By pastorjuhl, on September 26th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
When the serpent opened his mouth in the Garden of Eden, death rushed out of his mouth. Our first parents heard death’s siren sound and bowed their knees. When God opened His mouth in the Garden of Eden, life rushed out of His mouth. Our first parents heard the promise of the Seed of the woman and believed in God’s promise of new life.
Jesus opens His mouth twice in today’s Holy Gospel. The first time He tells the widow Do not weep. The second time He says Young man, I say to you, arise. The first sentence comes off to our ears as off-putting. A widow, a woman who has already lost her husband to death, now loses her only son to death. Jesus’ response is for her not to weep. Crying is a normal and natural response to grief. Crying and funerals go hand in hand.
This funeral procession is different. Jesus interrupts the procession and, after speaking to the widow, touches the coffin. No wonder those who carried him stood still. Nobody touches the coffin of a dead person. Today’s funerals are a different story compared with funerals 2,000 years ago. High quality coffins allow us to touch the dead person’s resting place. When Jesus walked among us as a man, touching a coffin made a person ceremonially unclean. No one wanted to be near, let alone touch, someone who touched a dead man’s body. Who knows what kind of disease might linger on the corpse?
The fatal disease of sin is why there is such a thing as a corpse. We cry at funerals because death brings separation. We will no longer see the deceased this side of heaven if they were a Christian. If the deceased had no saving faith in Jesus Christ, our tears are much worse. What can be said about a person who believed death was death? What can be said about someone who would not believe in the life of the world to come?
It’s easy not to take the long view at a funeral of a Christian. Our sometimes hidden selfishness peeks out and wishes for another chance to say goodbye, or another round of golf, or one last hug and kiss before falling asleep. Why does God allow death on His timetable and not ours? Why does death visit some families more frequently than others? We think of the Joseph Kennedy family who lost two sons in less than five years. We think of other families who have lost more than one child prematurely. We also think of widows who outlive their husband and children.
Take another long look at death, especially the death of the widow’s son. There you and I will be, unless the Lord returns soon. We will all lay in a coffin. Our mortal remains will go from church to cemetery, waiting for the resurrection of all flesh on Judgment Day. That last clause is the one we forget about at a funeral. We focus on not seeing the deceased again or wanting to see the deceased again for closure that we forget about the dead in Christ rising on Judgment Day at the sound of Christ’s voice.
Jesus’ voice brings a dead son back to life. Jesus says, Young man, I say to you, arise. So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. What mother, having lost her husband and her only son, would not rejoice at having her dead son return to life? What Christian, having lost a family member or friend who trusted in Jesus for forgiveness and life, would not rejoice believing the dead in Christ shall rise?
Sometimes it takes a Christian funeral to remind us of the joy of the resurrection. A pillar of my home congregation died a while back. My mother, who doesn’t care to attend wakes and funerals, told me she left church after his funeral with a smile on her face. Her comment surprised me, but it really didn’t surprise me. Mom’s comment surprised me because she doesn’t like funerals because of being confronted with mortality. Mom’s comment didn’t surprise me because it’s acceptable for a Christian to grieve a loved one’s death, yet rejoice in believing that we will see that loved one when Christ returns. For Christians it’s never farewell but see you at the next meeting.
Who would’ve thought the next meeting would be so soon? The dead son sits up and starts talking. What did he say? Scripture doesn’t tell us. Perhaps it was a psalm much like Psalm 86: You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You. Our Lord’s steadfast love brings life to the dead. Our Father’s steadfast love sends Jesus Christ among us as a man to live the life Adam was meant to live. Adam was created in the image and likeness of God: pure, holy, and sinless. Jesus is God and man. Three times Jesus raises people from the dead in the Gospels. First, it was the daughter of Jairus. Then the widow of Nain’s son rises from the dead. Finally, Jesus’ friend Lazarus rises after four days in the tomb. All three times Jesus spoke a word and the dead comes back to life.
Jesus speaks seven words upon the cross. One of those words was It is finished. Jesus’ work of restoring creation was finished. Death and life contended in combat stupendous. The Prince of Life, once dead, rises from the dead a new creation. Satan’s power is destroyed. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life is ours because of Jesus.
Jesus speaks words to us every Lord’s Day. These words mean what they say and say what they mean. Jesus speaks through men consecrated for speaking His Word amidst His people. When pastors speak absolution, it is as if Jesus Christ Himself stands before you forgiving your sins. When pastors speak the sermon, it is as if Jesus Christ Himself stands in the pulpit proclaiming victory over sin and death. When pastors distribute the Lord’s Supper, it is as if Jesus Christ Himself feeds you His true Body and true Blood. When pastors baptize, it is as if Jesus Christ Himself washes you clean from sin and death in baptismal waters. Jesus presents us to our mother the Church as a new creation bought with blood, washed in water, fed and nourished in preaching and the Supper, sustained in His Word through death into life everlasting.
