Pentecost XXII (Proper 24 B) [Mark 10:35-45] (21-Oct-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

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 read that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to [Jesus] and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Imagine someone comes to you and says, “Could you do me a really big favour?” You would probably be a bit suspicious, and say, “Well, it depends what it is!” You might remember how King Herod really put himself in a corner when he promised his wife’s daughter whatever she wanted—she ended up asking for John the Baptist’s head to be cut off!

This is what happens in our reading, with James and John coming to Jesus. They ask him: Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Was it wrong of them to come to Jesus and say this? I think they are also embarrassed about what they are asking too. They ask him: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. They want a promotion, they want honour, they want esteem, they want something special, something glorious. And maybe they know that what they are asking for is a bit rude or presumptuous.

But also, isn’t this often how we want to pray to Jesus? We go to him, and we say: Jesus, I want you to do for me whatever I ask of you. And after all, Jesus says: Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Don’t you wish that you had such a strong and firm faith that just goes to Jesus whenever you need something and tells him exactly what you need or want? 

Let’s read what happens. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?” And they said to him, “We are able.”

When we read about Jesus and his disciples, we notice that the 12 apostles were given a particularly privileged position. Also, on a number of occasions, Jesus singles out Peter, James and John: for example, when he went up on the mountain and was transfigured and started shining with heavenly light. Also, sometimes Peter was singled out, and often stepped forward and spoke on behalf of the other apostles. Peter also preached the first Christian sermon on the day of Pentecost. And so, here are these two others, James and John, two brothers, and know that Jesus has given them special privileges. They are two of the twelve apostles. They have often been invited by Jesus to be part of his inner circle together with Peter. But perhaps they are also a little bit jealous of Peter, and don’t want to be outdone by him.

And so they ask Jesus for a special privilege of their own choosing. They ask him: Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. There are a few things that they don’t really understand. They haven’t gone up to Jerusalem yet. Palm Sunday hasn’t happened yet. Jesus hasn’t sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane yet. He hasn’t been betrayed by Judas yet. He hasn’t been crucified yet. And so perhaps James and John think that Jesus is going to take his throne in Jerusalem as a political figure, as the rightful king of the Jews, and overthrow Herod and the Roman—just like we have seen our Australian prime-ministers continually overthrown. And when it all happens in this glorious way, as they imagine it, they would like a special part in it. They want to be part of Jesus’ cabinet—they want to walk down the red carpet with him, and to flank him on either side at all his press conferences. But that’s not the way it’s going to be.

This passage also teaches us something very special about prayer. We see in the Gospels that Jesus often teaches his disciples to ask for whatever they want. And here, we see an exact example of two disciples going to Jesus and asking him for whatever they want. But what we have to realise is that when we do this, we should also be prepared for Jesus to teach us something that we never expected and that we didn’t know before. You see, Jesus is not a genie in a magic lamp, who just pops out and gives us three wishes. We are not his masters, and he is not our slave. The kingdom of God is a wonderful, glorious thing, and Jesus is the king, but this kingdom and this king work in ways that are often completely beyond our expectations or comprehension.

And so, later on when the other ten disciples hear about what James and John asked of Jesus, we read: When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. They were angry, and thought: Who do they think they are, asking such a thing? But Jesus doesn’t go about things like that. He doesn’t get angry with them, but he gently explains things to them, and shows them their mistake. He says to them: You do not know what you are asking. So often when we pray to Jesus and ask him for things, we don’t really know what we’re asking. We make all kinds of mistakes in prayer, and we blubber and stammer around. But when we pray, remember that we always pray in the name of Jesus. This means that when we speak to our heavenly Father, everything goes through Jesus, like a master newspaper editor. He’s like a school-teacher who takes out his red pen, a red pen that is filled with his blood, and he edits everything, so that all our prayers are cleaned up and tidied up like rough drafts, and washed completely clean by Jesus. Jesus always knows what he is asking, he always knows what we need, even if we don’t know what we’re asking. When Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, he says: Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

And so Jesus says to James and John: You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they said, “We are able”. What is Jesus talking about here? In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prays in bitter agony just before he is arrested, he prays a prayer: Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Jesus prays: Remove this cup from me. Here in our reading today, Jesus asks James and John: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? What do you think Jesus is talking about when he talks about this cup? He’s talking about his cross, his bitter suffering, his death, his floggings, his whippings, his outward suffering, his internal suffering, everything that Jesus undergoes on Good Friday. That’s the glory of Jesus—that’s the wonderful glory that Jesus undergoes and makes atonement for every single sin that ever even been imagined for even a split second in the entire history of the world. James and John want to sit at his right hand and at his left. But when Jesus goes to the cross, who is at his right and at his left? Two criminals who are also being crucified. Is this what the two disciples are prepared for? Jesus says: Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?

