy and Righteous, demanding perfection: You must be holy, as the LORD your God is holy. God set the bar so high that no one could possibly reach it, for the Law was never intended to be the means of your justification, making you right with God. Thus, God instituted the sacrificial system that the sins of the children of Israel could be atoned for, covered over for a time. But they had to be repeated over and over again, year after year. Indeed, no man was ever forgiven his sins by these sacrifices, but God looked away from his sins for a time. That’s why, when John the Baptist came, he pointed to Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s Law saying, “Behold, the Lamb that God has provided, who does not merely cover over your sins, but who actually takes them away!”

But what was the reaction of the religious leadership, and even many of the laity of Israel, to Jesus’ preaching of the Law’s fulfillment and its Third Use and fruit, love? They denied His divinity saying, “Aren’t you the carpenter’s son from Nazareth, the son of Joseph whom we know?” They denied His ability to forgive sins saying, “Only God can forgive sins.” And their fathers killed the Prophets whom God sent to testify about Jesus even as they would kill the Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles Jesus would send in His Name.

Jesus described them in this way: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn’.” His meaning is that the flesh is never satisfied. First it wants to boast of its works and merits, but then the Law crushes man’s pride and reveals the best of man’s works to be but filthy rags. Thus, disdaining the Law, man lowers the bar for himself (if that were possible) so that he may do what the Law requires according to his own, not God’s, definition. This is what the Pharisees were especially good at doing. They made the Law do-able for themselves, but un-do-able for the laity, the people they were supposed to be serving. Yet, even then, they couldn’t do it perfectly. Therefore, they lowered it again, and again, and again. However, often the opposite occurs: The flesh recognizes that it cannot fulfill the Law’s demands and thus is plunged into hopelessness and despair. This will leave the poor soul either in the morass of despair, or his heart will be hardened, and he will rail against God’s Law and God Himself crying, “Unfair! Unjust! Evil!” The devil steals the Word of the Gospel away from that heart altogether and it returns to the hard soil it was before.

Likewise, Jesus taught that they rejected John because he didn’t eat and drink in the legalistic ways that they did saying “He has a demon,” while they rejected Jesus because He did eat and drink, calling Him “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collector’s and sinners!” John, the forerunner of Jesus, represented the Law and the Prophets, the final word of the Law to be spoken. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and He is the fulfillment of John as well. Where John commanded men, not to perform the Law to be saved, but to repent of their failings, their sins, in keeping it, Jesus would be justified by His deeds. Jesus alone did all things well; He fulfilled the Law along with all Messianic prophecies: “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them.” Jesus is the Wisdom of God, often personified as Sophia in the feminine, thus He teaches, “Wisdom is justified by Her deeds.” Of no man but Jesus could this be said, for Jesus alone kept the Law perfectly, in perfect love and obedience, and had no sin of His own to corrupt His works or His merit. Therefore, not only did Jesus fulfill God’s Law for you, in your place, but He could take your sin and guilt upon Himself and put it to death and bury it, leaving it behind in His empty tomb forever.

Still, the flesh rebels against and rejects this Truth and Wisdom. The Pharisees of Jesus’ time rejected Jesus’ Gospel and considered it “expedient that one man should die for the people.” They despised the Law of God and preferred their own law instead. They couldn’t possibly see the Gospel for the Good News that it was, for they trusted in their works and merits and deceived themselves that they kept God’s Law, thus they saw no need at all for faith in Jesus or the forgiveness He offered.