What joy came to the village of Nain that day when the widow’s son returned to life. What joy comes to us in Momence each weekend when our Savior from death to life does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By revhamer@verizon.net, on September 24th, 2009%
Last Sunday’s Gospel lesson (Luke 14: 16-24) told us about the great banquet of salvation. Today’s Gospel lesson also takes place in a banqueting context, for we read that the religious leaders complained that “[Jesus] receives sinners and eats with them.” To share a meal was to share life itself. Moreover, to share it with tax collectors and sinners was for Jesus to publicly say that they, too, were welcome in God’s Kingdom through repentance. And how did the Pharisees respond? They grumbled that Jesus received sinners and ate with them. According to the custom of the day, Pharisees distinguished themselves from “sinners” through a strict observance of purity rules and food regulations. Like the modern Kosher deli that won’t serve meet and cheese on the same plate, many of the Jews had gone beyond the Holiness Code in Leviticus (12–25) and added their own rules. My favorite later Jewish regulation is the rule that two friends were not allowed to sit on opposite sides of the dining room if one was eating cheese and one was eating meat, since the two were essentially “commingled” in their minds! That’s the sort of radicalism that faced Jesus as He dined with tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus replied with the parable of the lost sheep. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them . . . ” See how Jesus relates the Jewish leaders to the shepherd’s role: What man of you? This may not seem offensive to us, but the shepherd’s trade was listed by the Jewish leaders as a profession that no law-abiding Jew should teach to his son because it would be difficult to keep the entire Law while practicing as a shepherd. We might be tempted to blame the sheep for getting lost, but Jesus placed the blame on Jewish leaders/shepherds who kept the Law, but did not preach the Gospel. Here we see the importance of having theologically competent clergy. At the risk of over-generalizing, some of us are probably old enough to remember a day when people didn’t like their pastor/shepherd, but at least they trusted him. The gifts of the Gospel were freely given and received, even if the personal camaraderie was lacking. However, today many people may like their pastor, but they don’t trust him any further than they can throw him. So what should we expect from our pastors as shepherds of the flock of God? The theological competence to shepherd the flock of God by preaching full-strength Law for the sake of the full consolation of the Gospel.
What difference does it make? The plight of the lost sheep reminds us of the need for faithful shepherds for God’s flock. Modern day shepherds in Lebanon and Palestine testify that a lost sheep is terrified. It sits down, usually in the nearest sheltered place, and starts to shake and bleat. The sheep enters the state of nervous collapse, so that it cannot stand or even respond to the shepherd’s voice. The lost sheep is, in short, the image of death. This reminds us of our state apart from Christ, our Good Shepherd. Make no mistake: sheep without a shepherd are lost. Once again the underlying theme is the need for good pastors/shepherds to care for the congregation/flock. Briefly consider, for instance, the effect a vacancy has on the local parish. The sheep inevitably divide into groups and start to squabble. They make their own decisions, usually without any pastoral input, and go the wrong way. They adopt the idea that they are self-feeding and self-governing and wonder into the poisonous pastures that taste great, but are fatal for their faith and life.
What to do? Enter Christ, the Good Shepherd. As this parable transitions from the image of bad shepherds (the unbelieving Jewish leaders) to the Good Shepherd (Christ), there is a stark theological contrast between unfaithful shepherds and the faithful Shepherd. Two things strike me about Jesus’ image of Himself in Luke 15. First, the Shepherd seeks the lost sheep. We cannot find Him. There’s a lot of talk today, for instance, about people taking “spiritual journeys.” Even the names of several minivans–Quest, Pathfinder, Odyssey–are named not for the ability of the vehicle to get from Point A to Point B, but because a survey revealed that potential buyers were on a spiritual “journey” of sorts. But these journeys, if guided by the self and the whims of the moment, can only lead away from the Good Shepherd. We do not seek him. He seeks us. We do not make a decision for Him. He decides to find us. It’s all the work of God-for-us in Christ!
Second, the Good Shepherd pays a price to carry the sheep back to the village. If it is not found and carried back, it will die. The Shepherd risks His life to find the animal, picks up a sheep that probably weighed about 70 pounds, and then carries it all the way back to the flock. It is a mark of the strength, courage and character of the shepherd that He rejoice when He finds the sheep, for His work has barely begun when He locates the lost animal.
This image of the Shepherd’s sacrifice for the sheep is captured in early Christian artwork based on this Gospel lesson. In a museum in Jerusalem, there are three images of Christ the Good Shepherd, an image which predated and outnumbered the cruciform image that is standard fare today. In each of these images of the Good Shepherd, the lost sheep on the Shepherd’s shoulders is as large or larger than the Shepherd. Indeed, one of these images depicts a sheep that is nearly twice the size of the shepherd, yet the shepherd who carries this burden is smiling. The message of this parable and of early Christian art is clear: Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who gives all for His sheep. He leaves His heavenly home, He journeys through this world, and He sheds his blood for our sins. Christ sought us when we were lost, brought us to repentance and faith, and carried us back to the churchly pastures. He leads us beside the still waters of baptism, absolves us of our sins, and feeds us the cup that runneth over in the Lord’s Supper. And it’s all the duty and delight of Him “endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2).
