By pastorjuhl, on August 29th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
If an earthly gift brings joy, consider our heavenly Father’s gift of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus takes on flesh to give us the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life. When Jesus walked among men as a man, He often gave gifts to other men and women. Today’s Gospel features Jesus giving the gift of hearing and speaking to a deaf-mute man. We expect miracles from the Son of God. What is unexpected about this particular miracle is how Jesus heals the man’s deaf ears and mute tongue.
Saint Mark says Jesus took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. There’s no doubt this miracle was an unexpected gift. No other man but the Son of Man can heal someone’s deaf ears and mute tongue. How Jesus healed the man is peculiar. The crowd begged Him to put His hand on him. Jesus does more than lay His hand on him. He sticks His fingers in the man’s ears. He spits and touches the man’s tongue. He speaks a word. That’s much more than merely laying a hand on the man. Jesus invades the man’s personal space.
We treasure intimacy. We flinch when someone touches us. Someone crossed the boundary of intimacy. It’s one thing when a family member crosses that line. We trust them. We know they want to show affection. However, when a stranger or someone we see occasionally invades our personal space, we might be offended or at least embarrassed. What would you think if instead of putting the Body of Christ on your tongue, I touched your tongue and said, “Be opened”? You would think I’m crazy. I invaded your personal space in a disgusting way.
Maybe that’s why we sometimes shy away from our Lord’s public displays of affection. The rites and ceremonies of the Church stimulate the senses. We use ceremonies to fill the eyes with what we believe because doctrine cannot be seen. Things like crosses, candles, incense, vestments, laying on hands, gestures, bread, wine, water, and the spoken word convey our Lord’s gifts. Yet we might be a bit skittish about pastor touching his hand to my head, or pastor putting something directly in my mouth. We crave a personal Savior, but that personal Savior must come to me on my own terms. Don’t touch me. Don’t stare at me. Don’t put anything in my mouth or my hand. Try not to look so handsome. Just wave your hand and say something in my general direction. That’ll be good enough.
If we were to say something similar to someone giving us a gift, Emily Post would roll over in her grave. It’s poor etiquette to gripe about a gift in the giver’s presence. That’s exactly what we do when we tell God how He is supposed to deliver His gifts of forgiveness and salvation to us. Perhaps that’s why our Lord takes the deaf-mute man apart from the crowd. Perhaps another reason why is so He may give the man what he desires up close and personal.
Jesus breaks through the barriers we put up to protect our personal space. Rather than just laying on a hand, He puts His Means of Grace upon us and in us through His called and ordained servants standing in His stead. As we sang a moment ago in the Chief Hymn:
Word that caused blind eyes to see,
Speak and heal our mortal blindness;
Deaf we are: our healer be;
Loose our tongues to tell Your kindness.
Be our Word in pity spoken,
Heal the world, by sin now broken.
(LSB 545:3)
Naaman thought Elisha was a fool when the prophet told the Syrian leper to wash himself in the Jordan seven times and he would no longer be leprous. Naaman’s servants reassured him that he would be healed. If the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” Jesus gives the man hearing and speech. He receives the gift with no word of complaint. Jesus gives us deliverance from the evil foe. We receive His gift and say Amen. Gift received. The Word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah is fulfilled in us. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
The Word of God comes down to earth today to release us from the chains of sin and death. The ministry of life casts out the ministry of darkness. The veil of Moses is lifted today in order to see the Lord our Righteousness. Christ’s blood and righteousness is sufficient to deliver us from death to life. Psalm 34 describes the joy we have in our Lord’s gift of deliverance. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.
The Lord has done all things well. As Jesus brought hearing and speech to a man who could not hear nor speak, so He heals our deaf ears to hear the Voice of the Good Shepherd and loosens our tongues to speak a word of praise and thanksgiving. The God Who saves violates our personal space to deliver His lavish washing away of sin in baptism, His forgiving Body and Blood in the Supper, and His Word of peace and joy in preaching. These glorious mysteries pass through the transitory things of this world to prepare for the glory that is yet to come in heaven.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on August 24th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
You might think it’s the Pharisee’s prayer that does not justify him. He thanks
God that he is not like the rest of men: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or
even this tax collector. If you were to look at prayers in our service book or
in other prayer books, chances are you will find prayers that sound a lot like
the Pharisee’s prayer. Consider the last two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer:
lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. When you see someone fall
from a sterling reputation, you might say, “There for the grace of God go I.” or
“I’m glad I’m not in their shoes.”
The Pharisee’s prayer is not the problem. The problem is the Pharisee’s heart.
