St Michael and All Angels [Hebrews 12:11] (26-Sept-2021)

       

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering. (Hebrews 12:22) 

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 are celebrating the church festival of St Michael and All Angels, and this is a festival where we particularly commemorate those wonderful creatures, the angels, which God has created. There are all kinds of places where angels are mentioned in the bible, and there are two angels, Michael and Gabriel, which are mentioned by name. Angels are not mentioned in the creed, but in the Nicene Creed, we say: I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things, visible and invisible. These invisible things that God has created includes the angels.

The angels are mentioned in a number of places in the Old Testament, and I could go through many passages and discuss them. But also, angels are mentioned at very significant places in the life of Jesus. Actually, at almost every event in the life of Jesus which we mention in the creed, the angels are present. For example, the angel Gabriel is present when Jesus is conceived of the Holy Spirit, angels visit the shepherds in the fields when he is born of the Virgin Mary, an angel visits Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to strengthen him before he suffers and dies, angels are at the tomb when Jesus rises from the dead, and also the angels appear when Jesus ascends into heaven. There’s a wonderful passage in the Gospel of John where Jesus promises to Nathanael: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

But today, in our sermon, I’d like to focus on angels and our worship. Every Sunday we gather together around the Word of God and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or as we sometimes call it, Holy Communion, or the Sacrament of the Altar, or the Eucharist, and we gather together as God’s baptised people, his children, joining together in our common faith. And we call this gathering together, and all the things we do and say and pray together, and the order of things, the “Liturgy”. When we gather together, whether it is a small group or a large group, we are joined together with innumerable angels in festal gathering, as it says in Hebrews 12. Actually, in some sense, like the shepherds in the field at Christmas time, when we gather together the angels come and join in with us. But also, it is also true that the angels are always engaged in worshiping God before his throne in heaven, and so when we gather here together as Christians to celebrate the Divine Service or the Liturgy, we are actually joining in with what the angels are always doing in heaven.

And so, I thought it might be a good idea to go through the various parts of the liturgy, and consider the way in which the angels are involved.

So, for example, when we begin the service, we say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We are gathering together and doing everything that we are doing in the name of the God who has created us, and also who has created the angels. We don’t worship the angels, but we worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together with them.

But also, at the beginning of our service, we confess our sins together, and receive the absolution. This is a very significant thing, because we are coming together in God’s house, and we acknowledge our unworthiness, and our failings, and our sin, and through the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken by the pastor, it is as if God allows us to enter his house through his grace and forgiveness.

Now, when it comes to sin and the forgiveness of sin, we should think back to the Book of Genesis, in the Garden of Eden, where we have the first mention of an angel in the bible. After Adam and Eve fall into sin, we read that they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. We read: At the east of the garden of Eden [God] placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

When we come to church together, we actually come to meet God in his presence, and he meets us in all of his holiness and righteousness and glory. And when we gather in this way, it is like we are entering back into the Garden of Eden again, or at least, we could say, God brings heaven with him to meet us on this earth, and gives us foretaste of that wonderful Paradise that we will enjoy with him in eternity. In old times, churches were decorated for this reason, with paintings, art, we use music, cloths, curtains, candles, vestments, bells, incense, and all kinds of things like this, because it was there as a reminder that when we enter into church, we receive a foretaste of heaven itself. Obviously, here with our eyes, we can’t see the significance of what’s going on, but we believe it by faith. So as we come into the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is as if the angel from the entrance of the Garden of Eden is standing here with his flaming sword, asking us what is the condition of our hearts. And so we confess our sins. We acknowledge that we are not worthy to enter here. We tell the truth about ourselves, that we have fallen into sin, like Adam and Eve, and carry their sin in our hearts as members of their family. And when we confess our sin, God gives his answer, which is the forgiveness of our sins. And we also remember what it says in the Parable of the Lost Coin, where the woman finds the coin that she lost. Jesus says: 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.

So when we come to confess our sins and receive the forgiveness of sins in the confession and absolution at the beginning of our service, we should remember the angel of God at the entrance to the Garden of Eden with his flaming sword, but also we remember the fact that the angels rejoice over even just one sinner who repents.

Now, in the liturgy, after the confession of sins and absolution, we often sing a hymn and move into the ‘Service of the Word’, where we sing the Introit psalm, the ‘Lord have mercy’, we sing the Gloria, ‘Glory to God in the highest’, and we have the prayer or collect for the day, before listening to the readings.

I’d like to single out particularly here the ‘Gloria’, which is that wonderful song which we sing, which starts with the words: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among those with whom he is pleased. Now, where do these words come from? They come from the angels, when they visited the shepherds at Christmas time, on the occasion when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We read in the Gospel of Luke: Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’

First of all, this whole event tells us a wonderful thing about the birth of the baby Jesus. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a choir was formed to sing about it. And it was not just any choir, but actually was made up of the angels of heaven. And their joy was so great, that they couldn’t keep the joy to themselves, but they actually sought out these shepherds for them to join in with them. When the shepherds returned from visiting Jesus and Mary and Joseph, we read: And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And so, it also became a custom in the church that this song that the angels sung with the shepherds on that occasion, we also sing every Sunday together with those same angels.