And then what happens? “When [the Shepherd] comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” Again, remember the context of this parable. Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, and under scrutiny from Pharisees and Scribes. The image of the Good Shepherd rejoicing with friends and neighbors over the lost sheep said something about Jesus’ joy over one repentant sinner. The “ninety-nine” unbelieving Jews who kept the OT Law, but did not repent, had no place at Jesus’ table. They were the unclean ones, for they were still living in the filth of their sin and unbelief. But the repentant tax collectors, prostitutes, and, in due course, the Gentiles had a place at God’s table.
Here we see that the pattern of the Christian life is finding the lost and rejoicing with them: “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but hear this Gospel lesson and think about the number of high-ranking government officials who have been estranged from their wives the past few years. How many times have we seen soon-to-be ex-governors standing at the microphone, apologizing to their family and their people for a betrayal of trust? When the most prominent citizens repent, how do God’s sheep react? We rejoice that there is joy in heaven over every sinners who repents and every sinner who forgives his brother. For where there is repentance, there is full and free forgiveness from Him who came to seek and to save that which was lost. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Rev. Brian Hamer
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bayside, NY
By revhamer@verizon.net, on September 24th, 2009%
Dearly Beloved, the Psalmist said, “O Lord, I have trusted in Thy mercy.” This echoes the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” as well as Luther’s explanation, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Today’s Gospel lesson is largely a parable on the first commandment and what it means to trust in God’s mercy. For here we learn a fundamental lesson on trusting in God in the midst of life and death, heaven and hell, and Law and Gospel.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a study in contrasts. The rich man was clothed in purple (the color of royalty) and linen (the fabric of the rich). He “fared sumptuously every day,” a fancy way of saying that he was a playboy, one who did not need to work and spent his time over-indulging himself instead of worshiping God and helping his neighbor in need. Some of you may have heard this parable called “The parable of Dives and Lazarus,” but the name Dives comes from the Latin word for rich and is not a proper name. And this is important, for the lack of a name given to the rich man suggests that he is not one of God’s children, for God calls all of his children by name. By contrast, Lazarus was a beggar, the lowest position on the social ladder. He was full of sores, a common trait among the homeless. He was laid at the rich man’s gate, hoping for but a few crumbs from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores, making him lower than the animals. But what happened when the two men died? Lazarus died “and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.” But the rich man “died and was buried,” a blunt phraseology that implies the grave was the end of the road for him, with no mention of eternal life.
Here we must pause and consider our own status in this contrast between life on earth and life after death. Are we the image of the rich man, having it all here and now but feeling a spiritual void inside? Or are we the image of Lazarus, having nothing in this life, but trusting in God’s mercy for eternal life? Here we must recall a story from St. Luke 12, the parable of the rich fool. After admonishing his hearers that their life is not about possessions, Jesus told the story of a rich man with a plentiful harvest, many barns, and lots of time on his hands. Recall that the rich fool resolved to build more barns, to keep collecting more things, and to eat, drink and be merry. But how did God react? “You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then who will those things be which you have provided?” And Jesus concluded, “So is he who lays up treasures for himself, and is not rich toward God.” How fitting that Jesus told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to “Pharisees who were lovers of money” (16:14). In whom, then, do you trust? Do you trust in your possessions or in the Creator who entrusted them to you? Do you cheerfully give a full 10% of your income to church or do you store it up in the greedy barn of the sinful heart and give Jesus paltry leftovers? Do you use your possessions to benefit the Lazarus’s at your gate or do you obsess over yourself? Again, from the Psalm, “O Lord, I have trusted in Thy mercy.” So beware of trusting in your possessions, like the rich men in Luke’s Gospel. Rather, subordinate them to God the Father by tithing from your income, by using your abundance for the good of your neighbor, and by trusting alone in God, who is merciful to you in Christ.
As for the rich man and Lazarus, their story continues in eternity. Now their fortunes are reversed. The rich man from this life is now the beggar in the after-life: he was dead and buried, he was in hell and torment, and he was crying out for mercy. But Lazarus, the beggar from this life, is now the rich man in Christ: he was in heaven, he was reclining in Abraham’s bosom, and he fared sumptuously every day in the presence of Christ. And how did the rich man respond to this reversal? He asked Abraham to send Lazarus to ease his suffering. Abraham reminded him of what we call the “great reversal” – in God’s kingdom, everything is the opposite (the reverse) of what we would expect. The rich man has become the poor man and the poor man has become the rich man. Moreover, the condition of the elect and the damned in eternity is fixed and immutable. No one can pass from heaven to hell or from hell to heaven, for they are immutably fixed as the abode of the spiritually poor and the paradise of those who are rich in Christ.