Jesus also says: Or are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? Jesus, we know, was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. And when he went to John, John wanted to be baptised by Jesus instead. But Jesus said to him: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. John was baptising sinners, and the only people who are sinners can be baptised. So why was Jesus being baptised? He was baptised not because he was a sinner, but because in all of his sinlessness, he took upon himself all of our sin so that he could die for it. And at that very moment, where Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove and God the Father spoke from heaven: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. And so what Jesus begins at his baptism, is finished on the cross. Before Jesus died, he said: It is finished. It’s as if he said, “my baptism is finished”. My anointing by the Holy Spirit in the Jordan was all for this purpose. In Luke 12, we read: I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distressed until it is accomplished! Jesus once again is speaking of his cross, and his suffering. And so Jesus says to James and John: Are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?

Yes, it’s true. James and John didn’t really know what they were asking. We often don’t know what we’re asking, and so we don’t often understand the answers to our prayers when Jesus actually does answer them. When Jesus washes his disciples’ feet he says to them: What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. This is such a wonderful word of comfort when we don’t understand why Jesus doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want. But also, we read in Romans: The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Just as Jesus edits our prayers with the red pen of his blood, so also the Holy Spirit takes over in our prayers, and asks the prayers through our groans and sighs of which God alone understands the meaning, even if we don’t. All this shows us what a great mystery prayer is—St Paul says: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Our heavenly Father knows what is best for us so much better than we could ever imagine. It’s the same as when Jesus says in John 16: You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. There’s a wonderful hymn on prayer which says: More is lavished by Thy bounteous hand That I can ask or seek or understand.

And so, back to our reading: Jesus asks the disciples this profound question. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised? And they say: We are able. Wow! What a thing to say? Do they even understand what they are committing themselves to?

But Jesus then says: The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Jesus says to James and John that they will drink the cup and they will receive his baptism. We also receive the wonderful gift of Holy Baptism as Christians, and in the Lord’s Supper, we drink the wonderful cup of blessing, the blood of Christ. The baptism of Jesus and the cup of Jesus are wonderful blessings that are given to us from heaven. All our sins have been poured out on Jesus in baptism, and when he drank that cup of the cross right down to the dregs. But all of his righteousness and purity and forgiveness is given back to us in baptism, and in the cup of the Lord’s Supper. He takes what didn’t belong to him, and he gives to us what didn’t belong to us. And so we have this wonderful exchange—he takes our sin, and he gives us his forgiveness and righteousness. All Christians receive this baptism and this cup. But these gifts also point us to a reality that we Christians are citizens of heaven in such a way that the world doesn’t recognise us anymore. And so just as Jesus was spat out by the world, we Christians are also spat out. Each of us have a special measure of suffering that Jesus puts upon us, not to curse us, but for our blessing, to take us away from the things of this world, and to point us to the kingdom of heaven. James was beheaded in Jerusalem, and John was tortured in Rome and then exiled to one of the Greek islands, called Patmos. This was the cross they were called to bear for the sake of Jesus’ kingdom. We should also not be afraid to bear whatever Jesus would have us bear. Sometimes, we pray that Jesus would take some suffering away from us. St Paul writes: To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So be encouraged, be strengthened by Jesus, our Lord, and let him make his power perfect in you, even if you are struggling, and feel so weak. Remember Jesus’ words: What I am doing now you do not understand, but afterwards you will understand.

Jesus says: The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. What does Jesus mean here, when he says, “it is not mine to grant”? Can’t Jesus do anything he wants? Well, yes and no. We say: Nothing is impossible with God. But is it possible for God to sin? No, because it would be completely against his nature and his character. Can God make 1 + 1 = 3? No, because 1 + 1 = 2. That’s the way it is. Jesus is not saying that he can’t do something—it’s just that what they ask for is not for them.

