Holy Trinity: Audio Sermon (26-May-2013)

Click title for link

Holy Trinity [John 3:1-17] (26-May-2013)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am, lay reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), 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: (John 3:1-17)

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.

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 our reading today, we meet a man called Nicodemus. Our text says:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night.

Nicodemus was a man of great authority in the Jewish nation. He was a ruler of the Jews: this means he was a member of the Jewish council, called the Sanhedrin. He believed in Jesus, but secretly. He came to him at night-time so that he wouldn’t be seen. You may know someone like this: someone who reads the bible or believes in Jesus, but is reluctant to tell people about it. They keep their faith to themselves, and don’t like coming to church, because they don’t want their family or friends to mock or ridicule them.

Nicodemus believed in Jesus, but he was scared. He didn’t want to get into trouble. Nicodemus turns up in two other places in John’s Gospel. In John 7, we read that when there was a disagreement among the Jewish leaders about Jesus, Nicodemus stood up for him and said: Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? We read: They replied: Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.

You can see what sort of pressure he was under. All Nicodemus wanted to do was let the man have a fair trial – something that Jesus never truly got.

Nicodemus also came with Joseph of Arimathea to come and bury Jesus. We read: Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-pounds in weight. That’s almost 30 kilograms. What an enormous amount! We can see just what a love Nicodemus had for Jesus that he should go to such expense and give him a burial fit for a king! Before Jesus died, a woman did a very similar thing when she went and poured a jar of expensive ointment on Jesus’ head. When the disciples criticised her for her extravagance, Jesus said: Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing for me. She has done [this] to prepare me for burial.

So this is the man Nicodemus who comes to Jesus at night. Nicodemus said to him: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Sometimes people say things which are so powerful, but they have no idea of the full weight of what they are saying. What Nicodemus says is true. But the problem is he doesn’t know what he is saying.

He says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. The word “Rabbi” means “teacher”. Isaiah says, All your children shall be taught by the Lord. Jesus says: You are not be called rabbi, for you have one teacher and you are all brothers. Does Nicodemus know that Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth who sits at the right hand of God, who will visit his church and stand in their midst and teach them himself through the preaching of his word? Does Nicodemus know that Jesus is the “one teacher”, who imparts living oracles, living words, living truth from the throne of God? Do you think Nicodemus really knows what he’s saying?

Nicodemus says that Jesus has come from God. Does he know that Jesus came from God in the sense that he is the Word of God who was in the beginning, who was with God and who is God? Does he know that Jesus came from God in the sense that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit as told by the angel Gabriel?

Nicodemus says: For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. At this point in the Gospel of John, there was only one sign so far that had been specifically reported: where Jesus changed water into wine. Also, the Jewish people said to Jesus when he drove out the money-changers from the temple: What sign do you show for doing these things? Jesus answered them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. We read: He was speaking about the temple of his body. Does Nicodemus really know that nobody can lay down the temple of his body unless God is with him? Does Nicodemus really know that nobody has the authority to lay down his life for the sheep, and the authority to raise it up again except Jesus, who is true God? Does Nicodemus know that God is with Jesus in such a deep relationship, that he pours out his heart to his Father constantly in prayer with no sin, no hindrance, and in complete perfection and purity? Does Nicodemus know what he is saying? Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Amen! Amen! Yes, Nicodemus, you are so right! But do you know it?

So we read: Jesus answered him: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus answer is hard-hitting and powerful. On one hand, he is saying to Nicodemus: You don’t know what you’re talking about. On the other hand, he is saying: If you want to know what you’re talking about, and if you want to confess the full reality and the full majesty and weight of what you just said as a confession of the truly present kingdom of God on this earth, you must be born again.

However, the expression born again is very rich. In English we have two words: being born and being begotten. Traditionally, we say that a child is born of his mother, but not of his father. Instead, we would say a child is begotten of his father. So in the genealogy of Jesus, it says: Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and so on. This means that these men were their children’s father, but they didn’t give birth to them. That was their mums’ job! So in the creed we say that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, but we say he was eternally begotten of the Father. Another translation says that he was begotten of the Father before all worlds.

So when it says, “born again”, we often think it means being born from a mother. Nicodemus said to him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?