This teaches us the importance of seeing our entire life on earth in the light of eternal life. As a sinner, are you the image of the rich man, worrying more about your life here and now than your eternal destiny? Do you covet, indicating trust in the self instead of God? Are you so concerned about yourself that church attendance and your personal devotional life are put on hold for other things? Do you have all the time in the world for the secondary events at church, but no time to set foot in Bible study? Do you consider yourself to be the center of your own existence? Do you fear, love, and trust in your own power, prestige, and wealth above all other things? Repent! For all sin leads to unbelief and unbelief lead to eternal death in hell. But as a saint in Christ, are you poor in spirit through daily repentance? Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Do you fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Do you honor God’s name and call upon it in your daily need? Do you hold high esteem for preaching and His Word, both in our liturgical life together and in you devotional life at home? In Christ, we believers say ‘yes,’ for He has done all these things for us. So with Lazarus, we receive Christ’s own reward here and now – forgiveness, life, and salvation in word and sacrament. And the gifts right here in this Christian church count for eternity, teaching us to pray at the foot of the cross, “O Lord, I have trusted in Thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.”
Even the rich man, whose soul was defiled by false doctrine, finally understood the eternal consequences of the right preaching of Law and Gospel. He asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers, that they might escape eternal torment in hell. And how did Abraham respond? “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” That is to say, “They have the OT and its abiding message: forgiveness of sins by grace through faith in the coming, suffering Messiah. They have the Apostles and even Christ Himself and their word of the cross and resurrection. They have a great company of preachers. Let them hear them!” But the rich man was not so sure about whether his brothers would get anything out of the preached word: “No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Was he right? Did Jesus’ resurrection change the mind of the unbelieving Pharisees, to whom this parable was told? No. In fact, the word of Jesus’ resurrection only hardened their hearts against the gospel. Abraham got it right when he replied, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” If you believe the Word of God, you will believe in the resurrection. But those who reject the preached word will also reject the resurrection.
So it is for us. As sinners, we trust in ourselves when we see church attendance as just one option among others on Sunday morning; when we have all the time in the world to work for the church and socialize within the church, but no time to study the Word of God; when we hold powerful offices in a covetous and self-centered way, rejoicing in our power, but not lifting a finger to fulfill our assigned duties; when we find other things to do during church or Bible study; when we decide whether or not to participate in the means of grace based on whether or not we have been given enough responsibilities to fulfill that particular day; and when we focus more on my personal comfort and convenience in the service than on the word of the cross and resurrection. Repent! But as saints, we receive the preached word and learn to trust in God’s mercy when we faithfully hear and believe the word of the cross and resurrection. When, by God’s grace, we hear the word of Jesus ‘death for our sins and his resurrection for our justification, we are hearing the good news of God’s mercy in Christ. “I baptize you in the name of the [Trinity].” That is to say, God’s mercy is poured abundantly in these waters, giving us forgiveness and eternal salvation. And baptismal waters continue to cover us when the pastor says, “I forgive you all your sins.” We believe the word of forgiveness, we trust in the mercy that sent the Son of God to die for us, and we bank our entire life on that mercy. And today, God says to us, “Take eat / drink; true body / true blood.” We hear these word, we believe in God’s sure and certain promise, and we trust that God is hard at work in this Sacrament to strengthen and preserve us to everlasting life, where, with Lazarus the beggar, eternally may we have rest.
And so today we pray with the Psalmist, with Lazarus, and with all the Faithful, “O Lord, I have trusted in Thy mercy.” Perhaps our collect of the day puts it best: “O God, the strength of all that put their trust in Thee, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without Thee, grant us the help of Thy grace that in keeping Thy commandments we may please Thee both in will and deed.” INJ. Amen.
Rev. Brian Hamer
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bayside, NY
By pastorjuhl, on September 22nd, 2009%
It may be that even now I am speaking to such a man; to one now buried under the unyielding stone of habit and who now dead four days stinketh. Yet not even he must despair: he is dead, in the depths; but Christ is on high. He knows, by crying out with a loud voice, how to destroy these heavy loads; He knows how, through Himself, to raise the soul within to life; giving it to His Disciples to loose. But let such sinners also [repent]. When Lazarus was raised to life, after four days in the grave, no evil odor remained in the living man. And so let those who are living, live; and those who are dead, in whichever of these three deaths they find themselves, let them act at once, to rise here and now from the dead (St. Augustine, in Toal 4:120).
Man if for thee all that God has made, returns from death to life, why should you not live again from death through God? Or does God’s Creation fail in thee alone: for whom every creature daily lives, moves, is changed, renewed? Brethren, this I say, not with any desire to make nothing of the power of the wonders of Christ, but that I may exhort you, that by the example of this one rising from the dead, we may be roused to faith in the resurrection of all men, and may believe that the Cross is the plough of our body, faith its seed, the grave its furrow, dissolution its bud, time its period of waiting; so that when the spring of the Lord’s Coming shall smile on us, the full green of our bodies shall rise again in a life-giving harvest, that will know no end, no old age, that shall not be bound into bundles, nor suffer the winnowing flail. For leaving our former straw in death, the new fruit of our glorified body shall rise again the harvest of eternal life (St. Peter Chrysologus, in Toal 4:121-122).