All those years ago, they sang it because the baby Jesus had been born. The Son of God had taken on human flesh, but not only that, but he was now visible, and had come out from the womb, and people could now see his wonderful face. For us, too, the Son of God—who is both true man and true God—comes to meet us in our humble gathering, and shines the light of his face upon us, through his wonderful grace, through the forgiveness of sins, through his wonderful promises of eternal life. We can’t see his face, but by faith, we confess that Jesus actually comes to be with his people, even today. How could even possibly come up with the words ourselves to express how wonderful a fact this is! So, we take up the words and songs of the angels, and we say: Glory to God in the highest! Jesus is now here, he has come to speak his living and active word, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Before we read the Gospel, we also sing the Hallelujah! which also has a similar meaning! In the book of Revelation, we read that it is the angels and the great multitude in heaven who are singing, Hallelujah! We see hallelujahs all over the place. Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready. You can see that this word, “Hallelujah”, which means “Praise the Lord”, comes from the angels, it comes from heaven, and so we also sing it too. But then, also, if we go to the Psalms, for example, in Psalm 148, God’s people also say, Praise the Lord, all his angels! Praise him, all his hosts! So, this words comes from the angels, but we also use this word to invite the angels to join in with us as we praise God.

So, here in the Divine Service, in the Liturgy, the angels lead us in the praise and glory of God, and we join in with them, and they join in with us. It really is an incredible mystery!

Let me say something now, about the fact that when we gather together in church, we read portions of the bible, from the Old Testament, from the letters of the Apostles, and from the Gospels, from the life of Jesus, and we also preach about it. We read in 1 Peter these words: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Here Peter says the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, was working in the prophets, so that they prophesied Christ’s suffering and also the wonderful things that came about as a result. Then he says: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you. Peter says that these prophets knew that they were not just prophesying for their own benefit, but for people who were going to be part of Christ’s church, people just like the people who were listening to Peter’s letters, not just at the time when Peter was alive, but also now, people like us. Then he says: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which the angels long to look. Here we see that that Peter is speaking about the fact that the good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is preached to you, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. And then he says something about the angels. He says that these things are things into which the angels long to look.

We read and hear the preaching of the Word of God. And this is wonderful thing, because this is the way we meet Jesus, this is the way he feeds his flock, and shepherds us in the church. We hear the preaching of God’s law and his judgment upon sin, but we also hear the preaching of the Gospel, and the free forgiveness of sins. And all of this going on is so holy and so wonderful that the angels can only long to look at it. It is a marvellous thing for them, a glorious miracle, and a wonderful thing. To think, that the angels remain silent in awe and reverence when sinners hear the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ preached to them.

Also, after the Gospel, we also speak the words of the Creed together. And the creeds, whether it is the Apostles’ Creed, or the Nicene Creed, which we said earlier today, are statements which the church in earlier times has drawn together in such a way to give voice to the confession of our faith, which we read about in Scriptures. So in the Gospels, Jesus said to his disciples: Who do you say that I am? The Creeds give a wonderful answer to that question, which we confess together. But also Jesus says: Everyone who acknowledges me before men… or people, we mean here, such as we do together—we confess Jesus in the presence of each other—Jesus says: the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God. So when we confess our faith together, we do this, not just in our own hearing, but also in the hearing and in the presence of God and of Jesus. And Jesus promises also that when we confess him, he will also acknowledge us before the angels. So because of this wonderful promise, we should always take it to heart that we are not just speaking things together here, but that these things are even heard by Jesus, and that the angels listen carefully and attentively.

After the sermon, in the Liturgy, we bring our offerings to God, and pray the prayer of the church. In the Book of Revelation, it says: When [the Lamb] had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Here in this verse, we read the angels and the twenty-four elders here hold golden bowls full of incense, and that these bowls of incense are the prayers of the saints. When we join together in the righteousness of Jesus, standing before him in his holiness, and bring our prayers for the world, and our community, and city, and such like, to God, actually, these prayers are being held physically in the hands of the angels, as golden bowls full of incense. In Psalm 141, it says: Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! Just as incense rises upwards like a sweet-smelling smoke, our prayers also rise in this way before God, and are treasured by the angels, not just in plastic Tupperware tubs, but in golden bowls. What a thought! What an incredible mystery!

In the last part of our service, we have the Lord’s Supper. And in what we call the ‘Preface’, we actually have an explicit reference to the angels, which we say week after week. We acknowledge the goodness of thanking and praising God, and say: Therefore, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we adore and magnify your holy name, evermore praising you and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

As we prepare to receive the body and blood of Jesus, we confess the fact that we praise God for this wonderful blessing together with not just the angels, but also the archangels and all the company of heaven, that is, all those who have died in the Christian faith before us, and now see the angels before God’s throne with their own eyes. And in the Holy, holy, holy—or the Sanctus, as it is called in Latin—we call Jesus, the Lord God of hosts! Sometimes, some modern translations, say: God of power and might. But this doesn’t really capture what it means. In Isaiah 6, where these words come from, it says: Lord God of hosts, which is talking about the heavenly armies, the armies of angels.

In Isaiah 6, we read about the wonderful vision of Isaiah the prophet, when he was called, and he saw the seraphim, who were singing these words, Holy, holy, holy! Isaiah says: Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then we read: Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’

This gives us a wonderful picture of the Lord’s Supper, We also should say: Woe is me! Because we are lost, and we are men and women of unclean lips, who live in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But instead of receiving a burning coal, in the church we have the Body and Blood of Christ which touches our lips. His holy Body and Blood is like a burning coal: he is a true human being that is completely united in one person with true divinity. Just as fire and coal are together in one thing, so also in Christ, God and man are together in one person, and he now touches our lips. By his sacrifice on the cross, our guilt is taken away and our sin is atoned for, and he now brings that sacrifice here today and places it on the altar so that we can receive it. Meanwhile, the cherubim, the seraphim, angels, the archangels, stand in awe, and proclaim the holiness of God. Holy, holy, holy! Holy is the Father, Holy is the Son, Holy is the Holy Spirit.