However, Pharisees are not consigned only to first century Israel, but each generation has its own fleshly legalists. In Luther’s time it was the magisterium of the papacy, cardinals, and bishops. The magisterium taught that works (prayers and pilgrimages) and money (tithes and indulgences) could merit God’s forgiveness. Luther exposed this for the legalistic false teaching that it was, insisting from the Scripture that men “are justified by faith (alone) apart from works of the Law.” In fact, what we are commemorating this day is Luther’s nailing of his Ninety-Five Theses on Indulgences to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany, October 31^st, 1517. Each of these ninety-five theses dealt specifically with the question, “How are we justified before God?” How you answer that question will inform how you treat countless other doctrines in the Church: Who is Jesus? What does His sacrificial death mean? How can I know that I am saved? Is God wrathful or gracious? What am I to make of suffering and death? How should I understand the command to perform good works? Etc. This is why the doctrine of justification is said to be the doctrine by which the Church stands or falls, for if any part of your justification depends upon you, you can never be saved, and if you are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, then you need do nothing to be saved at all but believe and trust in Jesus and receive God’s most gracious gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

In Jesus, the hour of God’s judgment has come – bearing your sins, Jesus was judged guilty in your place, and you have been judged innocent. Moreover, Jesus received the sentence you deserved, death, and He went to your cross, was crucified, died, and was buried. But He rose again from the dead because He had paid the penalty for your sin and, having no sin of His own, the grave could not hold Him. Therefore, He has taken away the sting of death, sin, and He has taken away the power of sin by fulfilling the Law. This is the eternal Gospel that must be proclaimed again, and again, and again “to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.”

Thus, the Reformation continues, for the flesh and sinful men will continually rebel against and reject the Gospel and return to the chains of the Law, God’s, man’s, the devil’s, or otherwise. Semper ecclesia reformanda, the Church is always being reformed, for we must daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, and annually cast off the shackles of the Law and works righteousness, repent, and receive the soothing balm of the Gospel. The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom. And the Wisdom of God will appear as foolishness to man’s flesh and corrupted reason. Therefore, we pray and we repent, this day and every day, that God would continue to send His angels, His messengers, His pastors, teachers, and evangelists to proclaim to us the eternal Gospel again, and again, and again. And He will, and He does. Even now He has prepared His table before you in the presence of your enemies that you may eat and be satisfied, drink and be quenched. And He promises that He will never leave you or forsake you, but that He will keep you and protect you as you pass through the valley of the shadow of death. For, “A mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon.” And though “the old evil foe now means deadly woe,” “He’s judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him.” You may be surprised to hear that Luther said that “one little word” was “Liar!” However, this makes sense, because Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and He exposes Satan for what he is, a liar. Therefore, when Satan lies to you saying, “You must do more if you are going to merit God’s forgiveness,” or, “There is no forgiveness for you, your sins are too great,” just say to him, “Liar! My Jesus is the Truth, and He has set me free; for I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus, and that is the truth.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for James Alan Soldwisch

(Audio)

John 3:16-18; Romans 8:31-39; Romans 14:7-9; Job 19:21-27

 

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

Billie, Kathleen; Scott, Steve, Stacy; Ellen; Grandchildren, Great Grandchildren, family, and friends of James Alan Soldwisch, “Jim,” grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I’ve been blessed to serve here at St. John six years now. That is the entire time I’ve known Jim, Billie, and Ellen. The first two and a half of those years, Jim and Billie came to church, or I visited them in their home. The last three and a half of those years were affected by the pandemic, and then by Jim’s declining health and mental condition. While it’s fair to say that I knew Jim, it is also fair to say that I didn’t know him well. As you all know, Jim was a man of few words when he was healthy, and fewer still when he wasn’t. But Jim came to church; he wanted to be here; that was important to him. And that says a lot about Jim.