But the expression “born again” can also mean “born from above”. The word again is ambiguous: it can either mean “again” or “from above.” It can refer to a heavenly birth. But it can also refer not just to being born from a mother, but being begotten by a Father. Jesus was born of a mother on this earth, but he was also begotten from above. He had a heavenly Father who was eternal, and Jesus always existed in perfect union with his Father.

So when Jesus says: Unless one is born again, he is saying that a person needs another birth. They need to be begotten from eternity just like him, conceived by the Holy Spirit, just like he was. Each person needs to be fathered by God, and made his child. Each person needs to be given God as their Father, and be born again, born from above, and only then will they see the kingdom of God.

When Nicodemus hears the words “born again”, he just thinks of being born from a mother. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?

Jesus answered: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus explains here what it means to be born again, or born from above. He tells us how God will become our Father. He says: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit. Being born again does not refer to when people feel like the Holy Spirit has come to them, and then they say they are a “born again Christian”. Jesus is not talking about “revivals” and revival “crusades” here! He wants to teach us how God becomes our Father, when we are born of water and the Spirit. Here he is referring to Holy Baptism.

How does this Spirit work in baptism though? How do we know that the Holy Spirit is going to work in Baptism? Well, last week in our Pentecost reading, Jesus said: The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. The Holy Spirit comes when we are reminded and repeat the words of Jesus. St Paul says that Christ washed his church, his wonderful bride, with the water and the word. The Holy Spirit comes and works in baptism when the word of God is spoken. So when a person is baptised, we do two things: We wash a person with water, and we say the words of Jesus: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These are the exact words that Jesus told us to use in Matthew 28.

So when we are baptised, God becomes our Father, we become his children. And also, this happens through the water and the Spirit. The church which carries out this baptism becomes the child’s mother, and we become a part of God’s holy church not just here on this earth, but we are joined to all the saints and martyrs and Christians who lived before us, and made one church together with them, together with all the angels and archangels in heaven. St Paul says: The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

Now, we know that there are plenty of people who don’t believe in Jesus even though they were baptised. But the problem is not with baptism, the problem is that they don’t believe in the God’s words that were spoken at their baptism. God’s work is God’s work: if a person rejects God’s work, the problem is not with God’s work. For example: if you have money in a bank account, but you never draw it out, the problem’s not with the money in the account. The problem is with the silly person who never goes to the bank!

So Jesus says: Unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus tells us how we can see heaven and enter the kingdom of heaven. Baptism is necessary for salvation, not because it is your work. We’re not saved by works – it is God’s work, and we are saved by his work. So St Peter says: Baptism now saves you.

However, you might think: “What about a person who is a Christian and isn’t baptised? Are they saved?” I don’t know. Is their faith in God’s work in baptism, or is their faith in their own works and feelings? All I know is what Jesus said. We know that God can work outside of this, but that’s not our business. God’s word is God’s word, and he binds us to these words. If a person rejects baptism and doesn’t want it either for themselves or for their children, they must be following a different Jesus: a Jesus who doesn’t teach through his clear word, but leaves us by ourselves to our own flawed, human opinions. That’s not the Jesus I know.

Sometimes, we might have relatives, grandchildren, friends who are not baptised. Pray to God that he might draw to them to himself and they might have the opportunity. Babies are sometimes born dead and are not able to be baptised. We know also that John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother’s womb by the Holy Spirit, and so we can commend these babies into God’s mercy on this basis. But the call to be a Christian is the call to be baptised. Make no mistake about this! When we invite people to become Christians, we are calling them simply to repent and be baptised. There is no other Jesus other than the one who says: Make disciples of all nations, baptising.

Jesus binds us to his words and he binds us to his sacraments. But Jesus tells us a great mystery: the great mystery of the Holy Spirit, who works and moves in his church. He says: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” 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.

What wonderful words! What a wonderful mystery Jesus teaches us about the Holy Spirit! Jesus says: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound. The Holy Spirit blows where it wishes. But this does not mean that Jesus is saying: don’t worry about the word and baptism, the Spirit blows wherever he wants anyway! No! That’s not right. Jesus says: Speak my word, baptise people, but within these things, the Holy Spirit will blow where he wishes. The Word of God and baptism is not a system that can be manipulated by us! The Holy Spirit refuses to be manipulated by the church, by us, by you, by me! The Holy Spirit will blow where he wishes. The Holy Spirit doesn’t work according to our wishes, but according to his own wishes.

