By pastorjuhl, on October 22nd, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
They were not willing to come. They made light of it and went their ways. Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? For many are called, but few are chosen. Harsh words from our Lord’s parable in Matthew chapter 22. A certain king arranges a wedding feast for his son. Those invited are not willing to come. They don’t give the invitation due consideration. They think the king a fool. The king sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Wedding feast, take two, this time with uninvited strangers along the highways. One among the many filling the wedding hall isn’t wearing the proper garment. The king says bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then comes the difficult saying for many are called, but few are chosen.
Jesus’ saying is hard to understand, especially in today’s politically correct environment. It is offensive to leave anyone out of anything. The world says, “What do you mean many are called, but few are chosen? Either all are called and chosen or none are called and chosen.” To say all are called and chosen is universalism, the belief that all mankind will be saved whether or not they believe in the Triune God. To say none are called and none are chosen is declaring the Christian faith a lie. There will be no eternal life. There will be nothing to look forward to after death. Dead is dead.
Those who refuse our heavenly Father’s call are dead in their sins. They cling to their vocations as their salvation. They treat the King’s messengers spitefully, seize them, and kill them. Holy Scripture has many examples of the prophets being treated worse than heathens are. The apostles did not escape poor treatment. Christian tradition has it that Saint John the Evangelist is the only apostle of the first twelve to die a natural death. The others were martyred for their bold confession of Jesus Christ crucified.
Part of the martyr’s confession of Christ is the stern preaching of the Law. Isaiah says in the Old Testament reading why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Saint Paul says in the Epistle See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise…do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with win, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. Notice that Paul calls walking outside the will of the Lord unwise and those who do so are called fools. Nevertheless, Christians seem to be the ones called unwise and fools for proclaiming the immortal and exclusive God.
Our Lord’s hard saying means that heaven will be full, but not as full as our human minds might think. It does no good to talk about those who refuse God’s call to the wedding feast because they aren’t here. No matter what you and I say or do, they won’t be persuaded by God’s Word. They have their own gods. They have their own comfort in people and things that will be destroyed on the Last Day. What the mind can’t get around is this business of those who act like Christians on the outside, but on the inside care nothing for the kingdom of heaven. That’s what the expulsion of the man not wearing a wedding garment is about.
Christians wear two garments. One is the robe of righteousness put upon you at your Baptism. Christ’s garment of incorruption covers your sins and makes you a new creation. The other garment we wear is the garment of the New Man who hates walking as a slave to sin. Daily you cast off the garment of the Old Adam so the New Man may emerge and walk in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. Casting off the Old Adam is what it means to live in your baptismal grace. As a new creation, you want to love God and your neighbor. You despise sin and want to do better.
When the Old Man’s clothes cover up the robe of righteousness, or when the Old Man’s clothes are worn exclusively, you are not clothed properly for the King’s wedding feast. You love your own way rather than the Lord’s Way. You say and do all the right things on the outside, but inside there is no renovation of the heart. You mouth prayers and praise to God, but the heart and the mouth are not in harmony. The heart is set on worldly things. The heart is set opposite God’s will for you.
Who then can be saved? You and I have cast off our wedding garment many times. If Christ’s Word is true, and His Word is true because the Scriptures cannot be broken, then there is no hope for a Christian. Where Christ is, there is no lack of hope. Though many are called, but few are chosen, there still is room in the heavenly mansions. There still is hope for the hopeless, even when you believe heaven’s doors are closed. You are here to receive God’s precious gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. You come to God’s House with a repentant heart that longs to cast off Old Adam and put on the New Man. You seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Did you hear those words? The Lord has mercy and pardons those who return to the Lord and forsake the way of wickedness! Saint Paul writes be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s standard default position with sinners is mercy. He has mercy on you when you stop walking the way of death and return to the Way of life.
The preaching of the Law is a preaching of repentance. It is as if you are about to walk off the side of a cliff and someone cries out for you not to walk any farther lest you die. You don’t have to trust the person crying out for you to stop. You can trust yourself and take your chances. On the other hand, you can heed the call of safety and return from whence you came.
The Collect for the day bids the Lord to grant His faithful people pardon and peace. These things are yours because Jesus Christ is the One Whose Father arranged a marriage. The marriage is when the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary conceives Jesus. God and man come together in her womb. God and man come together and is born without sin, yet suffers the death you deserve. God and man come together out of the grave so when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, you will come out of the grave leaving your old grave clothes behind. You will be the new creation that is yours through water and the Word of God in Holy Baptism.
See, the Lord has prepared a Supper before you in the presence of your enemies. All things are ready. Come to the wedding feast that is a foretaste of the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb in His never-ending kingdom. Eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Hear, and your soul shall live. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on October 20th, 2009%
But what is to be understood by the wedding? It is, of course, the Christian Church here on earth and every true member in it; and every believing soul is called Christ’s bride, as evidenced in the Song of Solomon and other places in Scripture. Therefore, it is not amiss to understand this wedding as the spiritual union of the Church and each and every believing soul with Christ. Just as the heavenly Father says to His beloved Son in Psalm 2:8: “Ask it of Me and I will give you the Gentiles as an inheritance and the ends of the world as your possession.” And in Ephesians 5 St. Paul shows us the secret of this relationship; it is the marriage of Christ to His Church.
Nonetheless, since the call of the Christian Church is presented to us in the words of the parable as distinct from the wedding, it seems somewhat closer to the text if we understand it as the union of the divine and the human natures in Christ, in keeping with the words of the Song of Solomon 3:11: “Go out, you daughter of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of his heart’s delight.” For, as by the bond of marriage two become one flesh (Genesis 2:24), by the personal union the divine and the human natures in Christ are united in one Person. Just as the bride shares in the bridegroom’s possessions, so also Christ bestows His assumed human nature with His heavenly possessions. Accordingly, when the heavenly Father gives His Son in marriage, that which was determined from all eternity is accomplished in the fullness of time, namely, that God’s Son has taken up human nature into the unity of His Person.