Luke describes the attitude of his soul and the attitude of the Pharisees’ souls
when he prefaces our Lord’s parable by saying that Jesus spoke this parable to
some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.
The Pharisee’s prayer is modestly orthodox. It is good to thank the Lord for
making you who you are and keeping you away from evil. It is good to thank the
Lord for the ability to fast and tithe. Nevertheless, when the prayer is prayed
with a heart that is focused on justifying yourself and displacing God as the
most important thing in your life, you make a home for yourself with Satan and
other self-justifiers.
Self-justification is idol worship. When you refuse to give Almighty God full
credit for everything you are as a human being, especially for making you a
child of God in Holy Baptism and providing preachers who preach the Word and
administer the Lord’s Supper, you go to your house not merely unjustified but
also condemned to hell because you fear, love, and trust in yourself above all
things.
Consider Cain. He killed his brother Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was given
with a heart of joy. Abel loved the Lord. He gave the first fruits of his labor
back to the Lord as the Lord first gave to him. Cain also brought a sacrifice.
His sacrifice was brought from a heart that knew he had to give back to God a
sacrifice. Do you see the difference in the attitude of their hearts? Abel knows
where he stands with the Lord. So does Cain. Yet Cain is jealous of Abel because
God accepted his brother’s sacrifice but not his own sacrifice. Cain’s jealous
heart got the best of him even after God warned him to be careful about sin
crouching at his door. The first murder in the Bible according to Blessed Martin
Luther’s Genesis commentary was a disagreement about how to worship God.
The Church Militant still suffers from the fallout of Cain’s murder. The
so-called “worship wars” rage in Christian communions all over our country. One
of the sticking points of how to worship God is the matter of objectivity versus
subjectivity. You can see the battle in Cain and Abel. Cain took a subjective
approach. He thought that God would be happy with any old something that came
from the ground. Cain’s focus was on what things might please God. Abel, on the
other hand, brought the best that he had, knowing that his Father in heaven will
give the best He has to us. However, Jesus Christ’s coming is not yet in the
flesh, Abel trusts in an objective promise that shapes his response to God.
Fast forward to today. Christians desire to respond to God’s mercy and love for
us. What do they give Him in return? They give Him far from their best. They
compose liturgical texts and hymns that glorify man rather than God. The focus
becomes how relevant we can be or how something makes us feel rather than how
God shows us our sin and our Savior from sin. Human beings want to be the light
rather than describing what they see from the Light of the world.
The tax collector knew who he was before man and before God. A tax collector
procured his office by paying a certain sum of money to the Romans, under whose
rule the Jews were largely under at that time. This is why tax collectors did
not shy away from cheating people in various ways and were regarded as vile,
godless men. However, a man who is supposed to be vile and godless turns out to
be humble and full of God. He would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but
beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”
Maybe the bluegrass gospel song is right: “The first step to heaven is down on
your knees”. Consider the prophet Jeremiah’s words: Thus says the LORD: “Let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor
let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the
LORD. The tax collector stands before God an unworthy sinner. He returns home
justified not because of who he is or what he does. He returns home justified
because he trusts in God’s abundant mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in God’s
Word.
Saint Paul tells the Church in Corinth: I declare to you the gospel which I
preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also
you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you
believed in vain. The Gospel of forgiveness proclaimed by the Old Testament
Prophets and New Testament Apostles saves those who hold fast to that Word, lest
their belief is in vain. The Pharisee does not hold fast to that Word. His heart
is focused on self-justification with no need of a Savior. Jesus presents a
danger to their way of life and their power. Their foolish belief in Christ’s
so-called “danger” condemns. The tax collector holds fast to that Word. His
heart is focused on the Father’s promise of Messiah coming to save him from sin
and death. He is filthy with sin but cleansed in the blood and righteousness of
Christ.
You stand beside the tax collector today as a forgiven child of God.
Justification is not merely a subjective feeling. Justification is an objective
declaration of forgiveness from a tenderhearted Father Who loves you by sending
His only-begotten Son to die for your sin and rise from the dead for your
justification. Justification is also an objective state of being. You are
forgiven. You are redeemed from Satan’s grasp. You are rescued from the lake of
fire. You are a child of paradise. You will die only once because you have two
births, one according to the flesh and another according to the Holy Spirit
through the washing of regeneration and renewal.
In this life, there are two principles that fight for superiority. One principle
seeks to lead us home lacking God’s justification. The other principle seeks to
lead us to our heavenly home because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
As a baptized child of God, the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and
repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, in order that a
new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and
purity forever. Living this new life in humility is not easy. The Holy Spirit is
your helper, pointing you back to the certain, objective Means of Grace in Holy
Word, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and Holy Communion in His Holy Church. You
are not as the rest of men. You are forgiven because of Jesus Christ.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By Pastor Beisel, on August 19th, 2009%
The following observations are drawn from Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007).
