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A long time ago there was a man who called things what they really were to a church that called evil good and good evil. The members of this church saw themselves as secure and happy and proud in life because they had the right father (Abraham). But this man—a prophet really—arrived and blew everything up with his preaching. Continue by listening.
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Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity
The Life of the Nobleman's Son October 21, 2018 John 4:46–54 What Do You Love More Than Anything? In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. + What do you love more than anything in the world? The man from Capernaum who came to Cana loved his son. He was a well-off nobleman, but what really mattered to him was the life of his son. He was willing to sacrifice everything that he had to save his son. So he came to Cana, the town where Jesus had changed water into wine. This nobleman was hoping for another miracle to save the only thing in life that mattered to him. But Jesus' answer to him isn't a yes or a no, but a question. Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. In Capernaum, there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son, because his son was about to die. Jesus told him, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you certainly will not believe.” (John 4:46–48 EHV) Jesus' question names this man's real problem: that his hope is misplaced. This man believed that as long as his son lived, there was still hope. But if he didn't live, then all hope would be gone. Jesus saw this man's misplaced hope and called on him to repent. Jesus called this man to turn and find hope that abides in life and in death. What do you love more than anything in the world? For what will do you anthing to protect? It's the lives of children, especially your children. We think that as long as they live, there is hope. If they don't live, then everything crumbles. Marriages, families, happiness all fall apart after tragedy because the thing that brought hope has been ripped away. If you've ever been to a children's hospital in Iowa City, Peoria, or Rochester, you see mankind at its best. But it isn't enough. Some children don't leave. But Jesus never leaves. He's there, hidden in His Word, where He wants to be found, whether your child lives or dies. His final word to the nobleman was vague, “Go, your son lives.” He didn't promise healing, just that the man's son lived. And in His promise, the man truly believed. That's why he went home, not knowing what he would find, but taking hope with him. Whether he found death or life, sadness or surprise, he had Jesus. And so did his son. Even if his son had been called home, Jesus promised that the boy lives, now and forever. That boy is alive now. And so is his father. We make idols out of our children, but called by His promise we repent of our sin because God sent His only-begotten Son to live and die for us and for our children. What do you love more than anything in the world? This week have this conversation with your children at your family altar, at your breakfast table, at their bedside. Daughter, do you love me? Yes, Father. Do love me more than anything in the world? Yes, Father, but I love Jesus more. Why is that? Because you didn't die to save me, but Jesus did, and because He died for me, I'll never die, even if I die. Dear Christ, give us all child-like faith. + In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God!  Eigteenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday of St. Michael and All Angels Observed September 30, 2018 Revelation 12:7–12 A War Already Won + In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Angels have several jobs. They are messengers (indeed, angel literally means messenger) who are sent by the Lord to deliver key messages to human beings. Think of the angel Gabriel speaking to Joseph while the Virgin Mary was pregnant with Jesus Christ. They also stand in heaven and sing praise to the living God. Think of the song we sing every Sunday as we gather around the Holy Sacrament: “Holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!” This is the song of the angels revealed to us in the prophecy of Isaiah. Here in our reading from the Revelation to Saint John, we see another job: to protect and guard and fight for God's people. We know that the Lord God has sent us guardian angels. These good and kind creatures aren't a metaphor or symbol; they are actually working to keep us safe, body and soul. They are working for their Lord and for us, His people, by working against the Devil and his evil angels. It's a war. We see a glimpse of this on-going conflict in Daniel's prophecy. Some demons were trying to work behind the scenes to harm God's people as they lived in exile in Persia. We aren't giving many details and what we are told is perplexing: However, an officer of the kingdom of Persia was standing against me for twenty-one days. Yet Michael, one of the chief officers, came to help me, for I had been left there against the kings of Persia. (Daniel 10:13 EHV) Behind the scenes in battles that are mostly hidden from our eyes, God's angels are contending with the demonic forces of the Devil. Paul the Apostle speaks of this war in his letter to the Ephesians: Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities and cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12 ESV) The Devil is fighting to replace Christ as the One who gets to speak the final word about us before God's throne. While Christ speaks forgiveness and peace before His Father in heaven, the Devil, Satan, wants