Now, it is to this very wedding that the Lord God calls us poor humans, and it is because of us that this wedding has been arranged. For it is because of us that God’s Son has come from heaven and become true man, as attested by the Nicene Symbol. That which He has accomplished in His assumed human nature is intended for our good. Therefore, He sends forth his servants to call us to partake of the joy and feast of this wedding. The call, however, does not occur only once but at various times, as the parable shows. For, since the first of those who were to be invited disregarded the heavenly call, the king sends other servants forth and has them tell those who were next to be invited: “See, I have prepared my feast; and my ox and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding.”
This is to be understood as the great treasure of Christ’s benefactions, which have been prepared in all fullness for us in and through Christ, because He offers Himself as the food and drink for our souls (John 6). (Postilla 2:208-209)
By our first parents’ fall into sin we poor humans have been robbed of our magnificent garment of perfect righteousness and holiness. The hellish murderers have stripped us (Luke 10:30) so that we are naked and bare (Rev. 3:17). If we are to stand before God, we must be garbed again and not be found bare. The garment, however, cannot be our own righteousness; for before God this is like a filthy dress (Isaiah 64:6), but Christ with His precious merits is the beautiful raiment that covers our nakedness and shields it from the heat of God’s wrath. We put on Christ by true faith: “You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been baptized have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). This is foreshadowed in the tunics of lamb skin the Lord God made for our first parents, for fig leaves were not fit to do it (Genesis 3:21). Christ is the Lamb of God; in His merit we must wrap ourselves, as it were, if we are to stand before God. In Genesis 27:16, Jacob acquired the blessing when he placed the goat skin around his neck and hands; this is how we will partake of the heavenly blessing – when we are garbed with the precious righteousness of Christ (who is the true Scapegoat, Lev. 16). (Postilla 2:213)
By pastorjuhl, on October 15th, 2009%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
The answer is “YES!” What is the question you ask? Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise and walk”? Jesus Christ forgives sins and raises the lame. He does so not merely in the Scriptures. He forgives your sins and will raise you and all believers in Christ from the dead when He returns on the Last Day. No wonder most of today’s hymns come from the “Praise and Adoration” section of the Service Book. Like those in Capernaum, you can’t help marvel and glorify God, who had given such power to men.
The Lord God says in Isaiah chapter 43, I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. This is why the scribes take issue with Jesus’ first words to the paralytic. They believe Jesus is not the Son of God. He has no business speaking the Word that only God can speak. Speaking the Word that God alone can speak is blasphemy. Jesus is found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Like the paralytic, Jesus rises up from His place of rest and walks away.
You cannot separate the forgiveness of sins from the resurrection. To declare your sins forgiven is to say that you will rise from the dead. To say that you will rise from the dead means you have saving faith in Jesus Christ, the God-Man Who inaugurates the New Creation in His resurrection. No faith in Christ, no forgiveness of sins and no promise of eternal life.
The scribes imply Jesus is not the Christ when they grumble within themselves that Jesus blasphemes. The scribes are the actual blasphemers because they mock the Son of God and are caught. Jesus says to them, why do you think evil in your hearts? That’s a good question. Why do you think evil in your hearts when you come to God’s house to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life? King Solomon warns you in Ecclesiastes, walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Have you caught yourself walking to God’s House thinking you will offer Him a pure and clean heart through singing extra loud, praying extra hard, and looking extra pious? If you have, join the crowd of fellow hypocrites who walk through church doors all over the world. Consider yourself caught mocking the Son of God by trying to be holier than your unholy neighbor is.
The paralytic is a picture of Christ’s Church. He lies on a bed, unable to walk. He depends upon the kindness of his friends to bring him to Jesus. Mark and Luke’s Gospel go one step farther and say that the man had to be lowered through the roof in front of Jesus because there was no way to get the man through the house door. Those who carry the paralytic to Jesus are friends both of the man in need of healing as well as the Man Who can heal.
Sin binds your body and soul. You are unable to walk or stand before God as someone who does not need His healing touch. When you were an infant or a young child your parents brought you to God’s House because they believed your soul needed healing. The pastor, in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ, washed you clean of sin in Holy Baptism. You were clothed in the white garment of incorruption. Because Jesus takes away your sins, He also makes the promise that you will rise from the dead just as He rose from the dead.
When you were confirmed, you spoke the Word of promise that you would rather die before falling away from Christ’s holy Church. You spoke the baptismal creed first spoken on your behalf at your baptism. You knelt to receive the blessing of Jesus Christ. You also knelt to receive His True Body and True Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. As you learned in confirmation instruction, where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.
It’s easy for Jesus to forgive sins. It’s also easy for Jesus to tell you as He told the paralytic, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Pastors don’t use those exact words, but that’s what is said from this chancel every Lord’s Day. Not only are your sins forgiven, but your life in Jesus Christ is restored and renewed. What’s amazing about the matter is that God gives such power to men. God gave this power first to His only-begotten Son Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not making the inference that the pastor equals Jesus Christ. If it were so, then countless sleeping bodies in cemeteries would be alive. Those sleeping bodies will rise one day, but not at a pastor’s Word. Those sleeping bodies will rise at the sound of our Lord Christ’s voice. His voice is the same voice that brought all life into being at creation. His voice is the same voice that spoke the Promise of a Savior to Adam and Eve. His voice is the same voice that rose up the paralytic from his bed. His voice is the same voice that will wake you and me from peaceful slumber wherever our mortal remains may lie.
Jacob’s ladder has one end in heaven. The other end is right here at the corner of Second and Pine. God comes down to earth here to bring you the one thing needful: the priceless treasure of the Gospel spoken in sermon, absolution, and the Supper. After feeding your hungry heart, He says to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.
You are already a new creation by virtue of your baptism. You will receive the fullness of that new creation, a new body and soul, when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. On that day your body will be changed. Gone is the old. The new has come. No more painful memories. No more painful body. There will be resurrection joy unlike any Easter you’ve ever experienced.