1. The phrase in 18:9 “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt” echoes the language of Ezekiel 33:13, in which the prophet criticizes his contemporaries for trusting in their own righteousness: “Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquit that the have committed they shall die.”
2. The pride of self-righteousness is condemned in several Jewish texts, most notably t. Ber. 6:18, where a male Jew thanks God that he is not a Gentile, a boor, or a woman.
3. The Pharisee’s prayer in 18:11 echoes the 6th and 7th commandments of the Decalogue, with the middle term “rogues” (adikoi, “unrighteous” or “evildoers”), being a generic reference to lawlessness.
4. The reference to fasting in 18:12 recalls the stipulation to fast on the Day of ATonemet (Lev 16:29, 31; 23:27, 29, 32; Num. 29:7), during Purim (Esther 9:31), and during further annual days of fastig (Zech. 7:3, 5; 8:19), as well as OT passages that report fasting by individuals as an expression of mourning (2 Sam. 12:21), penance (1 Kings 21:27; Ezra 10:6), and supplication (Neh. 1:4; Dan. 9:3).
5. Tithing: Leviticus 27:30-32; Num. 18:21-24; Deut. 14:22-27.
6. The language of the Tax Collector “Look up to heaven” (18:13a) echoes Ezra’s prayer upon hearing of the numerous mixed marriages in Jerusalem: “O my God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens” (Ezra 9:6).
7. Tax Collector’s prayer: “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” Here Psalm 51:1, 3 linger in the background: “Have mercy on me, O God…For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (50:3, 5 LXX: eleeson me ho theos…kai he harmartia mou enopion mou estin dia pantos).
8. Jesus’ words at the end of the parable: “For all who exalt themselves…” echo those of Ezekiel 21:26: “Exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.”
By chaz_lehmann, on August 18th, 2009%
Most times I’ve heard the words of the Pharisee in the lection for Trinity 11 rendered, “I thank you that I am not like other men.”
That’s good as far as it goes but it doesn’t go far enough. The text actually reads, “I thank you that I am not like the rest of men.”
The Pharisee is setting himself apart. He is not one of the righteous. He alone is righteous. All other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers… He is setting himself not just as self-righteous, but as the one who alone is righteous. It’s a much more direct attack on Christ than we usually think of.
What does this mean homiletically? The one who judges themselves righteous is standing in the place of God. They are distinguishing themselves from all men. They are not the exception among those who judge, they are the rule. This is what we all do.
By pastorjuhl, on August 17th, 2009%
Pius Parsch, “The Church’s Year of Grace”
Humility is the liturgy’s principal lesson; humility, the signpost infallibly pointing the way to the kingdom of God…. “A proud saint is a devil, a humble sinner is a saint.” (4:107)
The parable is a resume’ of the whole story of God’s dealing with men, and it also unveils the story of my soul. On the great stage of history it reveals why Gentiles and sinners were called to grace and salvation, while the Jews, self-righteous and proud, fell from divine favor. As generations pass, the parable repeats itself in the life of each individual. To us it should bring home the lesson that the key to any supernatural progress is humility. What is humility but the revelation of God in Jesus Christ? This sublime virtue came to earth in the person of the God-Man; it it everything that is good and great adn holy has its origin – all that pertains to the work of redemption (4:109).
On past Sundays the Church etched life int he kingdom of God in contrast-pictures…. A similar contrast occurs today in the true-to-life parable of the humble tax gatherer and the proud Pharisee. But if we look deeper into our hearts, we find enthroned there two principles, a lower one seeking to debase us and a higher one aspiring toward God, a pagan soul and a Christian soul, and each contends for mastery. Life’s task is to triumph more and more over the pagan soul and to aid the Christian soul in realizing full and sole command (4:111).
Through the whole liturgy runs a double motif, that of exaltation and that of humiliation. Or we may say that it is a single movement – through humiliation to exaltation (4:114).
Dom Prosper Gueranger, “The Liturgical Year”
The Pharisee stands for the Jewish people, which prided itself on its merits, which arose from the justifications of the Law. The publican stands for the Gentile, who, far from God, confesses his sins. Of these one because of pride goes away humbled, the other because of humble repentance merited to draw near to God, exalted (11:263).
Humility, which produces within us this salutary fear, is the virtue that makes man know his right place, with regard both to God and to his fellow men. it rests on the deep-rooted conviction, put into our hearts by grace, that God is everything, and that we, by nature, are nothingness, nay, less that nothingness, because we have degraded ourselves by sin (11:265-266).
