Trinity 3: Audio Sermon (16-Jun-2013)

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Trinity 3 [Luke 15:1-10] (16-Jun-2013)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Luke 15:1-10)

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. 

In the recent few weeks, our sermons have been exploring the mystery of the Holy Spirit in the church. We have celebrated Pentecost, where Jesus said: The Holy Spirit will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. The Holy Spirit comes into the church and puts the words of Jesus into our minds and reminds us of them. The week after, we celebrated Holy Trinity Sunday, when we read where Jesus said to Nicodemus who came to him by night: Unless his born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God… The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and blows through the words of Jesus, and works in the way the he wishes, not the way that we want. The Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated. Then the first Sunday after Trinity, we read about Lazarus and the rich man, where Abraham says to the rich man in hell: Remember in your life how you received your good things, and Lazarus likewise bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. The Holy Spirit does not necessarily blow on the respectable people in the world, but blows in places where we don’t expect, sometimes even on the poorest of the poor, taking no notice of our wealth, status, position. The Holy Spirit blows in such a way that even a poor beggar can be infinitely blessed and a friend of all the angels of heaven ahead of a person with lots of money and status. And last week, we read the parable of the banquet, where we see the reason why the Holy Spirit is blowing. He wants to call us to God’s wonderful banquet, and say to us: Come, everything is now ready.

And so in our reading today, we also learn something else about the Holy Spirit. We learn about conversion, about repentance. What sort of contribution to we make when we are breathed upon by the Holy Spirit through the holy word of God? What sort of a state do we have to be in for the Holy Spirit to do his work on us?

Let’s read from our Gospel reading today:

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine sheep in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents that over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

We have to ask ourselves in our reading today: Where am I? What’s my work? What am I supposed to be doing in the reading?

And also the second question we have to ask is: What is God doing in our reading? Where’s our heavenly Father? Where’s Jesus Christ at work? How is the Holy Spirit working and blowing?

People so often want to make a contribution to their spirituality, to their Christian life and their salvation. Our sinful nature, our Old Adam, is just itching to do something! Our hearts are restless in wanting to fix our problems, and to rid ourselves of our own sins. Of course, there are plenty of people who don’t care about sin or judgment at all. These people also are always wanting to pretend to themselves that they live a good life, and that God must accept them because they are basically decent, honest people. I heard someone recently say: My grandma taught me that if you live a good life and do good things, you can go to heaven. And anything different is a heaven that I don’t want to go to.

But here’s the problem: who’s the judge? You or God? Did you invent heaven? Did you build it? Do you set its rules and its standards? Who decides what is good? Are you a good person because everyone else thinks your good? What about your bad motives? Who judges your heart? Do you even understand your own heart? Maybe you don’t think it matters what’s in your heart. Well, then share it, if it doesn’t matter: then you’ll know if you care about it. You don’t want everyone to know what you’re thinking, because they might think that you’re not the person you would like them to think you are. Now, what about God? He does know what you thinking. He does care. He does search out and plummet the depths of your heart, your mind, your soul, in such a way that even you don’t understand. You don’t even know the half of what’s going on in your mind. And what you do see is not always good. In fact, rarely it’s good. Mostly, it’s selfish and self-serving and wandering away from God. In fact, if you wanted to sit down and examine your thoughts and really work out which of your thoughts were good and which were bad, you’d be completely overwhelmed with the task. You’d find yourself completely lost and desperate.

That’s exactly the picture that we are painted in our Gospel reading of ourselves. We are like a lonely sheep, wandering off from the fold by ourselves. We’re a little sheep that doesn’t even know what danger lies ahead. We don’t even know that we’re wandering off, we don’t even know that we’re exploring. We’re a completely hopeless little sheep.

But what’s the picture of the God? Where’s our heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit? Jesus is our Good Shepherd. And he looks for us. We don’t look for him. He looks for us. And Jesus finds us. We don’t find him. He finds us.

There is absolutely nothing that we can contribute to being found by Jesus. He finds us. He speaks his voice, he calls out through his word. The Holy Spirit searches and searches. The Holy Spirit takes the living word of God and blows back and forth until that purposeful, loving wind touches the neck of that little sheep. The Holy Spirit searches and finds and reminds us of our Good Shepherd. The Holy Spirit reminds us of our Saviour’s loving face, when we realise just how far we have wandered from him. But the Holy Spirit also gives us such wonderful joy, when he shows us the face of Jesus when he finds us, and we realise that he has been searching for us all along, and we didn’t even know it.