So as we sing the praises of God in the presence of God today, as we receive the wonderful gifts of God from his hands in his presence, let’s bear in mind the wonderful way in which the angels bear us up, join with us, help us, supplement our numbers, and stand in awe and reverence and fear of God, together with them. As we read in the book of Hebrews: You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering. Amen. 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Trinity XVI [Luke 7:11-17] (19-Sept-2021)

      

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

And [Jesus] said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 

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 in our reading, we have a wonderful passage where we read about Jesus raising a young man from the dead. This passage touches upon a number of articles of faith for us as Christians. For example, we realise that this passage makes an amazing claim about a historical event that happened, and so this passage touches on the fact that we believe that the Scripture is infallible or inerrant or without errors.

Over the last couple of centuries or so, there has been much debate in churches, and also in the Lutheran Church, about the topic of the inerrancy of the Bible. This debate is about whether the Bible has mistakes in it or not. Now, we believe—and Lutherans have always believed—that the bible is without errors and mistakes. And this is not to say, that we don’t realise, sometimes when we read the bible, that there are some things or some claims that we don’t understand, or that we don’t know how it all works out. Of course, we sometimes scratch our head and ask, “How could that be?” But a lot then depends upon our attitude toward the Scripture. Do we simply say: “Oh well, you can’t trust the bible on everything”, or, “oh well, the bible has mistakes, and that’s it”? Or do we actually trust that God knows better than us, knowing that there are all kinds of things that we don’t know, and that we might never know in this life?

Here in our reading, we have a claim that is completely beyond our comprehension, that Jesus raised a man from the dead. And this is not the only time something similar to this is written about. Of course, many people in our world today would find this difficult to believe. However, instead of scoffing and ridiculing, we should turn to Jesus himself and realise that he is a person who is far beyond our understanding in every way imaginable. In fact, we confess that he is both true man and true God in the one person. So what happens in our reading today completely leaves us in awe and complete and total amazement. If this is what Jesus can do, and which he actually did do 2000 years ago, what do you think he can do amongst us?

There are so many things that are part of our regular liturgy week after week, that simply give voice to this amazement and awe. If Jesus has the power over death and life, then it is no wonder that we come to him confessing our sins. No wonder we call out, “Lord have mercy.” If Jesus has to power over life and death in such a way that bring such incredible joy and strength to people, and to completely change people’s sorrow into complete and utter happiness and rejoicing, no wonder we say, “Glory to God in the highest! Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the highest!”

Just think about the greeting we say before the prayers: The Lord be with you. The same Lord who raised this man from the dead is with you. Can you imagine what this even begins to mean for us as Christians? Can you fathom it?

Actually, in the Old Testament, we also read about Elijah and Elisha raising people from the dead. In the Gospels, we read about Jesus raising people from the dead on three different occasions. For example, there is this event in our Gospel reading, where Jesus raises the widow’s son from the town of Nain. There is also an occasion where Jesus raises from the dead the twelve-year-old daughter of a man called Jairus. And, also there is an occasion where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, who was dead already for four days, who was the brother of Mary and Martha. But then, also, all of these events point to the central claim of the New Testament, that Jesus himself who died on Good Friday, was raised from the dead three days later. We know as Christians that nothing like this normally happens in every day life in the lives of most people, both now and throughout history. But this is the hope that we cling to as Christians, not just that this is possible, that it can be done, but that is has been done, and that it will be done again. So let’s ask the Holy Spirit to increase our faith, so that we are not ashamed to believe in what we think is humanly impossible, but trust what the word of God says in a simple, child-like way, about the resurrection.

In our reading today, it says: Soon afterwards [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who has died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her.

There are a few little details that Luke and the Holy Spirit tell us about this event. We see that there were a lot of people there: there were a lot of people following Jesus, and there were a lot of people following the mother of the dead man who were attending the funeral. Jesus had a large following, and also the funeral they encountered was a large funeral. And there’s a reason for these large crowds. Firstly, Jesus was an amazing person, and the amazing things he taught and the amazing things he was doing gathered a crowd. But also, the death of this young man was a great tragedy. The man had died in the prime of life, and his mother had already buried her husband. So the news of this great tragedy had spread, and people had gathered in large crowds because of this terrible event.

But then these two crowds meet. One crowd has a dead man at the front, one crowd has the author of life at the front. One crowd is a crowd of tears and of sadness, one crowd is a crowd of joy and of rejoicing.

What happens? We also read that this man was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. These details have a cultural significance for the people of that time that is a bit different to us. At one time, this woman had a family of three: herself, her husband and her son. But now she is alone. In our culture, this would also be a terrible thing. But in those days, widows were especially vulnerable, because unless you had someone to look after you and provide for you, like the lady’s son, then she was in real danger of becoming quite poor or homeless. In the New Testament, there are many passages, especially in St Paul’s letters to Timothy, where Christians are told to look after widows. Today, in Australia, widows are not quite in the same need to be cared for as back then. But in those days, widows were very vulnerable people.

What’s amazing in our reading today is that nobody asked Jesus to do anything. In many passages where we read about Jesus performing miracles, we read that people came and presented themselves to him, or that they specifically asked him for something, and that Jesus then answered their request. But here in our reading today, nobody asks him to do anything. There were plenty of people with Jesus, and there were plenty of people with the woman. But nobody on either side of the fence asked Jesus if there was anything that he could do about the situation.

And I think it is fair to say that the same is often the case for us. We Christians, we who are part of the crowd who are following Jesus, and those who are unbelievers, who are part of a crowd who are following death, often don’t ask Jesus for anything in many situations. Here in the face of death, perhaps nobody expected him to be able to do anything about it. After all, death is death. Once it’s done, it’s done, isn’t it?

But here in our reading, Jesus gives tremendous strength to his words: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. We often don’t ask Jesus for things when we can’t already see his answer. When we have our own answer in mind, then we ask him, because then we think that something is possible. But when the answer to our problem is impossible, we don’t ask. Is there some impossible thing in your life that don’t you talk to Jesus about, that you don’t ask him about, because you think he’s weak and stingy and powerless, weak and stingy and powerless just like you? Don’t look to yourself! You’re not God, but He is.