As I met with the immediate family this week in preparation for today’s service, I learned more about the Jim that I didn’t know. I learned where he grew up and where he went to school. I learned about his parents, his family, and his upbringing. I learned about his interests and what he did for a living. I was somewhat surprised to learn about his love for motorcycles and John Deere lawn tractors. I learned about his love for his sons and for his grandchildren, and how he loved to watch them play sports or whatever it was they loved to do. I never would have guessed that Jim loved motorcycles and used to ride all over the country. I never would have guessed that he went to Sturgis nearly every year, but that’s what the family said, and yesterday I saw all his Sturgis t-shirts on display to prove it! Jim loved cars also, particularly his ‘69 Firebird and his Camaro. Jim enjoyed woodworking, gardening, and collecting and restoring John Deere lawn tractors. I learned about a time when Jim was hauling two tractors and forgot to tie the second one down; it rolled off down the road as he pulled away thinking all was well. Another time he hauled a three-wheeler on the roof of a Grand Prix. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way! And Jim loved to have fun with his kids and grandkids on the farm. Four-year-old Stacy got a ride on the back of a truck over deep ruts in the mud; by the grace of God, he was able to hold on! Jim turned the other way when Steve and Scott put Stacy in a suitcase and slid him down the stairs. At least they gave him a radio! Or the time when they put Stacy in the dryer; at least they didn’t turn it on! Jim loved to watch Kyle play football, and he always beat Billie in checkers. How proud was Jim of his grandchildren? When his first grandson was born, Jim put on a suit and rented a limo to take mother and son home; he even had a dozen roses in hand for Kandi. I think that’s just scratching the surface of who Jim was.

Those are some of the things that I didn’t know about Jim. But here’s what I do know about Jim: Jim is a baptized child of God. God claimed Jim as His own child when He was baptized into Jesus eighty-two years ago. Jim’s sin was washed away in that cleansing flood, the sin that he was conceived and born in, and the sins he had committed since himself. Jim was robed in Christ’s righteousness that covered all his sins. God the Father looked upon Jim as His own holy, righteous, sinless son, through Jesus Christ. Years later Jim was confirmed; after years of studying the Bible and the Catechism, Jim made a public confession of the faith the Holy Spirit created in him in Holy Baptism. Jim confessed his faith and trust in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he began to receive Jesus’ body and blood in Holy Communion for the renewed forgiveness of his sins and for the strengthening of his faith. Jim was sustained in this faith throughout his life, and he passed this faith on to his children as best he could, which is why we are here today, to honor and respect Jim’s faith and to commend him to our Lord until the day of resurrection, and to find comfort and hope in the words and promises of our Lord which can never fail, neither for Jim or for us.

This is not to suggest that Jim was perfect. He wasn’t. No one is perfect, not Jim, not you, not me. Still, it is a truism that only sinners can be forgiven, only the lost can be found, and only the dead can be raised. Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Jesus died so that those who bear the curse of sin, which is death, may live. Jim believed and trusted in His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the LORD will not and cannot break His promise made to Jim. In truth, Jim died long ago, in Holy Baptism; and so did each of you when believed and were baptized. Therefore, Jesus teaches, “Whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” Indeed, this is why the Son of God became the man Jesus – to fulfill God’s Law for Jim, for you, for me, and for all men, and to suffer and die for our sin and be raised to new life that cannot die: “For God so loved the world in this way: He gave His only Son over to death on the cross, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is what Job, in the midst of his terrible suffering, confessed nearly two thousand years before Jesus’ birth: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job confessed his faith in a Redeemer, long before His birth; yet more amazing still, Job confessed his faith in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is precisely the resurrection that is our hope and comfort when we face death, whether it be our own or the death of those we love. We do not grieve as others do who have no hope, for we believe that we will be raised with new, glorified, flesh and blood bodies having eyes to see, ears to hear, and arms to reach out and touch and hold those we love who have died in the Lord. “Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on,” says Jesus, for they are with Him, “and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Indeed, God is for us. God is for Jim. And we are sure that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes! This is the LORD’s doing, therefore we can trust in it and depend upon it. This is the LORD’s doing, therefore we have hope. Jesus lives! And because He lives, we shall live also. Do not be afraid! He is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 22)

(Audio)

Matthew 18:21-35; Philippians 1:3-11; Micah 6:6-8

 

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

The problem with indebtedness is that someone else owns your car, your home, and your life. In a very real sense, when you are in debt, you have sold yourself into slavery. As a result, you live every day in the fear that the rightful owner might come knocking on your door and demand that you pay back in full what you owe. And, if you can’t do that, you’re going to lose your car, your home, or, perhaps, even your life, as your wages are garnished, fines and penalties accrue, and you are sued, or possibly even imprisoned. Yes, of course, there are bankruptcy laws, − we even call it bankruptcy protection today − but they are a relatively new invention originating in 16^th century England. The concept, however, finds its roots in 9^th to 14^th century Italy. Whenever a man refused to pay his debts, those he owed would storm into his house or workplace and destroy his workbench. In Italian, broken bench is “banca rotta,” from which we get the English word bankruptcy.