This teaching is one of the most profound doctrines of the Christian faith. And when we as a church finally come to realise this, and what a wonderful person the Holy Spirit is, and sit in awe and reverence and fear in his presence, then we will learn what it means to be a missionary church in our context today.

Sometimes we will speak the word of God to people, and they won’t listen. Sometimes we will baptise people, and they won’t come to know and love Jesus. Sometimes we will try to help some people see the truth clearly with the word of God, and they just won’t see it but will carry on in their blindness and their sin. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

This doesn’t mean that we should stop speaking God’s word, because it doesn’t work! We know that God’s word does not come back to him empty, but shall accomplish that which he purposes. God’s word always “works”! How much more we should speak it if it does work! But it doesn’t always work in the way that we think it does, and it doesn’t work in the way we want it to. It works according to way the Spirit wishes. The Holy Spirit is not a system or a program, he is the living Spirit of the Living God. We also know that God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, and in order for this to happen, God calls us to pray.

The Spirit blows where it wishes. Don’t believe people when they look at your small church and say that it’s not a healthy church! Don’t be seduced by the lie that more money will solve all our mission problems! As St Peter says in Acts: May your silver perish with you! Don’t be fooled by the lie that says that people’s hardness of heart is the church’s failure!

No! No! No! Reject these lies, and believe the words of Jesus in our reading today. Trust your Lord Jesus, when he says that the Holy Spirit will not be manipulated. Trust Jesus’ words, otherwise other spirits will manipulate us, and then the church will become a very dangerous place.

And don’t we know it: what a barren land we live in, what a drought there is of the word of God in our country and in our world! Don’t we know it, when nobody rests in this country, and Sunday mornings are constantly filled by unbelievers with all sorts of pointless activities! Don’t we know it, when young people and children are shot by gunmen yearly, monthly on our televisions, and hacked to death with meat cleavers! Don’t we know it, when countries around the world—one after another—cave into destroying the institution of marriage—the foundation of society—all in the name of political correctness and inclusivity and equality, with Australia on a cliff’s edge ready to fall, next in line!

The church has no influence over any of this. But we have authority over it, because we have Jesus’ words. And Jesus says in our reading: Whoever believes in the Son of Man may have eternal life. This is the hope we have as Christians! This is the reason why we pray to our loving heavenly Father in heaven: Lord have mercy! Open the floodgates of heaven and send the Holy Spirit down abundantly and pour out all his graces and blessings upon people all throughout the world! As Jesus says: If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him.

Amen.

Come Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts and minds with your wonderful light, that we may believe the words of Jesus and hold on to them. Work in us and through us according to your good pleasure, and guide us and lead us through life until we reach our heavenly home. Amen.

Pentecost: Audio Sermon (19-May-2013)

Click title for link

Pentecost [John 14:23-31] (19-May-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: (John 14:23-31)

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

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.

Today we celebrate the festival of Pentecost – fifty days after Easter – and this is the day when we commemorate the event where the disciples received the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues on their heads, they spoke in different languages in such a way that everyone could understand, and Peter preached the first Christian sermon. Also, the first group of people were baptised as Christians in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus had commanded them before he ascended into heaven. On the first day of Pentecost, there were 3000 people baptised.

All this we read about in our Epistle reading today. Usually when we have a church festival like Christmas or Easter, the main event is described in the Gospel reading, because the four Gospels describe the life of Jesus from the time of his conception and birth to his Ascension. But the Day of Pentecost happened after Jesus ascended into heaven, and we read about it in the second chapter of the book of Acts. So normally, the Gospel describes the history of the event we celebrate and the Epistle reading draws our attention to something of theological and spiritual significance about this event. But today it’s the other way around – the Epistle reading describes the main event, and the Gospel reading describes something about the event.