When Jacob saw the ladder in a dream, He responded surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Though this building is modest, it is the house of God and the gate of heaven. We get a tiny glimpse of the life of the world to come each weekend. We hear the Lord say to our soul as He said to the psalmist, I am your salvation! Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things! He has given such power of forgiveness and life to man. The answer is “YES!” Believe it for Jesus’ sake.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on October 12th, 2009%
The outward cure of the paralytic was both the image and the proof of the cure of his soul, which previously had been in a state of moral paralysis; but he himself represented another sufferer, i.e., the human race, which for ages had been a victim to the palsy of sin (Dom Prosper Gueranger, “The Liturgical Year” 11:405).
Because they reveal such faith, He reveals His power; with full authority forgiving his sins (John Chrysostom).
The more the soul is greater than the body, the greater it is to forgive sin than to heal the body. But because the former is not visible, and the latter is, He does what is the lesser but more evident, to prove something greater, but less evident (Catena Aurea).
In the paralytic, all the Gentiles are brought to Him to be healed. He accordingly is brought by the ministry of angels; he is called son, because he is the work of God; the sins of his soul are forgiven, which the Law could not forgive. For faith only justifies. Then he manifests the power of the resurrection, when, by taking up his bed, he teaches that in heaven bodies shall be without infirmity (Hilary of Poitiers).
Blessed Martin Luther
When we refuse to believe, we disdain God as a deceiver, as though the things He declares to us were not true, that He can and wants to do them for us…. A believing heart, on the other hand, honors God with the highest possible honor due Him, for it regards Him as trustworthy, as incapable of lying, as One Who certainly fulfills what He promises.
Word and faith are correlatives; the one is never without the other. If a person has faith without the Word, he believes like the Turk or the Jew; they believe that God is benevolent and good, but they are without the promise, for God will not be gracious apart from Christ. Contrariwise, whoever has the Word but no faith, for him the Word avails nothing. Therefore, both belong together, Word and faith, like marriage partners, and they must not be separated.
We who have the Word at times do not believe and trust as firmly as those who do not have the Word. This is the devil’s doing, the result of original sin which causes us to be drawn away from the Word and the truth, toward believing the lie rather. In short it is the devil’s fraud and our flesh’s deception because our natures are so corrupted by original sin. When the Word is absent, we have faith galore; but when we have the Word, it is only with great difficulty that we ward off unbelief. That’s because our flesh and our reason want to have nothing to do with the Word; they are willing to believe only what they want to believe.
Think what it would mean if we rightly and truly believed that what Christ here says to the man sick with palsy, He is saying to you and to me every day in baptism, in absolution, and in public preaching, that I must not mistakenly think that God is angry and ungracious toward me. Shouldn’t that cause me to stand on my head with joy? Wouldn’t that make everything sweet as sugar, pure as gold, sheer everlasting life? The fact that this doesn’t happen for us proves that the “old Adam” and the devil drag us away from faith and the Word…. You must have the Word, and faith must cling to the Word, never questioning it in any way. You then have everything the Word promises and which you require for support of body and soul. Those who don’t have the Word are strong in faith too, but they believe only as much as by nature they’re inclined to believe, preferring to believe a lie. That’s the way it is with the human heart ever since the devil corrupted our nature in Paradise.
If you want to have forgiveness of sin, do not try to climb into heaven, but go and be baptized, if you are not already, or, if you have been, remember the promise God has made to you in your baptism, be reconciled to your neighbor, and ask the absolution be declared unto you in Jesus’ name. Believe the Word, receive the most venerable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, so that you may be sure that such priceless treasure is meant for you to have and enjoy.
We are to seek the forgiveness of sins in the Word which is spoken by human mouth and in the Sacrament administered by men, and nowhere else.
By nature we are all palsied. The more we try to draw close to God and be reconciled with Him through our works, the farther from Him we get; and the more our hand pushes Him away, the greater becomes the trepidation in us. I must confess concerning myself that when I think I can do things very well on my own, I’m actually making things much worse, because I’m not acting in my faith. If, therefore, we want to be helped in this dilemma, we need to look away from our works and trust in Christ Who is able to help us wondrously. He says to us, “Be of good cheer, my son, your sins are forgiven you.” With such word the limbs again become strong and sound, capable of helping us to carry a load, as happened here with the palsied man whom Christ healed physically, having bestowed the forgiveness of sins upon him.
We know that the Holy Spirit does not want to carry on His work apart from the Word and Sacraments. For this reason we dare not disdain the Word and Sacraments, but we should cherish them as the very best and noblest of treasures.
By Christopher Esget, on October 3rd, 2009%
Gospel: Luke 14:1-11
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” +inj+
To exalt yourself is to measure everything by what pleases you. To exalt yourself is to be proud.
Pride seeks everything — including heaven, and God Himself — on one’s own terms.
Humility seeks everything — especially heaven, and God Himself — on His own terms.
Pride glorifies the self: the rugged individual, the achiever, the self-made man, the independent woman.
Humility glorifies God, and abandons every personal claim to righteousness.
The world rejoices in the self-made man.
The angels rejoice in a self-despairing man: “one sinner who repents.” Continue reading Trinity 17
By revhamer@verizon.net, on October 1st, 2009%
Sermon on St. Luke 10:23-37
Trinity 13
The Law was given through Moses,but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
– St. John 1:17
“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This lawyer was an expert in the law, literally a “jurist.” Jesus, however, was the master teacher not of the Law (although He knows that, too), but primarily of the Gospel. Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Lawyers are, by definition, experts in the written Law, and this lawyer had done his required reading. You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. We call them the “two tables of the Law.” The first table, Commandments 1-3, teaches us to love God. The second table, Commandments 4-10, teaches us to love our neighbor. And so Jesus summarized by saying, “Do this, and you will live.” Keep the commandments perfectly, Mr. Esquire, and you will inherit eternal life. What about you? Do you keep the commandments perfectly? Have you justified yourself through keeping God’s Law? Do you believe that the Ten Commandments teach you about Christ and His salvation? No! The Ten Commandments as a rule cannot justify this lawyer or the lawyer-in-you. The Law was given through Moses, and this lawyer delivers the Law to you a rule for human behavior: love God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself.
