Septuagesima [Matthew 20:1-16] (13-Feb-2022)

                  

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 when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 

Prayer: Let 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, from Matthew chapter 20, tells the wonderful parable of Jesus about the labourers in the vineyard.

We read: For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Jesus here is speaking here about the kingdom of heaven and he likening it to a vineyard. Now, we often read in the Gospels that Jesus speaks in parables, he uses little stories and metaphors to help us think about something that for us is so incredibly wonderful and mysterious. It’s almost completely wrong or inappropriate to speak of the kingdom of heaven like a description in a mathematical or scientific textbook. Jesus is speaking of the Kingdom of heaven, which is a wonderful kingdom to be part of, and which has a wonderful king, our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, here Jesus is not simply speaking about the kingdom of heaven as when we die and enter into heaven. Yes, we speak about entering into heaven like that, but here, Jesus is speaking about something that is going on here on the earth. The Kingdom of heaven, already in this life, begins here for us on this earth, in such a way that heaven and earth overlap. Even, when Jesus was born, when we consider all the events at Christmas time, we notice how there are so many angels: an angel appears to Mary, to Joseph, to the wise men from the East, even a multitude of angels appears to the shepherds in the fields. It would have been difficult for these shepherds in a way to know whether they were standing on the earth or in heaven itself when they found themselves in this kind of heavenly company.

And so, the church on earth has always been this kind of kingdom. We worship here on earth the Lord Jesus Christ, as he descends to be with us, and speak to us in the Holy Word, and forgive us our sins, and wash us clean from sin in the water of Holy Baptism, to feed his people with His own heavenly food in the Lord’s Supper. And not just here in the Divine Service, but in our everyday life, we go into the world as people filled with the Holy Spirit, so shine the light of Christ wherever God has placed us, to live our life to His glory, to the honour and praise of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Of course, we Christians still carry around with us our sin, our troubles, our weaknesses. Here in this life, on this side of the grave, on this side of death, we are still wrestling, still fighting against sin. We still live in such a way that follow after Christ carrying the cross. We still have our sufferings and our burdens. But in the kingdom of heaven, we know that even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, as Psalm 23 says, I will not fear, for you are with me. Our heavenly, divine Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is with us, even through the difficult times, and leads us forward in times of teaching and learning for us, times which are sometimes difficult, but then also he leads us into times of refreshment. Throughout all of this, we know that the victory over sin, death, the world, the evil one, Satan—the victory has already been won. Jesus has died and he has risen again from the dead, and the victory has been won. Sin, death, the world, Satan have all been defeated. And in the Kingdom of heaven, here on this earth, as we march along to our heavenly destination, as we look to heaven to be with our Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity, we continually need to learn that this victory is already ours. If we look into our hearts, we will only see failure, anxieties, and disappointment. But if we look to Jesus, then we can see his forgiveness, his encouragement, his joy, his hope. St Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15: Death is swallowed up in victory? O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. St John writes in his letter: This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. In the letter to the Hebrews, we read: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. How desperately we need to here these encouraging words in our discouraging times and in our dark world!

Now, in the reading, Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to labourers working in a vineyard. Many times throughout the bible, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a vineyard. In fact, after the flood, we read that one of the first things that Noah did was to plant a vineyard. In Isaiah 5, it says: Let me sing for my beloved my song concerning his vineyard: My beloved has a vineyard on a very fertile hill. The prophet here is speaking about his people as like a vineyard which God tends and looks after. Even, if we go right to the very beginning of the bible, with Adam and Eve, the first thing that God does it to put Adam in a garden, to tend it and look after it.

Now, also, the grapevine is an extraordinary plant in many ways, and produces a rich fruit, a sweet fruit, which then can be used to produce all kinds of rich wines. I remember talking to someone from the Barossa Valley, here in South Australia, where of course they have many vineyards, and someone said that the wines there are so distinctive, that this person could almost tell you the exact paddock where the grapes were grown from tasting the wine.

On the other hand, the grapevine is not a particularly spectacular looking plant. It’s not like a strong fig tree, or an impressive palm tree. In the Middle East, in Dubai, I think, they have made some artificial islands off the coast, in the shape of a palm tree, which branches and frons. But could you imagine someone making artificial islands in the shape of a grape vine? It would go all over the place.

And so, this is something also for us to consider: on the face of it, a grapevine doesn’t look like much. It’s gnarly, and twisted. It needs maintenance: it need propping up, and tying back, and stakes and posts, and all that kind of thing. So even in this world, in the eyes of the world, the church doesn’t look like much. The kingdom of God from the outside looks very humble, it looks like it’s struggling, it looks weak, like it doesn’t achieve much, even sometimes like it’s dying and not growing. But in all of this, we remember the words of Jesus in John 15, where he says: I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can no nothing. What a wonderful promise of Jesus this is! Of course, many times we will feel as though we’re doing nothing, achieving nothing, getting nowhere, but all of this is to remind us to turn to Jesus and rely on Him for everything: to rely on Him for our comfort, for our energy, for our hope, for providing our income and means of living, for our words, for our thoughts. Jesus is the wonderful vine, and we often shy away from him and sometimes can even be ashamed of Him, because we see this gnarly and twisted appearance, and we would rather go to some other tree. But we can’t judge these things with our eyes. Remember in the Garden of Eden when the fall into sin happened. We read: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. So, when it comes to this twisted and weak appearance of the grape-vine, we need to judge not with our eyes, but with our ears, according to the word of God, as Jesus teaches it. Now, there are so many things that we could consider about the kingdom of heaven and the vineyard, but for the moment we’ll leave it there.

Now, let’s go back to our reading. We read that Jesus says: For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Now, let’s think for a moment about the labourers. The master sends his labourers to work for a denarius for the day’s work. Now there are various countries, mostly in the Middle-East, but also including Serbia, where they use a currency called a “dinar”. This word comes from the word “denarius”. A denarius was a normal day’s pay for a labourer. Today, we would think of it as somewhere between a hundred dollars, and a few hundred dollars, depending on the type of work.

Anyway, in our parable, we read there is a master of a house—who we assume is God himself—who goes out and hires labourers to work in his vineyard. What a wonderful privilege it is to be called to be a labourer in God’s vineyard. Actually, all Christians are labourers in God’s vineyard. Now, there’s two aspects to this: the first is the honour, the great joy, the great privilege of simply being asked, being called, to be part of this kingdom. The second aspect to this is that there is a task, there is work, there is labour.

Now, as Christians, in the kingdom of heaven, as labourers in the vineyard, we are called to work. We are called to do things. Now, each of us has a particular calling in life, a particular place where God has called us to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit. For example, maybe you are husband, a wife, a father, or a mother, or a son, or a daughter, in the family. We’re called by God to be a good husband, a good wife, a good father, a good mother, a good son, a good daughter – we ask the Holy Spirit to bless us in our place in life in the family, so that we can shine the light of Christ from that place. Also, we might have some particular employment, or career, or work that we do during the week: we are called to do it well, to the best of our ability, to be a good worker, a good boss, so that the Holy Spirit may also shine his light through us in whatever place we are. We also might have the vocation of being a pastor, or a member of the church, a hearer of God’s Word. Some people find themselves called upon by God to go further afield and serve the kingdom of God in a far-off country as a missionary, or something like that. Of course, we are never perfect, because we it’s in all these particular places, and particular aspects of our lives, that we realise that we have let those down around us the most. And so, in all our labours, we always need to ask for the forgiveness of God upon our lives. It is only Jesus who is perfect, and we are simply unworthy servants. But when we receive the forgiveness of sins, even in this life, through the Word of God, through the blood of Jesus, everything wrong is covered by Jesus, so that when we stand together with Him, it is as if there were nothing wrong, because the blood of Jesus, which has paid for and atoned for every single sin in the whole world, has washed everything away.