And so, we read: When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

In some sense, James and John wanted to establish a kind of hierarchy. They weren’t content with being apostles, they wanted to be super-apostles. And this then begs the question? Should we have any order or hierarchy in the church? Should we have pastors, for example? Well, of course, we should have pastors, because the bible actually speaks about them. In 1 Peter, Peter speaks about all Christians as being members of a royal priesthood. But also, in the same letter, he tells pastors to shepherd the flock of God that is among you. But pastors are not to rule like a king. They are to serve people, and not simply to serve people’s whims, but to serve them with the word of God. But there is no place in the church for the kind of leadership that says: I’m in charge, therefore you need to shut up and do what I say. Peter says: Exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Sometimes, in the church, some people think that all the problems would be solved if we had more people to exercise authority, more bishops, or even a pope. But this isn’t the way Jesus rules. He says: But it shall not be so among you. He rules through his word alone, not through human authority. He rules, not by setting himself up on an earthly throne, but by sacrificing his life. He says: Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And this wonderful way in which Jesus gave his life as a priceless ransom, and continually serves his people as our Good Shepherd with his word and sacraments is the heart and centre of Christianity. So let’s thank him for this! Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for coming to serve your people as our wonderful host today, and for giving your life as a ransom for many. Send us the Holy Spirit, and teach us to be bold in prayer, and not to be afraid to learn from you whatever you would teach us. Amen.

Pentecost VIII (Proper 10 B) [Ordination of Women] (15-Jul-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife”.

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 readings for today and last week paint a very interesting picture of what life was like for Jesus and his disciples. Last Sunday, we read about how Jesus went preaching in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. In Luke’s Gospel, we are told that he took a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah and directly applied it to himself as the promised Messiah. However, here in Mark’s Gospel, Mark doesn’t actually report what Jesus said. The most important thing is the reaction to Jesus’ preaching: they took offense at him. And Jesus says: A prophet is not without honour, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. So this is an incredibly sad event, where the Saviour of the world entered into the synagogue in his own hometown and they rejected him.

Now, immediately after this, Jesus then sends out the twelve apostles on a special mission trip. It says: He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Now in Luke and Matthew, they even give the names of each of the twelve apostles. And these are the words that Jesus says to them: Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. What he means is that that they shouldn’t go from house to house, but stay in one house and spend a good amount of time with them, and then when they’re finished move to the next. But Jesus also says: And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

You can see here that Jesus prepares the twelve apostles for a mission, but he also prepares them for disappointment and rejection. Not everyone will receive them, and so Jesus says that if people don’t want to listen to them, then he says not to spend time annoying them until they let them in, but to simply leave, and shake the dust off their feet at the gate.

Now, in today’s reading we see that John the Baptist is arrested, and he was arrested for a relatively minor thing: he told King Herod that his marriage was unlawful. Herod had his brother’s wife, Herodias, as his own wife or mistress, and John told him that that was wrong. So he was put in prison, and then when Herod promised to Herodias’s daughter anything she wanted in the presence of his birthday guests, Herodias took the opportunity to get her daughter to ask for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. And so John was executed and beheaded.

And so in these three passages, we have three different instances of rejection of the message of Jesus: the people in Nazareth reject Jesus himself, Jesus prepares his twelve apostles and gives them specific instructions if people reject them, and then Herod and his household rejects the ministry of John the Baptist. And so the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: are we also in danger of rejecting the ministry of Jesus’ apostles, and his preachers? Actually, I think this is the greatest danger that Christianity faces today in the world, and it is the greatest danger that our church body, the Lutheran Church of Australia, faces.

Now, often when people study the passage where Jesus sends out the apostles two by two, people often look at it as a kind of example for mission work, and think of it in terms of us. But we have to also realise that the twelve apostles were particular people who had a particular task. In fact, the New Testament is basically the collected writings of the apostles.

Now, when the New Testament was gathered together in the time of the early church, the prerequisite for these books was that they were written by the apostles, or at least had the approval of the apostles.

And so, how should we treat these writings? We should treat them as the writings of those particular preachers chosen by Jesus. Jesus said to them: Whoever hears you hears me. John also writes in his first letter: We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. We treat these writings just as when Jesus sent the apostles out: we read their writings, just as if they were knocking on our door and coming to our house two by two. We should receive them into our house, and into our hearts, so that Jesus may say to us: Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

Now, in our sermon today, I’d like to talk about a part of the apostles’ teaching that is very sensitive in our church, which is the relationship between men and women, and the question as to whether women should serve as pastors. This is the topic we have been discussing all week at our national Pastors’ Conference in Adelaide, and will be discussed again at our upcoming synod in October in Sydney. Actually, this has been discussed in our church’s synods now since the year 2000. I was sixteen years old in that year! And so this matter has been debated in our church for well over half my lifetime.