By pastorjuhl, on September 17th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
“Good morning, this is God! I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help — so have a good day. I love you!” That’s the little sign my mother has on her refrigerator. I know others have this sign at home or at their workplace. It’s an excellent reminder of Who is in control of every situation.
The Lord knows we need a reminder because we have two gods. Jesus tells His disciples no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. The Greek text says he will be attached to one and will despise the other. That’s a better way to describe the tension between the only true God and the false god of mammon.
Mammon is not storing up what you might need for a later date. Canning fruits and vegetables is not necessarily a love affair with mammon, unless you love canned food so much, that you won’t give one away to someone who needs it. You might have another 20 cans of it in the pantry but if you give one away, you’ll be down to 19 cans.
Mammon is a love affair with numbers. We love to keep track of people in church and how much money they gave. When those numbers go down, we fear the worst. When those numbers go up, we take a deep breath and have no fear. We love to keep track of the stock market, watching our future go up and down with every tick of the clock. We love to keep track of every little thing as if it were the most important thing in the world. When that most important thing is taken from us, we feel empty inside. Nothing else can replace that thing, even if another thing just like it comes our way.
Love of mammon leads to conceit and envy, two things that do not come from the Holy Spirit as Saint Paul writes in today’s Epistle. Paul would have us walk in the same Spirit that we live. Having two gods that compete with each other means there are two spirits competing for attention. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. What we see, what we own, and what we can touch is not our god.
Jesus illustrates the foolish of our anxious worrying by learning a lesson from birds of the air and lilies of the field. Birds neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? The answer to our Lord’s rhetorical question is yes, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made. So are birds. Yet birds spend no time worrying about their next meal. They find their meal because they know there will be food for them.
Lilies of the field neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not clothe you, O you of little faith? No plants in nature spend hours fretting about their appearance. They don’t have stores to find proper seasonal wear. They don’t have make-up and perfume counters. They bloom where they are planted. They don’t worry about their beauty. God made them that way, as he made you and me beautiful in our own way.
Do not worry…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. A loving and merciful heavenly Father provides food, clothing, shelter, and all the things we grow anxious, What comes first is God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. Worrying remains because we don’t know where to find God’s kingdom and His righteousness. We sit among both things we seek right now.
The kingdom of God is nothing else but hearing and believing God’s Word. It sounds too good to be true. What comes hardest to us are hearing and believing God’s Word. Saint Paul tells the Romans faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. God’s kingdom is where God’s Word is heard. God’s Word is normally heard in God’s House. It’s possible that someone may believe in God through reading, but Bible drops from airplanes in Third World countries don’t happen. Someone must go among those who know not the Lord Jesus and preach His Word so they may hear His Word and believe what He has done for them.
God rules within us when we do not despair of Him, but trust Him wholeheartedly and esteem Him as our God and Father. All of us can name many times when other helpers fail and comforts flee. The only thing left to do is trust in the Lord to provide in the hour of need. That’s precisely how it should be. Mammon will fade away over time. God’s kingdom and righteousness never fades away. Where God’s kingdom is, there is His righteousness. God’s righteousness is not an abstract thing. God’s righteousness takes on flesh and is obedient to His Father’s will. God’s righteousness preaches today’s Gospel to the disciples. When Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness He tells the disciples to look to Him for all they need. Jesus will never fail them. Where faith in God exists, there God dwells, and righteousness immediately follows, that is, forgiveness of sins.
All our days in this earthly pilgrimage, we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness everywhere except where these things are found. Our Lord lets us seek in futility only to bring us back to Him in order that we trust Him for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The food we seek with the confidence of the birds of the air is the preached Word put in the ear through preaching and in the mouth in the Lord’s Supper. The clothes we seek with the confidence of the lilies of the field are the robe of righteousness put upon us in our Baptism. The Holy Spirit clothes us with Jesus’ atoning blood through water and the Word of God. We stand before our Father in heaven as restored children of God.
God takes the burdens that plague us every day and gives us a new burden that is light and sweet. The new burden is His Son Jesus Christ, Who bore the burden of our sin upon the cross to death and rose from death to life. The kingdom of God and His righteousness is no longer out of our grasp. These holy things are dropped in our lap and received with joy and thanksgiving to our Father in heaven, our only Master.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on September 16th, 2009%
Church Fathers
No man can serve two masters. To clarify this statement our blessed Lord continued: For he will detest the first and resent the second. The words must be applied correctly. Who the two masters are Jesus immediately indicated: You cannot serve God and mammon. The Phoenicians used practically the same idiom, since in their language mammon is equivalent to net profit. Now if one serves mammon, he actually worships as his god the one placed over earthly things because of his perversity, the one whom our LORD called the prince of this world. Now man has no alternative but to hate that one and love the other, namely, God; or he will bear with the one and resent the Other’s wishes. He who works for mammon must suffer under a cruel and killing master; enchained by his own lusts, he subjects himself to the devil, whom he cannot love. For how could anyone love the devil? Still there are those who serve him (Augustine).