Our Gospel reading today is from a wonderful section of the Gospel of John, where Jesus teaches instructs his apostles – the eleven disciples: Judas had already gone out to betray him. They have celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and Jesus has washed his disciples feet. Jesus is speaking to them on the night he was betrayed, that wonderful night, Maundy Thursday. Before Jesus goes out to the Garden of Gethsemane and prays to his Father and before he is arrested, he stays in the upper room with his disciples and he preaches to them a wonderful sermon. This sermon is found in John 14—16. Also in John 17, we read a wonderful prayer that Jesus prays in the hearing of the disciples, often called the high-priestly prayer. In the sermon, Jesus speaks to his disciples many well-known words: In my Father’s house are many rooms. I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I am the vine; you are the branches. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved. You did not choose me, but I chose you. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. And there are many other passages that you would probably recognise. (It would be a good thing to read these three chapters at home in one sitting.)

Just before our reading today Jesus says to his disciples: He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Manifest – what’s this word? I will manifest myself to him, says Jesus. We read that at the wedding at Cana, that Jesus manifested his glory. He showed his glory to the people who were there. He made his glory know to them. It became public. But here Jesus says that he will manifest himself to an individual person who loves him. Don’t you think this is strange?

Well, one of the disciples also thought it was strange. We read: Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” There were two disciples called Judas. There was the one who betrayed him, and then there was the other one. This is the other Judas talking. He wants to know: How is it possible that Jesus can manifest himself, make himself known, to one person, but not to everyone else at the same time? At the wedding at Cana, he didn’t reveal himself to just one person. He revealed himself to everyone who saw the miracle and who drank this wonderful wine. Jesus implies that he is going to give some special wine to drink to just one individual person, the one who loves him. How will he do that?

And so our Gospel reading for today begins:

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

First of all, Jesus talks about love. He says: If anyone loves me. What a wonderful thing it is to be given love for Jesus! Not everyone loves Jesus. Many people would love to go to heaven, but they hate Jesus – they wish that Jesus weren’t there! They would much rather be there without him. But people don’t realise that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him. Jesus only lets us come to him and only lets us be with him through his forgiveness. He is always ready to forgive. He is standing at the front door, looking down the road, waiting like the father waiting for the prodigal son. He’s waiting to run out and meet us, to fling his arms around us, to put a ring on our finger, to kill the fattened calf for us and throw a party for us. Look at the woman who came and poured ointment on Jesus feet and washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Jesus says: I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. He says: Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

Don’t you love Jesus? Can’t you see what a merciful and forgiving Saviour he is? Even in his darkest moment, on the cross, he says to the thief: Today you will be with me in Paradise. There’s never a time to dark where Jesus won’t come and speak these words.

But there’s something about these words that is so special: they are Jesus’ own distinctive words. They are the Gospel. They are the pure, 24-carat, unadulterated forgiveness of sins. They are the words which tear up all the accusations against you. All the accusations are nailed to Jesus’ cross. People might say: “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But Jesus is the only man who can forgive sins, because he is the only man who is also truly God. He has the authority to forgive sins, and he has the desire to forgive them.

This is the joy of the church. This is the joy of the day of Pentecost. When Peter had finished his sermon, we read: When they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Do you see there? The baptism they receive gives them the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit is a spirit of joy because it comes with the forgiveness of sins. God the Father looks at us as if we had never done anything wrong, as if there were nothing wrong with us, as if it were only Jesus that he could see.

This forgiveness of sins is Jesus’ distinctive words. No other person speaks these words. Not Moses, not Elijah, only Jesus.

And so Jesus says: If anyone loves me, he will keep (whose word?) my word. My distinctive word. My words that calls you to repentance and forgives you each and every sin. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Now this last part would seem very strange to many Christians today. Many Christians (in fact, most Christians who call themselves “Protestants” or “Evangelicals”) don’t believe that God the Father and God the Son make their home in us. They believe that the Father and the Son are in heaven. Only the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts.

But this isn’t true. So far in our reading, the Holy Spirit hasn’t even been mentioned. But the Father and the Son also make their home in our hearts and in our bodies. So on the Day of Pentecost, it wasn’t just the Holy Spirit who came down, but the Father and the Son were also there sending the Holy Spirit. We say in the Creed: The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.

Jesus wants us to keep his word. This doesn’t first of all mean obeying his word. Sure: Jesus wants to love him, to love our neighbour and to be obedient to him. But he says: keep his word. Guard it. Hold on to it. Keep it close to you. He means also his word of forgiveness. Forgiveness isn’t something you can obey. It’s only something you can receive. Jesus says: I forgive you. And you just say: Amen. That’s what it means to keep his word: to receive it, to hold on to it, and not to push it away and reject it.