Our church’s current position on the matter reads as follows:

Though women prophets were used by the Spirit of God in the Old as well as in the New Testament, 1 Cor 14:34,35 and I Tim 2:11–14 prohibit a woman from being called into the office of the public ministry for the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. This apostolic rule is binding on all Christendom; hereby her rights as a member of the spiritual priesthood are in no wise impaired.

Now, it is my deeply held conviction that this statement is true, and I would like to explain to you why, even though this opinion of mine runs very much against our cultural climate. We pastors are suppose to tell you everything, even if deep down we don’t really want to. Jesus said to his disciples: I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. Jesus told his disciples everything, because he wanted to treat them as friends. And so, in the same way, I want to tell you everything that I believe as a Christian, because I don’t want to keep you in the dark, but I want to treat you as my friends.

So, first, I’d like to read something from the Qu’ran, which is the holy book of Muslims. In the section called “Women”, it says: Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other… Then it says, that if a wife is disobedient, then the husband should admonish them, forsake them in beds apart, and beat them.

Now, I’m not a Muslim, and I don’t believe this at all. In my ministry as a pastor, I have served many Christian people who came from countries that were ruled by Islam. And among some people from these countries, they consider it cultural to beat their wives. And sure, I don’t want to say that all Muslims beat their wives—I’m sure they don’t. But if a young Muslim man is having marriage difficulties, and doesn’t know what to do, he’ll go to the Qur’an and the passage that I read is what he will find.

Some Muslims water down the word “beat”, and say that really it means, “hit”, or “chastise”. One Muslim man on a plane once explained to me, that it just means a little tap on the wrist, just to show her who’s in charge! I asked an Arabic-speaking Christian about this, and he said, “No—the word is “beat”!” And just to be sure, I asked him about the passage in the Old Testament where Balaam strikes his donkey. We looked the word up in the Arabic bible, and it was the same word.

So what do the apostles in the New Testament teach about how husbands should treat their wives?

Well, Paul says in Ephesians 5: Husbands, loves your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

In Colossians, St Paul says: Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. And then Peter says in his first letter: Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honour to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. This last passage often brings feminists out in hives, when it says that women are the “weaker vessel” in a marriage. It simply points to the normal situation where men are just usually the physically stronger one, and they shouldn’t use their muscle power against their wife. But then it says that their wives are heirs with you of the grace of life. Men and women are equal before God. So in light of those three passages, how could a Christian husband abuse his wife? Christ doesn’t abuse us, his followers, and so in the same way, husbands should love their wives, and not be harsh with them.

The contentious aspect to this is that to wives, St Peter and Paul say that they should submit, or be submissive, to their husbands. Sometimes, these passages have been misused by abusers, as if to say, “I’m the man around here, and you have to submit to me, so shut up or else.” That is not the behaviour fitting to a Christian husband.

In dealing with people from Islamic countries, in encouraging men not to beat their wives, they often said, “But, pastor, if I don’t beat her, she won’t respect me, and she’ll laugh at me, and say, If you even touch me, I’ll go to the police.” Then I had to go to the women and say, “Listen, if he promises not to beat you anymore, you also need to be respectful, and nice, and friendly.” That’s what it means, “Wives, submit to your husbands.” In the beginning, God created us male and female in his image, and we’re equal in God’s sight. But men and women are different, and the Christian teaching on marriage here shows how Christian men and Christian women live together with their differences not in a relationship of force and violence, but in a relationship of mutual love and respect.

Now, we come to the topic that our church body has been discussing. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, St Paul says: I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and become a transgressor.

Now, at first, this passage sounds like Paul is saying, “Men are better because Adam was created first. And women are no good, because Eve ate the fruit, and women are more easily tempted.” That’s not true, and that’s not what St Paul teaches here.

Rather, if you go back to the book of Genesis, we read that the command not to eat the fruit from the tree was given to Adam, before Eve was created. This means that it was Adam’s job to pass this word of God on to the human race, but then first of all to Eve, his wife. The only reason why Eve knew not to take the fruit is because Adam told her. But then when Eve took the fruit and ate it, it says: She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Did you hear that? He was with her. So what was his sin in all this? Adam’s job was to pass the word of God firstly to his wife, and then when she was deceived, his sin was that he didn’t say anything, but he remained silent.