to accuse us of all our sin and have us sent away from God's gracious presence forever. This war is a war of words. But it is a war already won. And it was won by more than words—blood was shed. While many believers have been and will continue to be attacked and murdered because they bear the name of Christ, there is only one fountain of blood that wins us into God's presence. The blood of Christ shed on Golgotha is the winning sacrifice that forever unites us to Him and drives the Devil away. But like the old evil foe that he is, the Devil refuses to quit, even though he has already lost. Why would an enemy keep on fighting even when victory is impossible? Because rebels who hate God are vicious and irrational. They know they have lost, but want to murder as many souls as they can before they are finally sent away. There are many differences, but the raging anger of fighting despite the evidence might be seen recently in the final days of the Second World War. After D-Day, the Nazis were finished for all intents and purposes. But Hitler made them fight. After the Battle of Midway, the tide turned against Imperial Japan and they hurled suicide planes against our ships. Senseless death in the face of certain defeat. This is where we find ourselves, in the midst of a war. We were born into this war on the losing side, but Christ brought us onto His side. Our baptism makes us victors in His name. We are given glimpses of this heavenly battle raging, but mostly we are aware of our own battles against our sinful flesh, this evil world, and its prince, the Devil. And we fight with friends, our brother Jesus Christ, who died for us, and His servants, His angels who guard and protect us in ways that we usually don't see. But they are there and they care for us. And now we can't lose even when we lose our reputation, our children, or our health. Lose in this life still hurts, but its sting is not fatal. Our pain will not kill our souls. But we do suffer because we are in a war. But the One who has suffered for us will never turn on us. He will never accuse us; instead He will lift us up with good words about us to His Father. And His Father will listen to His Son, because of His death and resurrection for us. There was also a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. The dragon fought back along with his angels, but he was not strong enough. There was no longer a place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, the one who leads the whole inhabited earth astray—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:7–9 EHV) When Christ died for us, the great dragon, the Devil, was defeated once and for all. This is the victory won by Michael and by us, but really by Christ Jesus. And so we and the angels sing now and forever: Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. 11They conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives in the face of death. 12For this reason, rejoice, you heavens and those who dwell in them. (Revelation 12:10b–12a EHV) + In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God! Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday of the Sabbath Healing September 23, 2018 Luke 14:8–11 Taking the Lowest Seat for You In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “… when you are invited [to a wedding feast], take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:8-11) This is good advice, isn’t it? Don’t sit in a seat that isn’t yours. In a time when everyone is encouraged to feel entitled to whatever chair they want, a little humility might go a long way. But this advice isn’t limited to our day. King Solomon wrote down this advice 1,000 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem: Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman. (Proverbs 25:6-7) Jesus gave this advice to His table companion—a group of Pharisees—and said it to rebuke them. They saw themselves as deserving. They felt that they deserved attention when they spoke. When they gathered for the special Sabbath meal, they felt that they deserved the best seats. This is why Jesus said at another time: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. . . . But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. . . . “Everything they do is done for men to see . . . they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues . . . In the same way, on the outside [they] appear to people as righteous but on the inside [they] are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:2, 3b, 5-6, 28) People haven’t changed since Jesus’ day, so I wonder how many of these prominent men really believed their own publicity, that they were awesome and God loved them more than anyone else. Here I think of the Pharisees in the parable of the Pharisees and tax collector, who bragged confidently of his own inner rightness before God and told God basically, “You’re lucky to have me on the team.” Today’s version might be a prima donna concert virtuosuo or a SEC quarterback (okay, or a B1G Ten quarterback). I wonder how many were cynics who knew that their goodness was an act, but they were happy to keep acting because it got them good seats and the respect of their fellow man. Here I think of Caiaphas and Annas, the high priests who deliberately ignored the evidence of Christ’s innocence and handed Him over to the Romans in order to keep their influence and power. Today’s version might be the corporate executive who do whatever it takes to make sure his position and stock options are secure. I wonder how many were sincere Jews who were waiting for someone to come and save them. True sons of Abraham who had been taught the Scriptures and knew that being good was good, but