The way Satan makes his slaves take is the way he took for himself, from the very beginning; which our Lord thus expresses: “He stood not in the truth.” (John 8:44); “He aimed at being like unto the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14). This pride of his succeeded in fixing him, for all eternity, in the hell of absurdity and lie. Therefore, humility is truth; and, as the same Jesus says: “The truth shall make you free,” (John 8:32) by liberating us from the tyranny of the father of lies; adn then, having made us free, it makes us holy; it sanctifies us by uniting us to God, Who is living and substantial Truth (11:267).
Real greatness consists in the Truth, humility alone leads to it (11:268).
Church Fathers
Pride is contempt of God. For as often as a man ascribes the good he does, not to God, but to himself, what is this but a denial of God? (Theophylactus)
The previous parable is the widow and the judge, teaching perseverance in prayer. This parable teaches us how we are to direct our prayers to Him so our giving of ourselves to prayer may not be profitless (Theophylactus).
Let those take notice who say: God made me a man; I make myself just. O worse and more detestable than the Pharisee, who proudly described himself as just, yet gave thanks to God for this (Augustine).
It was not enough for (the Pharisee) to hold all human nature in contempt; he must also attack the Publican…. He would have sinned much less had he left the Publican alone. Now in the one sentence he attacks the absent, and wounds the only person present. We do not give thanks by speaking ill of others. When you give thanks to god, let Him alone be your thought. Do not let your mind turn to men; and do not condemn your neighbor (John Chrysostom).
Watch, therefore, be on your guard against grievous loss because of pride. [The Pharisee] forfeited his virtue because he was given over to pride. He lost his reward because he trusted in himself. He was placed lower than the sinful and the humble because he had exalted himself above him, and had not waited for the judgment of god, but had himself pronounced judgment. Let you beware of lifting yourself above any one; not even above those who are great sinners. For he who is guilty of many great sins, oftentimes will be delivered from them through humility. So never let you hold yourself as more virtuous than another, for fear that declared just by your own sentence, you may be condemned by the sentence of God. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord (1 Cor. 4:3b-4 NKJV). (Basil)
Blessed Martin Luther’s Postils
The beginning of goodness or godliness is not in us, but in the Word of God. God must first let His Word sound in our hearts by which we learn to know and to believe Him, and afterwords do good works (Church Postil).
Faith alone must make us good and save us. But to know whether faith is right and true, you must show it by your works (Church Postil).
The publican in on the right road and is twice justified; once through faith before God, and again by his works to me. Here he gives unto God His glory, and by faith repays Him with praise. Also toward me he performs the duty of love, and puts words into my mouth and teaches me how to pray. Now he has paid all his debts toward God and man. So faith urges him to do; without however requiring anything from God as a reward of faith (Church Postil).
If (the Pharisee) had committed the vilest sin and deflowered virgins, it would not have been as bad as when he says, “I thank thee, God, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican” (Church Postil).
Where [humility] is lacking, there God’s favor and grace cannot dwell (House Postil).
How does it come, then, that to the publican He says, “You are justified”, and to the Pharisee, “You are an evil knave”? Because God, the Lord, does not inquire after all manner of virtues, not even the most excellent, if humility is not present (House Postil).
If you truly wish to know an individual, then you must not look at outward pious show, which any scoundrel may simulate, but you must rather assess what is righteous before God. As far as his outward life, the Pharisee is pious; in fact, one would wish the whole world were like him. But such outward piety even a scoundrel can duplicate. Therefore, don’t judge by outward appearances. You will find that hidden under such an apparent holy life is a devil’s haughtiness (House Postil).
By pastorjuhl, on August 15th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
God declares His almighty power above all in showing mercy and pity. So says the Collect for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. The account of the destruction of Jerusalem as written by Josephus just read tells a different story. God’s almighty power was displayed in a vicious and destructive way. 1.1 million Jews were killed. The temple, the heart and soul of the Jewish religion, was destroyed as if it were a house of cards. Josephus’ longer account of the destruction of Jerusalem describes the Roman Army as pawns used by God to wipe out everything.
The reason why the Church makes such a big stink about the Destruction of Jerusalem as prophesied by our Lord in Luke chapter 19 is because God could very well do the same thing to our fair city, not to mention the world. Our heavenly Father could destroy the world because of His creation’s obduracy. Obduracy is a word you don’t hear every day. An obdurate person is someone who knows they are sinning against God’s holy Law, but persist in living as if there is no God and no Law.