For God made all living things for man; but man for himself. The more precious man is as a creature, the more God will care for him. If then the birds shall find their food without toil, shall man not find it, to whom God has given both the knowledge to labor, and the expectation of making it fruitful (Augustine)?
Wealth injures us not only because it arms robbers against us, and because it darkens the mind, but also because it drives us away from God’s service (Chrysostom).
[Jesus] does not say; God knoweth, but: “Your Father knoweth”, to lead them to greater confidence. For if He is our Father, it cannot be that He will abandon His children, since not even human fathers could bear to do this. For what kind of Father is He who will not give His children even what is necessary? But for superfluous things, it is not reasonable to have the same assurance (Chrysostom).
If the birds, without thought or care, and which today are, and tomorrow are not, are fed by God’s providence, how much more will He not feed men, to whom He has promised eternity (Jerome)?
Blessed Martin Luther
It is impossible to remain His servant as He establishes if you also want to covet money. So God’s service is that one cling only to His Word and establish everything by that.
Whoever bears His Office for the sake of money or food, honor or favor as he might wish to, God will not acknowledge him as His servant, but as His enemy.
The tenor of the entire sermon is that we are to dismiss such fretting. Not only is such anxiety needless and useless; it is an obstacle to true worship of God. For this reason we are to guard against it and train ourselves to serve God and wait for His provision. He knows what we need and earnestly desires to give us what we need. All we have to do is ask him.
The kingdom of God, therefore, is nothing else but hearing and believing God’s Word. God rules within us when we do not despair of him, but trust Him wholeheartedly and esteem His as our God and Father. Where such faith exists, there God dwells, and righteousness immediately follows, that is, forgiveness of sins.
By pastorjuhl, on September 3rd, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
Saint Luke leaves us hanging at the end of today’s Holy Gospel. Jesus asks the lawyer Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? The lawyer answers He who showed mercy on him. Jesus responds Go and do likewise. We never hear how the lawyer responds. Did he ask another question? Did the lawyer walk away repentant or obdurate? We’ll never know the answer. However, we can put ourselves in the lawyer’s sandals and come up with an answer.
There is one right way to respond to Go and do likewise. NO. The “no” has two different interpretations. “No, I can’t”, or, “No, I won’t”. The expected response from a Pharisee, Sadducee, Jewish ruler, or a lawyer might be, “No, I won’t”. I won’t go and do likewise because what I say and do is good in itself. My neighbor doesn’t need my help. He can help himself. I’m too busy to be bothered by a half-dead man lying by the side of the road. I might become ritually unclean. Someone might see me helping a Samaritan and kick me out of the synagogue.
Saying “No, I won’t go and do likewise” is to remain obdurate in sin and unbelief. It is asking the question Who is my neighbor expecting an answer that condones self-righteousness and despises others. Showing mercy to one neighbor but not to another neighbor is walking in the way of the priest and Levite in our Lord’s parable. They knew better, but could not be bothered by the Samaritan’s helpless state. They of all people should have mercy upon their neighbor regardless of whom they are or where they live. However, they keep moving. Nothing to see here.
We have many opportunities to show mercy to our neighbor. Yet we won’t seize the opportunity because we think we know the outcome. It’s one thing to be wise as serpents and harmless and doves when it comes to showing mercy. If our neighbor comes to us asking for money, perhaps it would be best to give him food, drink, clothing, shelter, or tangible goods rather than money. There are too many temptations to use money for the wrong reasons. It’s another thing to ignore every plea for mercy from our neighbor because we know our neighbor will abuse the privilege.
The other way to respond to Go and do likewise is to say, “No, I can’t.” It’s the honest answer. I can’t go and do likewise to my neighbor because I am a poor, miserable sinner. I will fall short of the matchless mercy of the Good Samaritan, Who asked no questions of the half-dead man. He came where he was, had compassion, bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. When he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.”
Talk about setting the bar high! If we are honest with ourselves, we can only answer one way: “No, I can’t.” I cannot go and do likewise. It’s the only right answer. My mercy saves me as much as the mercy of the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, it doesn’t save me at all.
So we go back to the lawyer’s first question: Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? The answer is in the Collect for the Day: make us love what you promise. We love what God promises when we repent. We repent of not showing mercy. We repent of showing mercy to some and not others. We repent to receive God’s promise of mercy given us in the blood and righteousness of His only-begotten Son Jesus.
Our Father in heaven does not pass us by because He has more important people that need mercy. He comes to where we are. He doesn’t send a lightning bolt from heaven so we instantly receive His undeserved love and compassion. He send His Son into the flesh; born of a woman, born under the Law to fulfill the Law for us. The Introit from Psalm 74 says God remembers His congregation that He purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage! Do not forget the life of Your poor forever. Let the poor and needy praise Your name.