Enter “A man [who] was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho” when he “fell among robbers.” We New Yorkers, of course, call it “getting mugged,” also known as your initiation into New York City living. Even with the reigning “Peace of Rome,” a guarantee of safe conduct throughout the Empire, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was dangerous. I’ve seen it and I can testify that it accommodates thieves by giving them hiding places. And it is full of steep hills and cliffs, offering their own dangers and challenges. So here we see an innocent traveler, robbed, stripped, beaten, and left for dead. How does this show us our sin? The word translated as “A man” means “anyone.” Anyone and everyone should picture this man lying half-dead on the roadside and see his own reflection through the Law of God as a mirror. Yes, I say, this man is the image of you and me in our sinful state before God. We have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have offended God by our sins and justly deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. We have done evil in God’s sight and left undone what the good that He would have us do. In short, we are half-dead on the road of life and waiting for eternal death in hell. The Law was given through Moses, and this man’s sorry plight – yes, our state of death – delivers us the Law as a mirror to expose the sinner within.
Next came the priest and the Levite, the ministers of the Old Covenant under Moses. The priest made intercession before the people, offering sacrifices at the temple and praying for the people. In this story, the image is probably of a priest who was returning from his two-week tour of duty in Jerusalem. So also the Levite. Recall the tribe of Levi, those who were not given any land, but were scattered throughout Israel as Christ-bearers through the writing, singing, and teaching of the Psalms. Taken together, the priest and the Levite are the incarnation of the Old Covenant. Yet what did they do? They passed by on the other side, leaving the victim for dead. See how the Law is a curb for human behavior that exposes your sin and death! The Law keeps us on the road of life. It curbs human actions by writing into our hearts (even of the unbelievers) some innate sense of right and wrong. Recall, for instance, the presence of the Ten Commandments in the secular courts, at least for several years. The priest and the Levite, the Ten Commandments and the conscience, work together to keep human beings ethical, to reward good and punish evil, to order our society as God would have order. But even this dynamic of the Law as a curb will not give us life. It brings us to repentance, for we have not kept perfect order in this fallen world or in our personal lives, but have sought our own selfish pleasure at the expense of good order. The Law was given through Moses, and the priest and Levite remind us that the Law will not avail for eternal life.
Finally, behold the Samaritan, the unlikely hero of the story. Recall the OT division of two kingdoms, one Northern and one Southern. The South had the capital city of Jerusalem, the temple, and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The lawyer, priest, and Levite probably resonate with the South. The North, by contrast, had to set up their own capital in Samaria, and contend with powerful neighbors to the North, especially Assyria. Several centuries before Jesus, the North was destroyed. Those leftover from the North were called “Samaritans,” and their was no love lost between North and South. The title “Good Samaritan” was no doubt a contradiction in terms to the hearers of this parable! One can only imagine the reaction of the Lawyer when Jesus gradually unfolded the Samaritan as the protagonist of the story!
“The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
See how Christ is the Good Samaritan! In my experience, most folks who attended Sunday School at some point in their life can tell you that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and later died outside Jerusalem, both in the Southern Kingdom. But do you remember where Jesus was raised? Nazareth, which is part of the North Country. Indeed, the title “Jesus of Nazareth” means, in effect, Jesus of Samaria. Jesus from the North. Jesus is our Good Samaritan, the unlikely hero of this story and, in the minds of many, the unexpected giver of grace and truth.
See how the Good Samaritan comes to the victim and shows compassion. You all know how it goes. Someone collapses in need, yet several folks to walk right by until at last one compassionate person stops to help. Recall how the priest and the Levite walked by on the other side. But the Samaritan came to the victim to show compassion. The word “compassion” here literally means the outpouring of the inner parts. So the Good Samaritan made it his life’s purpose in that moment to help this victim. See how Christ does all this for you! He saw victims like you and me, left for dead and unable to help ourselves through the Law. But instead of remaining in Heaven to think about our plight, He became man. Conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of the Virgin Mary. He showed His compassion through His miracles, healing the sick and raising the dead. And, in the ultimate act of compassion, He went to the cross, absorbing our sin, sickness, and death into His own body. “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,” especially as He became a man to die for our sins.
And He didn’t stop there. His work is not just past tense, dying on the cross and then leaving us to fend for ourselves. Rather, risen from the dead and alive forevermore, He gives us His oil and wine. Olive oil is a common feature in the Middle East. Travelers from the West are probably surprised to see olive oil in just about every home and restaurant. It is used as food, medicine, and for ritual anointings. So also wine. It’s present at almost every meal, even being consumed by folks well under age 21! Wine says life, joy, and family – the good stuff of God’s creation. But I ask you: What is the theological use of oil and wine in the Christian faith and life? Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. For centuries, oil was used for pre-baptismal anointings, a meaningful ritual that something is actually happening in baptism; that baptism means something. I suppose that we have put the oil on the liturgical shelf, so to speak, but the connection is there nonetheless. Wine, however, is more obvious. It is part and parcel of the Lord’s Supper. No Welch’s grape juice here, but the real thing: wine, the drink of joy; the drink that says Christ is present. Taken together, oil and wine remind us that Christ, our Good Samaritan, gives us the healing balm of the Gospel sacramentally. The oil of baptism to rescue you from the power of the devil. The wine of the Lord’s Supper to strengthen and preserve you steadfast in the true faith. “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,” who daily and richly forgives our sins through His blessed sacraments.