For example, couples who defy God’s Word concerning Holy Matrimony are obdurate people. They know something is wrong with their living arrangement. But everyone else is doing it. What was once considered shameful is now the standard way to “test drive” a relationship to see whether or not a couple could get married. Another example of obduracy is homosexuality. Same-sex romantic relationships were once, and still are, shameful. Two men or two women in love these days with each other no longer need to hide behind the cloak of privacy.
When Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, He might as well been weeping over the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. The trumpet of Truth makes an uncertain sound around the world. It seems as if fewer Christian communions remain faithful to God’s Word, choosing instead to run after the freshening winds of culture. Don’t think this is a new development. Christ’s Church has struggled for as long as there has been a Church.
Jesus cries real tears in Luke chapter 18. He says if you had known…the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. The Church knows that the pure preaching of the Gospel and the right administration of the Sacraments deliver the peace of God that passes all understanding. Nevertheless, both preachers and hearers sometimes do not trust God’s Work. They let vivid imaginations that redefine love, forgiveness, and peace take center stage. They do not allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, making way for radical redefinitions of what God’s Word says about sin and grace. We have the things that make for peace in our midst, yet we close our eyes and hide them from our sight.
When someone becomes obdurate against God, He removes His tender Hand from that person and allows them to walk the way of everlasting death. God’s great mercy and pity intervenes for us today. He calls you and me to repent of our sin and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our Father in heaven wants us to obtain His gracious promises. He does not want to remove His Hand. He wants us to be made partakers of His heavenly treasures. The prophet Ezekiel writes [Thus says the Lord:] I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
God has brought us into the land of everlasting life not made by hands. This land is the spiritual Jerusalem, the home of the children of Abraham, who believe what God says concerning their salvation. Faith in God’s Word is accounted as righteousness that comes through His Son Jesus Christ. The same Jesus Who weeps over Jerusalem weeps on the cross, asking His Father to forgive those who put Him to death. Our sin put Jesus on the cross. His blood and righteousness covers our sin and redeems us from the devil.
The time of God’s visitation is now. Though Jesus ascended into heaven nearly 2,000 years ago, His return to judge the living and the dead is imminent. There will be obdurate hearts that set themselves against the Word of the Lord. Satan will continue to hammer away at the Church, taking as many people as he can with him. No matter what Satan does to the Church, we believe as we sang a moment ago:
Through toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
There is no rest for Christ’s holy Church until our Lord returns in triumph. Though the Church Militant remains ever vigilant against Her evil foe, She eats and drinks the Body and Blood of Christ for forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. She hears the preached Word and rejoices in sins forgiven and forgotten. She rejoices in Her Baptism, wearing the white garment of incorruption bathed in the Blood of Jesus that cleanses Her from all sin. Her tears of mourning shall be turned to tears of joy when She sees the Lord’s Christ returning to take His beloved Bride Home.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on August 12th, 2009%
Stoeckhardt
Not all who are of the seed of Abraham are really Abraham’s children. This the apostle points out where he speaks of the fate of his people Israel. Ishmael, Esau’s descendants did not belong to the lineage of the promise, were children of Abraham only according to the flesh. The Jews, to whom Christ came, the Pharisees and the scribes who boasted of their father Abraham, were really not children of Abraham nor children of god but were, as the Lord himself testified, of their father the devil.
Only those who walk in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith are Abraham’s real children, the true Israel, God’s people. Not those of the flesh, of the seed or desire of man but those who are born of God are the children of God. Not those who say”Lord, Lord!” but those who have known the Lord and who are known of him and do his will, they are Christ’s true disciples. Only those moved by the Spirit of God are living members of the Church.
——
Wherever God’s Word is preached, there God’s children, true children, are being born. Christ was still preaching the Gospel in the temple at Jerusalem on that day when he predicted her destruction in order that some might still be saved by it. It reads in our text that all the people were attentive to hear him. We know that the seed sprouted and bore fruit among some, yes, among many in the audience. On Good Friday, on Pentecost, many Jews were converted to the Lord. Just as at all times so also at the time of Christ and the apostles there was a holy seed, a remnant in Israel. At all times and in all places, where his Word is being preached, God has his elect. Wherever the Gospel is being preached, there are some who believe. Wherever the Gospel is preached in its purity there a goodly number is converted and won. We have the Gospel. So certainly among us here is God’s people, the true Israel.