unable to save souls. Here I think of Nicodemas, who came to ask Jesus questions that seemed to have been on his mind for some time. In the end we hear how he came and helped prepare his Savior’s body for burial. We’re no better than Pharisees. We might appear righteousness to others and we might even begin to believe our own propaganda. But we must confess that we think we are deserving of God’s attention. In our fairness-obsessed culture we must pretend not to care where other people sit, but we do. Kids care about where they sit in proximity to mom or dad. And they’ll scream to get the place they think they deserve. At wedding receptions, do you pick everyone’s seat or leave it up for grabs? It can be risky, since we know people are watching and we don’t want to offend anyone. And in the wreckage of broken and angry families, the politics of where everyone sits up front can be delicate. We still care about who’s getting attention. We are Pharisees at home, at special events, and even in the church. For example, when we visit other Lutheran churches, we complain when none of the members of the church says hello to us. We crave attention, but we also know that we should try to appear the opposite. So we might try to piously pass off our obsession with attention as evangelism. We say, “Well, if they don’t greet me and aren’t overtly friendly to me, then they must not care about evangelism.” But really we just snubbed, because we think that we deserve attention. When our ideas at home, school, work, or church don’t getthe attention we think they deserve, we become dissatisfied. When our plans don’t play out as we thought, we become irritated and we complain to ears that are eager to hear gossip. Lord, have mercy on us! And He does. Indeed His parable about picking the lowest seat at the banquet isn’t advice on how to get people to like you and get more attention; this parable is how He fulfills it. Listen to Paul’s description of Jesus. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11) Jesus willingly took the lowest place—He became a man! He willingly got even lower—He was nailed to a tree to be punished for the sins of the world! And then His Father, as His Son committed His spirit to Him, came and said in a way: “My beloved Son, move up to a better place.” So He raised up His Son’s soul to His right hand and raised Him bodily on the third day. He who humbles Himself will be exalted. Jesus humbled Himself and is exalted. Jesus humbled Himself for us lowly sinners and for His sake, we are exalted with Him! In Jesus’ Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God!  Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday of the Nain Resurrection September 16, 2018 Luke 7:11–17 The Man Who Died for the Boy Who Lived In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We live in a dying world where Death seems to win. Whether 3,000 die in a terrorist attack on 9/11 or if your 102 year old mother dies of old age on 9/11, the result is the same: they are no longer here. Nothing seems to be able to stand up to Death; it appears inevitable and invincible. If only Jesus would attend every funeral and appear bodily at the grave site of all faithful believers. If only He would gently touch the caskets of the dead and tell them to get up, they would get up. In the history of the Old and New Testaments, God spoke life back into corpses several times. God’s prophet or even His Son intervened and got in Death’s way. But even for the son in Nain or Zarephath, Jairus’ twelve year old daughter, Lazarus in Bethany, or Eutychus in Troas, this resurrection was only temporary. They all died again. But God isn’t content to just temporary bring life back to a handful of souls; He desires that all should live. So God Himself ended Death’s power not just in Nain, but completely on Calvary. Jesus stopped Death once and for all on the cross. He went to the cross for the same reason He raised the widow’s son in Nain—His heart went out to this poor lonely woman. He came to this village of Nain and Luke says, “Behold!” In His humanity Jesus runs into this funeral procession. He sees the sadness and He acted. He first tells the widow to stop crying. He can say this, not because it is wrong to cry at funerals, but because He is there for her. His word is powerful and brings reality to light, even and especially in dark times. He goes to the coffin of this dead son and touched it. He didn’t bang the bier; He pressed His holy hand to this stretcher of death and those carrying it stopped. And using His divine voice He called on Death to give up its prize. And Death had to listen. Death couldn’t say no. The young man got up and began to talk. We don’t know what he said, but he was clearly alive. Jesus’ word had made all the difference. Not only did Jesus give this widow her son back, but He ended her tears of sadness with the promise of reunion with her husband as well. She herself would die, her resurrected son would die again, but Death has lost its powerful to truly hurt God’s people. Reunion is where all of God’s baptized souls are headed. Now it sometimes said at funerals, maybe even the one in Nain: “Your son is with your husband now.” Yes, and with millions of others who trusted in Christ, in the great eternal family of God. Jesus told us that everlasting life with Him will not be like life here—it’s not just your family, clan, or tribe, but all nations together around Him. Heaven is wherever Jesus is; not wherever your loved one is. So even in Nain, the widow and her son and the crowd got a preview and really a view of heaven, because Jesus was in Nain. So yes, there is joy in seeing your beloved spouse and children again. But