Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
The sermon
text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Luke. And
we read from his gospel:
Thus it is
written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Prayer: Heavenly
Father, send to all of us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and
to all of us that we may hear well, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Our Gospel reading today is one
that we’ve already heard in the last few weeks, since we read it at our
Ascension service not so long ago. And here in the reading today, we read about
Jesus speaking to his disciples before he parts from them and is carried into
heaven.
In the first part of our reading,
Jesus teaches his disciples. We read: Then he said to them, “These are my
words that I spoke to you while I saw still with you, that everything written
about me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he
opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
I don’t know if you can imagine
what it must have been like to have been there and to hear Jesus open up their
minds to understand the Scriptures. But in actual fact, Jesus does come to us
even today and opens our minds to under the Scriptures. He sends the Holy Spirit
to each one of us and interprets the Scriptures to us, and strengthens and
comforts us according to each of our needs.
As a pastor, I can’t plan how the
word of God is going to affect you. I can only preach the word of God, but I
can’t prepare how the Holy Spirit might comfort you. Sometimes, when I’m
preparing a sermon, I might think: That verse will be a real comfort for
so-and-so, and I’m going to make sure I really make a special emphasis on that
passage just for them. And then, when I get to my point, I look over and the
person I have in mind has fallen asleep. Or I think: this text really speaks to
that person, because they are a real hardened sinner, and they could really do
with a shake-up. And then it so turns out that that person I’m thinking of
isn’t at church that day for some reason.
I told a story once to the
women’s fellowship about when I was here at vicarage, when I preached a sermon
on John 11, where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. And I particularly
focussed on the words, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died.” And I said something along these lines: “Sometimes we might say to Jesus:
Lord, if you were here, we wouldn’t have this earthquake, or tsunami, or
drought, or flood, or famine, or family problem, or whatever.” When I was
shaking hands at the door, a lady came up to me and said, “Thanks for your
sermon on the drought. I’ve praying asking Jesus for years, Why don’t you sent
us rain? If you were here, we wouldn’t have this drought.” And she interpreted
the whole sermon in terms of her experience with the drought. The only mention
of drought was when I listed those various disasters in a big list. And so we
can see that Jesus was here interpreting the Scriptures just for her, and the
Holy Spirit was preaching just the right sermon that she needed to hear.
I have spoken to many pastors,
who have recounted the experience where they have been shaking people’s hands
at the door, and someone says, “Thanks very much for saying this. It was a real
comfort to me.” And then the pastor sits there and thinks, “I don’t remember
saying that at all!”
And so we read in our reading
today: Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
Now at the end of our reading, we
read about how Jesus takes his discipels out to the Mount of Olives, lifts up
his hands and blesses his disciples. And we read: While he blessed them, he
parted from them and was carried up into heaven. I often think about this
passage when we finish our service and I have to give the blessing. And just as
Jesus lifted up his hands and blessed the disciples, the pastor imitates Jesus’
gestures and lifts up his hands to bless the congregation before we part for
another week. And just like the disciples, we can return to our homes with
great joy, with Jesus’ blessing resting upon us for the week to come. In
fact, the blessing of Jesus lasts much more than a week, but extends right into
the next life as well, right up to the last drop of eternity. And to think we
come and receive this blessing each time we meet together!
But I would like to make a few
remarks on the middle part of our reading, which says: Jesus said to them, “Thus
it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the
dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his
name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
For the rest of history, this is
going to be the church’s job. We are going to tell people that the Christ
suffered and on the third day rose from the dead. And also, as Jesus says, repentance
and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
And wherever these things happen
all throughout the world right until the end of time, that’s where Jesus builds
and strengthens his church. He creates light out of darkness, he creates a new
city and sets it on a hill. And as Jesus says: A city set on a hill cannot
be hidden.
And what is it that Jesus says
will be proclaimed? Repentance and forgiveness of sins. You know this is
the same thing that John the Baptist was preaching. He said: Repent and
believe the Gospel. And the Gospel is the good news of the forgiveness of
sins, but not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the resurrection of the
body and the life everlasting.
Now, once Jesus was baptised, and
went around performing his ministry and healing people and performing miracles,
Jesus was also preaching the same thing: Repent and believe the Gospel.
Now John the Baptist, got his
head cut off by King Herod, and Jesus had just been crucified. And now, Jesus
sends out his apostles and says, I’m going to send you out into the world, and
I want you to proclaim: Repentance and the forgiveness of sins to all
nations.
And what do you think might
happen to you? People all throughout the world might very well block up their
ears and throw stones, and fire bullets, and wield axes. As we were talking
about last week, I think it’s true to say that over the last century, more
Christians have died for the faith throughout the world that any of the
previous centuries.
But Jesus doesn’t want to leave
them in despair. He wants them to know that work is going to have a point even
when they feel like their head is on the chopping-block. He wants them do this
work with joy and with confidence, because actually, it’s not their work. It’s
going to be the living work of Jesus, and Jesus will use them to his purposes
and to his glory. How is Jesus going to use us to spread his light into the
darkness of the world this week, this month, this year?
And so, instead of leaving them
in despair, he says: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and
on the third day rise from the dead. Don’t worry about what you’re going to
say. You’re going to have to tell people to repent of their evil ways. You’re
going to have to tell them that they need a Saviour, that they need me, and
they’re not necessarily going to want me. But on the third day, I was risen
from the dead. I had the authority to lay down my life, and I had the authority
to raise it up again, and now all authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me, so that I can be with you always to the end of the age.
And Jesus says to them: You are
witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father
upon you. But stay in the city until you clothed with power from on high. Jesus
says: You have seen me risen from the dead, and that’s going to be all the
confidence that you need. And you are going to do this work, not in your own
power and strength, but with the power from on high that I will send you from
my Father, the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so when this repentance and
when this forgiveness of sins, what happens? Well Jesus comes himself and he
opens people’s hearts and minds to understand the Scriptures, and he creates
faith there. And this faith blossoms and grows, and produces many fruits. When
faith listens to all the many promises of God’s word and waits for these
promises to be wonderfully fulfilled, then hope grows out of faith. And if
faith shares its blessings with a friend, with a neighbour, then love grows out
of faith. If faith has to endure the cross and a time of testing, then patience
grows out of faith. If faith beings to sigh and groan under the cross, or when
it gives thanks to God for the blessings it has received, then prayer grows out
of faith. If faith compares its struggles with the wonderful power of God and
submits to God, then humility grows out of faith. If faith becomes worried and
realises what a terrible thing it would be to ever lose this faith, then the
fear of God grows out of faith.
Even all the work that is
accomplished through Australian Lutheran World Service all throughout the world
is a fruit of Christian faith, as people have heard the preaching of repentance
and the forgiveness of sins, and have thought, “What can we do to help those in
the world who are less fortunate than us?” And so, out of faith grows Christian
charity and love.
So you can see how all the fruits
of Christianity all come from faith, and this faith is created and produced by
the Holy Spirit when repentance and the forgiveness of sins are preached in the
name of Jesus to all nations.
And so, let’s give thanks to
Jesus this morning for the wonderful gifts that he has given to us, and
especially for feeding us with his living Gospel even up to now. And let’s
continually pray to our Lord Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, to send out
labourers into his vineyard. Amen.
Lord Jesus, we know that whatever
work you have given us to do is nothing unless it is your work. And we know
that you have given us to share only a little part of your work wherever you
have called us. Let us work together with you, so that your light and your love
and your truth may be spread into whatever dark corners you send us. Strengthen
us each day in the practice of repentance and also in the great comfort of the
forgiveness of sins. Amen.
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