——
When final wrath comes on the scene, Christians may and should hold up their heads comforted, knowing their redemption is drawing nigh. God is faithful and will fulfill in his children everything he has promised them in his Word and give them the promised inheritance at the time the world is destroyed. And according to his faithfulness the Lord preserves his own unto salvation and knows how to preserve them amid the temptations of this world. he strengthens their faith which they received through his grace and which alone protects and saves them in the judgment. And as often as they stumble, he again lifts them up. All things, even the sufferings of this present time, must serve their best interests. Indeed, God does not repudiate his people whom he predestined. The everlasting Church which he gathers out of the world will not be overcome by the gates of hell and remains immovable when the world is consumed by fire, and the wicked and the hypocrites are brought to ruin. It is impossible for even one of the number of the elect to be lost.
But there is still one question which concerns many Christians and which envelops their comfort and hope in gloom, namely, whether they actually belong to God’s people whom he has chosen from eternity and whom he will not reject for evermore or whether they are simply members of natural, carnal Israel which is awaiting judgment and consuming zeal. Who of us has not been plagued by such thoughts and doubts? Ah, our faith is so little and so weak; will it stand fast amid the terrors of the judgment? But that very one who nurtures his faith and is fearful for his salvation knows that he does not belong among the number of the unbelievers and hypocrites, who of their own accord reject their well-being and all concerns for their soul’s salvation. That very one has the mark of the elect children who cry and sigh unto God day and night. Ah, so often we tremble while awaiting the approaching end, while awaiting the great and terrible Day of the Lord rather than rejoicing in our salvation. But when that’s the case, then we don’t belong among the despisers who resist the Lord’s hand but to that small band to which the Lord calls continually: “Fear not, little flock!” And when we feel within ourselves neither fear nor hope, when the heart is silent and the sighs just will not come out, we look to God’s promise, to the Word that stands firm and which guarantees sinners life and deliverance. Only those who turn eyes and heart away from the Word, lose and forfeit the promised inheritance.
Walther
No one becomes hardened who for a time was not first graciously visited. But if God’s Word is preached a long time to a person; if he is admonished countless times even with tears by teachers, ministers, parents, and fellow-believers; if he was admonished and reprimanded countless times by his conscience and the Holy Spirit, and was quickly moved through the surpassing grace of God; if he was often frightened like Felix over his sins and God’s judgment; if he was often persuaded to become a Christian through the workings of the Holy Ghost, as was King Agrippa; and if a person despises all this, stifles and suppresses it in himself, willfully and stiffneckedly and continually resists all efforts and remains all efforts and remains in his sins, in his pride, in his love of the world, in his self-righteousness, then God often tires of showing mercy; then he often says, as we read in Isaiah: “Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more.” (Isaiah 1:5)
Because God according to his omniscience forsees that such a person will despise all evidences of grace until his death and let all the stirrings of his Holy Spirit be in vain, yes, will misuse it, he withdraws his gracious hand from him. This withdrawal of God’s grace the Holy Scriptures call a hardening; for if God no longer works in a person, then by himself he becomes ever blinder, ever harder, and ever more firmly tied to his sins and malice. As water by itself freezes if the warmth of the sun is withdrawn, and as a field left to itself becomes overgrown with weeds it if is no longer cultivated, so the heart of man becomes hardened if God no longer lets the sun of his grace shine upon it, if he no longer cultivates it nor lets the heavenly seed of his Word fall upon it.
By pastorjuhl, on August 11th, 2009%
The world considers it the greatest misfortune when a man is taken in physical death or is subjected to poverty, sickness, and other crosses in this life. But this opinion is false and misguided, for the crosses of this life serve to the good of man, as all of Scripture attests. Physical death does a man no harm if he clings to Christ in true faith (John 8:51). Eternal death is the real and great tragedy. It is the poverty and sickness of the soul, the unrepentance, carnal security, and godlessness that hastens a man to eternal death. This is the greatest misfortune (2:114).
We are to learn from this, first of all, that disrespect for the divine Word is one of the greatest of sins. The Israelite people had already well surpassed their measure of sin, yet God had often spared them. However, since they had been unwilling to tolerate the divine truth preached by Christ, retribution soon threatened at the door.
God’s Word is the only means to bring us from the maw of sin into repentance and reconciliation with God. Whenever this is disregarded, what else ultimately remains? More than by all other offenses, a potentate is more greatly angered by his subjects if he has sent his legate and emissary to entreat with them, and they up and scorn the emissary’s entreaty. What is God then to do when He sees that we discount His holy Word, by which He wishes us rebels to be reconciled to Him?
God’s Word is the only tonic by which our infirm souls can be restored to health. If a patient is repelled by the medicine the Lord god has prescribed, then death is not far behind, then a city or nation comes to destruction if it rejects the balm of the divine Word.
God’s Word is the sole food for our souls. If a man is repelled by this food, then sickness is close at hand; for the soul is deadly ill that despises the divine Word.