if that’s your center of gravity in the face of Death, you’ll lose your balance. When we face Death in the eye, Jesus’ promise keeps you grounded and rooted in His love: “I baptized you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!” These are the word of our Great Prophet, the One foretold by Moses: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15–18 CSB) Jesus is our great Prophet, the eternal Son of God, whose voice bring life to His people, not death. The crowds were right when they declared that God had come down and visited His people. Only God has power to stop Death in its tracks, whether for a time or for ever. And with His death, Christ ended the power of Death for ever. He took was Death’s eternal hold on us and made it temporary at best. And better still, He changes Death into our birth into everlasting life. When we die, He takes His own home to be with Him forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God! Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday of God, not Mammon September 9, 2018 Matthew 6:24–34 You Are Worth More Than Money In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. A true capitalist can’t complain about price gouging because a thing’s value is based upon what people are willing to pay for it. Scarcity after a hurricane makes water worth a fortune. But the value of the most precious things in life cannot be measured by how much we're willing to pay for it. The value of human life isn’t determined by how much they want to live. What does give our lives value isn’t what we think it’s worth, but what God was willing to pay for it. God made us in His image and redeemed us with His blood. That is why we are more valuable than birds. And though birds are innocent, He did not become a bird. Instead He became a Man because we are guilty. So that’s what we are worth: the life of the Son, the cost that He was willing to pay to restore us to His image and righteousness. On the other hand, when you worry and daydream about money, you cheapen your own life. You confess that your value as a human being can be measured by money. You don’t have to bow down and pray to a dollar bill to worship money. This is also why children are often seen as financial burdens rather than blessings from God. People plan babies for when they think they can afford them, and by that they mean until they think they won’t have give up too much of their own stuff. They have no intention of sacrificing for their children or raising up good citizens. Rather tthey are just getting children the way people get pets, to make themselves feel good. In the same, but worse way, babies are killed in the womb because they cost too much or will negatively impact someone’s life. When you make Money your god, when you worry about it, when you fantasize about it, you cheapen your own life. You are saying that your value as a human being can be measured by money. When Money becomes the measure of the good life, our souls are destroyed. Jesus harshly warns us against it. The worship of money causes money to be more precious than things that cannot be bought or sold: integrity, a clean conscience, faithfulness, piety, and love. You cannot buy or sell these things but you can give them away and lose them forever. They are far more valuable than money, but when you serve money as your god, when money occupies your thoughts day and night and you are constantly planning for what you would do with your money if you struck it rich, you are saying that money is what makes life worthwhile and money is what you need, the one thing that could help you. Repent. Jesus says we cannot serve two masters. We agree. We say that we worship the only real God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. None of us says, “I worship money.” But we need to look closely. What do we worry about? What do we fantasize about? What do we think would solve our problems? For the most part, we think Money and the devil is happy to agree. He will tell you that your job is more important than going to church because you have to make money, because you have to have it or you won’t have food and you won’t have a house and you’ll die. That’s a lie. The Lord God Himself will provide what you need. And what you need above all else is to hear God’s Word and to receive His Sacraments, lest you live this life, but be spiritually dead and wind up in hell. So also the devil will tell you that your kids need something--mostly sports and what they learn there—more important than anything else, more than reading or times tables or the Bible. Therefore, sports must be the important thing on Sunday morning. That’s a lie. We and our children need to be taught God’s Word--taught that we are sinners and that Jesus died for us and where we now fit into this world. We need this teaching more than we need anything else in life—more than food, clothing, house, school, sports, or any other good thing. Those things all pass away; the Word of the Lord endures forever. Jesus says: You cannot serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other or be loyal to the one and despise the other. Jesus calls us to faith. The Lord takes care of the birds. More than that, He makes a promise to be your God. He has come to save you – not birds or flowers or fallen angels. So He says: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Often, it seems to me, the Holy Spirit shows us our true wealth by painfully taking away the illusions of money and health, that is to say, He makes us suffer so that we know what is important. Who cares who won the Packer/Bear game or what grade you got on the final or if the lawn needs mowed or not when your child