And so St Paul connects this order of things to the ministry, and he wants the pastoral ministry to reflect this original order that was in the garden of Eden. Just over the page, in 1 Timothy 3, Paul says that a pastor (or a bishop, or overseer), must be the husband of one wife, assuming then that he would be a man, and says that he must be able to teach. The word “teach” is here both times: A bishop must be able to teach, and yet he does not permit a woman to teach. Teaching here is referring to the public teaching ministry of the church.

Now this is not the only passage where Paul mentions this. In 1 Corinthians 14, he says: As in all the churches of the saints [he says, this applies to all churches] the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.

So, these two passages are quoted then in our church’s statement, which says: Though women prophets were used by the Spirit of God in the Old as well as in the New Testament, 1 Cor 14:34,35 and I Tim 2:11–14 prohibit a woman from being called into the office of the public ministry for the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. This apostolic rule is binding on all Christendom; hereby her rights as a member of the spiritual priesthood are in no wise impaired.

This last part is very important. It says: Her rights as a member of the spiritual priesthood are in no wise impaired. This means that both men and women are part of the priesthood of all believers. Women are therefore not second-class citizens in the church, but like men are created in God’s image. There have been many wonderful women in the church who have done wonderful things, and have been great evangelists in bringing many people to Christ. Jesus treated women with the utmost respect at a time when many people didn’t, and there are many wonderful women in the New Testament who also did wonderful things. Mary Magdalene and the women who went to the tomb were the first people to tell others that Jesus was risen from the dead. What St Paul prohibits is not speaking in general, or evangelising, or serving, or whatever, but the public ministry of preaching. Jesus himself was not a misogynist, but for some strange reason, even though he changed so many customs and challenged so many social conventions, his twelve apostles were all men. When they replaced Judas, even though Mary Magdalene was probably the most obvious candidate, Judas was replaced by a man, Matthias, about whom nothing more is said in the whole New Testament. St Paul teaches that this ministry is to reflect that relationship between Adam and Eve, but then more importantly the relationship between Jesus Christ and his church. Jesus is our wonderful bridegroom, and the whole church is his bride, and this picture then is reflected in the relationship between a pastor and the congregation.

There’s a lot more that I could say about this topic, but I’ll leave it there.

Now, why did I choose to preach on this today? Well, the question about women’s ordination is not a central or foundational doctrine of Christianity. There are much more important things, like the teaching about the Trinity, that Jesus is true man and true God, that we are justified by grace through faith, and all kinds of things. And yet, when John the Baptist was arrested, he was put in prison not because of his preaching of the Gospel, and telling people that Jesus was the Lamb of God, but because of a completely non-foundational, non-central teaching. He told the king that he couldn’t have his brother’s wife. That’s all, and yet we say that John died because he was a Christian preacher.

In a similar way, the question of women’s ordination is not central to Christianity, but it is still very important, like the rule that people shouldn’t pinch their brother’s wife, like Herod did. If an apostle came to our house, and told us this stuff, would we kick them out of our house, and then would they wipe their feet at our doors? I’m not saying this because I want to be manipulative, but I want to tell you how I came to think about this topic. I didn’t always think like this, but somewhere in my life I changed my mind. We need to make sure that we let the apostles be our teachers, and not the spirit of our age.

Jesus is our wonderful bridegroom, he is waiting for us to share with us the wonderful wedding banquet. He laid down his life for his bride, and he is our Good Shepherd, whose voice we delight to hear. Amen.

Dear Jesus, bless our church, the Lutheran Church of Australia, at this troubled time in its history. You have laid a great test upon us at this time, and we pray that you would lead us safely through it. We commend our hearts and minds to you, and strengthen your church in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost [Acts 2] (20-May-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am (lay-reading).

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

Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, breathe out upon us all your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Today we’re celebrating the Day of Pentecost. So what happened on this day? We read about these wonderful miracles that happened: first of all, we read about something that everyone could hear—the sound of a mighty rushing wind that filled the place where they were sitting. And we read that this sound came from heaven. Secondly, we read about something that that everyone could see—divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And then we read about something that everyone could both see and hear—They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now on this particular occasion, we also have described for us exactly what this speaking in other tongues means. It says: There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

Can you imagine this? Here are a group of people who happen to be there in Jerusalem, and they all come from different countries, and they all speak different languages, but when they listen to Jesus’ disciples, they can hear them speaking in their own languages. And we might think: What an amazing thing! Is this really what happened?

