The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 13)

(Audio)

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 12)

(Audio)

 

Mark 7:31-37; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11; Isaiah 29:17-24

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of St. Mary, Mother of Our Lord

(Audio) 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Holy Matrimony of Spencer Richard Warehime & Nicole Rae Geisemann

(Audio) 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 10)

(Audio)

 

Luke 16:41-48; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Jeremiah 8:4-12

 

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

The peace movement of the 1960s was fueled by the realization that war is a huge money-making business. Truly, nothing will bring a nation out of a recession or a depression like a great war. Wars create jobs, increase gross national production, and focus people upon the enemy “over there” instead of the problems right here at home. And so, youth growing up in the 60s rebelled against war, and they advocated for peace. They adopted the famous “peace sign” as the symbol of their movement, a symbol designed in the 1950s as the logo for a British campaign for nuclear disarmament. They held rallies and sit-ins protesting the Vietnam War, and they practiced the ideals of what they believed would make for a peaceful society and world: Free love and free drugs, freedom from clothing (and from deodorant and shaving too!), freedom from work, from money, and from laws, etc. John Lennon exhorted his generation to simply imagine a world without heaven or hell, countries, religion, and possessions, as if imagining could change reality. But, it couldn’t. Still, there were greed and hunger, poverty and suffering, racism, and hatred. For, you can imagine all you like, still there is no peace. Imagine as you may, the things that make for peace cannot be found in worldly mammon or by your own works and merit. For, before there can be peace with your fellow man, there must first be peace with God, and peace with God is not something that you can buy, or merit, or even imagine into being, but peace is something that God has worked, that God has declared, and that God has realized in His Son Jesus Christ upon the cross for the life of the world.

God’s peace incarnate approached Jerusalem and wept over it saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” For, when He entered the temple, God’s house of prayer, He beheld that men had made it to be a den of robbers. The people were trying to purchase or merit peace with God by their sacrifices, by their tithes, by their prayers, and by their works. But, such things cannot make for peace with God. In truth, they rob from God, for all things belong to Him, yet men feign to buy His favor and peace by offering Him His own gifts as the sacrifice of their own hands and hearts. Jesus wept because He foresaw the judgment that would soon fall upon them: “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.” For, the wrath of God against human sin is very real, His holiness and His righteousness literally cannot tolerate a speck of it, and God’s Peace incarnate, the only peace possible, Jesus, was approaching Jerusalem in the prophetic knowledge that He would be rejected. When God’s Peace makes His visitation, there can be only two possible outcomes: Receive Him in faith to your great blessing, or reject Him in unbelief to your judgment and condemnation.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem, the city of God’s Peace, because He knew that He would be rejected. He taught daily in the temple, and many were drawn to Him and to His teaching, but “the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him.” They, the religious leaders of the people of Israel, took a “lying pen” to the Law of God and bent it and distorted it, making it into a lie. They lowered the bar of the Law’s expectations in order to make it appear more do-able and keep-able, and they preached that men could justify themselves by keeping it, so that men sought peace, not in the LORD of hosts, but in their works and in their merits. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people healed the wound of God’s people lightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” where there was no peace.

The Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, had come to visit His people. The only question was, would He be received in faith or rejected in unbelief? In the same way, the Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, visits His people today. Here, in this holy fellowship, the Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, visits you, His people, in Holy Word and in Blessed Sacrament. How will you receive Him – in faith, to your great blessing, or in unbelief to your judgment and condemnation? The Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, is the two-edged Word-Sword of God, cutting both ways, for the healing of the faithful and for the judgment of unbelievers. “Once He came in blessing, all our sins redressing; came in likeness lowly, Son of God most holy; bore the cross to save us; hope and freedom gave us.” But, “Soon will come that hour when with mighty power Christ will come in splendor and will judgment render, with the faithful sharing joy beyond comparing.”

What will God’s Peace incarnate find when He makes His visitation? Will He find that the Lord’s “house of prayer” has been made a “den of robbers,” or will He find His people waiting for Him in faithful patience, watching for Him in hopeful expectation, fearing His holiness and righteousness with reverence, loving and trusting in Him for His goodness and faithfulness to all generations and for forgiveness and life and salvation? As the early Church confessed in the Didache, “There are two ways, the way of life, and the way of death, and there is a great difference between the two ways,” so there is no fence-straddling when it comes to your peace with God – it is in and through faith and trust in the Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, or there is no peace with God, period. There is no agnostic middle way in which you can avoid making a commitment, for “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” There is no yin-yang blending of black and white, darkness and light, good and evil, faith and unbelief that results in ambiguous greyness, for the Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, is the Light of the World that scatters the darkness. In Him there is no darkness at all.