is on the operating table. We have what can’t be bought or earned, but if life is too easy we forget it and we become easy prey for the devil. We have the forgiveness of sins. We expect and await the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting which is already begun in us. Sometimes we need to face death, face sorrow and hardship, to realize it and to see that money can’t buy life. To know this, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, to be His child by Baptism, to eat His living Body and drink His Blood, this is richness beyond money. Those who worship mammon's money perish with their god. Not us. Not you. You worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are Baptized. You are a catechumen of Jesus. You hear His Word and believe. Your future is secured in the hands of him who died for you and rose again. He is enough to endure sickness and poverty, scorn and violence. He is enough face death with confidence, because you are worth more than a bird. In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God! Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
Sunday of the Thankful Samaritan September 2, 2018 Saint Luke 17:11–19 Thankfulness Means Asking for More In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Where is the surprise in this incident in Jesus' life? 11On another occasion, as Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, He was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12When He entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met Him. Standing at a distance, 13they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed. 15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. 16He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19Then He said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.” (Luke 17:11–19 EHV) The surprise in this story isn't that Jesus heals these lepers. We know that Jesus is kind and we expect good things from Him. The surprise isn't that the other nine listened to Jesus and went to the priests in Jerusalem to be certified clean and restored to health (a process that took at least a week to finish). Jesus wasn't surprised; He knew exactly where they were. He also knew that at this time their praise was not to the living God. It's wise to assume that the nine praised Jesus at a great miracle worker—how could they not—but not as the divine Son of God. Otherwise, they would have returned to kneel down at His holy feet. The surprise is that the one who returned to praise the true God was brought up in a false religion that rejected the true God. The Samaritans rejected any Savior who comes from the Jews. Samaritans rejected worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, which meant they rejected what the Temple foreshadowed. The Temple was the place where God chose to be visibly present on earth, so we hear in the Old Testament: 2And the priests could not enter [the Temple] the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. 3When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2 Chronicles 7:2–3 ESV) The Temple pointed ahead to a time when our good Lord would dwell on earth visibly in the flesh. The Temple pointed right at Jesus. The place where thousands of sacrifices had been offered pointed to the Savior Jesus who laid down His life once and for all. His life sacrificed on the cross heals us from the disease of our sin. This divine word of sacrifice that saves creates trust in our Savior. His word creates trust in Jesus in the most surprising places, like the thankful leper. And this trust creates true thanksgiving. In a few months we do our annual Thanksgiving. But mostly it'll be a search for feelings and looking inside ourselves to find our happy places: “I'm thankful for …” Our world and culture confuses thankfulness into a feeling we feel once in a while. Thankfulness is not a sentiment; it is an action. True thanksfulness means going back for more. You can text your grandpa THX [for the Legos] and/or you can play with the Lego and ask him for more. I hope you do both, but your grandpa going to know your thanks by your interest and desire for more Legos. Not asking for more like a brat screaming for candy, but as children asking for more delicious turkey, more savory broccoli, more sweet potatoes. Like baptized and saved children who are now wise, we ask for more, more of His Word, more of His Communion. Indeed another name for Holy Communion is the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving. Like the thankful Samaritan, we go back to Jesus, glorifying Him, and asking for more Him. 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, namely, Jesus the Son of God, let us continue to hold on to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. 16So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV) In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God!  THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Sunday of the Good Samaritan August 26, 2018 LUKE 10:30–37 The Samaritan Who Saved Us In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You would have stopped. If you saw a dying man on the side of the road, you would stop to help. And if you didn't know how to actually bind up his wounds, you'd call 911. Everyone already knows that they should help dying people on the side of the road. So why does Jesus tell us this story? Number one: remember that Jesus tells stories to show us His generosity and gracious love in action. In this story we are a lot of the people. We are the robbers—we just don't use guns or knives. We use our words to beat up our neighbors, the people in our lives. We beat up our parents because it is always easier to critize than to help. We beat up our church leaders because it is always easier to critize than to help. We beat up our spouse because it is always easier to critize than to help. Which words rolls easily off of our tongues? “I love you?” Or, “You always . . . ?” We are the priest and Levite who walk on by. We don't walk past car wrecks or broken bodies in the road. But we certainly move away from neighbors in need. At times this ignoring is motivated by malice and anger, other times laziness and indifference, and still other times by selfishness and frustration. We walk on by because we know that the neighbor in need will take time away from what we want to be doing. Their lives are messes and we don't know how to help, so we just don't go there. We walk on by because we have a grudge against them and need to show them that they are still wrong and we are still right. Often we walk on by our neighbors by going towards them, but slowly and grudgingly. Getting up with annoyance when a kid is crying in the night. Opening our wallets without cheer and thankfulness to support the work of the Church. Going to work with gloom because you think no one appreciates your work. And we are certainly the dying man, who is as good as dead. By ourselves we are dying on our way to the grave because we are filled with sin. And our sin is killing us and it is harming our neighbor. We are beaten up. We beat up other neighbors. We ignore the needs of our neighbors. We are everyone in this story, except for one. And when He comes, the story gets good. The Samaritan comes and finds this dead man, who is us, in the ditch. He is supposed to hate this man. He is supposed to hate us. He is supposed to walk away. And He'd be right to do so. But Jesus is the Good Samaritan and He doesn't do what the world thinks is right. He always does the unexpected. So instead of leaving us to die, He binds us our wounds and picks us up. He washes away our sin with His Word. He feeds us with His living body and blood under bread and wine. And He pays the cost of our care with His own life. He places Himself into the hands of robbers, evil men, who beat Him up. Then they put Him on a cross while priests, Levites, and so many hundreds, even thousands, of His neighbors walked on by. Some ignored Him probably; others jeered and taunted Him. Yet He remained in the ditch that was the cross. And He died for you, trading in His life for yours. Jesus tells us the story of the Good Samaritan because He is our only neighbor who generously and unexpectedly rescues us from the ditch of our sin and death. He nurses us back to health. We are alive and well because He found us. We aren't the Good Samaritan in the story; Jesus is. But He calls us to use our lives to go to our neighbors and spend time with them, to spend money on them, and to tell them this good story of our Good Neighbor. In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God!  TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Christ Heals a Deaf-Mute August 19, 2018 MARK 7:31–35 Groaning Our Ears and Tongues Open In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Why did Jesus give you ears and tongues? 31 Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought a man to Him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place His hand on him. (Mark 7) This poor man had ears, but could not hear. He also had a tongue, but could not speak. He had friends who cared about him and felt pity for him. So they brought him to Jesus. 33 Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. (Mark 7) Jesus separates this man from the crowd. This is because Jesus is kind. Without hearing and speech, sight and touch are this man's imperfect way of knowing the world. And now he sees only Jesus. Whatever happens next is going to be the work of Jesus alone. 34 After He looked up to heaven, He sighed (really, groaned) and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. (Mark 7) Think of how many times this poor man must have looked up to heaven and groaned. And that's the right word here. Jesus groaned. He wasn't annoyed by having to care for this man; He deeply felt this man's frustration and isolation. This man's brokenness hurt Jesus personally. And He groaned. Groaning is what Paul speaks of about all of us: 22 For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. 23 And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8) Jesus groans with us and for us. He sees the results of our self-righteous whispering about others and He groans. He sees the results of yelling at our children and He groans. He sees the cost of how we don't use our tongues to faithfully rebuke those under our care of sin and recklessness and He groans. He sees siblings being cruel with other children and it costs Him. It costs Him because He answers our groans with His death. You sin and groan and Jesus groans and dies. He became our sin, the cause of our groaning, and was punished for this deaf-mute man and for you. And now we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, which is trust and faith in Christ. We continue to groan in our waiting to be completely delivered from the evil of our bodies and of this world. Until we die or Jesus returns, we live in and around bodies that fail. And there are so many ways that our bodies let us down: austism and allergies, cancer and colitis, bad hearts and bad ears. Even childbirth stresses mothers and their bodies and causes pain in delivery. But after the baby is born, there is joy. After we are done with this world and we leave behind our bad backs and broken hearts, our joy is complete. And not so much that our backs and hearts and noses and ears and tongue will