A person who loves Jesus keeps his word. If anyone loves me, says Jesus, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. What a wonderful thing it is that our heavenly Father and Jesus himself – both in his divinity and in his flesh – comes to make their home with us. Jesus is intimately united to his Father because they share the same nature – they are both God. But we also share our flesh with Jesus – he makes us like branches on the vine of his holy body. We take all of the grape juice from him. And what’s the juice? Jesus wants his words to abide in us. It all comes back to his word.

Just to make sure we understand this, Jesus turns these words around into a warning: Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

Here we are reminded of Jesus’ words: He who reject you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me. There is no Jesus without his word. There are many people who talk about Jesus today, and have no regard for his word. Don’t be deceived. They don’t love Jesus – they love something else, a different Jesus to the one we read about in the bible, and they are following a different spirit. Some people say that Jesus is the word who has become flesh, so it’s not as important to listen to his words, because he is the Word. This is also not true! Jesus is the Word of God who has become flesh! And if this is the case, how much more should we actually listen to what he says! And Jesus also says that his words are the Father’s words.

Now, here’s the part we’ve all been waiting for. Jesus actually mentions the Holy Spirit. He says: These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Sometimes I hear people say that we need to talk about the Holy Spirit more in the Lutheran Church. People think that the only people today who are talking about the Holy Spirit are the Pentecostals and all those big, loud churches!

I would put it to you that every sermon I have ever preached mentions the Holy Spirit numerous times! Lutherans talk about the Holy Spirit all the time. But the Holy Spirit works much more in the background than most people would like! Many people are looking for the Holy Spirit in places where he isn’t to be found. He isn’t to be found in the animal heat of a large crowd full of sweaty bodies. People can jump up and down and carry on and say it’s the Holy Spirit, and they can do the same thing at a rock concert where they lyrics might be about all kinds of stuff: sex, Satan, or whatever. That’s not the Holy Spirit. St Paul says: Even the devil manifests himself as an angel of light.

What does Jesus say the Holy Spirit does? He says: The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Do you see? The Father sends you the Holy Spirit so that he will teach you.

The Holy Spirit is there to be found in the words of Jesus. If there is no words of Jesus there is no Holy Spirit. Don’t even look for the Holy Spirit outside the words of Jesus. You might find something, you might even find a nice, pleasant, good feeling – but it won’t be the Holy Spirit.

So where you hear the word of God taught, you know that it is the Holy Spirit who is teaching you. Whenever you are reminded of the words of Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit who is reminding you. And if you are going to be reminded, you need to have heard the words first.

Can you imagine all the people in the Gospels – Mary, Joseph, Peter, John, James – all the things that they saw? We read at the time of Jesus’ birth that Mary pondered up all these things in her heart. There were some disciples who there on Good Friday and at Easter. And then on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached about the death and resurrection of Jesus. He reminded them of these things. And the people remember! They are reminded! And we too go for years and we know the words of Jesus and we hear more and more of them. But then one day something clicks and we are reminded of a particular word or action of Jesus. And just like St Paul, the scales fall from our eyes, and we realise something that we never knew before, and something makes sense. This is the Holy Spirit’s quiet unassuming work that he is doing all the time! The Holy Spirit will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. And most of the time, the Holy Spirit does this with very little fuss, very little excitement, very little panic and rushing, very little jumping up and down, in secret, in quiet, with the simple words of Jesus.

And this reminding of the people there on the Day of the Pentecost was the thing that cut to their heart: not the tongues of fire, not the rushing wind, not the speaking in tongues. It was Peter preaching to the people of the life of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit himself coming to them and reminding them that cut to their heart. And it was then the Holy Spirit that also came upon these 3000 people as they were baptised for the forgiveness of sins.

And so Jesus says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

There is so much more that I would like to say about the rest of our Gospel reading today, but this will have to do for today. We’ll just have to come back next week and be reminded again of what Jesus said and did.

Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit, our Helper, our Comforter. We thank you for coming upon us on the day of our baptism just as you did upon those 3000 people on the day of Pentecost. Come and teach us the words of Jesus again and remind us of all the things he has said to his church. Fill us with the joy that comes with the words of Jesus, those words which speak the free forgiveness of all our sins. Amen.