Now, the other thing that goes on in this reading is that all throughout the day, the master is going out all day to call the different labourers to work. We read: And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

Here we see a picture of how God is constantly going out every day, all throughout the day, all throughout the history of the world, stretching out his arms and calling people to come to himself. In fact, not one single labourer could even work at all in the vineyard, unless God has actually called them. So, none of this depends on us, and on our choosing, but it depends on God and his choosing. He is the one who through His holy Word calls all people to Himself.

You see, sometimes, we hear about some Christians even who are constantly asking people to make a decision to follow Jesus. But that is something that an unconverted sinner can’t do. A sinner can only choose sin, and not good. God must come with His Holy Spirit, and He is the only one who can convert people and change their hearts. And so, God is the one who acts here, who does something. He is the one who calls and hires the labourers. He must change people’s hearts, before they can make any good choices about spiritual things in their life. When we are converted to God, it is not our choice, but it is God who has chosen us. Even in the passage about the vine and the branches that we read before, Jesus says: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this. Take Peter, for example. He was the apostle who was the first preacher when the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, and three thousand people became Christians. But when Jesus called him to follow him, and they were fishing in the boats, and Jesus caused them to catch a huge number of fish, we read that Peter said: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Yes, Peter was right: he was a sinful man. But that is no reason for Jesus to depart. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s the reason for Jesus to draw near. And that’s exactly what happens. Jesus said to Peter: Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. Peter didn’t know how to choose to follow Jesus: his sin wanted to push Jesus away from him. So Jesus then calls him to work in the vineyard. And we read: when they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

But then, look at Paul, the other great apostle. Paul was actually a persecutor of Jesus and his followers. He had approved of the execution of Stephen and was on his was to Damascus to round up other Christians to have them executed too. But as he was still breathing threats and hatred against the Christians, Jesus converted Paul on the road. He says: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. When Paul went into Damascus, he met a man called Ananias, who said to him: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, here you can see again, that it was not Paul who made a decision to follow Jesus, but it was Jesus who reached out to him, despite his sin, despite even his hatred and contempt for Christians. So we can see that it is a wonderful thing to be called by Jesus, a great honour, a great joy, because we realise that the work of converting us and changing our hearts and not been our own doing, but it has been his doing. It has all been by his grace, his mercy, his love which he has shown to us.

Now, at the end of our reading we read about how all the people who were called at different times came to be paid. We read: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and do. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first, and the first last.

Now, let’s summarise what happens here. This whole part has to do with how we are saved by God. Are we saved because of the good works we have done, or are we saved by the grace and the mercy of God? Well, firstly, in this life, we are called to work, and do good things for people, and good things which are to the praise and honour of God. But when we do them, we are not counting them, as if we will be paid a particular reward by God because of them.

No, our salvation, our forgiveness, the kingdom of heaven, doesn’t come because we earn it, or because we pay for it, or because we have done some work for it. It is not a reward, or day wages. It is a free gift, which we receive by simply believing in it. St Paul says in Romans: The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the reason why it is free is not because it is worth nothing. Not at all. No, it is worth everything in the whole world and more. It is free, because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has actually come down from heaven, entered into this world, and has paid for it himself through his suffering, his death on the cross, through his holy and precious blood, through his sacrifice.

And so, then, when we are baptised, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through the water and the Word of God, this is not a work that we do. This is an event where God himself adopts us as his own child, and where he pours out his Holy Spirit to fill us, and where he actually forgives us our sins. And we don’t earn any of it, we simply believe that God’s word is true and that it has been given freely for us. When we believe in it, it is ours, completely apart from any our works, or whether we have done anything.

The people who come at the eleventh hour get the same pay, because it is a gift from God who gives it. He says: Friend, I am doing you no wrong? Did I not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. Those who complain about the payment wanted to be rewarded for their labour. They worked, God should pay them. But this is not how it works. Some people work very hard in the Christian faith and in the kingdom of heaven. Some people only come recently, or even close to the end of their life. The master says: I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Not only does God do what he chooses with what belongs to him, but he also promises us certain things too. For example, we do not go along thinking that at the end of the day, God can do what he likes, and can just chuck us in the bin if he chooses. No, God promises, He actually binds Himself to his Word, and says: Whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. He says: Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

So, let’s commend ourselves into the wonderful hands of our dear Lord Jesus, ask him to fill us with His Holy Spirit, so that we may be useful in all kinds of ways in the Lord’s vineyard. And let’s look forward to that wonderful time, when he will receive us into his kingdom, together with all his saints and angels, and all the company of heaven, not because of anything that we have done, but because Jesus has done everything. It is paid for in full, it is paid for with his blood! And it is poured into our lap in abundance, completely for free, totally freely. All we do is believe it, and even our faith itself is his gift. All the glory, honour, the power, the wisdom, the righteousness, and the kingdom belongs to Him! Amen.

 

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

The Transfiguration of our Lord (Matthew 17:1-9) [6-Feb-2022]

                 

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.

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." 

Prayer: Let 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 event of Jesus’ transfiguration. This is the wonderful event in the life of Jesus where he took Peter, James and John up a mountain, and his clothes and face began to shine with bright heavenly light. We are also told that Moses and Elijah appeared next to Jesus, talking with him about his departure, his journey to Jerusalem to die as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world. We are also told that when Peter, who was completely amazed by this appearance and had no idea what to do, was suggesting that he make three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, a cloud came and covered over everything. And God the Father spoke from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

This is such a wonderful event, and yet many Christians don’t often think about it too much. We have a custom in our church of remembering this event, and celebrating it on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. The Epiphany season is that time of the year after Christmas, which begins by remembering the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus, and the Baptism of Jesus. The word Epiphany means to “show”, or “manifest”, or “display”. We see God making a wonderful “showing” when he sent the wise men a star to lead them to the country of Israel, and also when he “showed” himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Jesus: The Father spoke from heaven, the Son was being baptised in the water, and the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove. Today, as we celebrate the Transfiguration, we remember the wonderful way in which God showed to us the power and the divinity of his Son, Jesus Christ—he shows us that he is truly the powerful Son of God himself—by speaking his voice from the cloud, as wonderful light radiates and beams forth and shines from Jesus’ face, and body and clothes.

Actually, the two events of the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration form a kind of pair of bookends to the Epiphany season: we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the Epiphany Season at the beginning of January, and we celebrate the Transfiguration at the end of the Epiphany season. And both of these events have something in common. On both occasions, God the Father actually speaks his voice in the hearing of all the people who were present at these events. In fact, at both events, he says the same thing: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. However, at the Transfiguration, he says something extra: Listen to Him! It’s this command of God to listen to Jesus that I’m going to focus on today, and I think that these words of God the Father actually give us a wonderful interpretation of everything that goes on. In fact, these words are the centre and the focus of this event at the Transfiguration – Listen to Him!