Anyway, in our reading, prayer has nothing to do with it. There is no faith like grains of mustard seeds in our reading asking for mountains to be moved. What happens in our reading is that mountains are moved anyway. And this is a wonderful thing. Jesus doesn’t simply wait for weak, stammering, stuttering people, he doesn’t wait for the mustard seeds to appear. He simply acts. He simply does his thing. Nothing in this reading depended on anyone looking to him, it all depended on him looking to them. We read: When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her.

The gift of Jesus’ compassion is a truly a wonderful gift beyond anything that we can fathom or imagine with our tiny, puny minds. Whether or not, we have a dead son in front of us is not the point. We have all kinds of things in front of us that are dead. We carry around with us a dead, sinful, human heart. We live in a dying, dead world, infected by sin. We live amongst dead people in a world of death. In the midst of life we are in death. And so, the most wonderful gift that we can receive in this life, is to know Jesus, and his compassion, and to know his compassionate heart. Everything we have in this life is a result of his perfect and wonderful compassion.

Look in our reading too: Jesus has compassion upon the woman before he has done anything. We often ask the question: If Jesus is so compassionate, why doesn’t he do something? Why doesn’t he do something for me? Well, what you have is Jesus. What you have is his compassion. What you have is the sure promise that he has directed his gaze and his eyes upon you. In the Magnificat, that wonderful hymn or song that Mary sung during her pregnancy, it says: He has looked on the humble estate of his servant. He has looked! Amazing – at that time, there were all these rulers, Caesars, governors, tetrarchs, and all kinds of people, all of whom history has completely forgotten and for all intents and purposes knows nothing about anymore. But in a little kitchen somewhere, there were two pregnant women, Mary and Elizabeth, who were having afternoon tea together, a cup of coffee, with some scones, jam and cream, or something. Who knows! And Mary says that the God of heaven and earth has looked not on all the big-wigs in the world, the huffers and the puffers who want to blow people’s houses down, but on the humble estate of his servant. And even at that time, Jesus hadn’t even done anything yet. He was just growing in her womb. He hadn’t healed any lepers, he hadn’t died, risen, ascended, or anything!

So don’t worry about what Jesus hasn’t done yet. The fact is, he is with you, he has compassion, he looks upon you in your humble estate, even though nobody else in the world gives a brass razoo about you, or bothers to look upon you in your humble estate. The fact is: he does, and that’s all that matters. And he is the all-compassionate One, He is compassion itself, He is compassion through-and-through. We don’t even know what compassion is until we have met Him, and even then we still can’t comprehend it in all its greatness and its magnitude.

So, we read that Jesus has compassion on her, and he says to her: Do not weep. This is just like a father or a mother with a little child who is upset about something, and we say: Don’t cry. Jesus does something similar with this woman. But people must have thought it was crazy. Obviously, she had every reason for crying. She had nothing anymore. Her whole family was now dead.

But Jesus says this, do not weep, don’t cry, not because he doesn’t care. It’s not as if Jesus is annoyed by people who cry. No—it’s because he is about to show to her the wonderful reason why she doesn’t need to cry. Jesus is not just compassion itself, but also he is hope! With Jesus there is always something special about to happen in the future, the kind of thing that gives us joy, and not dread. When Jesus tells the woman not to weep, he calls everyone who believes in him to wait for something that is about to happen. Often in our Christian life, we are called to wait. The Psalm says: Wait for the Lord! Be strong and let your heart take courage! Wait for the Lord! We look at ourselves and we see our weakness and our hearts being fearful. But then Jesus comes and he says to us: Do not weep. Don’t worry about all that. You have me, and when you have me, you have everything. Just wait with me now, and see what’s going to happen.

So we read: Then [Jesus] came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Here we see the wonderful gift of the resurrection! Today many Christians who come to church don’t believe in the resurrection, and this is a terrible thing. We confess the resurrection from the dead every day and every week in the creed. Luther also puts this very nicely in the Small Catechism: On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

In Ezekiel, we read about the prophet being taken to a valley of dry bones, and God asks him: Son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel says: Lord, you know.

Yes, the Lord Jesus not only knows, but he has done it! He has even done it to himself, and we believe, as St Paul says, that he is not the last person to rise from the dead, but the firstfruits of those who will rise from the dead.

The body that we have is not some kind of throwaway thing, it is not the chip packet that we throw away after we’re done with the chips. God created the body and the soul. When we die, our soul is separated from the body, and we say that we go to be with Jesus, just as he said to the thief: Today, you will be with me in Paradise. But then also, there will be a resurrection from the dead on the Last Day, and for us who believe in Christ, this resurrection will be a wonderful healing of our bodies. Our souls will be reunited with our bodies, but in such a way that that our bodies will be completely transfigured and glorified. They will not stink of death anymore, and there will be none of the ailments, the diseases, the frailties, the weaknesses, and everything that we have had to deal with in this earthly life. We read in Philippians that Jesus Christ… will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

That’s why at the Lord’s Supper, we say: The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy precious blood strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life eternal. The body and blood of Jesus is given to us even here on this side of the grave to strengthen us in the hope of the resurrection. Even in the meantime, we read in Romans: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. What a wonderful comfort and a wonderful promise!

We read at the end of our reading, that Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

These words are very profound and rich, and we could still talk about them another day. The people make a really wonderful confession about who Jesus is. They say: A great prophet has arisen among us! He has come from among us, he’s a true man, a true human being, just like the rest of us. He came from a carpenter’s family, he’s an everyday guy like one of us, and yet he’s become a great prophet!