“No, I can’t” becomes “Yes, I can” because of Jesus. Yes, I can have mercy on my neighbor because Jesus has mercy on me. Jesus came to where I was, half-dead and in the ditch of sin and death. Jesus has compassion on me, binding my wounds in His wounds, pouring His cleansing oil and wine of forgiveness and life in Holy Word and Holy Baptism. He takes me to the inn of the Holy Church and takes care of me with His Holy Absolution and Holy Communion. When He comes again, He will take me with Him to the heavenly Inn of eternal comfort and joy. While I wait for His return, I show forth His mercy and compassion to my neighbor in works of mercy. Day by day, I grow in faith, hope, and charity toward God and my fellow man.
Go and do likewise. An impossible task when we trust in our sin-sick righteousness and mercy. Go and do likewise. A joyous task made possible because of Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan Whose compassion upon sin-sick mankind frees us from sin, death, and hell so we may show His compassion to a sick and dying world in need of the God who works wonders… [Who] redeemed Your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on September 2nd, 2009%
Famous men, benefactors of humanity who lived and died long ago have been represented to us in word, books, accounts, so that we are able, as it were, to examine them with our eyes, to take hold of them with our hands. But yet it is merely a mental image without life and reality. With Christ and his Gospel it is different. Christ lives still and bears witness to himself through the Gospel. Through the preaching of the Gospel the living Christ, the eternal Son of God, shows himself, demonstrates his divine power in our hearts. We hear his voice.
Yes, and the Man Jesus, our Brother, our flesh and blood, is near us. In Holy Communion we eat and drink the true body and blood of the Son of Man. We have fellowship with Christ, the God-Man, the Redeemer, living fellowship with him, as did the disciples and apostles. Yes, he is joined much closer to us than he was to the disciples during the time he stood before then in the form of a servant. Christ lives in our hearts not only with his Spirit and gifts but he personally, Christ, through faith. For that reason we humans are blessed.
Of course, since the days of the apostles Christ has not always been revealed in the same way. Christ and the Gospel were since then often, indeed for centuries, hidden from view. At the time of the Reformation the light of the Gospel again surfaced after the dark night, out of the night of unbelief and superstition. Again th0usands upon thousands rejoiced in the bright light of day. Then once more gloom was cast over evangelical doctrine throughout Christendom. Apostasy and unbelief gained the upper hand. But we praise God that we in these our days are able to see the face of Christ exposed to view. We live in the blessed time of the revealed Gospel and Gospel preaching. We have the pure doctrine, the full comfort of the Gospel. Therefore, we belong among those fortunate men to whom the Lord says: “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see” (Gnade um Gnade, 318-319).
Just when the Gospel was proclaimed the loudest and most powerfully, then too did contempt, obduracy, embitterment reach their peak. Luther says that Germany at no time had the Gospel as pure as at his time. No teacher of Christendom, however, has censured the ingratitude of men towards the Gospel as severely as did Luther, and these men were the evangelicals at that. Luther says in his exposition of today’s Gospel: “Before when we were held captive by the Pope, encumbered by the false preaching of indulgence, purgatory, and all kinds of monkish dreams, what sighing and longing for honest preaching were heard throughout the world! But now how many are there who rejoice and confess from the heart how blessed they are that they are able to hear and see such things? We have examples from these centuries when in the midst of the darkness of unbelief, even in the midst of papal countries there arose teachers, though still lacking much, who nevertheless preached Christ and the righteousness that avails before God, and when thousands from far and near came forward to listen to these strange preachers. Now since many there are who have become weary and have had enough of heaven’s beautiful light!” (Gnade um Gnade, 319)
By pastorjuhl, on September 1st, 2009%
Many people, even the heathen, have shamed their enemy through generous kindness. But where is the man who can say: I love my enemy as I love my friend? All Christians have done that. They always conquer their hatred against their enemies, and lovingly embrace them. But where is the person who can say, that he never, never hated his enemy, insulter,and persecutor? If anyone must confess that he was angry with his enemy only once, he thus confesses that he has not perfectly fulfilled the command to love his neighbor; he condemns himself as a transgressor of the Law; he himself declares that he cannot justify himself before God.
The command to love our neighbor demands that we rejoice over the good fortune of our enemies as over our own, and mourn at his misfortune as though it had happened to us. Yes, the Law of loving our neighbor demands, that we are just as concerned and pray just as earnestly for the temporal and eternal welfare of our enemies as for our own. We must concern ourselves more with having our offenders receive forgiveness from God for their sins against us, than that they apologize to us. Christ says in another place: “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same” (Luke 6:32-33). “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Such an inner living heartfelt perfect love of one’s enemies only One had, and proved it; Jesus Christ the Son of God. He always repaid evil with good, misdeed with kindness, cursing with blessing, in short, hatred with love. He shed bitter tears at the misfortune of his persecutors, prayed for his murderers, and gave his life on the cross for the salvation of all his enemies. Who has perfectly imitated the Savior? No one; not a single person. Therefore, even the command to love our neighbor shows that no person can justify himself before God (Old Standard Gospels, p. 291-292).