 So firstly, today, I’d like to take us back to the Old Testament, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18. Now, the book of Deuteronomy is a particularly special book in the Old Testament, which contains—if you like—a long sermon or speech from Moses, just as all the people are about to cross the River Jordan and enter into the promised land of Canaan.

Now, during the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives the people all kinds of warnings to the people about what they should do and not do when they enter the Promised Land. Particularly, they must remain faithful to God, and not start worshipping the false gods of the people in the land. But not only that, but the people were not allowed to copy to worship practices of the people who worshipped other gods, and use these practises to worship the true God. For example, you might remember in the book of Exodus, when the people worshipped the Golden Calf. Not only did they worship this statue, but Aaron said that the calf was in fact God himself, and that through worshipping this statue of the calf, they were worshipping God himself. Do you see? Aaron made it look like they weren’t worshipping some other god, but that they were actually worshipping the God of Israel. But the people weren’t allowed to do this—they weren’t allowed to use idols, and such like, in such a way that they could gain access through them to God. The way to meet God was not to worship a calf statue made out of gold.

So, in Deuteronomy 18, this is what Moses preaches to the people. He says: When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.

Let me read to you this last verse again. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. Moses is saying that God will raise up a prophet like himself, from his brothers, from the Jewish people. Now, there are a number of places in the New Testament, where this verse is taken to be talking about Jesus. After Pentecost, Peter uses this passage to speak about Jesus in one of his first sermons, after he heals a man sitting outside the temple. Stephen, the first person to be killed for the Christian faith, uses this passage from Deuteronomy to refer to Jesus. It’s as if to say, that since the people entered the Promised Land all those hundreds and hundreds of years ago, after Moses had died, they have been waiting for a prophet. And Christians say, that this prophet that the Jewish people had been waiting for centuries, is in fact, Jesus.

Let me read the prophecy again. Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. Now, let’s have a look at the Transfiguration, and see how this prophecy is actually fulfilled in our reading.

First of all, Moses calls Jesus a “prophet like me”. Actually, at the transfiguration, Moses is there. In fact, we’re not entirely sure whether this is Moses in his spirit, or in his body, because at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, it says that nobody knew what happened to Moses body. Mysteriously, here is Moses, talking to Jesus. And after Moses had received the law, we read that his face began to shine with bright light, such that he even had to put a veil, a cloth, over his head, because the people just couldn’t cope with and withstand this wonderful light. In the same way, Jesus’ face shines, but not only that, but his whole body shines, and even his clothes. But Jesus doesn’t normally appear like this, but he is always the Son of God, he is always God of God, Light of Light, but most of the time when people saw Jesus, this light was not hidden by a cloth or a veil, like Moses, but is was hidden simply by his human flesh. So Jesus is like Moses, in that his face also shone like Moses’ face.

Also, Jesus was like Moses, in that both of them performed miracles. But they performed very different types of miracles. Moses performed miracles that were frightening and scary for people. They were miracles that revealed God’s anger and his judgement and his wrath. For example, Moses put his hand in his coat, and it was full of leprosy. He put his staff on the ground, and it became a snake. He poured water on the ground, and it turned to blood. He brought about many plagues in Egypt—flies, frogs, darkness, death—you name it!

Now, when Jesus came, he also performed miracles, but miracles that were comforting and encouraging and which strengthened people. For example, he turned water not into blood, but into wine, for people’s enjoyment. He didn’t bring about leprosy, but he healed lepers. He healed many people, he cast out demons, he gave sight to the blind, and allowed the deaf to hear, and raised the dead. So Jesus’ miracles were of a different character to Moses’ miracles. But the fact that they both performed miracles like this, means that Jesus is very much like Moses.

But also, Jesus was a prophet like Moses, in the way that he spoke. Moses brought the 10 Commandments to the people. But then Jesus applies and comments on the commandments in a way that had never been done before.  He says: You have heard that it was said, “You shall not murder”. (Jesus quotes the 10 Commandments). But then he says: But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. So Jesus is also like Moses in the way that he speaks. Moses spoke the thunder of God’s law, and brought the people in a limited way into God’s presence through all the laws and details about worship, about the tabernacle, and the priests, and the food regulations, and all that kind of stuff. But Jesus also speaks the thunder of God’s law, but he does so in order to lay them bare and to bring them the forgiveness of sins, which he won for them through his suffering, his blood, and his death on the cross. That was something that Moses didn’t bring, but Jesus did bring. So in this way, Jesus is very much like Moses, and he is a wonderful teacher of both the law and the Gospel, but especially the Gospel. We read in John’s Gospel: The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Now, if we look back through the bible, we read that there were many great prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And if we were to name the greatest of these prophets, we would probably say, Elijah. Elijah was an amazing prophet, and he spoke God’s word clearly and boldly at a time when very few people wanted to hear it. However, we believe that Elijah was not this prophet that Moses spoke about, but that Jesus is this prophet.

And we realise this at the Transfiguration, because not only is Moses standing there with Jesus but also Elijah. And together Moses and Elijah testify by their presence, that the prophet that the Jewish people are looking for is not Elijah, but Jesus Christ. Can you see this wonderful way in which Moses and Elijah point to Jesus here? And together they show that Jesus is the fulfilment of these words from Deuteronomy: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen.

But there are two more things in the Transfiguration that relate to this prophecy. First, it says that Jesus will come from among you, from your brothers. Moses means that Jesus will come from the Jewish people, not from some other people. And so, we see Jesus here, just like an ordinary Jewish man, amongst his three friends, Peter, James and John. He takes them up the mountain, these three fishermen, who grew up similarly to him, and to whom Jesus talks to as an ordinary person to ordinary people. Jesus came from among them, from among the Jewish people. But then, when they arrive at the place, a separation occurs—Peter, James and John are over there, and Jesus is over there. Jesus is shining with brilliant light, with all the light of his divine nature, brighter than the light from heaven itself, and Peter, James and John are completely dazzled by it. Because Jesus is not just a normal Jewish man, but he is also the Son of God, and in fact, true God of true God. At the end of the reading, when the cloud has gone, and everything is back to normal, Jesus touches his disciples, like a brother, like a friend, and he says: Rise, and have no fear. Don’t be afraid, it’s me, let’s go, let’s walk together. And so, Jesus comes from among his people, from the Jewish people, from their brothers.

But secondly, God the Father wants to make it especially clear that these words from Deuteronomy apply to Jesus. Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen. At the Transfiguration, God the Father himself hides his voice in a cloud, and speaks his voice to all who are there: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him! Moses said: It is to him that you shall listen. And now God the Father says: Listen to him! It’s as if God the Father is coming with his own finger, and pointing to his only Son, and saying to Peter and James and John: This is the one that you’ve all been waiting for, this is the one you should listen to. In fact, every Sunday, this is what we Christians actually come here to do. We come to listen to Jesus. We don’t come to listen simply to a pastor, or to listen to each other over morning tea. We come to listen to Jesus, as he speaks his own words to his people, through the absolution and the forgiveness of sins, whenever someone is baptised through the words that are spoken, in the Lord’s Supper when we hear that this bread and wine is in actual fact his body and blood, and in the sermon, when the word of God and the words of salvation are proclaimed and spoken to you. So listen to God the Father’s voice, when he says to you: Listen to him! Listen to Jesus!