Ascension: Audio Sermon (9-May-2013)

Click title for link

Ascension [Matthew 28:16-20] (9-May-2013)

This sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon, 7pm, and also on Sunday 12-May-2013 at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), 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: (Matthew 28:16-20)

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

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.

It’s strange that there are two gospels that don’t mention the birth of Jesus: Mark and John. If you want to read about Jesus’ birth, you can only read about it in Matthew and Luke. But at the same time, there are also two gospels that don’t mention the Ascension of Jesus: Matthew and John. If you want to read about that, you either have to go to the end of the Gospels of Mark and Luke or to the beginning of the book of Acts.

Tonight, I’ve chosen to preach on the last four verses of Matthew’s gospel. These verses are very well known to many Christians. Sometimes they are referred to as the Great Commission. And they are a kind of farewell speech to his disciples, much like the words we read in Mark and Luke before Jesus ascends into heaven. But if it’s not pointed out to you, sometimes it can be forgotten that in Matthew’s gospel, the Ascension isn’t mentioned. Jesus simply says: I am with you always to the end of the age, and then it’s the end of the book. You turn the page, and all you find is the Gospel of Mark.

But let’s leave this little puzzle for the moment, and let’s take the words of Jesus piece by piece. The first thing Jesus says is: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

This may strike us as a little strange. Didn’t we already know this? Hasn’t Jesus already demonstrated this great authority when he preached and taught and performed miraculous healings and such like? Why does he say now that all authority has been given to him?

In John’s gospel, Jesus says: No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. We know that Jesus descended from heaven. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And all authority already belonged to him. But also, Jesus did not descend from heaven as a human being: he only descended from heaven as God. He didn’t bring his flesh and blood from heaven with him. He only descended from heaven as a spiritual being without flesh and blood. But then when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary’s womb, he took flesh. His body and blood and bones came from his mother’s womb, and he grew up as a tiny baby just like the rest of us. The difference between Jesus and us is that we all have a human father and a human mother. Jesus’ conception did come about through sperm, but through the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we might look at a new baby and say that they look like the mother or the father. And the same goes for Jesus. Jesus doesn’t look like Joseph. He looks like Mary. But Jesus also looks like his heavenly Father. Colossians 1 says: He is the image of the invisible God. So we say that Jesus has two natures, just as we all have two parents. But one of Jesus parents was completely human, and the other was completely God. Only Jesus himself is both. And he is both in such a way that everything he does and says is both the work and speech of God and man. Jesus the man speaks and only speaks the word of God. Jesus the man touches and only touches with the touch of God.

We never say that our characteristics or features are only from our mother’s side of the family, or are only from our father’s side. All of us are a mixture of both of mother and our father. But not just that, we are 100% our mother’s child and 100% our father’s child. In a similar way, Jesus is 100% man and 100% God at the same time.

But we need to understand this very carefully if we want to understand what’s going on at the Ascension. Jesus says: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

All authority already belonged to him by right, because he was truly God. But all authority is now given to him by his father according to his human nature. This is what is so special about the ascension. Jesus has descended to earth as true God, but when he ascends into heaven, there has been a change in him since the time when he descended. He has taken on a human body. He has lived a life. He has died and he has also risen from the dead. He has done all this as a human being, as a real man. And now he is going to return to heaven with his body, with this same body that has been wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. This is the same body that has descended into hell and raised from the dead on the third day.

So now all authority on heaven and on earth is given to Jesus, in such a way that as a human being just like you, as a real man, he is seated at the right hand of God, and is exalted and raised up and lifted up. He received such wonderful majesty in such a way that God the Father delights to see his own Son, His own image, at his right hand.

Do you what it means now that Jesus received all authority in heaven and earth? This means that everything he was able to do as true God, he is also able to do as true man. He is able to present with you in your prayers in his human body, as your intercessor, just as he is present with you as God. He is united to your human body just as he is human. He shares your suffering, your sighs, your tears. He is able to come and be present in the Lord’s Supper, for example, with his body and blood, because his human body now has the same authority as his divine nature to be able to be present anywhere he wills and desires.