Therefore, do not look to find peace with God in your works and in your merits, in your tithes, or even in your faith, but receive the Peace of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, as He comes to you to forgive your sins, to strengthen your faith, to commune with you in body and blood, and bestow upon you life, salvation, and sonship with His Father. Indeed, you have but two things to do in this life – and, really they are one and the same, and they are not even things that you do, but they are things that you are: Fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and love and serve your neighbor as you love and serve the LORD.

Now, you have tremendous, incredible, and amazing freedom in this, for there is no Law against love. However, “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.” Now, Jesus was referring to the destruction that would befall Jerusalem in less than a generation when the Romans would lay siege to Jerusalem for four years and finally completely destroy the city and all who remained in it in 70 AD.

However, you, too, have enemies who barricade you and surround you and hem you in. They are the wise men and false prophets who continually say to you  “Peace, peace when there is no peace,” telling you that all is well for you, even as you disregard the LORD’s Word and Commandments and follow your own way and the ways of the world. Do not regard them or give heed to them! For God’s Peace incarnate, Jesus Christ, comes to you today in blessing through Word and Sacrament to forgive and to heal and to strengthen and to save, but He will come another day, on a day that you will not know, to judge the wicked and to save the faithful. His blessed visitation now is meant to prepare and to keep you for that day that you need not be afraid.

Come now, and be clothed anew in Jesus’ blood and righteousness. His gracious visitation now is your peace with God today and tomorrow, and for as many tomorrows as he may grant you. This is the gate of heaven, and it is open to you through God’s Peace incarnate, Jesus Christ, that you may be partakers of His heavenly treasures.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 9)

(Audio)
 

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

 

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

One of the over-arching stories of the Holy Scriptures goes something like this: Once you were free in the LORD, but you rebelled and sinned and, in so doing, sold yourself into slavery. However, in boundless mercy and grace, the LORD did what was necessary to set you free once again: He became a man, obediently fulfilling the demands of the Law, suffering and dying bearing the penalty for your transgression, setting you free through faith in Him. But, what will you do with your freedom? Will you fear, and love, and trust in the LORD above all things? Or, will you put your fear, your love, and your trust in other things, or in other people, or in your self? These are all creaturely, created by the LORD Himself, and yet you fear not having or losing them, you love and treasure them more than the LORD who created them, yourself, and all things, and you trust in them that, by possessing them, you will be independent and free. That is idolatry, for you have made of them to be gods, and you have made yourself a god, a god unto yourself.

“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Now, what is mammon? Mammon is all manner of material and worldly wealth and possessions. Mammon is stuff – all the stuff that you think you have to have, all the stuff you’ve got that you don’t know what to do with anymore, all the stuff that has taken your money, wasted your time, and crowded you out of your house and home. And, mammon is a master that you serve, and a false god that you worship. To live in service and worship of mammon is to be a slave. Moreover, if mammon is master and a god, then you cannot serve and worship the true and only God who made you, your stuff, the world, and everything in it.

However, it is not that mammon is evil. Money isn’t evil, and neither are material things and worldly possessions. God created them, and He looked at all that He made and declared it to be very good. No, mammon isn’t the problem. You are. For, what do you do with mammon? Do you not crave and desire to have it, fear to lose it, covet what is not yours, and greedily hoard what is? Mammon didn’t make you do it. You do it because of your fallen, sinful nature. You continually make idols and false gods out of the stuff the True God has made and has given you to be a steward of.

You see, the so-called “unrighteous steward” of Jesus’ parable wasn’t really unrighteous, was he? I mean, there’s no indication that he was greedy for money and covetous of earthly goods and possessions. His chief concern was that he was soon going to be out of a job and that he wouldn’t be able to provide for himself. Likewise, when he hatched his great scheme to make friends for himself with his master’s money, he didn’t keep a cut for himself. All he was seeking to do was gain the favor of others for that inevitable day when he would be out on the streets without food, clothing, and shelter.

Now, we can speculate on what the steward was thinking as he hurriedly reduced the debts owed his master by fifty and twenty percent, but one thing is clear – the steward was not beholden to mammon, to money. On the contrary, the steward cared so little about money that spent it, not on himself, but on others in order to help them, and to bring them, relief and joy. True, the steward did have in mind his own welfare when he would be out of a job, but that all the more goes to show that he was not materialistic, or a slave to money. He did not serve mammon. Indeed, he made mammon to serve him!

I know this doesn’t sit well with you. It doesn’t sit well with me either. “That’s not fair,” we protest. “That’s illegal,” we shout. And, that’s why Jesus’ conclusion to this parable confounds us so very much. For, when the master finds out what his steward has done with his money, he is not angry with him, he does not punish him, he does not fire him, he does not have him thrown in jail, but, instead, he commends him for his shrewdness. How can Jesus hold up a dishonest crook as a commendable steward? What does he mean to teach us in this way?