Now, there’s another aspect to the Transfiguration that we haven’t really spoken about yet. What happens here is an amazing vision. And Jesus himself calls it a vision, but it’s not like the disciples were dreaming or day-dreaming, and what they saw wasn’t actually real. It was real, it happened. They saw it, and they saw it as something that was happening right there in front of them, they didn’t imagine it, and it didn’t happen in their heads.

But also, there’s something very mysterious in the way that Moses and Elijah appeared. Because in one sense, they were dead—but also, there was something very strange about the deaths of both these men. With Moses, nobody knew where he was buried. In the book of Jude, it says that there was some kind of dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. We don’t really know much about it, but it’s a strange thing that nobody knew where Moses’ body was, and yet, here at the Transfiguration, here is Moses. Also, Elijah was taken into heaven on a chariot—he didn’t die a normal death, and he also didn’t have a grave site. And yet, at the Transfiguration, here is Elijah. All this is very mysterious, and strange, and is a holy mystery that we leave in the hands of God. We don’t want to delve into it too much, because if we do, it can even become dangerous to us. When Peter starts to ask about these things, God brings down a cloud. It’s as if he puts all these things off limits. Sometimes Christians are deceived into thinking that they need to penetrate through this cloud of unknowing to discover God in the darkness there. No—the cloud comes down, the mysterious things are off-limits, and God the Father points us to Jesus.

Now, there are actually many people in our country and in our society who are interested in spiritual things. In the 60s, many hippies went to India to find spiritual enlightenment. Many people still go to wellness clinics in Asia to find spiritual health. Many people want to receive visions, and they want to contact the dead, and cross over into other dimensions, and they start to wonder about all these things. People even today, just like superstitious people in ancient times, look up at the stars, and practice astrology, and try to derive meaning from them, as if the stars and the zodiac are telling us messages about our lives.

Well, Moses spoke about these things in Deuteronomy: Earlier, I read where Moses said to beware of the practices of the nations when they entered into the Promised Land. Moses says: The nations, which you are about to possess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. Moses makes a long list of these strange practices of the nations: fortune-telling, sacrificing children, practicing divination—which is, let’s say, “trying to get a message from something that doesn’t give messages”—, interpreting omens (like reading stars, or tea-leaves, or bird-calls, or whatever, to get some warning), sorcery (which is witchcraft, or occult), charming (which is attaching some spiritual power to something that doesn’t have that power—like saying, “this magic rock will protect you”). Moses also mentions, “mediums” (who are people who claim to give messages from the dead), or “necromancy” (which is talking to dead)… all these things, Moses says, the nations listen to these people. But the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. Instead, who should you listen to? Moses says, “It is to him you shall listen!” To the prophet like me! God says: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!

What Moses describes with all these strange practices things, is basically the traditional religions which are found all across the world. If you go to India, you’ll find talking to the dead, reading omens, fortune-telling in Hinduism. If you go to Africa, you’ll find it there with the witch-doctors. If you go to South America, you’ll find it there with the shamans, or whoever. And this stuff is making a strange come-back in Australia. If you start take notice, you’ll see this stuff everywhere, and realise just what a pagan country Australia.

What you need to know, and what Moses teaches, and what God the Father teaches at the Transfiguration, is that, if you hear a message from any of these people, who practice this stuff, it is not Jesus. It is not the voice of Jesus. The Word of God does not come through these people, and these practices. It is mutually exclusive to listen to the fortune-tellers, and to listen to him!

So we don’t become distracted by the wonderful spiritual vision at the Transfiguration, and go off trying to chase our own personal spiritual vision, through whatever means. We don’t become distracted by the presence of Moses and Elijah who are there, and start trying to build tents for dead people, and try to talk to them, and get messages from them. King Saul wanted to talk to dead Samuel, and he was rejected by God.

And so, at the Transfiguration, there are so many comforts for us. We don’t need to embroil ourselves in all this complicated, mystical stuff. We are simply told to listen to Jesus, to hold fast to his Word, and never let it go. When we have the Words of Jesus, we have everything we need. We have everything we could ever possibly want, and we will never be disappointed. He is our true Saviour, our true God, our true Light, who has won the true forgiveness of our sins, and promises us eternal life with Moses and Elijah, and all his saints, in wonderful glory, just like we see in the Transfiguration. Our bodies will be transformed to be like his. The forgiveness of sins which receive even today through the absolution and the Lord’s Supper is the beginning of that wonderful Transfiguration that will happen to us on the last day so that all our sins will be completely erased and we will shine like Jesus. So let’s listen to him, and take tremendous comfort in this event! Amen.

 

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

The Presentation of our Lord (Candlemas) [Luke 2:22-40] (30-Jan-2022)

                

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.

A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.

Prayer: Let 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 a church festival which is not well-known in Lutheran churches today, but in older times was very significant. It marks an occasion which happened 40 days after the birth of Jesus, and so this occasion is traditionally celebrated 40 days after Christmas on the February 2, which falls in a few days’ time.

So what exactly happened on this day? What is the Presentation all about? So first of all, we read: And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

So, this festival has a few different names. Sometimes, it has been called “The Presentation of our Lord”, but also sometimes it has been called, “The Purification of the Virgin Mary”. Now both these things are mentioned in this verse, the fact that the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, and also that they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. So, it was part of the Law of Moses, that 40 days after a baby was born, that there was a special offering that had to be made after childbirth, so that she could enter the temple again. We realise that after childbirth, it takes a while for a woman’s body to go back to its normal condition again, and during this time she wasn’t allowed to enter the temple, until this time when she was required to make an offering.

The offering she was also required to make was a lamb a year old, and a pigeon or turtledove. However, in our reading, we read that they presented a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. In Leviticus 12, it says: If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons.

So we learn here a couple of things. In the book of Leviticus, there are many instructions about various things to do with sacrifices and offerings and the priests, and all that kind of thing. Sometimes, the people were required to bring an offering of a particular animal to the temple. But in a few specific cases, there are some provisions for people who are poor, who can’t afford the normal offering, and are allowed to bring an alternative offering, which is also specified.

So we learn here that Mary and Joseph did what was required of them according to the law, but it is also one of the few places in the bible, which shows to us that the Holy Family was actually poor, and not wealthy. Of course, we know that Joseph was a carpenter, we know that Jesus was born in humble, poor conditions. But the fact that Jesus was born in a stable was because there was no room in the inn. They missed out on a proper room. I suppose, anyone whether they were rich or poor, could have missed out. But here in the reading, because they brought the alternative offering of two turtledoves or two pigeons, we are told specifically that this was a poor family and not a wealthy family.

So the first thing that happens is that it was time for Mary to come to temple to bring this offering for her purification after childbirth. Secondly, we read that Jesus was presented to the Lord in the temple. Now, this goes back to the Book of Exodus, where we read that the final plague that was unleashed upon the Egyptians was that every firstborn child was killed, unless they had followed God’s instructions of painting the blood of a lamb on the doorposts and lintel of their house, the beam across the top of the door. In memory of this event, we read in Exodus 13: The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” And also, it says: Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

So, Mary and Joseph came to do these two things at the same time. However, it’s very strange. In Luke’s Gospel it says, that they were bringing him to present him to the Lord. But it doesn’t actually say too much about the fact that they did this. The text is silent about the details of them “redeeming Jesus”, as it says: Every firstborn man among your sons you shall redeem. But what we realise here, is that Jesus, being the Son of God, and true God in human flesh, is actually holy to the Lord in a way that completely separates him from every other firstborn son. And also, it is not so much his parents who redeem him, but Jesus will redeem them, and the whole world, from sin.