God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit, by which we must protect ourselves against the devil, the world, and the flesh (Ephesians 6:17). If a warrior leaves behind his armor and shield when he goes to battle, then he will be easily overcome by his adversary. This is also why His soul cannot prevail against its enemies if he leaves behind the sword of the Spirit. Just as the children of Israel were revolted at the manna – which they called worthless meal (Numbers 21:5) – and soon were plagued by fiery serpents, so retribution will be close at hand if one despises and revolts against the divine manna, the celestial Word (2:115-116).
By pastorjuhl, on August 10th, 2009%
Dr. Harold Buls writes that it was customary for the Church to read Josephus’ account of the destruction of Jerusalem on this Sunday. When the Missouri Synod spoke German, the account was in our hymnals. An original translation is at Rev. Dcn. David Muehlenbruch’s Lex Orandi website. You may access the translation here. I have given thought to reading the account as part of the sermon, but haven’t summoned the courage. I wouldn’t mind discussing the merits of reading or not reading Josephus’ account of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Pius Parsch, “The Church’s Year of Grace”
There is a hell, and the chosen soul will be damned if it fails to practice its faith…. Baptism, membership in the church, the sacraments do not in themselves guarantee salvation. Jewish history stands as a dreadful warning because it is the story of how a chosen people became a disinherited, rejected people (4:99).
The sanctified Christian soul that divorces itself from God through mortal sin resembles Jerusalem, the city that proceeded to crucify its Savior and King (4:106).
Dom Prosper Gueranger, “The Liturgical Year”
Neither the meek, gentle manners of this king, who came to the daughters of Zion seated on an ass, nor His merciful severity upon the profaners of the temple, nor His farewell teachings in His Father’s house, could open the eyes of men who were determined to keep them shut against the light of salvation and peace. Not even the tears of the Son of Man, then, could stay God’s vengeance: there is a time for justice, and the Jews were resolved it should come to themselves (11:230).
Blessed Martin Luther’s Postils
The sum and substance of this Gospel is that Christ grieves and laments over the afflictions of those who despise God’s Word (Church Postil).
House Postils
We should learn from this example how great God’s wrath is and that we must constantly guard against despising God’s Word. We dare not use the expression we hear so often: “Oh, well, God wouldn’t get that angry; He wouldn’t punish anyone so severely.” God wants you to remember how He punished the Holy City, Jerusalem, which was His most precious treasure on earth, by destroying it so utterly, that not one stone remained on top of another, all because His people refused to obey His Word and change their wicked ways.
If God were to punish us immediately when we deserve it, none of us would reach the age of seven. Besides that, God could not prove His patience, if He were to punish them immediately. God has to be patient, so He can know whether a person will change his ways and plead for mercy.
Even though God may postpone punishment for a while, that is no sign He will let you go scot-free! Therefore, repent while there is still time, repent and clean up your life! That is what Christ means when He says to the city of Jerusalem, "But now it is hidden from your eyes (Luke 19:42)." It is as if He were saying, "Do not be deceived just because you haven’t been punished yet. That punishment may be delayed for a while, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any punishment"…. The sin which God considers the greatest sin of all, the one that He condones or tolerates less than any other, is the sin of His people not acknowledging His Day of Judgment.
As the proverb says, “You can’t help the person who refused to accept advice.” If a person is wicked, and you say to him, “My dear friend, if you’ll just listen, all your sins will be forgiven,” but he not only refuses to listen, but blasphemes and knocks out the teeth of the one who is admonishing him to change his ways, what help is there for such a person?
When the Lord God comes to punish, He puts on woolen socks, so He can walk without a sound and approach without being heard. Remember that, and don’t be lulled into a false sense of security just because God doesn’t punish instantly.
In today’s Gospel our Lord calls our attention to this lesson, urging us to take it to heart, and to change our ways. He says that if we fail to do that, He wants us to know, that if we do not repent, obey His Word, and accept it in faith, then God will not let us go unpunished, even if He delays it for a while. He gives us this warning because He has our best interests at heart, wanting us to take advantage of this period of grace by changing our sinful ways of life. On the other hand, if we refuse to change and become even more impudent and impertinent, then he wants us to know that when we least expect it, God wills hut His ears ot our pleas and cries.
God gives His Gospel, sends forth His apostles and preachers, but people don’t want to hear or even suffer the Truth to be heard. The apostles and preachers are looked down upon as fools; people mock what they say, in their smugness ignoring their message and refusing to repent. That was the ground for God’s judgment against this land and people. Our Lord God is gracious, able, and willing to forgive sin; He knows our weak, sinful flesh; if only we turn from our sin and listen to Him. But He cannot suffer headstrong refusal to recognize the time of His visitation, but allows all manner of calamity to befall such contempt and sin.