work the way they always were supposed to work, but because we will see Jesus with our own eyes, because by faith now we used our ears to listen to Jesus and our tongues to confess who He is: our Lord and God. This is why He gave you ears and tongues: to hear and speak His death and resurrection. Now you know what the future holds for you: your death and resurrection. Groaning for now, but now joy, too, and forever. This is why (Bentley's) baptism is a miracle, even more major--if that's possible--than Jesus opening this man's ears and making his tongue work again. Baptism is a miracle of death and resurrection: 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life. (Romans 6) In resurrection our ears and tongues are given back to you better than before. A dead person's ears and tongue don't work. They are closed. They can't hear anything of lasting value and they can't say anything that will last. Same with unbelievers—their ears can't hear Jesus and their tonuges can't confess that He is our Lord and our God. And it's the way we used to be before Holy Baptism—deaf and mute. But by faith now we hear and confess Jesus. Our ears still listen to gossip and slander and our tongues still deceive and leave out the truth. Yet Jesus daily kills our old ears and chops out our old tongues—our old sinful flesh that only wants to get its own way—and raises us new every morning with good ears and good tongues. We are tempted to see Baptism as a one-time dusty-past event in our lives. Let us repent. The deaf-mute man made new by Jesus certainly thought of his “resurrection” not in the past, but as a present and on-going reality. So is Baptism. It is our daily reality, made new by Christ, now and forever. It isn't magic or superstition; it's a miracle. It is God speaking new life to you, giving you hearing ears and tongues which praise His holy name and marvelous deeds. My soul, now bless your Maker! Let all within me bless His name Who makes me a partaker Of mercies more than I dare claim. Forget Him not whose meekness Still bears with all your sin, Who heals your ev'ry weakness, Renews your life within, Whose grace and care are endless And saved you through the past, Who leaves no suff'rer friendless But rights the wronged at last. (Christian Worship, Hymn 257) In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God!  Image by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872). Image provided courtesy of the Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University. ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector August 12, 2018 LUKE 18:9–14 Bad Guys Cry Out in Fear and Love In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Who's the bad guy in this story? “Two men went up to the temple courts to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all my income.’ However the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes up to heaven, but was beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ (Luke 18:10-13) So have you figured it out. . . . Yes, it's you. It's us. We are the bad guys who look at others and say, “I'm not like other people.” So maybe you don't think this at church, but you probably think this at Wal-Mart. And you definitely think this at home. This Pharisee is like us. We think that if we do extra credit, the Great School Teacher in the Sky is going to give us a gold star. In the time of the Old Testament the Lord had commanded fasting … once a year. This Pharisee was doing 100 times more than what the Lord had commanded. Wow! The Lord didn't require that your ten percent offering—your tithe—include the small herbs you had: mint, dill, cummin, rue. But even as this scrupulous Pharisee went big on fasting, he also paid attention to the little things, like these herbs. This would be like reporting the nickels and dimes you pick up off the sidewalk to the IRS. This Pharisee didn't cut corners with God. And he wanted everyone to know it, perhaps simply (putting the best construction on it) to inspire others to follow in his footsteps of godliness. But he was trailblazing his way to hell. Notice how Jesus says it: “I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went home justified rather than the other [the Pharisee], because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14) He was a bad man going to hell because he was so good! He trusted his own acts of goodness instead of God's mercy. He trusted in himself that he was righteous and looked down on everyone else. (Luke 18:9) We are just as “good” and therefore just as bad. We trust ourselves. We look around and despise those who aren't as visibly good as us. Dearly beloved, repent! We began as the bad guys, but in Christ we are forgiven and declared good in His sight. We trust in His mercy. We are alive in Him. And now trusting in Christ's mercy, just like the tax collector, our good deeds are not done to get His extra credit, but to help our fellow human beings. Our offerings aren't a competition with others or a bribe to God, but instead a thoughtful and cheerful gift back to Jesus who has given us all we have. He has given us all of Himself through His holy death on the cross and gifted us life through the water and Word of Baptism. And now today we have cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us!” And in love He responds, “Take and eat, this is My body. Take and drink, this is My blood for the forgiveness of your sin.” In Jesus' Name. Amen. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God! |
AuthorPastor Boehringer has been preaching Christ and Him crucified to himself and to his congregation at Gethsemane since 2009. Archives
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