So, first of all in our reading, we have these two things from the Law of Moses. First, that Mary needed to bring an offering for her purification after childbirth, and secondly, that Jesus was presented to God, in memory of the fact that the firstborn sons of the people of Israel were saved at the time of Moses in Egypt, at the time of the Passover, before they all left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.

Now, while Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus were visiting the temple, they also met two people. The first was man called Simeon, and the second was a woman called Anna. Now, about Simeon, we read: There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. We read, that he was one of the people of God, a righteous and devout person, a person who studied the Scripture, lived a life of prayer, and of good works. We also read that the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Now, we also read here: And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Here the Holy Spirit is mentioned here again, and this time, that the Holy Spirit had given him a particular prophesy, that a certain thing would happen in his life, that before he died, he would see the Messiah, or the Christ.

But in the next verse, the Holy Spirit is mentioned again. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God. We read that the Holy Spirit was upon Simeon, we read that he had revealed to him a special prophecy, but also the Holy Spirit guided Simeon to be at this particular place at this particular time. Also, the Holy Spirit guided him in such a way that when he saw this particular child, he knew without being told that this was Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one of the Lord that the people of Israel were waiting for.

Now, after this, Simeon speaks a special blessing, or a prophetic poem, or song. We call this the Song of Simeon, which begins with the words: Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word. Now, this song is also known by the Latin name, “Nunc Dimittis”: “Nunc” means “now”, and “Dimittis” means “you are letting”. Now, in the Gospel of Luke, in the first two chapters, there are two other songs that are spoken. It’s quite an amazing thing that around the time of Jesus’ birth and the pregnancy before the birth and his early childhood, there are so many prophetic songs. It’s like reading the book of Psalms, with all those wonderful poems and songs there. Every Sunday, we sing parts of these psalms all throughout the church service. And there’s something wonderful about a prophetic song like this, or a psalm. First of all, because it is written in the Scripture, we believe these songs are the Word of God. But also, they are addressed to God. And so, they are given to us from God, in such a way that we sing them back to him, and are filled with the Holy Spirit too. In Ephesians it says: Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. And also in Colossians it says: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

So in the first two chapters of Luke, we read about four occasions where holy people spoke these kinds of spiritual songs, songs that were filled with the Holy Spirit, and that fill people with the Holy Spirit. Actually, that is one of the reasons why in church we sing and chant so many different things: because when we are in the presence of the living Lord Jesus, we sing. So we read about when pregnant Mary goes to visit pregnant Elizabeth, Mary sings the song: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. This song has often been called the “Magnificat”, which means “magnifies”: My soul magnifies the Lord.

But then also at the birth of John the Baptist, John’s father, Zechariah, had been made silent during the time of the pregnancy, and wasn’t able to speak. This was because he had doubted the words of the angel, and had asked for an additional sign that the word would come about. When his mouth was opened, when he gave his son the name John, we read: And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.”

So, during the time of when both Jesus and John were in their mother’s womb, we have a song. When John the Baptist was born, we have a song. The first one was from Jesus’ mother, the second one from John’s father. But then when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we read about a song that was sung by the angels: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! Actually, we normally sing this song every Sunday, which we have already done today. It is a song which comes straight out of heaven, full of the Holy Spirit, and which fills us with the Holy Spirit!

And then, today, we read in our reading, that when both children had been born, John and Jesus, when Jesus was brought to the temple, Simeon sings this song. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace. Now, there are a number of different occasions when Christians have often used this prayer, or this song. In the Lutheran Church, we have always sung it after the Lord’s Supper. Because like Simeon holding Jesus in his arm, we have also taken the body and blood of Jesus into our mouths and bodies and hearts, and now we can depart in peace. But also, Christians have often prayed it late at night before they go to bed. Also, it is a prayer we pray at a deathbed, when we think someone is about to die. But also, it is a prayer that we often pray at funerals, even when we carry the coffin out of the church. It’s a wonderful prayer, it’s a wonderful song, and it has many applications to our Christian life.

After this, we then read about a further prophesy that Simeon gives. We read: And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will piece through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” These are amazing words, which Simeon speaks from the Holy Spirit. It speaks about who the baby Jesus is, and what they should expect him to be as he grows up. What Simeon says here is particularly how Jesus will be a rock of offense, a stumbling block, if you like. Many people will trust in him and be his disciples and followers, but also many will hate him and try to silence him and kill him.

And in the next part of our reading, we also read about a prophetess, whose name was Anna. We read: There was a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. So, we read, here was another person that was also brought to this place at this particular time. It wasn’t just Simeon, but also this woman Anna came at the same time. We have no reason at all to assume that Simeon and Anna knew each other before this event. At the birth of Jesus, we see all kinds of people gathered together by the Holy Spirit from all kinds of places, from all kinds of backgrounds. We see the wise men led to worship Jesus from following a star. We see the shepherds coming to Bethlehem because of what the angels had told them. And so, here we have these prophetic people, this man and this woman, this man Simeon who speaks blessings and prophesies, this old woman Anna who lives a life of constant prayer and fasting.

The same goes for the church even today: we might look around and think where each of us was born, how each of us came to be here, how each of us ended up here even today. Just like at the time of Jesus’ birth and infancy, we realise that the Holy Spirit orchestrates all of this, and brings the church together around the Word of God and around the Sacraments, sometimes through the most extraordinary means: angels, dreams, stars, or whatever. And sometimes, some people show up, who are guided and led by the Holy Spirit, almost seemingly at random, like Simeon and Anna.

In the last part of our reading, we read about how the Holy Family, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, went back home to their hometown of Nazareth. And we read: And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.

So, here, in summary, we see all the different parts of our reading: Mary’s purification after childbirth, Jesus’ presentation as the firstborn Son, the man Simeon, his song, his prophecy, the prophetess Anna and her thanksgiving, and then the family’s return to Nazareth, and the fact that Jesus grew up into a wonderful child.

Also, this festival, the 2 February, when we commemorate this event, is also known as Candlemas. And this name comes from the fact that Christians would often have a special procession with candles, because of the words in the Song of Simeon, which calls Jesus, a light for revelation to the Gentiles.

So let’s consider a few things about these events, and apply them to ourselves for our spiritual comfort.

First of all: we read that Mary was coming to the temple for her purifying. However, as Christians, Jesus is actually our new temple. He is the person we worship, but he also unites us together into a spiritual house. And like Mary coming to be purified after childbirth, we all actually need a purification from Jesus. We are all completely filled from head to toe with all kinds of evil, all kinds of sin, impurity, unrighteousness, godlessness. Even if we are a Christian, it doesn’t mean that we are free from sin, but there is always a constant all-out war going on in our hearts between good and evil. And so, Jesus draws us to himself, like Simeon and Anna, and he cleanses us and makes us pure from all sin, he frees us from the condemnation of sin, and from the power of the devil. We have no need to fear death and hell anymore because Jesus is our life!