By pastorjuhl, on August 6th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
Stewardship is the 800-pound elephant in the room. Everyone knows it is there, but no one wants to pay it any attention. We know we should give back to the Lord a fair portion of what He first gives to us. Ten percent is the Biblical standard of stewardship. When the word “stewardship” comes from the preacher’s mouth, it sounds like he is begging. Jesus doesn’t think so. The point of His parable in Luke chapter 16 is to make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.
Mammon is an excess of surplus. You might need only one set of measuring cups in your kitchen. The kitchen utensil drawer or cabinet has three or four sets of measuring cups. That’s mammon. Even if your house is perfectly organized and neat, let alone if you cannot walk through your own home because piles of stuff and hoarding, mammon may have control of you. Can you give away the excess? Can you live on necessities alone?
What is overlooked in our Lord’s Words are these four words: that when you fail. You will fail to impress Almighty God with your mammon. He doesn’t want what is leftover. He wants the first fruits. Jesus’ point is not for you to live like a monk who owns nothing. His point is to use what you have, especially if you have a surplus of excess time, treasure, and talent, to help those who have less than an excess of surplus.
You are the unjust steward in Christ’s parable. You are entrusted with goods that do not belong to you. The Master of the goods wants you to take good care of them. He wants you to have just enough for you and your family. What is left is either unnecessary or may be given to those who are without. When you have enough, it is never enough. There must be more food. There must be more clothes. There must be more shoes, cars, animals, land, televisions, computers, toys, tools, books, music, and money. No wonder storage facilities are in great need these days. There is too much stuff and not enough places to store stuff. You can’t unlearn stewardship unless you want to live like a man of the world while calling yourself a Christian. It’s impossible to have both ways. You live like a man of the world and collect more stuff for the love of collecting stuff, or you consider surplus stuff an opportunity to help your needy brother.
Jesus does not condemn stuff. All you have belongs to God. If you have mammon, let your neighbor who does not have enough have it. Doing so makes friends with unrighteous mammon. Nevertheless, you love your unrighteous mammon so much that you won’t let go. Consider these words from the apostle James: If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Sounds like nonsense, doesn’t it? It is not nonsense when you hoard your goods while wishing your needy neighbor well with smooth talk.
The unjust steward backed up his smooth talk with shrewd action. He knew the ax was about to fall. He needed a soft place to land. He called in his master’s debtors and had a fire sale. Fifty percent off a bill of oil here. Twenty percent off a bill of wheat there. Even the unjust steward’s master admired his former steward’s deed. It’s shrewd to reduce the bill of debtors in order to keep a line of safety and security open for the future.
Saint Paul says in today’s Epistle: these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. He then goes on to list a number of events in Holy Scripture where God’s people put mammon before God and suffered the consequences. Paul continues: let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. When you put your excess of God’s gifts before God’s face and dare to call them your god, you are headed for a fall.
Jesus Christ had the opportunity to put mammon and earthly power ahead of His Father. Recall what the devil promised Him when He was tempted. Jesus responded: away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Jesus Christ had the opportunity to come down off the cross and show His adversaries that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus remained on the cross; all the while remaining the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for the Christ must suffer and die for the sin of the world.
Jesus knows you will hoard mammon. He knows you will say one thing and do another to your neighbor. Instead of holding your sin against you, He takes your sin upon Himself and becomes the ultimate sin offering for you. Jesus has the riches of heaven and earth in His Hands. Instead of clutching grace as if it was precious, He stewards the priceless treasure of forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.
Jesus stewards His means of grace in Word and Sacraments through His called and ordained servants of the Word in the Office of the Holy Ministry. You steward your mammon to those in need as a testimony of God’s love and mercy dwelling among you. Life is not about how much stuff you have. Life is about what you do with the excess stuff God gives you.
The author to the Hebrews puts it this way: let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Stewardship begins with the lips, singing the never-ending sacrifice of praise to God for all He does for us and gives to us. Stewardship goes from the lips to the hands, giving to those who are in need the sacrifice of praise through doing good works and sharing good things.
Stewardship is a joyful thing, flowing from the stewardship of forgiveness and life given by a loving and gracious Lord Jesus Christ. All attempts to do good and share with our neighbor will fail unless the love of Christ breaks through our love of mammon, just as the hymn teaches us to pray:
We give Thee but Thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is Thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from Thee.
And we believe Thy Word,
Though dim our faith may be:
Whate’er for Thine we do, O Lord,
We do it unto Thee.
- Lutheran Service Book 781:1, 6
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
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