But one more thing about the Ascension here. Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. This tells us the particular way in which Jesus ascended. Jesus is not the first person to ascend into heaven. Every year in the church, on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season, we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus. Remember on this occasion that Jesus was standing there with Moses and Elijah.

Now what happened to Moses when he died? We read in Deuteronomy 34 that Moses died and that he was buried in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.

Now, Jesus’ situation is quite different. There are those in Jerusalem that claim to know where the place of Jesus’ burial is. There’s a church there called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jesus simply didn’t go missing after he was buried like Moses. But his body left the tomb, was raised up and then he ascended into heaven.

But what about Elijah. We read in 2 Kings that he was caught up in a chariot of fire with fiery horses. Jesus’ situation is also different, because unlike Elijah, he actually died and came to life again. Elijah didn’t die a normal death in such a way that we able to be buried. And Elijah was not true God, and he didn’t receive all authority in heaven and on earth. Only Jesus did. Only Jesus was true man and true God, who actually died, and who actually rose, and who was given all authority.

And now that we’ve thought and meditated on Jesus having been given all authority on heaven and earth, we might wonder what the point of all this is. So what?

Well -- Jesus tells us. He says: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.

There’s old expression about bible interpretation which says, “If you read the word “therefore”, you have ask what it’s there for”. Jesus says: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Now let me show you what this authority of mine looks like. My authority is over the whole heaven and over the whole earth, so I am going to gather for myself disciples from the whole earth. This instruction “go” is not a direct command in Greek. Jesus is not trying to burden every Christian who has ever lived as if they are all required to go somewhere else that isn’t their home. God actually puts us in a community and a neighbourhood in order to be the light to the world in that place. But if Jesus is going to gather disciples from all nations, he requires his church to be spread throughout all nations. In the book of Acts, we see this happen, most often through persecution, where people are forced to move into a different place. Many people here in our own parish have been forced to move from their homelands to the other side of the world.

But what does Jesus’ church do all through the world? It makes disciples. And how are disciples made? Some people think disciples are made through the church gathering assets and making money so that people will be attracted to be part of a healthy-looking, multi-million dollar corporation. But this isn’t what Jesus says. Instead he specifies two actions for disciple making. He says, make disciples of all nations. Doing what? Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Jesus commands his word to be taught. And he commands his sacrament of Holy Baptism to be performed. Baptising and teaching are the expression of Jesus’ authority. Baptising and teaching are possible because of Jesus’ ascension. Because of Jesus’ ascension, Jesus actually visits his church and baptises people himself with his own hands and with his own mouth through the pastors. Jesus is the one who actually comes at each baptism and he is the one who breathes out his Holy Spirit. The pastors simply baptise with water, but it is Jesus – true man and true God – who baptises with the Holy Spirit and with the purifying fire and with the fire of his love.

Because of Jesus’ ascension, Jesus actually visits his church and speaks his own word in the church through preaching and teaching of his word. It isn’t a pastor that we come to listen to on a Sunday, it is Jesus we come and listen to. And Jesus himself takes his own words and applies it to each one of us in our own circumstances, and sends the Holy Spirit out to each of us to comfort us in our different needs.

But then at the end of our reading, Jesus says: Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Right at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel we read that the birth of Jesus fulfils the prophecy: And he shall be called Immanuel which means “God with us”. And here at the end of Matthew’s gospel, he says: I am with you always to the end of the age.

Jesus is with his church always to the end of the age. He never abandons us. As long as there is a baptised people gathered around his word, he will be with them. His body is hidden from our eyes, but Jesus calls us to see him with out ears, to listen to his word and believe the promise. This presence is possible because Jesus has been given all authority in heaven. This is the authority that goes outside of time. It is the authority that says: always. It is the authority that says: to the end of the age. But because Jesus has been given all authority not just in heaven but also on earth, he says: I am with you.

In fact, he says: Behold! I am with you. Behold! Look! See with your eyes this invisible mystery and let the mystery sink deep into your heart and into your bones. What a wonderful mystery it is that Jesus is ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father!

Behold! I am with you – always – to the end of the age.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, come and be with us today as you have promised through your holy, precious and clear words. Let this mystery which passes all understanding fill us with great joy and reverence as we gather in your presence, hear your word from the other side of the grace, and receive your transfigured and glorious body and blood in the Lord’s Supper for our strength and comfort. Amen.