So, also, from this occasion spoken about in our reading, we see that we have reason for great peace and great joy and great comfort. We see the family Jesus coming to fulfil their requirement of the law of Moses, but strangely enough, everything was overshadowed by the praise of Jesus by these people who were there. When Jesus died on the cross, the law of God was completely fulfilled in him, the wrath of God was satisfied and stilled, the justice and righteousness that was required for our sin was completely paid in full. The law of God, its requirements and its condemnation and its judgment, is completely overshadowed and outshone by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and there is no greater joy in the whole world!

Jesus’ offering has done it. His sacrifice has done it. His merit, as we say, his achievement, his work, his atonement, has done it. And so, when we trust in Jesus and his sacrifice and his atonement, we are free from all the fear of death and hell, from its pains, its torments. And we take comfort in his holiness, in his purity, his guiltlessness, his salvation, which he gives to us as our treasure and our life. This salvation of Jesus is like a pearl of great price, a hidden treasure in a field. Jesus applies these wonderful things to us personally too even today in the church through baptising us with water and the Word, through the water and the Spirit, into his kingdom. And he continually sustains us also today in the church through his heavenly food, the manna from heaven, with his own body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.

And so, because of all this, we can die in peace and in joy. We can depart in peace! This word, “depart” is a shipping word. We can cast off our little boat from the seashore of this rotten and evil world, and put down our anchor in the arms and in the heart of Jesus. Our eyes, our hearts, our minds, have seen and experienced and tasted the free and full salvation which is in Jesus Christ, and so we can close our eyes and take our rest and die in peace, in the fullness of heavenly joy.

And so, even now, we can take such great joy and comfort and happiness in renouncing the world with all its pretentiousness, with all its lies and its murders, with all of its slime and its filth, with all its rotten hypocrisy. We have Jesus, and with him we have everything we need, both for this life and for the life to come. Jesus is the light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel.

And so, we thank Jesus for his wonderful salvation for us, and we ask him to bring us finally into heavenly glory, to eternal salvation, through his sacrifice and offering before God the Father: through his blood, through his death, through his resurrection. And we look forward to that day when we will see him face to face not in these earthly temples made with human hands, but in the presence of God in heaven.

Amen.

  

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

Epiphany III [Matthew 8:1-13] (23-Jan-2022)

               

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.

Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. 

Prayer: Let 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 tells of two events in the life of Jesus: one where Jesus heals a leper, and the other where he heals the servant of a centurion who is a paralysed.

Now, sometimes when we read these Gospel readings on Sundays, we often forget, or don’t really consider properly, where these passages come in the historical order and the scheme of things in the Gospels. It’s always worth our while to check what comes before the passage we read, and also to consider the passages afterwards. So, our Gospel reading today, is found at the beginning of Matthew chapter 8. In Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7, we have a very famous sermon of Jesus, called the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon contains many famous and well-known sayings of Jesus, including the famous Beatitudes, where Jesus says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, and so forth. Also, he talks about the disciples being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus speaks about the law in great detail, he teaches the Lord’s Prayer, and there are many wonderful passages that are well-known to Christians everywhere.

And then, immediately afterwards, we read that he performed these two healings. Actually, also immediately after our reading today, where he performs these two miracles with the leper and the centurion’s servant, we read that Jesus goes on to heal Peter’s mother-in-law from a fever, and also that in the evening, there were many, many people who came to Jesus with all kinds of problems and Jesus healed them. We read there: That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast our the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

So, in our reading, we see a particular order of things: first Jesus teaches, and then he performs the miracles. These two things go together. Actually, the miracles confirm the teaching and establish it. In the Old Testament, when Moses was sent to Pharoah with a special message for him from God to let the people of Israel go, he didn’t just speak to Pharoah, but he also performed miracles in his presence. These miracles established and confirmed Moses’ words, and his mission, and the fact that he had been sent by God to perform this task and speak this word. In the same way, Jesus gives this wonderful sermon on the mount, and then he performs miracles, in fact, many miracles long into the evening.

Another way of looking at it too, is that Jesus teaches his disciples and speaks his wonderful words, and here the focus in on what he says. But then when Jesus performs the miracles, the focus is not so much on what he says, but who he is, and what he does. Of course, when Jesus performs these miracles, he does so by the power of his word. But once Jesus has finished teaching on the mountain, there is a different focus: the focus is now on his actions, on the wonderful person that he is.

In a similar way, this is also the way our church service, which is sometimes called the Mass, the Liturgy, or more commonly, the Divine Service. In German, the word normally used is “Gottesdienst”, which means God’s service. It can mean the service which we render towards to God, but also, and more importantly, it indicates that God comes to serve his people with his holy gifts. In the Divine Service, which we come to be part of and participate in even today, there are two main parts to it: the first is focussed on the Word of God, where we enter into God’s presence to hear reading from God’s Word, and the preaching of God’s Word, but then in the second part of the service, we have Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus comes and feeds us with his holy and precious body and blood. So, you can see, just as in our reading, that we have the Word of God and the teaching, the preaching, but then also we have the miracles, the Sacrament. The first part of the service the focus is on Jesus’ Word and the preaching, but then the second part the focus is on the wonderful person and the action and the miracle of the fact that enters in among us and feeds us with his body and blood, and also attends to all our various needs individually.

Now, let’s go back to our reading. We read: When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him, and knelt before him, saying: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Now, let’s just think for a moment about leprosy. In the Old Testament particularly, leprosy had a particular significance beyond other illnesses. On one hand it was a skin disease, but it also had a significance about it that represented uncleanliness and defilement. If a person had leprosy, there is something about it that indicates that they are physically unclean and sick and ill, but spiritually unclean and spiritually ill. So for example, when Moses was sent to Pharoah to speak to him, he is given three miracles: he is able to turn his staff into a snake, he turns water into blood, and also he puts his hand in his coat and it becomes leprous. Isn’t it strange how these three things go together: a snake (which reminds us of the devil in the Garden of Eden), blood and leprosy. So people with leprosy had to be isolated and quarantined, and kept apart, and were not permitted to join in with normal social life.

So in our Gospel reading today, we read about the fact that Jesus doesn’t just heal the man by some kind of process, he doesn’t tell him to do this or that, to follow this or that procedure, but he simply touches him, and heals him, and says: Be clean. Notice that Jesus touches the unclean person. And instead of the unclean person making Jesus unclean too, everything happens the other way around. The unclean person becomes clean like Jesus. Actually, Jesus actually does absorb the uncleanliness of this man, in such a way that he then carries it with him all the way to cross, where he sheds his blood for it. This is what it says later in this chapter: He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

Now, also, in our reading, we see how in healing this man from his leprosy, Jesus restores him into full participation in society again. He no longer has to be isolated. Now, it’s worth our while, just for a moment, to mention a few things about the current health crisis we find ourselves in. Now, of course, when we are sick with any disease, especially when it is infectious, we usually stay home and remain isolated until we are well again. Normally, this is just for a small time, and then everything is back to normal again. However, what we are seeing is a constant, almost illogical, pressure for people to conform to a new normality. It’s not just a question of people isolating and quarantining because they are sick, but then isolated and segregated because they are unvaccinated. People are being isolated from the workforce, from shops, businesses, because of this. In some parts of the world, there have been these vaccine passports, set up in order to exclude people who don’t agree from wider society.