Well, suffice it to say, the parable is much less about shrewdness in the ways and means of the world as it is about fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Jesus ends the parable with a proverb saying, “The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.” Here, Jesus is making a distinction between the unbelieving masses and His own believing children whom He calls “the sons of light.” To put it plainly, Jesus is saying that the unbelieving “sons of this world” know how to use money and possessions to get what they want and need. The problem is that they do not recognize that these things belong to, and are given them, by the LORD, and that they are stewards of His providence that they might use it to benefit themselves and others to the glory of His Name. Because they do not recognize God’s providence, they credit themselves for their wealth and possessions, and they are greedy and selfish and manipulative, because they are ruled by the fear of losing or not having enough. They are slaves to mammon, therefore they cannot serve God.

Not so, you sons of light. Your Lord Jesus teaches you to “make friends for yourselves by means off unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” Now, Jesus says a lot in a few words here. First of all, it is key that he calls wealth “unrighteous.” This does not mean that money is evil, but that it is not holy or sacred. It has no lasting value, and any value it has at all is only what men ascribe to it. In the eyes of the Lord, money and material possessions are nothing and are worthless. Moreover, they will not last. They will pass away. You know that the saying is true, “You can’t take it with you.” No, money and possessions are not evil, but men use them for evil purposes. Therefore, Jesus exhorts you to receive these gifts for what they are, temporal gifts to help you and others in this life. Don’t make them into masters! Don’t make them into gods! Instead, receive them in thanksgiving and praise to the LORD and use them in fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Use them for yourself and for your family, and use them for the benefit of others, not expecting anything in return, but because you know that all belongs to the LORD and the LORD loves and provides for all.

Jesus concludes His teaching saying, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to the true riches.” Here it becomes clear that how we manage (steward) the LORD’s possessions over which He has given us stewardship here on earth is connected to the spiritual gifts the LORD has given us both now, and in life eternal. Again, the message is actually quite simple, “Don’t enslave yourself to wealth and possessions. Do not put your fear, your love, and your trust in them.” As I said in the beginning, one of the over-arching stories of the Holy Scriptures goes something like this: Once you were free in the LORD, but you rebelled and sinned and, in so doing, sold yourself into slavery. However, in boundless mercy and grace, the LORD did what was necessary to set you free once again. But, what will you do with your freedom? Will you fear, love, and trust in the LORD above all things? Or, will you put your fear, love, and trust in other things, other people, and in your self? “You cannot serve God and money.”

St. Paul writes in our Epistle today, “these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did.” Thus, Paul exhorts you saying, “Do not be idolaters as some of them were.” Likewise, the prophet Samuel teaches that the service and worship of mammon produces pride, whereas the LORD values humility saying, “You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.” How you view and understand unrighteous mammon – wealth and material possessions – is directly connected to what you believe about God. If God is your master, then you will receive these worldly and material things as the gifts they are. You will be good stewards of them, not fearfully and greedily amassing them and hoarding them, nor covetously desiring to have those things that belong to others, but using them, as the good gifts that they are, for your benefit and for the benefit of your family, but also for the benefit of your neighbors to the glory of God. These are the little things in which you must be faithful now so that you may be entrusted with the true riches of the kingdom of God.

For, you also have stewardship of spiritual things now, things like grace, mercy, love, charity, kindness, patience, and forgiveness. The LORD so lavishly pours them upon you, and into you, that you simply overflow with His goodness. Of the sheer abundance of these riches you are blessed to be a blessing to others, to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, come, now, and receive of these spiritual gifts that you may be strengthened and filled to overflowing. And, do not hesitate to share them with all you encounter, whoever the LORD causes to cross your path. For, in serving them, you serve Christ, your true master, and you demonstrate that mammon is a gift of the LORD, and not your god.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Alfred M. Janssen

(Audio)

 

Ephesians 2:8-10; John 3:1-8, 16-18; Romans 8:31-39; Isaiah 40:26-31

 

Dear Kathy, Marcia, Laura, Dan, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ – Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Al asked that his funeral sermon focus upon these words from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:8-10

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

Justification – how sinners are restored to a right relationship with God – that is what St. Paul is proclaiming in the verses quoted above: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – not by works...”. Grace means salvation is a free and perfect gift, no strings attached. Faith simply means trust, that you believe God when He says that you are forgiven and saved in Jesus. Both grace and faith are gifts from God. They are not earned or merited by works, they are not deserved, but they are 100% pure gift. That is what Al wanted you to focus upon and to remember this day. That is what drove Al and made him the son, husband, father, grandfather, teacher, mentor, and friend that he was. As he said in his own words, “By the grace of God I have been saved! Not by works or by any merit on my part. It was by faith that was placed in my heart by the Holy Spirit.”