The second picture we have of ourselves is a lost coin. In some sense, this is even more stark an image than that of the sheep. In the parable of the lost coin, we sinners are likened to the lost coin. We are stuck underneath the cushions of the sofa somewhere together with five years’ worth of biscuit crumbs and pen lids! We’re just a lump of metal that is of no use to anyone as long as it’s lost!

But what’s the picture of God? God is like a frantic housekeeper, sweeping her house, panicking and fussing around until he finds us. Do you notice here the Holy Spirit sweeping and brushing the cobwebs of hearts of people all throughout the world, gathering up the dust? What a useful item we are in the hands of our loving Saviour when he finds us! Just think of how he can spend us, and how he can invest us, and what he do with us, now that we’re found! We’re useful to him now, even though before we were nothing but a piece of metal! We’re valuable, precious in his eyes!

After these two parables, the rest of the chapter tells us of the famous parable of the prodigal son. Here the Holy Spirit teaches us what it feels like to be found, what it looks like, what sorts of things happen when the Holy Spirit sweeps through the house, when Jesus our Good Shepherd goes looking for his lost sheep. Here is a son. And we read: He gathered all his father’s money that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”

This is what it means to be lost. When the father welcomes his son home with open arms, he says, My son was lost and now he is found! He was dead and is now alive again! See what it’s like to be lost, with no food, no money, no friends, no family. And see how the Holy Spirit searches and finds this man. See how the Holy Spirit sets the son back on his journey home. He empties his pockets of all his money. He sends a famine. He sends his pig swill to eat. And what happens? The man realises he is a sinner! He agrees with the Holy Spirit’s own verdict, and he sets himself on his feet and returns to his loving father. And what a wonderful welcome he receives when he comes home!

To repent means to be found by God. To convert to Christianity means to be found by Jesus. To be forgiven and receive eternal life means to be found by the Holy Spirit.

Our reading today is about repentance. There are no converts without repentance. There is no disciples of Jesus who are not repentant. Jesus says: Repent and believe the Gospel. And in our Gospel reading today, Jesus says: I tell you, there will…joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

The problem is that today people don’t know what repentance is. People think it means saying sorry and grovelling towards God. No. God can’t be paid off with your grovelling. People think repentance is fixing all your sins. No. Being a sinner means that you don’t know the first thing about fixing any of your sins. People think repentance is whipping yourself into a state of sorrow, to that you feel worthy and disgusted enough about yourself that God would accept you. No. You’re self-loathing doesn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg of how serious your sin is.

Repentance is being found by God. God is searching for you and he wants to find you. But you don’t want to be found by him. You would much rather be by yourself in the wilderness without the other sheep. Wait until the wolf or the lion gets you! You would much rather be stuck down the side of the couch in the dark covered with all the crumbs and filth of the years.

Repent. God wants to find you. And he will search for you with his holy law until he finds you. He will plummet and judge the depths of your heart with each of his commandments, and he will not let you escape. He will send you the famine, the drought, the pig-swill, and rise you to your feet and call you to your senses.

This is a serious business that our God does in looking for you.

But the only things he goes looking for is that which is lost. The only people Jesus wants to convert to be his disciples are those are real sinners. Fake sinners are no use. If you want real forgiveness, then you have to be real sinner, a proper one, a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son.

And when Jesus finds you, can you imagine his joy! This is a joy that God does not keep to himself, but it is a joy that he shares and with which he fills his sanctuary and permeates his church! He shares it with the angels! He shares it with the archangels! He shares this joy with all the martyrs, all the apostles, all the saints! He shares it with all of you. This is the joy of the complete, total forgiveness of every single one of your sins. Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep that was lost. Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Amen.

 
Lord Jesus, thank you for searching for us and finding us. Send out your Holy Spirit into our hearts and minds to work to your good pleasure, for our benefit and for our salvation. Amen.

Trinity 2: Audio Sermon (9-Jun-2013)

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Trinity 2 [Luke 14:15-24] (9-Jun-2013)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am, lay reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Luke 14:15-24)

A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. 

In the last few weeks, our Gospel readings have unfolded different things to do with the mystery of the Holy Spirit. Today, many churches are often told that they need to develop a “mission culture”. But before anyone can even begin to think about missionary work in any country in the world, let alone our own country, we need to consider the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? What does he do? How does he work?