Just to make sure that you fully understand that, yes, this is exactly what happened, we are also given some of the conversations that people were having on that day. We read: And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,(these people were from the area that is now Iraq and Iran), Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia (except for Judea which is in modern-day Israel, all these places are in modern-day Turkey), Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, (we still have the countries of Egypt and Libya today in North Africa), and visitors from Rome, (all the way from Italy), Jews and proselytes (this means not just people who were born as Jews, but also people who were converting and preparing to become Jews), Cretans and Arabians (Cretans were from the Greek Island of Crete, and the Arabians were from the area anywhere on the Arabian peninsula, where today we find countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen)—you can see there are so many different people from all kinds of areas who in those days had travelled very long distances to be in Jerusalem. We read that they said: We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

So what’s actually going on? What’s the point of all of this? Well, before Jesus had ascended into heaven, he already promised that this would happen. In the beginning of the book of Acts, we read that Jesus while staying with them ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” And at the end of the Gospel of Luke we read: Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Can you see? Jesus promises to baptise them with the Holy Spirit, and to clothe them with power from on high. But why?

Because Jesus wants them to be witnesses, and to tell the nations that Jesus had died and risen from the dead, and they had seen these things with their own eyes. Jesus says: You are witnesses of these things. In Acts we read where Jesus says: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

And so, between this time, we read about only one thing happening, that the eleven apostles elected one more person to replace Judas, who had betrayed Jesus. And we read that they put forward two men, one called Joseph or Barsabbas, who also called Justus, and another man called Matthias. And read that the disciples cast lots, and prayed that God would choose one of them, and the lot fell on Matthias.

So now, on the day of Pentecost, we read that there is a full number twelve again. And then we read about these wonderful miracles that happen: the wind, the fire and the speaking in the different languages.

But why does all this happen? Firstly, God simply wanted to send the Holy Spirit to the new Christians, and to demonstrate this publicly. But also, because God wants to demonstrate that these apostles are the ones that are sent by Jesus, and now there is a new era of history, where all people everywhere are commanded to listen to these twelve apostles. And what do they have to say? They saw the risen Lord Jesus with their own eyes, and they have come to preach forgiveness of sins in the name of the risen Lord Jesus.

Now, so what does this mean for us today?

It means that these words that the apostles have to speak to us are powerful words, and that these words come with all the power of the Holy Spirit. We see on the day of Pentecost, that as soon as all of these wonderful miracles happen, the people ask questions about what is going on. And so Peter gets up and he preaches the first Christian sermon. And from there, Peter, James and John and all the other apostles were gradually sent out to preach in all kinds of different places. The part of the bible which we call the New Testament is actually the collected writings of the apostles that were also there on that day. Later in the history of the church, Christians understood very clearly that if they want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit they have to learn and study and listen and preach what the apostles themselves said about Jesus, because Jesus had sent them out with the living power of the Holy Spirit.

So what this means for us today is that whenever we preach and learn and study the words of these apostles we are hearing the living voice of the Holy Spirit, with all the power of God. Here we come together week after week here in our little church, in our little corner of the world. And we listen to the word of God, read out loud, and preached. And when we hear these words that the apostles testify about Jesus, then we know that these words are the living voice of the Holy Spirit and have all the power and might of the Holy Spirit.

You can see what happens today on the day of Pentecost all happens because of the word of God. And we might think, is it really about God’s word? Is that really it? Isn’t it about something more than that?

Well, let’s have a look what actually happens on the Day of Pentecost. First of all, Peter gets up and he preaches the gospel. He preaches the facts about Jesus life, who he was and what he did. And he shows to the people that this was already prophesied by the same Holy Spirit long ago in the prophets. So Peter quotes three passages, one from Joel. In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. And then he preaches from Psalm 16, teaching them that it was impossible for Jesus to remain still dead in the grave. And then he preaches from Psalm 110 that Jesus has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, and now he is pouring out the Holy Spirit, just as they can all see.