Al received that grace of God, the gift of faith and the Holy Spirit, on May 13, 1931 when he was baptized into Jesus Christ. Dan recounted to me his last conversation with his father. Dan asked him, “What is the secret of faith?” Al answered with one word, “Baptism.” Baptism is 100% pure gift, 100% pure grace. That is what Jesus taught Nicodemus saying, “You must be born again.” Jesus wanted Nicodemus to think about what it was like when he was born the first time, what it was like when you were born. Did you choose to be born? Did you choose who your parents would be? Did you choose to be male or female, black or white, American, French, or Chinese, rich or poor, short or tall, or anything at all? Of course not. That, Jesus teaches, is what it is like to be born again of water and the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. Just as birth is not something that you choose, earn, merit, or deserve, so being born again in Holy Baptism is not something that you choose, earn, merit, or deserve, but it is something that is done to you and for you, something that happens to you by grace alone, a free, pure, and perfect gift. This truth was incredibly important and life-defining for Al, and he wanted it to ring out loud and clear on the day of his funeral: “I leave those who survive me the comfort of knowing that I have died in this faith and have now joined my Lord in eternal glory. I urge my heirs not to set their hopes on uncertain riches and earthly success but to take hold of the life which is life indeed through faith in Jesus Christ.”

As he confessed, Al was saved by grace through faith, and not by works. Still, Al’s faith and long life were marked by numerous, countless, undisputed good works. Al served sixteen years in the Iowa National Guard. He was a member of the Waverly Exchange Club. He served on the Waverly City Council, the Bartels Board of Trustees, and he served as a Hospice volunteer for twenty years. In the church, Al sang in the choir for forty-five years and taught Sunday School for forty years. And anyone who knew Al also knew his fervor for evangelism. Al took seriously St. Peter’s exhortation, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” When I visited Al, he often told me stories about people he would meet at dinner at Bartels or elsewhere who weren’t Christian. Al always shared with them the reason for the hope he had in Christ Jesus, but he did it with gentleness and with respect, as St. Peter also exhorts us.

Al was a salesman. He spent his career in sales and marketing with Midland Cooperative, Supersweet Feeds, and thirty-two years with United Suppliers. He was a salesman, and he was darn good at it too. Sales was but one of Al’s many vocations – a God-given calling in which he served his Lord by serving others. Combined with his zeal for sharing the Gospel, Al’s talent for sales made him an influential and effective evangelist. Through Al, God shaped and mentored countless people, young and old, helping to establish, grow, shape, and mature their faith.

However, more than anything else, Al was a devoted and beloved husband and father. Kathy, you shared with me that Al always made you happy. He always knew how to make you smile. After sixty-five years, you always had something to talk about. He was your best friend and a good and faithful husband. Thanks be to God. Laura, you recounted your childhood days on the farm with your Dad, how he was patient with you and always got you involved and made you feel like you were an important part of the work. Marcia, you recounted how Dad always brimmed with positive energy, how he was nurturing and encouraging and always made you feel loved and valued. And Dan, you recounted how Dad showed you unconditional love and support during the most challenging times of your life. That is grace, a free, perfect, and unconditional gift.

Al wanted this day to be about God’s free and perfect gift of grace in Christ Jesus. I think we have honored that – in fact, it was quite easy to do, for that is what it means to be a Lutheran Christian: To confess that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone – period. And yet, there is a role for good works and fruits. While they do not contribute in any way to our justification before God, good works and fruits must accompany faith. The thing is that these good works and fruits are the works and fruit of Jesus that are lived in and borne through those who have been grafted into Him as a branch into a vine. It is the life of Jesus that flowed through Al, that enlivened him and made him fruitful with good works. Those good works, the fruit of Al’s faith, served you and glorified God. Al wasn’t saved by his works, but Al produced good works and fruit, because he had been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This was true for Al, it is true for you, even as it is true for all the world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I think this truth, more than anything else, drove Al in his evangelistic fervor. Since Jesus died for everyone, Al wanted more than anything else for everyone to know this truth and to believe it. Al did what he could, what he was given to do. We could do nothing more to honor his faith and life than to continue his work in our ours. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

In the days, weeks, months, and years ahead you will grieve and you will weep, but you will grieve in hope. For though Al has died, he is not gone, and you will see him again. Al’s soul rests in Jesus for now as his body will rest here on earth. But we look forward to the glorious day of Christ’s return when the dead will be raised and reunited with their immortal souls and we will see our loved ones who have died in faith in glorified flesh and blood bodies forevermore in the presence of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Until then, we can be with them in the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, where we join with “angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven,” including Al, in praise of the Lord until we meet in the flesh once again. Then, we will have joy, and no one will take our joy from us.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.