But also, they say: God has visited his people! He is not only a true man, but Jesus is actually also true God, and in this person, Jesus Christ, God visits his people. Jesus is both a true man, a great prophet who arose among those people, but he is also true God who visited his people. This is our wonderful comfort and joy as Christians!

So, as his baptised people, we should take great encouragement from this little event that happened so many years ago. Let’s commend ourselves—we who are weak, we who are even dead, spiritually dead and physically dying—to Him, and let us trust Him, our compassionate Jesus, to make us alive, to make us living Christians with a living hope, who will live eternally with Him who lives eternally! St Paul says at one point in 2 Corinthians: We were so burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. Amen.

 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Trinity XV [Matthew 6:24-43] (12-Sept-2021)

     

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

 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. 

Our Gospel reading today is a very well known passage of the Gospels, that in known by both Christians and non-Christians alike, and also it is so incredibly rich. It comes to us from the passage in Matthew’s Gospel, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, which takes up the whole of chapters 5, 6 and 7.

Chapter 5 begins with the famous beatitudes, or blessing of Jesus, which he speaks. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven, and so forth. He then speaks about his disciples as salt of the earth and the light of the world. He speaks about the law, and also preaches very specifically about the law: about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and also about loving our enemies. Jesus preaches the law in such a way that he holds it right up to people’s faces, so that we don’t run away from it and try to escape from it, but examine ourselves by it, and let the law pierce right to our hearts.

In Chapter 6, where our reading comes from today, Jesus teaches about giving to the needy, about prayer—including where he gives his disciples the Lord’s Prayer—and also fasting. He also speaks about laying up treasures in heaven.

Then we come to our reading today, where Jesus speaks about God and money, and also about not being anxious about our life.

In chapter 7, we also read about where Jesus teaches us not to judge others, to ask, seek and to knock, he teaches us about doing to others as we would wish they would do unto us, and about entering through the narrow way. He also warns us against false prophets and teaches us to build our house on the rock.

So you can see in the Sermon on the Mount, there are many well-known passages. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that the specific part of our reading that we read in church comes from a larger whole and forms part of a bigger picture. It’s worth our while sometimes to go to these chapters of Matthew, and read them in one sitting, because there often insights that we gain from doing this, and common threads that go through the whole sermon.

Anyway, let’s come to our passage today, which begins with Jesus saying the following words: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Jesus, first of all, is telling us about having two masters. Sometimes a person might work for a company that is run by two people, and these two people are completely of the same mind about how things should be done, and there’s no problem with working for two bosses. However, Jesus is talking about two masters, where they are completely opposed to each other. Imagine being in a workplace, where instead of having one boss, you have two bosses, and the two people have completely different ideas about things, completely different philosophies, completely different approaches to how things should be done. One day, you’re told to paint a wall black, the next day you’re told to paint it white. One day, you’re asked to build this thing, the next day you’re asked to tear it down. For most people, this would be a completely intolerable place to work, a terrible, frustrating, annoying work-place.

Jesus says: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. If you had a crazy place to work like this, eventually you would find that you agree with one of the bosses, and you would be happy to do some jobs, but then when the other boss asks you to do the opposite, you would be frustrated. Actually, the picture Jesus is planting is one where the two bosses are actually against each other.

And so, after painting this strange picture of working for two masters or bosses, Jesus tells us what he’s really talking about. He says: You cannot serve God and money. Actually, the word here for money is an Aramaic word, “mammon”. And mammon includes a little bit more than money, but includes possessions and things and stuff. It’s probably quite a good translation for us to say, “You cannot serve God and stuff”.

Let’s have a look at the Ten Commandments. When we talk about serving God, we’re essentially talking about the First Commandment, where it says: You shall have no other gods. Luther in the Small Catechism, gives a really helpful and simple explanation, where he says: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. In Romans, St Paul talks about people and how they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. When it comes to having a “god”, we have to understand that no-one is really without a god. No-one on this earth really is an atheist. They might not believe in the one true God, but they believe in something. They fear, love and trust in something—they attach their heart to something. It’s just that that something is not God. St Paul says that you either serve the Creator of the world, or you end up serving the things that he has made, and serve the creature rather than the Creator. And in our reading, Jesus gives us a very strong warning about a particular thing that has a real palpable danger of standing in the way of us serving God, and that is money.

Now, on the other hand, we’re allowed to have money. In the seventh commandment, we read: You shall not steal. If we’re not allowed to steal from people, it means that people are actually allowed to have things, and have possessions, and that it’s important that we realise that these things are theirs, and not ours for the taking. Luther writes his little explanation as follows: We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbour’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

Now, money is a very difficult thing to talk about, because depending on people’s situation in life, we sometimes have quite different views about money. Sometimes, people have been brought up during hard times, either in a time during Australia’s history where things were a lot harder than now, or from another country, where they had to learn to be quite frugal. Sometimes, people have grown up in a situation where they received government welfare. Sometimes, people have pulled themselves up “by the bootstraps”, as they say, and have gone from rags to riches. Sometimes, people Sometimes, people are the other way, and have been wealthy, and then have found themselves in financial hardship, and have gone from being comfortable to then having to make financial sacrifices. Sometimes, people are quite comfortable in life, and have always had everything they need. Sometimes, people are very wealthy, and really have much more money than they really need, but are quite at luxury to use their money in really whatever way they please. Some people don’t really understand how money works, and some other people have a real head for money and really do understand how it works. There are people who struggle to work for a living, some people work well for a living, some people who run their own business, some people who invest their money. All these people have to deal with money, and sometimes think about it differently.