Three weeks ago, we celebrated Pentecost. And in our reading for that Sunday, Jesus taught us these words: The Holy Spirit…will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Listen to these words: the Holy Spirit will teach the church, and he will bring to our remembrance the words of Jesus. It’s not pastors who teach the church – pastors preach the word of God. But then the Holy Spirit takes that word and applies it to us in our individual situations. Different people will be comforted differently. Different people will be awakened to their sin, and their need to repent. Different people will be awakened to different sins. All this happens as the Holy Spirit himself teaches us in the church, and brings to our remembrance the words of Jesus.

This is such an encouraging passage, especially in our time where there are so many false prophets. Many of us will know people and have friends and neighbours who are members of sects and cults. Many of us may have grieved the loss of good Christian friends who once walked with us in the truth, who now hold crazy and eccentric views.

How do we know the difference between the Holy Spirit and other spirits? Jesus says: The Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. If a spirit brings to our remembrance something that is not the words of Jesus, but is a human opinion, then it is a different spirit at work, a false prophecy. The Holy Spirit speaks nothing different to us than what Jesus speaks. So when we listen to the Gospel in church and stand up, we are listening not just to the words of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit is also reminding us of those words that Jesus spoke at a particular time in history.

We say the Nicene Creed each week, we confess that the Holy Spirit…spoke by the prophets. The whole bible is inspired by God, and was written by holy men as the Holy Spirit carried them along. And so when we read and remind you of these words of the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit who comes and reminds you of these very words himself! What a wonderful gift the Holy Spirit is! What a wonderful mystery this is which we experience and join in with week after week and day after day!

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On the following Sunday after Pentecost, two weeks ago, we celebrated Holy Trinity Sunday. On this week, we read about where Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, and Jesus spoke to him about being born again by water and the Spirit. On this occasion, Jesus said to Nicodemus: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

This is also an encouraging passage, especially in our time when so many people are not coming to church, and we often ask the question why. Why is it that people just don’t seem to be interested in Christianity? Why does it seem like such a struggle to share our faith? Why do we fear being attacked so much for what we say? When will this drought end? Why does it feel as if I’m the only Christian (or Lutheran) I know?

Well, the Holy Spirit refuses to be manipulated, and he blows where he wishes. Even when we do speak the word of God, the Holy Spirit may not blow how we want him to blow and people’s hearts may be hardened instead of softened. We know from 1 Timothy 2 that God desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For this reason, St Paul says that we should pray for all people, and ask the Holy Spirit that it may please him to blow graciously throughout our country, and bring many more people to faith in Jesus.

We hear the sound of the Holy Spirit, when we listen to his voice in the Holy Scriptures. But we do not know how the Spirit works in the heart of each person.

Also, Jesus says: So is everyone who is born of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit works in each of us when and where he pleases, so also he moves and directs us through life as he wills. Many of us were not raised in these congregations that we find ourselves in now. Many of us were born in different countries, or different parts of the country, or different parts of Victoria. How did we all end up here? Well, the Spirit blowed us where he wished, and he created our congregations, and he built the communities we now find ourselves in. It wasn’t us who built these congregations, but it was the Holy Spirit himself who moved us and blowed us around as he chooses, for all kinds of reasons that are known only to him.

What a wonderful mystery the Holy Spirit is! What a wonderful comfort it is for us to know that there is a gracious method in what we might feel sometimes is the Holy Spirit’s madness! The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound.

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Last Sunday, we read the Gospel reading about the rich man and Lazarus. Here we see that the Holy Spirit blows in the opposite way than we may expect. In the world we have a certain idea about who is respectable, who is a successful person. The rich man sounds like someone we would like to be a friend of, but he goes to hell. Jesus gives us a warning here, that our wealth can sometimes take us away from God. But the Holy Spirit blew upon Lazarus in such a way that he became a faithful man of God, despite his hardships, despite his sufferings, despite his failures, despite his weakness. It’s precisely in these times of profound suffering and hardship that the Holy Spirit does his finest work, and blows with strength and energy! We know that Jesus’ finest work was when he was on the cross, dying for the sins of the world, even though that same world thinks that he was a failure. As Jesus said to St Paul: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And Paul bows his head to Jesus’ blessing, to the cross Jesus places on his shoulders and says: When I am weak, then I am strong.

What a wonderful mystery of the Holy Spirit this is, that he works and blows even in the most profound weakness, sickness, hardship and suffering!

In our Gospel reading today, we read: A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time of the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.”