Can you see? Peter is preaching God’s word. It’s the first Christian sermon. Now today, we are not called to listen to any old sermon. We are called to listen to the preaching of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The twelve apostles were called in a special way, by God directly. But they weren’t called to do nothing—they were called to preach. They had a particular calling to speak God’s word and witness to Jesus. Also in the New Testament, we read about people who were called to preach, who weren’t called directly, but were called indirectly. They were trained to preach, and tested, and then hands were laid on them, and they were sent to preach somewhere. These people are called pastors. And so, even today, in the church, pastors are trained and tested, and then they are ordained and sent out. And this also is the work of the Holy Spirit. But we have to stick absolutely to the message that the apostles also taught. If we don’t stick to these words, we won’t be teaching the words of the Holy Spirit.

We pastors are only called to preach God’s word, because this is the only thing that pastors are called to preach. Do you see? God’s word and God’s call go together. And this is also what happens with the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Peter and the other apostles are called by God and this call is demonstrated by the wonderful power of the Holy Spirit, and they are called to preach and to speak what they have been given to speak. And they are called to preach the death and resurrection of Jesus from God’s word, and to call people to repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

And so, what happens then after Peter finishes his sermon? It says: Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Here we can see another work of the Holy Spirit, where he cuts to the heart. The Holy Spirit comes to these people and shows them their sin and awakens them to their need for Jesus.

And then Peter says: Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

Isn’t this amazing? Here we have these miracles about the Day of Pentecost at the beginning of the chapter, but then, how does Peter say that they should receive the Holy Spirit? He says they should repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins.

And this shows us something that is highly offensive to our culture today. We can’t believe that the Holy Spirit would make such a fuss just so that a whole group of people should be baptised. Yes, yes, people say, we know we’re baptised. We know Jesus died for us. We know he rose from the dead. But we want something more… His word is not enough, people say.

And yet, it was enough for Peter. He simply got up and preached the word of God, showed the people their sin, and told them to come and be baptised. Even today in the church, we still preach God’s word, we still preach Christ crucified, we still preach the resurrection of Jesus, we still preach about sin and our need for Jesus, we still preach the forgiveness of sins, we still baptise people. And all this happens in the church today because it was done just like this on the Day of Pentecost, and when we continue these things today, we know that this comes with all the power of the Holy Spirit just like it did on the first Day of Pentecost, when the room was filled with wind and tongues of fire.

Later, we read: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Here we see the beginning of Christian worship—listening to the teaching of the apostles, and dedicating themselves to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. We still dedicate ourselves to these things in the church, because this is what happened on and after the Day of Pentecost. I would like us to think how we can dedicate ourselves to true Christian fellowship though – and I don’t mean just holding social events and such like, but how can we build each other up in Christian love and unity, in the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Notice there that there is also the prayers. The disciple dedicated themselves to prayers. And also the breaking of the bread. This is the Lord’s Supper. And the Lord’s Supper is that wonderful place where we come to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ. And as we come to the Lord’s Supper, it’s almost like a bicycle wheel—as the spokes come to the middle, they all come closer to each other. Also, as we come to learn more about the Lord’s Supper, and we draw near to receive these wonderful gifts, we draw closer to each other. This is true Christian fellowship at work, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Now, the world still needs these things. We still need to hear God’s word, and forgiveness of sins that comes from Jesus and his death and resurrection. We still need baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is what we read took place on the Day on Pentecost. And when we still hear God’s word, and we still hear the preaching of the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus, and we still come and receive Holy Baptism and we still come and receive the Lord’s Supper, we know that all these things come to us with all the power and might of the Holy Spirit.

But do you need them? If not, why not? Jesus says that you do. And if you reject these things you reject the only way in which Jesus is going to speak to you. Our problem so often is that we look for the Holy Spirit in the wrong places. We look for him in our emotional highs, we look for him in a crowd of sweaty human bodies as if the church is nothing more than attending a Christian football match, we look for him in our plans and visions for the future rather than words of Jesus, we look for him in personalities and cult figures, we look for him in glitz and glamour and novelty, when all the way along the Holy Spirit was always to be found in the word and in the sacraments, in baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

God is doing something in our world—we must simply recognise this. Just see what has been happening within Islam during the previous few years. On one hand, many Muslims are becoming militant and engaging in terrorist acts. On the other hand, many others are becoming increasingly embarrassed at the religion they held for generations and are beginning to question it. Now, it’s not just Muslims, but all kinds of people—even here in our local area—of rethinking things, and asking what they should do with their lives. And yet, we Christians in Australia will be no use to them or to anyone as long as we think that God’s word and the preaching of God’s word is boring. We will be no use to anyone if we teach our children that God’s word is boring and increase in them a hatred for listening, a hatred for forgiveness, and increase in them a love for whatever the latest fad happens to be. As long as we think baptism and the Lord’s Supper are useless, we are no use. As long as we think prayer is a waste of time, we are of no use. We so often want to fly off and chase whatever new fad comes along, chasing false miracles and false prophets, quick fixes and emotional rushes.