Now, you might think about these things, and think: yes, I probably fit in there or there. But no matter what our situation in life, the temptation to serve money instead of God is there for all of us. And sometimes, it looks quite different for different people. For example, poor people sometimes look to rich people and despise them for having money. Rich people sometimes look at poor people and despise them for not having money.

When we’re in need, we can often think that all our problems just have to do with money, and we forget about God, and we can forget to ask him for our daily bread. But when we’re in plenty, we can so easily relax in our comfort and forget about God, and forget to thank him for our daily bread.

We also learn from the bible some principles when it comes to money which go against the normal way that people think. For example, St Paul says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. We should remember this. Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. This passage causes some despair to the disciples, who ask: Who then can be saved? Jesus says: With man this impossible, but with God all things are possible. We should really think about this passage. But then also Jesus shows his disciples other things to do with money, where, for example, when he is asked about paying a tax, he sends Peter to catch a fish and open the fishes mouth and take out a shekel, and to give it as the tax. We also have Jesus talking about tax in the temple, and says: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. We also read the passage where a poor widow puts all that she had to live on into the offering bowl at the temple. Jesus says: Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. There are many different things that Jesus teaches about money.

But what we learn here from Jesus is that it’s okay to have money, we need our daily provision, and Jesus actually teaches us to ask God for our daily bread. We shouldn’t steal from others, and this also implies that God is happy for people to have money and possessions. But Jesus says you cannot serve it. Money can serve you, but you cannot serve it. In the meantime, all of us have a tendency to serve money and mammon, and that this attitude of our heart forms a hindrance to us in serving God. So whatever we have in our life, we are called to thank God for it, and to place it into his hands. That way we serve God with out money and things, and not serve our money instead of God. But it goes against the grain, it goes against the sinful human flesh that we constantly carry around with us. So when Jesus says to us: You cannot serve God and money, these words are always a call to repentance. As long as we have to deal with money in this life, we always have the constant temptation to turn away from God. Even Jesus says: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. Anyway, money only belongs to this life. When we die, we can paint our coffin with gold like the Pharaohs in Egypt, or even papier-mache our coffin with $100 notes. Whatever we have in this life will be useless for us once we’re dead. We can’t buy our way into heaven—only faith in Jesus Christ saves us. Turn away from serving money, stop serving it, stop loving it, stop devoting yourself to it, and instead love God and be devoted to him. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Jesus is a faithful Saviour, who has died for you and paid for your sins with his blood. Trust in him, and commend yourself to him.

Now, I’ve devoted a lot of time so far to this one verse at the beginning of our reading, which is so important. In fact, this verse provides the basis and the foundation for everything that Jesus says next. He talks about this life. He knows that we need our daily bread, and he knows that we need money to buy things, and all that kind of thing. So if he calls us to stop worrying and serving money, what then?

Jesus says: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat and what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow not reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of your by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you nee them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There is so much to think about in these verses, and we don’t have the time to consider it all carefully today. We pray that God will give another occasion for that! But I’ll make some more general comments.

You know: when Jesus points us away from money and mammon, and points us to God, he is pointing us away from trying to solve our problems in life ourselves. When we’re dealing with money, and we’re counting it out, we think that we’re in charge. When we’ve got clothes on our back and a roof over our head, we think that we don’t have anything to worry about. But as soon as we have some problem, we often try to solve it ourselves, and rely on our own means and our own brains to do what we think needs to be done. But then, for some reason, the problem is not solved, and we become much more anxious to solve it.

Many people in our country and our world are highly anxious at the moment. I’ve been anxious too. There are all kinds of things going on that we can’t control and can’t fix by ourselves. There’s the problem with the Corona Virus and the vaccinations, and passports, but then there’s also the problems to do with civil freedoms and liberties, which have taken many people by surprise too. People ask the question: are the government and the police on our side? Do they have our best interests at heart? When will things go back to normal? What do we have to do for Australia to return to what we were used to? Many people are tired and exhausted. Many people just don’t want to think about anything, and want to put their head in the sand. Many people have realised, some for the first time in their life, that the way in which we receive our daily bread, the way in which our daily bread comes to us, is a fragile process. God preserves it, and he preserves people in various vocations and jobs to do various things, so that we are able to have what we need in this life. But when that process and that system is shaken up a bit, what then?

All of that aside, we actually have no need to be anxious in our life about anything at all whatsoever. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we don’t genuinely feel anxious, and that we don’t actually feel genuine anxiety. After all, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus knew he would be tortured and crucified the very next day, and he trembled and shook and sweated drops of blood. He was anxious too, and when we feel anxious, we should commend ourselves to him, who knows our hearts much better than we do.

But there’s a reason why we don’t need to be anxious about our life. As soon as we start to serve and be devoted to money and things, we will find ourselves being anxious about our life again. No—we have no need, because we have a faithful God, who has created us. He has sent His Son into the world, to take on a human body like ours, and to suffer, to experience all kinds of anxieties and troubles, to suffer, to die, and to pay for and atone for our sins on the cross. He has risen again from the dead, and is alive, and sends upon his church his living Holy Spirit. And this wonderful God, our wonderful heavenly Father, knows our needs. He knows what we need to live a life on this earth. He knows what your family needs. He knows what you worry about, and he cares for you. When things happen in the world that we can’t control and that rock our world and that shake our existence, we must always keep in mind the fact that God has not changed, he is still there, he is still just as much in control of things as he was before, he still holds us in his hands, he still love us, he still cares for us, and he is still leading us. So we have a very good reason and a solid basis and firm foundation why we can seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and have a firm trust that all these things will be added to you. We have a solid and firm grounding and footing in Jesus Christ, so that we don’t need to be anxious about tomorrow, because we are only here today. Jesus is already there tomorrow, before we have arrived.