Here we see why the Holy Spirit is blowing! He wants to call us to God’s heavenly banquet. The Holy Spirit blows through this powerful Word of God, so that we can taste and see that the Lord is good! He blows so that we can drink deeply of the fountain of life, and enjoy the delights and pleasures of God’s kingdom! And Jesus says: Have no fear, little flock. It is the Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom. What a wonderful banquet the kingdom of heaven is! What a wonderful thing it is when we taste the sweetness of Jesus words, even here on this earth! How encouraging it is, how comforting, how truly delightful! As it says in Psalm 119: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

I’d love to know a man like this man in our reading today!: A respectable man, almost a bit like the rich man who went to hell, but the difference is, he invites people to his house! He doesn’t leave poor old Lazarus in the cold! Wouldn’t it be great to be invited to such a rich banquet with all kinds of tasty morsels and lavish treats! The banquet he throws is not just a great banquet because of the quality of the food but because of the quantity of people who attend! Lots of fine food, lots of great people!

The problem for our flesh, for our sinful nature, is that the pure Gospel of the sweet, sweet forgiveness of sins, the completely free invitation to have all your sins covered over with the blood of Christ, is just too good to be true. People feel like they can’t just come and sponge off God, or bludge at his expense. They feel like they have to make a contribution and feel like they’re doing something productive! They feel embarrassed to have been asked to come to a wonderful banquet, when they’ve got so much to do.

Don’t you understand what the free forgiveness of sins is? Do you understand how wonderful the gospel is? Holy Baptism? Absolution? The Lord’s Supper? Heaven? Salvation? It’s all given to you completely free of charge, with no contribution from you whatsoever. Listening to the word of God, coming to church, is not your work. It’s simply being there so that God can work on you! Luther writes in one of his hymns: Cease from all the work you do, so that God may work on you! Sponge off God! Bludge at his expense! Enjoy yourself! Taste and see that the Lord is good!

But our flesh rejects this free invitation. We think there’s more important things to do: I’ve bought a farm, I’ve bought some cows, I’ve married a wife. I haven’t got time for parties! I haven’t got time for celebrating! I want to do something productive, successful, useful.

Now, here’s the great mystery of our reading today. When the people reject the invitation, the Holy Spirit goes out and invites people who don’t seem like normal guests at all: the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame! They are happy to have a good feed, and enjoy the banquet! The poor need a good square meal! They’ll appreciate it. Even more than that the Holy Spirit calls anyone and everyone to come and fill the banquet hall: Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

Do you see? The Gospel’s for everyone, without exception. That means it’s for you. Forgiveness is for you. Free grace is for you! Salvation and heaven is for you! Jesus is for you!

And it’s for you because you feel your need for it! The knowledge that you are sinner is the envelope in which the invitation to God’s banquet is found. If you don’t feel and know that you are sinner, then you’ll reject the invitation and throw it out with the junk mail. It’s precisely poor, blind, crippled, lame people like you, weary and heavy-laden people like you, who are called to this banquet. It’s precisely people who carry the cross who need the joy of the resurrection to encourage them!

Come to me, says Jesus, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest! Come, for everything is now ready!

Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit, and call us with the powerful, mighty word of God to taste and see the delights of your goodness this day. Encourage us in our weakness and sin, and may it be your delight and good pleasure to work in and through us, to the sole glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Trinity 1: Audio Sermon (2-Jun-2013)

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Trinity 1 [Luke 16:19-31] (2-Jun-2013)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am) and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (3pm).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Luke 16:19-31)

Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

If there is one passage that we need to take seriously in our church today and give honest and serious consideration to, it is our Gospel today. Today's gospel reading about Lazarus is a story from Jesus which should cut right to your soul, which should pierce like a knife between body and soul, bones and marrow. It is so easy to mock this story and laugh at it: people might think it's too "black and white", too strict, too severe. St Paul says: Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. This story of Jesus is no joke, it's no child's play, it's no laughing matter.

Jesus calls us away from scoffing and mocking in our Gospel reading today, and says: There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day. Here is a rich man, but don't just look at the fact that he was rich. It's no sin to be rich: in fact, it is a blessing from God, if he chooses to bless them in that way. Australians have a very bad habit of attacking rich people for no other reason than that they are rich. Jesus is not preaching today in such a way as to encourage people in their jealousy of rich people, and to treat them scornfully because they have power and influence. No! Thank God for what you have, and thank God for what they have -- rejoice on their behalf. There will always be rich people, and as Jesus says, You will always have the poor with you. Also, John the Baptist says to the Roman soldiers, Be content with your pay. In the early days of the church, if you read the book of Acts, you will find many examples of rich Christians and poor Christians. God excludes no one.