True love does not ask what another person usually does. It thinks: Even if no one does it, I am compelled to. True love does not ask, whether a person can demand this or that of his love; it is not satisfied to have acted uprightly as though it would receive justice before a worldly court; it always thinks: What would you want the other to do to you, if you were in the same situation as your neighbor? True love loves one’s neighbor as it love itself. It does not think: Someone else has a greater obligation than I have; why should I be so concerned about it? No, it thinks: If another, who should do it, does not want to, I will do what I can. True love would rather suffer injury than let his neighbor suffer injury. It is ready to help even if it becomes a burden, even if it has no abundance; even of that which it needs itself it must share with the needy. Yes, it is ready to stake goods, health, honor, and even life itself for his neighbor, if that becomes necessary. Moses writes: “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it” (Exodus 23:5). And in the New Testament we read: “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being” (1 Corinthians 10:24). “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). “We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
Now where is the person who leads such a life in love? There is none. Only Christ has perfectly lived, suffered, and died in love, not for himself but for sinners. True Christians, in whom Jesus lives, make a beginning of such love, but never become perfect (OSG 292-293).
Tell me, can you find the person who never becomes tired of showing his love? Whose love to his neighbor is ready to burn brightly in an instant? Who never has days when he feels cold and slow in showing love? Who never tires easily of being generous, when he is almost daily importuned by one or more of the poor? Who does not become tired of being kind, when he sees how often his kindness is misused? Who never becomes tired of showing works of mercy, when he experiences that his goodness is repaid with despicable unthankfulness? Who never becomes tired for forgiving and being reconciled, when a person always insults and injures him anew?
This also only One was able to do, Jesus Christ. Of him we read not only: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1b), but Christ was also just as unflagging in his love toward his enemies. Even the infamous traitor could not make Christ’s love become tired of his devilish hypocrisy and malice; even the kiss of Judas he took with friendly mien and called the rascal friend. Full of love he came into the sinful world to seek and to save what was lost. The world, to which he did only good, did not rest until it had nailed him to the cross. Yet loving and blessing and praying and dying for the whole sinful world, amid the curses and mockery of his enemies, he left the world.
Oh, let no one rely on his love toward his neighbor for his salvation. Let no one thereby recognize how much he lacks in that love which God demands of us. Let each one learn to know that his heart is empty and cold in respect to love. May he smite on his breast and feel sorry for it. Only one love it is which saves us and that is the love of God in Christ Jesus. Whoever despairs of his own love and comforts himself in God’s love begins to love a little. Some day he will come where he will remain in love, where all live in perfect eternal love. Amen (OSG 293-294).
By pastorjuhl, on September 1st, 2009%
We should, therefore, bewail our own love of created things while we neglect their creator. All created things lead us to God’s love. They give man the best that they have, for they were created for man. Man himself was created for the sake of the Lord God; therefore, it is fitting to give Him the best that we have – which is love, for our faith gives God nothing; but instead, it is we who receive by it (2:143).
Your love will find all that you desire from the Lord God. Do you love riches? God is the richest of all. Do you love power? God is all-powerful. Do you love honor? God is the highest honor. Do you love beauty? God is the most beautiful. Do you love delight and pleasure? God is the greatest pleasure. In this one Good, everything is good. Whoever has this one Good, has everything that is good. Whatever is good in creation, it all come from Him. God is the fountain; all things are perfect in Him, which in creation are flawed and blemished (2:143).
This, then, is the main purpose of the parable, namely, the doctrine of genuine love for one’s neighbor (2:146).
Now, the man in the parable has been robbed and injured; and he lay there half dead. How can he be rescued? He cannot do it himself; and also the priest and Levite, that is, the Law, cannot do it. The Law exposes the wound, but cannot heal it. It is Christ, the heavenly Samaritan, who must do it; He is our true Physician (Exodus 15:26; Matthew 9:12). Christ compares Himself to a Samaritan because the Jews called Him this out of jealousy and malice (John 8:48). He calls Himself this also because He is the true Protector of Israel (Psalm 121:4) and because He brought the Samaritans into His kingdom and made them members of His spiritual body (John 4). This is why He is not ashamed to call Himself the Head of His members. The true Samaritan came to us; He took on a true human nature, was beaten, and wounded so that, in His divine and human nature, He can cure us by His healing remedy. He soothes our wounds with the oil of the holy Gospel; and, because of our remaining sins, He uses the bitter wine of the cross. He carries us upon His shoulders, leads us into the haven of the Church, and lets us be cared for and attended. And whatever is used by His servants to heal men’s souls He will richly reward upon His return (2:148).
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