In the meantime, we take our stand in the waters of baptism, where we have received the kingdom of God and the righteousness of Christ. We receive the forgiveness of sins in the words of absolution, spoke by the pastor. We receive the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, commending our sins and our troubles to him, our worries, our needs, our anxieties. We come to him in our weakness, and pray to him for his strength, that his strength may be made perfect in our weakness.

So let’s commend ourselves to Jesus, and ask that may shape and form us in his image by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we may love him and be devoted only to Him. Amen. 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Trinity XIV [Luke 17:11-19] (5-Sep-2021)

    

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

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

And [Jesus] said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

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 Exodus 15, we read a wonderful passage, where after God had led Moses through the Red Sea and rescued the people from the Egyptians, they come to a place called Marah, where they couldn’t drink the water. And God gave Moses a log which he placed in the water, which then made it sweet. We read that God says to the people: If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer. We read that it is God who is the giver of good health, and he is the one who heals us.

For us, God heals in two ways: either directly, or indirectly; either through means or without means. So, sometimes God heals us without means, that is, he heals us in a miraculous way, that we simply can’t explain in any other way. But also, God uses people who serve in the medical profession, doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc. who diagnose, prescribe medicine, or whatever. Even when God uses these people who serve in these vocations, it is still God who heals, because the doctors and the medicine are a gift from him, and also, the circumstances have to be just right for someone to be healed. The doctor might diagnose, the doctor might prescribe, the doctor might give a treatment, but it is God who does the healing. It is similar to a pastor, who preaches the Word of God, speaks the Word of God, but then it is God the Holy Spirit who converts people’s hearts.

But then, also, sometimes God might also grant a healing in a direct way, without a doctor, simply as a gift, that is completely unexplainable in any other way, according to his will, and according to his purpose. You might know someone this has happened to, or it might have happened to yourself. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we reject doctors or medicine, because they are a gift from God. But sometimes, God works apart from these means.

In the life of Jesus, we read about how he performed many miracles of healing, although he was not a trained doctor, and did not perform any diagnosis, or prescribe any medicine or treatment. In doing this, Jesus demonstrated that he was both true God and God’s Messiah. Just as God had said to Moses, I am the LORD, your healer, we also say the same thing about Jesus, because he is also true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as one God in three persons.

But also, in the Old Testament, we read that the Messiah will show miracles of healing. In Isaiah 35, we read: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. We also read in the book of Malachi that the Messiah will be the sun of righteousness who shall rise with healing in its wings.

There’s also a passage where John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to visit Jesus and ask him the question: Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus replied: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Now, for us Christians, if we are sick or disabled, what should we do? Well, if our problem is significant enough that we need medical help, we are completely free to go and seek medical help from a doctor. We are not rejecting God if we visit a doctor, but rather we receive the doctor and their expertise as a gift from God. But also, we commend our body to Jesus for him to heal, in accordance with his will. If he grants a miracle to us in this life, then that’s a wonderful thing. But if not, then we also trust that in the next life, in the resurrection from the dead, we will be completely and totally healed of every ailment, every disease, every trouble and sickness that bothers us, when we see Jesus face to face. We look forward to this in faith, and in trust, knowing that Jesus is alive and risen from the dead, and anything else with respect to the healing of our bodies in this life that he grants us along the way is also a wonderful gift. But we leave the matter in his hands, and we commend it to him. This is the reason why each Sunday in the Prayer of the Church, we commend to God those we know who are sick. We don’t do this simply as some kind of empty ritual or tradition, expecting nothing. No—this is the church of God commending the sick to their faithful Saviour, to their true healer of body and soul.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about Jesus healing ten lepers. We read: On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

In the Old Testament, there were very strict rules about lepers. Leprosy was a skin disease, that was quite infectious. So, if there was a case of leprosy, they were examined by the priests, and declared to be unclean. They had to live separately, in a kind of quarantine, until they no longer had leprosy. When they were cleansed from the leprosy, then they had to go back to priest and offer a special offering in the tabernacle, or later the temple, and then they could be readmitted back into normal society again, and into the temple as well.

Notice a couple of things in this whole situation. The leprosy was dealt with not by doctors, but by the priests. The matter was not simply a medical one, but also a religious one and a spiritual one. They were unclean not just in a medical sense, in such a way that they couldn’t be around other people, for risk of infection, but also they were unclean in such a way that they couldn’t enter into God’s presence in the temple.

So, Jesus sends them on their way to the priests in the temple. The reason why this was the case was that it was the priests who dealt with this matter, and if a person was cleansed from their leprosy, they had to make the offerings and sacrifices, and readmit the person back into the community and allow them to enter back into the temple. As they went, it says they were cleansed.

Now we also read: Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he saw a Samaritan. This is a very interesting thing, because this one man, being a Samaritan, wasn’t allowed to enter the temple anyway. If he had gone back to the temple, the priests wouldn’t have readmitted him back into the Jewish community, because he wasn’t a Jew. In some sense, this man had nowhere to go. So when he sees that he is cleansed, he has nowhere else to turn, and he returns to Jesus, falls on his face, and thanks him.

And Jesus says: Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” We could also translate these last words: Your faith has saved you.