So, don't just look at the fact that this man had money. But look also at what he did with it. We read: He was clothed in purple and fine linen, and he feasted sumptuously every day. He lived the fine life! Purple cloth was very special in ancient times. Normally, only kings wore purple. Even though this man was not a king, he dressed like one. Purple and fine linen in our country today might be a like the equivalent of silk, velvet and fur. Also, we read that he feasted sumptuously every day. He liked his fine clothes and his fine food.

We might think that everything was going completely right for him. But we live in times when even many poor people, by our standards, dress well and eat well. This man knew that he had to look after his outward needs, his clothes, and his inward needs, his food. But what about his soul? Jesus says: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Do you know how much your soul is worth? Your Lord shed his blood for it. Do you believe the word of God, when it says: man looks at the outward appearance but God looks on the heart? Or do you clothe your body with nice clothes instead of clothing your soul with good qualities, with godly thoughts, with holy virtues? Do you feed your stomach with nice food, instead of feeding your soul with the living words of the gospel? Do you know just what a precious gift the Lord's Supper is, how it is a wonderful treasure filled with heavenly gems and precious gifts, or do you much prefer something tastier to your stomach? St Peter says: Let not your adorning be external--the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing--but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. How much time people spend looking in the mirror, making themselves look nice, combing and brushing their hair, making sure that there's no little bits in the wrong place, women covering up all their blotches and wrinkles, men making sure their shave is nice and close, the plucking of eye-lashes and nose hairs! People can spend so much time making themselves looking nice for other people, but what about God? What about the angels, who are always with you? How much time to you spend examining your heart, your intentions, your motives? When was the last time that you took an honest look at yourself in the mirror of God's law, the 10 Commandments? Have you spent time plucking your spiritual eye-lashes and your spiritual nose-hairs through repentance and through self-denial?

Remember in our reading today, what Jesus says about this man. He was buried and he went to hell. He was in torment, agony, that he longed for a drop of cool water on his tongue. He says: I am in anguish in this flame.

Our Gospel reading today has the most vivid depiction of hell in the entire bible. Listen to each part and consider it carefully. He was in Hades, (that's the Greek word for hell), he was in torment, he was in anguish in the flame.

Let the angel who stands at the gate of the Garden of Eden with his flaming, flashing sword pierce through your soul with that picture! Remember that eternity is a long time: where do you want to spend it?

But the how the know-it-alls, the respectable people, the well-to-dos, the educated laugh and mock and ridicule the existence of hell! Let them laugh. Jesus says: Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. People say, "I believe in a god of love." Notice how they talk about "a god" of love, as if there's more than one. Have your god of love, but there's no love without truth! St Paul says for us to speak the truth in love. St John writes a wonderful chapter about love in chapter 4 of his letter where he says: God is love. Perfect love casts out fear. But before this he says: Test the spirits so see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone into the world. Jesus is loving, but Jesus teaches us more about hell, fire and brimstone, weeping and gnashing of teeth, than anyone else in the bible. Jesus is the God we worship. He doesn't hold the picture of hell in front of us because he hates us, but because he loves us, and he wants us to love him. He wants us to love what is good for us, and hate what is bad for us. There's nothing in the bible that promises that you will go to hell. Hell is only threatened! Jesus says: Beware! He says: Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can cast both body and soul in hell. But the Gospel, salvation, eternal life, the free forgiveness of sins--that is promised and put into your hands. And what a wonderful gift it is! It's not cruel for parents to protect their children from burning themselves, or falling off a cliff, or cutting themselves with a knife. In the same way, Jesus is also not cruel with us when he slaps us across our pretty, comfortable, rich faces in our Gospel reading today, leaving the red mark of his hand. We know that in the next life, that redness will be revealed as his precious, redeeming blood which saved us from the jaws of death. The red blood of Jesus is our only hope for salvation, even though in this life it leaves us with a little sting. Jesus says: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

Meanwhile, what about our friend Lazarus? Well, first of all, take note that in the eyes of Jesus, the rich man doesn't even have a name, but Lazarus is named after one of the sons of Aaron the high-priest, Eleazar. His name mean: God helps. And his name lives up to its meaning, despite the way things seem. We read: And at [the rich man's] gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

What did he have to wear? Sores and boils, dog saliva. What was his food? The odd crumb, if the rich man even let him have it.