Of course, there’s so much that I could say about all of this, and we’ve all been thinking about these things now for close to two years, and the government, the newspapers, the internet, is full of this stuff. But there are a couple of things we should mention from our reading. Firstly, in our reading, Jesus breaks down the barriers here, and enables this man to be brought back into wider society. When a society turns away from Jesus, it can only break people up and separate them. Only when we repent and turn back to Jesus can we be brought back together in harmony with each other. Jesus does not establish a kind of “apartheid”, but he draws people to himself, and then people are brought into harmony from each other. It is extraordinary how there are so many tyrannical leaders throughout the world at the moment that see no other way forward except to separate and ostracise people and demonise and stigmatise them. Jesus gives us a completely different and contrary example.

The other thing is to do with the Lord’s Supper. It’s strange that in this whole pandemic, one of the first things to be attacked was the institution of Christ on the night he was betrayed. From the outsider’s point of view, the Lord’s Supper seems like something quite dirty, where Christians handle and share common bread and drink from a common chalice. From the point of view of cleanliness, we should be aware of the fact that silver has an antiseptic property, and also that there more alcohol in the chalice in the Lord’s Supper than an alcoholic wipe.

But more than all of that, this is the Lord’s body and blood. This is the body and blood of the man who touched lepers and healed him. Never once in his life did he distribute and administer leprosy to anyone. We should always have this in mind. Jesus didn’t just institute his body and blood to be floating in mid-air, but he also gave it to his disciples in a common cup, being in the same room as these fellow disciples, and said: Do this. It is not for the government, who doesn’t believe in the Lord’s Supper, to tell us to do something else with it.

Right at the heart of this reading today is the fact that Jesus touched a man who is unclean. The whole of the incarnation is like this. The very fact that the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who lived in the glory of his Father, became a man, meant that he was touching human beings like us in all our uncleanliness. In a couple of famous Christian hymns, it says, that he did not abhor or despise the Virgin’s womb. He did not despise being born in the normal, natural way just like the rest of us. He did not despise touching a leper. He did not despise the cross and suffering and death. He did not despise the water of Holy Baptism, with which he touched you and made you his child and adopted you into his kingdom, through His Word. He does not despise the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper, through which he gives to you his holy and precious blood to eat and to drink. In fact, he knows that you are unclean in more ways than one, and yet, through the fact that he touched and healed this leper, we gain the enormous comfort that he does not despise even us, but wants to reach out and touch us, and join us to himself.

Now, let’s look at the words that this leper. He says: Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. These are quite amazing words, because first of all, he confesses the fact that Jesus is almighty, and all-powerful. It is not the normal situation that someone can cleanse a person of leprosy: why does he think Jesus is any different? Well, he believes that Jesus is not simply a normal every day person. He can see that this is a person who has the power the heal his problem, simply if he wills it. And we read: And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

We also see here in our reading that this leper was submissive to the will of Jesus. Everything depended on Jesus and his will, and nothing depended on the leper. We see Jesus display this attitude when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed: Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. We pray in the Lord’s Prayer: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In fact, it’s a very difficult thing for us to learn, because sometimes we can see things wrong in our own life, that we would like to be fixed or healed or relieved or whatever. We might be experiencing a time in life where we are really walking through the desert. We might be sick, or weary, or worn out. We might have had all kinds of troubles in all kinds of situations. And we come to Jesus, and we want our problems to be solved, we want everything to be fixed.

But Jesus is not simply a solution or a fix. He is not a mathematical answer to a mathematical problem. He is a real person, he is our true Shepherd, our true Pastor, our true Saviour. And so, when we have some trouble, we don’t come looking for an answer or a solution or a fix. We come to him, and we place our worries and our troubles and our sins and our failures into his hands. We come to him and we look to him as our Good Shepherd, and we come to him as one of his sheep.

This leper commends everything to the will of Jesus. He is not trying to twist the arm of Jesus. He is not trying to give him the right answer so that he can pass the test. He just commends everything to Jesus’ will. Lord, if you will, he says. How hard this is for us sometimes. We would love sometimes to come to Jesus and just say, Make me clean. But to say, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean, is something different. The true lesson here has been learned—that is, no matter what I have to bear, no matter what situation I find myself, no matter if I’m weak or strong, sick or healthy, up or down, I am happy to be one of your sheep, dear Jesus, and I am happy to follow you no matter what situation I find myself. Even if I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

But we also learn from our reading, that Jesus will for us is not for our harm, but for our benefit. He says: I will, be clean.

Now, in this situation, the fact that Jesus heals this leper gives us a tremendous encouragement, because when our soul finally departs this earthly life with all of its troubles and sufferings, we will actually be free from all of our sins and sicknesses and ailments and illnesses. And also, on the last day, we read in the Scripture that our bodies will be raised from the dead and transformed and glorified and reunited with our souls, so that our bodies are like that of Jesus. In the meantime, sometimes we suffer, sometimes we are relieved. Sometimes we are sick, sometimes we are healed. But what we do know, is that when he have a Shepherd and Saviour like our wonderful Jesus, that everything is administered to us graciously, all things work together for our good for those who are called according to his purpose, everything is according to his good and gracious will. Our sinful flesh often protests and gets angry at the thought of having to continue in the same way. But when live in submission to the wonderful will of Jesus, nothing is ever just the same old way. He gives to us the forgiveness of sins, and gives us his peace. We know that what happens to us in this life and in this earthly existence, Jesus has not excluded and isolated us from himself, but he constantly cares for us, directs us, guides us, and sends us the Holy Spirit to equip us and empower us for every task, and every day and every hour.

In the second part of our reading, we also read about a centurion who asks Jesus to heal his servant. Let’s also gather a couple of things from this which we can learn. The centurion says to Jesus: Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. This centurion was actually a devout man, and had converted from his Roman paganism and joined himself to the Jewish people and built a synagogue. In Luke’s Gospel, we read that people said to Jesus that this man is worthy for you to come and do this for him. He was a good person in the eyes of many people, and done many good things. Even in our reading, we see that he great love for his servant, in wanting to make the effort to bring his needs to Jesus. But when the man himself comes to Jesus, he puts away all of that, and says: I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. He turns all attention away from his own worthiness. And he says: Only say the word, and my servant will be healed. Everything for the man, rests upon Jesus’ word. And the centurion knows that this word is powerful. 

So here in our reading, when it comes to way in which Jesus wonderful deals with us, as a Good Shepherd deals with his sheep, we see the leper leave everything to Jesus’ will. But then we also see the centurion confess his unworthiness, and leave everything dependent upon Jesus’ word. So, as we go forward from here in our lives, as we come to the Lord’s Supper, as we think about the future, as we think about what’s to come in the coming year, let’s leave everything to the good and gracious will of Jesus, knowing that nothing has ever happened in our lives that hasn’t happened for our good and for our benefit. Let’s acknowledge our own sinfulness and unworthiness, and rely in everything upon the Word of Jesus, which is filled with the Holy Spirit, and has spoken everything into existence. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.

Amen. 

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

Apologies

 Dear readers,

I'm sorry, but the sermons between Advent II 2021 and Epiphany II 2022 are unavailable. 