And the Good Samaritan ensures long-term medical care. He takes the man to the inn, a large structure with shelter for man and beast. According to the custom of the day, inns were used as meeting places, hospitals, and just about anything else you could do in an ancient building. And the Samaritan instructed the innkeeper to care for the man. As the Samaritan cared for him, so the innkeeper was to care for him, even after the Samaritan left. What is our inn? The Christian church, the place where we receive long-term care for our souls. The church is a spiritual hospital, where dying sinners receive the spiritual healing of forgiveness, life, and salvation. And who is our innkeeper? The pastor, who is ordained to oversee the spiritual care given to the flock in word and sacrament. To paraphrase Jesus, “Take care of the flock. Baptize little babies. Absolve penitent sinners. Preach full-strength Law and Gospel. Distribute my body and blood. And when I return to judge the living and the dead, I will reward you with the life everlasting.” “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,” and His grace and truth continue to flow mightily to us in this Christian church.
As for the lawyer, he understood the parable, but he certainly didn’t like it. He couldn’t even say that the Samaritan had mercy on the victim, but settles for the phrase, “The one who showed him mercy.” But we, who hear this parable in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, know that the story of the Good Samaritan is richest and purest Gospel. Oh, we need the Law, especially to bring us to repentance. But greater than the Law and greater than the priest and Levites in our life is the One who is compassion incarnate, who gives us the healing power of the Gospel, and who abides forevermore in this Christian church. He is the One who shows mercy on us. And His name is Jesus, the Christ. INJ. Amen.
Rev. Brian Hamer
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bayside, NY
By revhamer@verizon.net, on October 1st, 2009%
Sermon on St. Mark 7:31-37
[Healing the Deaf-Mute]
Trinity 12
+ Jesu Juva +
And Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
“And again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, [Jesus] came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.” The name “Decapolis” is the Greek word for “ten towns,” i.e., ten no-name villages on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. It was the place where Jesus once healed a demon-possessed man, cast the evil legion into a herd of about 2,000 pigs, who then ran down a steep hill and drowned in the sea. Not longer after this little episode with the community livestock, Jesus returned to the ten towns to teach and to work miracles. Jesus’ presence in the Decapolis says that His messianic mission is for everyone in every place at every time. Many Jews of Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to be a dyed-in-the-wool Jew who ruled from the capital of Jerusalem. The Decapolis was Gentile territory, yet Jesus went there twice in Mark’s Gospel to teach us that He is the Savior of every nation. No one is left out or excluded based on their proximity to Jerusalem or ethnic origins. Everyone will be included when Jesus embraces all mankind in His death.
“And they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.” The Greek word translated “impediment” means to speak with difficulty or to speak indistinctly. We technically miss the mark, then, when we call this Gospel lesson the “healing of the deaf-mute,” but not to worry. The point is that this man was a victim of the fall into sin and lived a life of hardship and trial. Perhaps the folks in the Decapolis remembered Jesus’ previous miracle in their midst and thought they would go for two? In any event, we see ourselves in the deaf man because we are victims of the same fall into sin. The disease that took our souls also seized our bodies. Left to ourselves, we cannot open our ears to hear the Gospel or open our mouths to declare His praise in worship, doctrine, and life. Our ears are polluted by the filth we hear – dirty jokes, sexual innuendos, and four-letter words. Our mouths are polluted by the filth we speak – lies, gossip, and putting the worst construction on everything. The Psalmist gets it right when He says, “O Lord, open Thou my lips; [then, and only then] My mouth shall show forth Thy praise” (Ps 51:15 ).
“And [Jesus] took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.” Jesus took Him aside to do His work one-on-one, somewhat parallel to individual pastoral care – such as meeting personally with the pastor for individual confession and absolution. A third party, not to mention an entire multitude, is an impediment. Jesus knew the man’s limitations, so notice how Jesus uses body language — a vital, non-verbal way of communicating with the deaf: a finger in the ear; a bit of saliva on the tongue. Jesus is very real and very human, coming to the man in His deepest need and offering the Master’s Divine touch where he needs it the most. See, Dearly Beloved, how Christ is incarnate to save us! Christ is God with us, God one of us; the God who has come in the flesh to restore our flesh and heal our diseases. He is not just a distant Deity, pushing the right buttons from His lofty throne to order world events according to His will. (Although, He can do that, too!) Rather, He is the God who has ears and spit and a tongue, that He might carry your diseases to the cross and care for your body in its deepest need.
“And Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’” He looks up to heaven, the place from whence He came; the place that reminds us that Jesus is God, for He is from heaven. He sighs on behalf of the man’s weakness, the same sort of groaning with which the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. Do you see the Trinity here? God the Father in heaven. God the Son in the flesh. God the Holy Spirit groaning on behalf of fallen creation. And then a word from the Trinity: “Ephphatha – Be opened!” This unique Aramaic word, drawn from Jesus’ native language, addresses the entire being. The man’s whole self – ears and tongue, body and soul – is commanded to be opened to all the gifts and graces of the Triune God. See how the proclamation of the Word of God is His own “ephphatha” to us, for it is only through the preached word that sinful ears can hear the gospel and mute tongues can shout for joy. When we hear the good news of Jesus’ death for our sins and His resurrection on the third day, something very real is happening here; as real and as miraculous as the healing in this Gospel lesson. The preached word that we are hearing from this pulpit even now has the power to forgive your sins, to heal your broken hearts (even after the death of a loved one), and to open your being to the riches of the gospel.
“And immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.” The Word of God is active and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It terrifies the comforted through the law. It comforts the terrified through the gospel. It can be rejected, of course, in stubborn unbelief. But the Word of God on in its own merit is infallible, i.e., it cannot fail to unclog stubborn ears, to open sinful mouths, and to give and bestow the forgiveness of sins. See how this story foreshadows the sacraments! Baptism is our “ephphatha,” our own opening of the heart and mind to receive Christ and His gifts. In one of Martin Luther’s orders of baptism, for instance, we read that the priest “shall take [saliva] with his finger, touch the right ear [of the baptizan] and say: ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, Be . . . opened [Mk 7:34].” Then the child is led into the church to renounce Satan, confess the Creed, and receive the triple immersion. Baptism opens your entire being, chases away the devil, and delivers the entire Trinity. And the Lord’s Supper is an “Ephphatha” as our mouths are quite literally opened to eat Jesus’ true body and to drink His very blood. The blessed Sacrament both heals your soul and nourishes your body and soul until life everlasting. His body and blood are life-giving and death-defying, powerful enough to bring you through death to eternal life. So in the sacraments, God comes to us just as incarnationally and as miraculously as He came to the deaf man, opening our ears and mouths to hear the word of the cross and resurrection and to speak plainly of the person and work of Christ.