The nine others return to the temple and to the priests. But this Samaritan, returns to Jesus. Jesus is both the temple and the priest. We read in John 2, a wonderful passage where the Jews say to Jesus: What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

In the Old Testament days, people met God in the temple. Now, today, as Christians, we come together to church buildings too, but when we speak about the church, we’re not talking about a building, but we’re talking about the gathering of Christian people around their Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Jesus promises to be present with his people in the preaching of his Word and the administration of his Sacraments according to his Word. When we’re talking about the Sacraments, we mean baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these things, Jesus builds his people into a living temple together with him, into his body. The preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments are what make the church visible on this earth, so that people can find the church and gather themselves around it, no matter how small or humble it might look to the everyday person. That’s why we believe that our little gathering here is also the temple of the living of God, the true church on earth, together with all Christians throughout the world, because we have Jesus’ Word and we come to receive his Sacraments according to his institution. We pray that Jesus would preserve his church among us, and gather it from the nations, and from far and wide, and keep his Word pure among us and the administration of the sacraments among us. It’s not that we are so special or such wonderful perfect people. In fact, we are from it. We have many struggles and many troubles and sins that we wrestle with. But the Holy Spirit calls us to cast in our lot with Jesus, who creates a living a faith in us, who leads us and guides us and encourages us each day towards a holy life. We read in St Peter’s first letter: As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So, this man, this Samaritan, who doesn’t have a temple, comes to Jesus, and receives him as his temple.

But also, this Samaritan, who doesn’t have a priest, comes to Jesus, and receives him as his High Priest. In the Old Testament, we have two kinds of priest: We have the priests that came from the family of Aaron, from the tribe of Levi. This is where the word, “Leviticus”, comes from, from the tribe of Levi. These were the priests from the Old Testament, who were from a special family, from a particular tribe, Levi, and were part of a particular genealogy, and were asked to perform the sacrifices and all kinds of duties in the temple.

But, in the Old Testament, there is also another priest, who comes even before Levi was born, or even before the book of Leviticus was written, and before Moses and Aaron. This man was called Melchizedek. In Genesis 14, we read about Abraham meeting this man. We read: And Melchizedek kind of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. And he blessed [Abram] and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

In the Book of Hebrews, Jesus is called a priest, not according to the tribe of Levi, but after the order of Melchizedek. We read: For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything… He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

With the normal priests in the Old Testament, everyone knew when they were born and when they died, and where they were from. But with Melchizedek, nobody really knows where he came from, who his parents were, where he was born and where he died. So, also with Jesus, he comes from Bethlehem, but also comes from heaven. He has the Virgin Mary as his mother, but also God the Father as his father. And so Jesus enters into this world as a different kind of priest, not like the Levites, who were also part of the one family, but from eternity, being sent into the world to be our Saviour. And instead of offering animal sacrifices, Jesus offers himself as the one perfect sacrifice and atonement for each and every sin of the whole world.

So, the Samaritan man in our reading, who was a leper, receives Jesus, and in doing so, he is welcomed into a new community, a community of believers around Jesus. Jesus says: Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well, your faith has saved you. But also, he is gathered to a new temple. The nine others went back to the Jewish temple that would later be destroyed. The Samaritan man here is welcomed into a temple that can never be destroyed. But also, the Samaritan gain a priest, a high priest, who will offer a true and eternal sacrifice on the cross for his cleansing and purity and righteousness. The nine others go back to the Jewish priests, from the tribe of Levi. But this man receives Jesus, the eternal son of God, and an eternal High Priest of the living God, who is a priest like Melchizedek.

But also, let’s remember the fact that the lepers were not simply healed, but the text says, they were cleansed. They were made clean.

Jesus, being true God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, when he became a human being, being born of the Virgin Mary, entered into the dirtiness of human life. We have an outward dirtiness which comes from dirt and germs, but there is also an internal dirtiness, with comes from sin. In the old Christian hymn, called the “Te Deum”, it says: When you became man to set us free you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb. It also says in the Christmas Carol, “O come all ye faithful”: Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s Womb. What does this mean? It means that the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, was not worried about getting dirty when he became a man, but he entered into this life in the normal way, just like the rest of us. He lived a human life, just like the rest of us, and experienced the same kinds of troubles that we experience.

When Jesus cleansed the lepers, he took their dirtiness upon himself and carried it to the cross. We read in Isaiah: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. In Matthew, this is translated as, He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So when Jesus became a man, we call this the incarnation. Incarnation means that he became flesh. In Hinduism and Buddhism, they believe in reincarnation, which means the spirit of a person keeps entering into different people or animals. But in Christianity, we speak about the “incarnation” of the Son of God, which means that Jesus, being true God, entered once and for all, into human flesh, and took on a human body.

Even in the church, we still receive the blessings of that event, because Jesus has died and risen again, and is with his church in a physical way. When we pray to Jesus, we do not pray to him as being far away, but we pray to him as being right near us and in front us, not as a spirit, but as a real, living human being, because his human body is glorified in a wonderful divine way. In the church, when we hear the reading and the preaching of God’s Word, this is not simply a pastor speaking, but it is Jesus speaking. When we hear the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken, this is not the pastor’s personal forgiveness, but this is Jesus’ forgiveness, and the forgiveness of God the Father, which we receive simply by believing it and trusting that these words are true. In Holy Baptism, Jesus washes us with water, water that simply comes from our every day taps, and with his Word, he makes us members of his kingdom. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus descends into our midst, to give us the holy and precious gift of his true and real body and blood to eat and drink. He enters into the bread and wine, so that the bread and wine are changed and transformed into the holy vessels of Jesus’ body and blood. The Lord in all his purity and holiness and righteousness is not ashamed to enter into our midst through these things, which seem so humble. He comes to distribute his body and blood, and through these things, his forgiveness, as a true medicine for our souls, but also life and salvation, and strength and healing and health according to his mercy and will, and as it suits his purposes. The Lord’s Supper in this sense is a true medicine of immortality, as it was often called in the early church. We receive these gifts in faith, trusting that his words are true.

So, we come today to our Lord Jesus: to our true healer and doctor, who holds our bodies and souls in his hands. His blood cleanses us from all sin. We come to him as the true temple of God, and as our true High Priest. We also come to him as a true man, a true human being, just like us, who is enthroned at the right hand of God, and even today, strengthens and comforts and blesses and feeds his church. Amen.

 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.