Advent I [Matthew 21:1-10] (28-Nov-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.

This took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

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

 

Behold, your king is coming to you!

The words do not say that you are coming to your king. The focus is not on you, it’s on the king! You are doing nothing, the king is doing everything. He is coming to you!

A good 500 years ago, Martin Luther got this right when he said: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.” We often blink and miss these words in the catechism: “or come to him.”

So as we begin a new church year on this First Sunday of Advent, we don’t begin the year by making some new resolutions, some new promises, we don’t set about saying to Jesus how much better we’re going to do things this year. We don’t come to make a decision for Jesus, to dedicate our lives to him, and come to him with great ceremony and great parade and great pomp.

Because the gospels aren’t about us flying up to God. We don’t confess in the creed, “I believe in me, the creator of my own destiny, the follower of my own dreams. I believe that I’m so wonderful that I’ve got my life back in order, I’ve fixed up all my own problems, and I believe that if I were in the garden of Eden that I’d know what to say to that pesky snake. I believe in my own sense of spirituality, and my own little club of like-minded people who think that we’re so much holier than the rest of the world.”

No—when we say the creed, we say: “I believe in God.” I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things seen and unseen.

We say: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” “I believe in the Holy Spirit” – not your spirit, the Holy Spirit – “and I believe in the Holy Christian Church” – of all times and of all places and for all people.

That’s the faith we’re called to have on our lips. The Christian faith does not set about trying to impress others with our spirituality, our friendliness, and other things that make us feel that we’re worth something in our own eyes. We are called to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. In fact, we say in the creed, that he is “our Lord.”

He is our Lord. Our king. He is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom will have no end.

And it is this king that comes to you. Behold, your king comes to you!

You are not your own king or queen. You are not your own master. You are not setting your own course in life, and you are not in charge of your own salvation. You don’t come to Jesus, and you don’t bring him to you.

There is only one who is your master, who will be your master, who can be your master. His name is Jesus Christ – he is the King of heaven, the King of glory, and he comes in through the doors.

Behold, your king is coming to you!

And look at the way in which he comes: humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a beast of burden.

If we presume to come to God by ourselves, and this is a very dangerous thing, we come to him with nothing but pride. We come to him with the devil whispering in our ear: “You will not surely die… You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And so we eat from the tree, and we die. The people of this world spend all of their time trying to climb out of this pit, this septic tank of sin, filth, death, hell that we got ourselves into. We can’t come to God by ourselves, and we don’t deserve to. Think about the tower of Babel: the people wanted to build a tower all the way to heaven. We read that “the Lord came down to see the city and tower”. He came all the way down to see it (!), and he said: Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand.

Christianity is not about achievement. It’s not about reaching up to God. It’s not about flying up to God by yourself. Because simply put, you can’t.

Instead, you need your Lord Jesus Christ to come down and have a look at what you’re doing. You need your king to come to you!

And funnily enough, he doesn’t do it with great ceremony. He doesn’t set about showing off to you. He doesn’t come riding on a horse so high that can’t reach him. He doesn’t bring out the motorcade with a Rolls Royce and security guards so that you can only hope to wave at him from a distance.

No, your king comes to you! And he comes to you in a certain way: humble, and mounted on a donkey.

Humble, gentle. He comes not as a tyrant, not as a proud, puffed-up cockatoo of a king, he doesn’t come as a ruler to suppress you and to keep you down and make money out of you and dress himself up at your expense! He comes humble, gentle, lowly, meek. He doesn’t come to beat you into submission; he comes as your friend. He comes as your equal to win you over, he invites you to sit around his table – and he comes a lot of the time in such a friendly, such a kind way, that most of the time you don’t recognise him.

Your king comes to you, humble and riding on a donkey.

Everything is humble with Jesus. Everything is friendly with him. Everything is accessible with him. Everything is easy to reach, because he has come to you, he has reached down to touch you, not half-way for you to reach up the other half, but all the way – he has come all the way down to meet you and to come to you in a humble, gentle and friendly way.

And Jesus simply has to, he must come to us in a humble way. If he’s going to associate with us, he has to eat a big piece of humble pie. If he’s going to join us to him as members of his body, if he’s going to graft us on to himself like branches on a vine, he has to sink very low indeed, he has to climb down beneath his own dignity, beneath his own worth.

Everyone knows what it’s like to meet a snob: someone who thinks that they’re better than we are. It’s a great sin to put ourselves above others, and to push other people down and shame them to make ourselves look better and give ourselves the honour. And Jesus has every right to be a snob with us. He is better than us. He took human flesh with all its weaknesses, but without sin. Imagine what it would be like to live without sin – no guilt, no regrets, no suffering, no death, no pain, no war, no arguments, no evil, no distractions, no hatred of others or ourselves. Anyone who is like this has every right to treat us with contempt and not bother associating with us. But the book of Hebrews says: We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

And so, Jesus humbles himself. He is our king who humbles himself. He looks around to find out where we are, what we’re up to, what we’ve been doing, in what problems we’ve found ourselves, and then he forgives, forgives, forgives. He humbles himself because he just wants to be with us.

In fact, he plans everything for us to make sure that everything works out well for us. He says to his disciples, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them’, and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet.

Now it could have been a lot easier for him to go and get his own donkey. But that wouldn’t be humble. If the Lord needed them, if he wanted them, couldn’t he have made his own donkey out of the dirt?

But you see, he wants to show us that he comes down to our level. He wants to do things on our terms. He wants to be approachable, to be friendly, he wants you to love him, not just to fear him. It’s not the time for showing off. It’s simply the time to make sure everything works out right. For us in our lives he does the same all the time, as Romans says: all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Here in our gospel all things work together for good too – for the express purpose that he should come to you as your king, in a humble way, in a friendly way.

And this is the way he always comes. The words of the prophets are fulfilled when he comes like this. We love because he first loved us. He first comes to us. And he rides into Jerusalem humble and mounted on a donkey, smiling, blessing all the children, laying his hands on them.

Behold, your king is coming to you at the beginning of a new church year, as we come together to hear the events of Jesus life once again.

Behold, your king is coming to you at the beginning of a new week, showering his blessing on everything you do.

Behold, your king is coming to you at the beginning of a new day, a new hour.

Behold, your king is coming to you, and sending out his Holy Spirit through his Holy Word, through his gift of baptism which you walk in every day, through his Holy Supper with his body and blood.

Behold, your king is coming to you, and he is humble, he is friendly, he mounted on a donkey, he comes to you with simple humble means, he comes with words, through preaching, through water, through bread, through wine.

So take off your old clothes which the devil would have you wear, and lay them on the donkey, let Jesus sit on them. Put off your old self, as St Paul says. Strip off your old rags and put them on the road and let Jesus walk all over them. Thrown down your worries, your cares, your sin. Thrown down your self-invented spirituality. Thrown down your own righteousness, your hypocrisy, your pretenses – Jesus won’t just sit on them, he’ll ride all over them with a donkey. The victory is won! The king of glory comes in through the gates with his free forgiveness, his free grace, and there’s nothing you can do in return.

Behold, your king is coming to you!

And the church replies with the palms of victory in their hands:

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna!

May our Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, come to us again this day, and bless our new church year, that this new church year may be a year filled of your grace, and showered with your blessings. Hosanna in the highest! Amen. 

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