“And then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.” Jesus’ command not to spread the word of this miracle is known as the “Messianic secret.” A lot of folks expected a Messiah. However, the word “Messiah” had overtones that were contrary to the cross. Some expected the promised Messiah to be a savior, but a savior from political oppression or from sin? Some expected a king, but an earthly king or a king on the cross? Others expected a ruler, but a ruler over the enemies of the Jews or a ruler over the church? Still others expected a deliverer, but a deliverer from Rome or a deliverer from sin and eternal death? Any of these expectations, if not firmly anchored at the foot of the cross, is a false belief, as modern Jewish belief belies. However, we who live in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension have no Messianic secret! Rather, we have the word of Jesus’ death and new life that we can tell to everyone. Tell everyone that Jesus died for their sins, that He was buried, and that He was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. This is richest and purest gospel for your family and friends, for your neighbors and co-workers, and for the person sitting next to you on public transit. No more secrets! Just the good news of Jesus’ cross and resurrection and the invitation to your unchurched friends to come to church, to see Jesus, and to have their ears and mouths opened to speak of salvation in Christ.
“And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” Ironically, the same crowd that disobeyed Jesus’ order to keep the Messianic secret got it right when they said that He does all things well. And not just in the Decapolis; He worked many other miracles in Mark’s Gospel: casting out demons, healing people in need, cleansing lepers, calming raging storms, and many more. The healing of the deaf-mute is one of the later miracles in a long sequence of miracles that is leading up to Peter’s confession in Mark 8[:29], “You are the Christ.” Peter and the disciples know that Jesus is the Christ or “anointed One” because of His miracles and teaching. And it is only after Peter’s confession that Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mk 8:31). This is our creed and confession! The One who restores the deaf-mute to health and wholeness is the Christ of God, the Anointed One who will make all things new by His death and resurrection. We join the Psalmist to pray in our hour of deepest need, “Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord” (Ps 70:1). And He gives us His own ‘ephphatha’ in baptism, preaching, and the Lord’s Supper, opening our entire being to speak of salvation and to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. INJ. Amen.
Rev. Brian Hamer
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bayside, NY
– Mark 8:29
By revhamer@verizon.net, on October 1st, 2009%
Sermon on St. Luke 18:9-14
[The Parable of the Pharisee & Tax Collector]
Trinity XI
+ Jesu Juva +
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time. – I Pet 5:6
St. Peter’s admonition to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time” is a perfect summary of the theme of the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. For those who humble themselves by placing themselves underneath the crucified One will be exalted with the forgiveness of sins. But those who refuse to repent will be cast down into hellfire. An important lesson for us on what it means to stand righteous before God.
Jesus said, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” The image here is probably the daily prayer services in the Jerusalem temple at 9:00 in the morning and 3:00 in the afternoon. Twice daily bloody sacrifices were offered, incensed was burned, and the priests offered prayers for the people–similar to our Matins and Vespers, the morning and evening prayer services of the church. During these daily sacrifices, the faithful were invited to come and pray in the temple. So the setting here is a public prayer service, but the prayers offered by these two men were obviously private prayers, similar to your praying your own silent prayer before the service. Two men went to the temple to pray, as many pharisees, tax collectors, and others did every day. But how different are these two men before God!
The Pharisee, a prominent class of Jewish religious leaders, was “standing by himself.” The underlying NT phrase can mean “standing by himself” or “praying by himself” or even “praying within himself.” In any event, the image here is one who is entirely turned in on himself. He prays so that the tax collector can hear him, so I would suggest that he is not standing by himself, but really caught up in his own unholy triad: me, myself, and I. His prayer is certainly an exercise is self-congratulations: “I thank you that I am not like other men.” To be sure, it was customary to begin a Jewish prayer with thanksgiving, as Luther does in his morning and evening prayers, “I thank you, my Heavenly Father . . .” But see how his thanksgiving is really about himself, not about God: “I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Here the Pharisee has really communicated with himself and with the tax collector, not with God. This is an abuse of prayer, making it more of a phone conversation between men, with no need for God. And it gets worse: “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” Indeed, Jews of Jesus’ day did fast twice a week. Tithing, giving 10% of your agricultural products, was also commanded in the OT and indeed it was a good practice. But neither practice was intended for bragging, especially in prayer. “I thank You that I am not like them and that I am like me.” And that’s it! No “in Jesus’ name,” or “amen” at the end. The Pharisee stood by himself, prayed by himself (arguably prayed to himself!) and made sure that the tax collector knew what the Pharisee thought of him.
And what about us? There’s much to be said based on the Pharisee about our prayer life – the setting (where you pray), the ritual (what you do with your body), and the words (how we pray). But prayer is an expression of what we already believe about the forgiveness of sins in Christ, which is why the Lord’s Prayer follows the Creed in the Small Catechism. Faith first, prayer second. So the primary focus in this parable is not primarily prayer, but rather justification, i.e., what it means to stand righteous before God. The Pharisee thought that he was righteous before God because of who He was and what He did, and this was certainly evident in his prayers. This reminds us that the pharisee-in-us stands proud before God, wanting to parade its own self and its own works before His throne. The pharisee-in-us thinks too highly of itself and too lowly of others and not enough at all of God. We have bragged about our service to the church. We have been willing to hold special posts in the church, but unwilling to attend to the study of the Divine Word. We have given gifts with the hope of recognition and the pride of seeing my name in print. We have come to church not primarily to focus on God, but to focus on me, myself, and my feelings (“How did that sermon make you feel today?”). We have been too absorbed in local circumstance – the way we’ve always done it; the way I like it; the way it makes me feel good (“Are people happy?”), instead of thinking things through from the perspective of the gospel. We have become so absorbed in personal likes and dislikes that we seem to have forgotten about the real presence of Christ altogether. Repent! “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled . . .
But the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The tax collector, a despised IRS man of the Roman Empire, is a case study in the right doctrine of justification before God. He stood afar off, a posture that indicates that we should never come barging into God’s presence, but that we should approach God reverently, in awe, and only through Christ. He would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, for his sins weighed so heavily upon his heart that He was inclined to pray with the centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed.” The tax collector beat his breast, a profound sign of repentance by beating the heart as the source of sinful desires, for Jesus said that evil thoughts and desires proceed out of the heart. And the tax collector prayed a prayer similar to the Kyrie, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” The NT actually says, “God, make atonement for me, a sinner!” Again, picture the setting of this gospel lesson, the daily temple sacrifices at 9:00 and 3:00. As the tax collector prays, blood is being shed for his sins, prayers are being offered by the priests for the people, and incense is rising before God as a symbol of those prayers. “God, make atonement for me, a sinner!” The atonement, the full payment of the price for his sin, was being made at the very moment he offered this prayer. And God was merciful to this sinner, forgiving his sins based on the blood shed in the temple.
So it is for us! We see our sins and we pray with the tax collector, “God, make atonement for me, a sinner!” And God has made atonement for us on the cross. As the hymn puts it: “My sins, O Lord, against me rise, I mourn them with contrition; Grant th[rough] Thy death and sacrifice, To me a full remission. Lord, show before the Father’s throne / That Thou [did] for my sins atone.” We no longer make bloody sacrifices every morning and evening, for the great sacrifice and atonement for our sins has already been made once-for-all on the cross. Christ our great High Priest, the One who offers His own body as a sacrifice for our sins. Christ is also the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And His blood is the incense that now rises before God as the morning and evening sacrifice, the one and only sacrifice that is acceptable to God the Father as full payment for all of our sins.
And so Jesus concludes, “I tell you, [the tax collector] went down to his house justified, rather than the [Pharisee].” The two went up together, probably singing the same ascent Psalm, a Psalm that talks about ascending the hill of the Lord. But they went down from the temple as two different men in God’s eyes: one righteous and one unrighteous. This is the main point of this familiar parable: your going home justified today is God’s free gift in Christ. We have been baptized. We have ascended our holy hill, the church. We have stood in God’s presence to receive and respond to His gifts, heard the word of justification, and received Jesus’ true body and blood. And His benediction sends us back to our daily lives, where His gifts are lived out in a holy and God-pleasing life in what we say and do. Yes, I say, we go home justified (i.e., righteous, forgiven) as God’s free gift in Christ.
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” The rhythm of the Christian life is daily repentance and faith. Daily die to sin and crucify all that is not of Christ. And daily rise to a new life of full and free forgiveness in Jesus’ name. It’s just like Jesus’ own pattern of dying on Good Friday and rising on Easter Sunday. And it is all ours by faith in Christ, who makes us worthy to stand righteous before God. INJ. Amen.
Rev. Brian Hamer
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bayside, NY
By revhamer@verizon.net, on October 1st, 2009%
Sermon on St. Luke 19:41-48
Trinity 10
O’er Jerusalem Thou Weepest (TLH 419)
Today’s OT lesson describes the right relationship between God and His people. Speaking to Israel in the days just before Babylonian Captivity, Jeremiah stood in the gate of the Lord’s house and called Israel to repentance: “Thus says the Lord of hosts . . . Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.” Live in daily repentance and faith, and Solomon’s magnificent temple, along with the city of Jerusalem, will be a place of peace between God and man. Similarly, today’s Gospel lesson tells us about Jesus’ calling Jerusalem to repentance and cleansing the Temple. And our Hymn of the Day (TLH #419) describes Jesus’ lament for Jerusalem and applies it to our own Christian faith and life. And so, guided by this hymn, today we discuss Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem.
O’er Jerusalem Thou weepest / In compassion, dearest Lord.
Love divine, of love the deepest, O’er Thine erring Israel poured,
Crieth out in bitter moan: “O love city, hadst thou known /
This the day of visitation, Thou wouldst not reject salvation (TLH 419.1).
Jerusalem was the capital city, the seat of the Holy Land, and the destination of OT pilgrims. Established several thousand years ago, Jerusalem was given to the people by God as a city of peace and prosperity. Recall Israel’s promise of the Promised Land, the conquest under Joshua, and the establishment of the Davidic kingdom. Recall the three kings over the united Monarchy – Saul, David, and Solomon – followed by the rule of the southern kings, a few decades of captivity in Babylon, and later resettlement in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. In Jesus’ day, Jerusalem had more of a political tone. Rome wanted some of the splendor. Herod Antipus and Pontius Pilate got a piece of geo-political action. And many in Jerusalem came to understand the coming messiah in political terms, expecting a this-worldly king who would deliver them from Roman occupation.
This is the context for Jesus’ final approach to His holy city or, as the hymn puts it, “O loved city.” No wonder Jesus reacted in tears (“O’er Jerusalem Thou Weepest”) rather than joy: “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” The name Jerusalem means “city of peace” – not worldly peace, as many then and now have longed for, but the eternal peace between God and man through Jesus. The things that make for Jerusalem’s peace are the birth of Jesus, His life and death, His resurrection and ascension. That’s why Jerusalem was established–to be a place where the Messiah would come and proclaim peace between God and man. But, as you all know, Jerusalem turned against God and became a place of war and bloodshed. It became the city that rejected the Messiah, cast Him out as a common criminal, and crucified Him between two thieves.