Spiritually, you are indebted and bankrupt to your Creator. In the beginning He provided you everything you required to live and to prosper. But you took what He did not give, what He had forbidden, and now you owe. And, how are you ever going to repay your God who made you and all things? What, O indebted man, do you truly own that you could repay Him with? This is what the Prophet Micah is getting at when he says: “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” None of these are truly yours, for you have nothing of your own, and all these already belong to Him. No, if the LORD is not merciful and forgiving, there is no hope for you. But, He is merciful and forgiving; therefore there is hope, and more than hope, for forgiveness, life, and salvation. There is more than hope, because your LORD, Creator, and God did not send His henchmen to break your bench, but He sent His own Son to be broken for you, in your place. In Jesus, God did the unthinkable: He switched places with you. He became the debtor, and you go free. He didn’t merely lower your APR or write-off a portion of your debt, but He completely erased it, canceled it, tore it up, forgave it. Still, a debt is a debt; and, forgiven or not, someone still has to pay. That someone was God Himself, in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus paid for all your debt to God’s righteousness until it was finished, canceled, paid in full. He drank the cup of God’s righteous wrath against your sin down to the bitterest dregs, so that there is nothing left. Therefore, you don’t need to bargain with God for more time to make things right – not withstanding the fact that you could labor in hell for all eternity and never come close – but you need only receive His forgiveness by grace alone as a gift – the most pure, holy, and perfect gift you could ever imagine. And, you must understand that receiving this gift is not a work; faith and trust in God is not a work. For, anything that you might dream to offer God towards paying your sin debt, negotiating it down, even believing that your receiving the gift is a work that you do (because you have to take it?), is a slap to the face of God, suggesting that Jesus’ suffering and death for you was insufficient, not enough. No, either God has forgiven your sin debt one hundred percent in Christ Jesus or you are still in debt to Him.

You see, this is the radical nature of God’s grace and of our Christian faith. Finished really means finished! Free really means free! Forgiven really means forgiven! And, that’s because grace really means grace. With God, it’s really all or nothing: It’s all His grace, or it’s no grace at all. It’s all His forgiveness, or it’s no forgiveness at all. It’s all His work, to His credit and glory, or it’s none of His work at all – which means it’s all your work, and you will never, never be able to make yourself right with God by your works and merit. However, some think this sounds too easy, that sinners are let off Scot free, that that somehow cheapens grace. Yes, while it is true that our sin-corrupted flesh and reason will seek to take advantage of God’s grace, such people deceive themselves and remain in their sins. For, God’s grace is anything but cheap. In truth, it is the most costly thing there is, costing no less than the holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Before moving on to Jesus’ parable of The Unforgiving Servant, I want to take a moment to address an objection that is raised by some Christians to the use of language concerning the payment of debt, punishment, God’s wrath, and substitutionary atonement. The use of such language offends some Christians because they believe that it somehow lessons or contradicts God’s true motive in sending His Son to forgive our sins: Love. They argue that for God to have wrath against man for His sin so that He has to sacrifice His own Son to satisfy and satiate His wrath makes God to be an angry and vengeful God, not a God of love. Likewise, they argue that for Jesus to bear the punishment we deserve as a scapegoat negates His great love and compassion for mankind, acting more out of obedience to His Father than from love. While I can appreciate the desire in such remarks to keep the focus on God’s boundless love instead of on negative things like wrath, debt, punishment, etc., nevertheless, the Bible, and Jesus Himself, often uses such language and imagery to illustrate the nature of our sin and God’s righteousness, as well as His love and forgiveness. In fact, Jesus’ parable of The Unforgiving Servant is a perfect example of this.