Our whole life is covered in the blessing of the cross. The blessings of our whole life come from the hand of God, and we should never for a moment forget it. If we have to live with sores, boils and dog spit, then so be it. If we have to eat crumbs for main course, and dirt for dessert, so be it. As Job says: Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?

As Jesus says: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Don't deny yourself a cup of coffee, or a bit of cake, so that you will fit into your clothes. That's not godliness: that's just vanity again. Deny yourself, so that you will fit into the heavenly garment that Christ will give you on the Last Day. Confess your sins, repent of your corruption which is in the depths of your soul and in the dark depths of your heart! Let the blood of Jesus be poured out on those things and in those places! And in the meantime, despise the shame of Jesus' cross and the race together with him. He is with you all the way, running next to you, helping you, carrying you, encouraging you, supporting you, refreshing you. If you want to win the crown of life with your own strength, you will never reach the finish line.

So often our experience will teach us that where our strength ends, Jesus' strength begins. Where we stop helping ourselves, then Jesus' helps us. Jesus doesn't help those who help themselves; he helps those who have no help, who are helpless. This is the love that Jesus calls us to share, when he says: When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.

The world doesn't understand this. St John says: The whole world lies under the power of the evil one. This is the same power as when Satan showed to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, and said to him in the wilderness: All these I will give to you, if you bow down and worship me.

The world doesn't understand Lazarus's blessing. The world looks at Lazarus and thinks he's not worth helping. The world looks at Lazarus and says that God has rejected him. The world looks at Lazarus and says he's a failure, a worldly failure and a spiritual failure.

In the same way, the world looks at the Christian church and says it has failed. The world looks at a small congregation with a few old people and says it's dying. What the world doesn't understand -- and what so many of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus don't understand -- is that the shame of the cross is precisely the thing which Jesus willed that we should bear in his name. This shame is not something that Lazarus made up for himself, it's not a pretended shame, the shame of a rich person who despises other rich people by wearing shabby clothes for a show to puff up his own pride; it's a shame that God has ordained from his merciful hand: God chastises those he loves. A golden age of the church is the time when the church has to bear shame, reproach, persecution, hardship and suffering. The golden age of the church is not the time when it looks respectable in the world's eyes. The glory of the church is not found in newspaper articles promoting ourselves: it's found in the living oracles of God's living word. The glory of the church is not found in our nice clothes: it's found in the clothing of the Holy Spirit given to us Holy Baptism. The glory of the church is not found in our fine foods: it's found in the simple crumbs and the simple wine of the Lord's Supper.  

Our respectability is the way God sees us, not people. We should care about what the angels think about us, and they rejoice over one sinner who repents. Think about the state funerals, the lavish expensive funerals that many rich people receive. Look at Lazarus in our reading and see the funeral he received from the angels, how they carried him to Abraham's bosom. What careful undertakers those angels are! What friends they had been to Lazarus all his life in carrying him through all his hardship, and now what friends they are in carrying him to his heavenly Father's house.

At the end of our reading we have a little discussion between the rich man and Abraham, which goes as follows: I beg you, father, to send [Lazarus] to my father's house--for I have five brothers--so that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. And he said: No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him: If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Let us take the warning to heart and consider it deeply. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. The words which we speak in the church, the words which pastors in the church are called to speak, are words which come from the other side of the grave, and they are words that are foolishness to the world, and words that the world will never understand. They are words which the devil wants to block up our ears from hearing. They will never be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.

But the truth is, that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, and he speaks his words of forgiveness to us from the other side of the grave, words of strength and comfort to the ones who have to endure the shame of Jesus' cross. If you want to be rich, fatten yourself up all you want, but remember where the rich man goes. But when the Holy Spirit blows you together with Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, when he puts you in the place between heaven and hell, life and death, honour and shame, then look to your naked and bleeding Saviour, and join him! Embrace the shame, embrace the boils, embrace the crumbs, embrace the dogs, cherish their spit! Under their kind slobbery licks is hidden the kindness of Jesus himself and the ministry of the angels! Remember when the apostles received their beatings they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name of Jesus. Remember that Jesus has not forgotten you, but that he will speak to those who know that they are sinners and have no hope in themselves: Today you will be with me in paradise! Remember those words of Abraham: Lazarus in his lifetime received bad things, but now he is comforted here.

Come, Holy Spirit, our Lord and our Comforter! Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you? My flesh and my heart may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Amen.