And how did God the Father react to the rejection of His own Son? About forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, He turned the tables on their political expectation of deliverance from Rome and sent the Roman Army to sack Jerusalem and destroy almost every remnant of its heritage. That’s what Jesus is talking about when He says, “Your enemies will set up a barricade around and . . . tear you down to the ground,” etc. If I may recommend a little summer reading on this vital event, please see the book, Josephus: The Essential Works, edited by Paul Maier (Kregel,1988/1994). Writing as an eyewitness the horrors of the destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus, a Jewish historian, describes the fulfillment of Jesus’ words. The Roman army barricaded the city to starve it into submission. They attacked the city, killing women and children, even priests serving at the altar. They leveled the ancient fortress to the ground, not leaving one stone upon another. And, in the ultimate insult, they sold the holy things from the temple to help fund the building of the Roman Coliseum.
What does this mean for us? I would especially highlight in our hymn why Jesus weeps: “In compassion, dearest Lord.” His entire being goes out to all who reject Him, yes, even the Jewish and Roman citizens who delivered Him to be crucified. And so it is for us. Left to ourselves, we would secularize our expectations of God and reject the Messiah. On our own, we would expect God to do great things in the eyes of the world now, to deliver us from persecution now, and to make our church a great big success story now. But that’s not His way, is it? Rather, He saw us in our sin and unbelief and had compassion on us; compassion enough to become one of us, to die our death, and to rise from the dead. And since the old Jerusalem has been destroyed, Jesus established a New Jerusalem, the church. This is the true city of peace between God and man. Here we are cleansed by baptism. Here, in this Christian church, we have the peace of full and free forgiveness in Christ. In the new Jerusalem we have God’s visitation in the person of His Son, the Divine Service of His word and sacrament.
By the love Thy tears are telling, O Thou Lamb for sinners slain,
Make my heart Thy temple dwelling, Purged from ev’ry guilty stain.
Oh, forgive, forgive, my sin! Cleanse me, cleanse me, Lord, within!
I am Thine since Thou hast sought me, Since Thy precious blood hath bo’t me (TLH 419.2).
Having approached the holy city and wept over it, Jesus then entered the crown jewel of Jerusalem, the temple. Recall the temple, built by Solomon. An inner sanctum where only the high priest went and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. Designated places for prayer, both for men and women. A large altar for daily sacrifices at 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., not to mention countless individual and festal sacrifices. If the city was God’s visible presence to the world, the temple was God’s special presence for Israel. In the temple He heard their prayers, He received their sacrifices, and He cleansed them from their sins. As the prophet said, “The Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to His temple” (Mal 3:1).
But what did Jesus find in His temple? The moneychangers, buying and selling during the lucrative Passover market. Recall that Israel had to journey to Jerusalem three times a year to offers prayers and sacrifices. Rather than bring the sacrificial animals all the way from remote portions of Israel, most of the Hebrews purchased their animals in Jerusalem. To buy and sell outside the temple was appropriate. But buying and selling in God’s house, somewhat parallel to our sanctuary, was intolerable. The word “profane” literally means “outside the temple,” and that’s exactly where business should have been transacted. No wonder Jesus quoted the Scriptures regarding the temple: “My house shall be a house of prayer” (Is 56:7). My house, the temple, shall be a place for holy things: prayer, sacrifice, worship. “But you have made it a den of robbers.” Jesus then overturned their tables and drove them out of the temple.
And what about us? Our hymn teaches us the need to be cleansed and to stand righteous before God–the very reason for the existence of the temple. Our new Temple is Christ. And He is not bound to any building of brick and mortar, but to the church and to her administration of the means of grace. It all starts with His sacrificial death, just as a bloody sacrifice was required at the old temple: “By the love Thy tears are telling, O Thou Lamb for sinners slain.” As OT pilgrims brought one-year old lambs to the Passover, so Christ is the Lamb of God, the One who takes away the sins of the world. “Make my heart Thy temple dwelling.” Christ is the new Temple. We, by faith, are in Christ and He is in us. So we are also the new temple, the Christ-bearers to the world. And in His house of prayer, we pray, “Oh, forgive, forgive, my sin! Cleanse me, cleanse me, Lord, within!” Forgiveness and cleansing here are quite the same thing. To forgive is to send away, recalling the scapegoat in the wilderness. To cleanse is to wash away, recalling the many uses of water for ceremonial cleanness. Forgiveness, cleanness, righteousness–all are yours in Christ, who makes this church a house of prayer where you may commune with Him!
O Thou Lord of my salvation, Grant my soul Thy blood-bo’t peace.
By Thy tears of lamentation / Bid my faith and love increase.
Grant me grace to love Thy Word, Grace to keep the message heard,
Grace to own me as my Treasure, Grace to love Thee without measure (TLH 419.3).
This stanza describes the Christian life. We leave this sanctuary fed and nourished. We have heard God’s word of preaching and absolution. We have received His body and blood. Now what? We go back to our daily lives, where God’s gifts have their fruition: faith toward God and fervent love for one another. As the hymn puts it, “Bid my faith and love increase.” Love comes down from God in Christ. Faith is created and receives His gifts. And faith toward God and fervent love toward one another shape our daily lives the rest of the week. And see how it’s all under the umbrella of grace: “Grant me grace to love Thy word, Grace to keep the message heard . . . to own Thee as my Treasure . . . to love thee without measure.” No room for human effort here (Synergism), for purpose-driven living (Rick Warren), or for finding the better you (Joel Osteen). Rather, it’s all the work of God for us in Christ. The Christian life, what we call “sanctification,” is not our effort to be better Christians, but Christ in action through you.
In short, today’s Gospel lesson is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah that those who live in daily repentance and faith will dwell in the new Jerusalem, the church, where they will abide in the new Temple, Christ. And like our forefathers in Solomon’s temple, we will suffer persecution, bloodshed, and maybe even war. But Christ is with us and He simply cannot fail. Even when it seems that all is lost, Christ still has compassion on our churchly Jerusalem; He still prays for us as our Great High Priest; and He promises, in His own time, to end all suffering and to give us the final resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
God grant it unto us for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Rev. Brian Hamer
Redeemer Lutheran Church, Bayside, NY
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