When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who sinned against him, Jesus answered Peter and all the disciples with a parable saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.” Now, who is it that said that it was proper to compare God and His kingdom to a debtor / debtee transaction? That’s right, it was Jesus who said that. You see, however, the words “may be compared” are of key importance. Jesus is not saying that the kingdom of heaven is a debtor / debtee transaction, but only that such worldly things serve to illuminate what is truly a Divine and holy mystery. It is very similar to Jesus’ teaching about prayer where He said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.” The point is that, as imperfect and broken as human relations are in this world, they still bear a shadow or a dim reflection of what is holy and true. God can use them, and He does use them, that we may know Him better and His will and love for us in Jesus.

In truth, the entire parable is about love. The cancelation of debts, mercy, and forgiveness are really fruits of this overarching and underlying good law: love. Peter was seeking to place a limit upon forgiveness, upon love, to make that commandment more do-able. That’s what we do with love; we make it conditional. But, God’s love is unconditional; it makes no demands upon us at all. How many times should you forgive? How much love should you show? There is no limit. Further, the one who has wronged you does not need to deserve, earn, or merit your love and forgiveness, but you must give it always and unconditionally, even if they hurt you again, and again. Now, that’s Law! You bet it is! If you are to abide and live by that standard, then there is no hope for you. But, that’s where the Gospel comes in and says, “Do not be afraid! Lift up your head. I forgive you, for Jesus’ sake. Moreover, I love you perfectly and completely. I will give you love and more that you can truly love your brother, your neighbor, even your enemy, because you will love them with my boundless, limitless love. You will forgive them, as I have forgiven you, with my boundless, limitless forgiveness.”

You see, Jesus has fulfilled the Law to love for you. Mind you, He has not done away with it, it is still there, but He has fulfilled it for you. This means, not that you are free to not do it, but rather that you are free to do it, without coercion, without fear, but with Jesus’ love. In fact, you must do it; you must show love, and you must forgive. But, these musts are not terrifying commands of the Law, but fruits of the Gospel. You must love and forgive your brother, your neighbor, and your enemy because you are forgiven by God in Jesus – you are a branch connected to the True Vine, and Jesus says that you will bear much fruit. You must love them and forgive them, not only with your head, with your intellect and mind, but you must love and forgive them from your heart. Why? Because love and forgiveness are the fruit that Jesus bears through you when you believe and trust in Him. They are His fruit, borne through you, by which all will know that you are His disciples.

This is what you pray regularly in the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Your forgiveness of others is connected to your receiving forgiveness from God – and vice versa. If you will not, or can not, forgive your brother, your neighbor, and even your enemy, from your heart, that is a sign, a bad sign, that Jesus is not in your heart, or that His foothold there is slipping. Now, I know that this may sound like the preaching of the Law – and, to some of you, it probably is, and probably needs to be – but what I mean to preach to you now is the sweet liberty of the Gospel. You are truly free from your sin debt. It is canceled, paid in full by God in Jesus Christ because He loves you. But, will you, now that you are released, freed, and forgiven, hold your brother, your neighbor, even your enemy, in their sin debt and refuse forgiveness? What did the master in Jesus’ parable say to his servant whose debt he forgave when he in turn would not forgive one indebted to him? “You wicked servant! I forgave you all the debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” Therefore, forgive with Jesus’ forgiveness. Give with Jesus’ grace. Love with Jesus’ love. This grace is not cheap, but the most costly grace imaginable. Therefore, do not be stingy and withhold from others what has cost God so very, very much, which He has purchased and given in love for you and all the world.

Come now and eat and drink deeply from the True Vine, Jesus Christ, that you may live with His life and bear His fruit of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. For, this fountain is ever-flowing, and its waters are sweetness, peace and eternal life.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

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.