And yet, all the way along, the Holy Spirit has been quietly working through the preaching of God’s word, and in the wonderful miracle of Holy Baptism, and in the wonderful miracle of the Lord’s Supper. Don’t you know how wonderful these things are? Learn these things. Learn God’s word. Learn what it means to be a baptised child of God. Learn what it means to enter into the presence of Jesus and to eat his body and his blood. Come and drink deeply from the wells of the Holy Spirit.

And this word of God does two things: Peter preaches to the people: repent. He says: Save yourselves from this crooked generation. He cuts the people to the heart. But once he has cut them to the heart, then there is a word of healing, of peace, of forgiveness for them. Peter also preaches that Jesus has died and risen again, and has won the completely and totally free forgiveness of every single one of their sins. And that message doesn’t just apply to those people all the way back then, but that same forgiveness is for you even today. And with that forgiveness comes the joy of entering into God’s presence, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of eternal life.

Let’s rejoice in the wonderful gifts that the Holy Spirit so generously pours out on us today—the gifts of his word, the gift of Jesus here in our midst today, the gift of the free forgiveness of all our sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit himself poured out on us and our children in Holy Baptism, and the gift of the body and blood of Christ given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. Come Holy Spirit! Amen.

Lord Jesus, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us today as you have promised, and that you would equip us with everything that we need to be useful in service to you. Forgive us for our many failings, and encourage us. Teach us to hear your word, and strengthen us in the calling of our baptism. Lead us and guide us, dear Jesus, wherever and however you will. Amen.

Ascension [Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:9-11]

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am (lay-reading), and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 9am.

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

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9)

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

Today we’re celebrating one of the most significant festivals of the church year, which is Ascension. Today we commemorate that event which is summarised in the Apostles’ Creed: He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. In the New Testament, Matthew and John don’t mention the Ascension. But Mark tells us about it at the end of his gospel, Luke tells us about it at the end of his, and also Luke writes about it again at the beginning of the Book of Acts. Today, we’re going to focus on the event of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and we’re going to look at all three of these passages, from Mark, Luke and Acts.

 First, let’s look at Luke 24, where it says that Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. This gives us a wonderful picture. Here Jesus has come to the end of this period of forty days after he rose from the dead, and now he is about the ascend into heaven. And just before he does so, he raises his hands into the air, and he blesses them. We are so used to this gesture, since in the church, a pastor will do the same thing, and lift up his hands and bless the congregation. In fact, this is the place where our custom of doing this comes from. Many people have said to me over the years that the blessing at the end of the service is one of their favourite parts of the service.

But one of the most important things about the blessing is that we’re not simply copying Jesus, but we do this because we believe that it’s not just a pastor who gives us a blessing at the end of our service, but Jesus himself. In fact, there’s a sense in which the whole service is here for one purpose: to receive the blessing of Jesus. There’s a kind of sense here too in which Jesus raises his hands to bless his disciples, and as he ascends into heaven he doesn’t put his hands down, but continues to bless them and all of his disciples right up to the very end of the world, when he will bless us forever and ever.

So now we read about the actual ascension itself. Mark writes: So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Luke says: While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And in Acts we read: When they had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. We see so many similar but different ways of saying the same thing: he was taken up, carried up, lifted up.

In being taken up, carried up, lifted up, Jesus reveals to the disciples the great power of his natural human body. You see, Jesus is not just any human being, like you and me. He is both true man and true God, and he can allow his human body to do whatever he wants it to do, and to be and to go wherever he wants it to go and to be. With you and I, we might imagine travelling overseas or to a faraway place, but our desires alone won’t be able to take us there. But with Jesus, it is different. His human body is transformed and glorified and transfigured by his divinity, by the fact that he is true God. And so, if he wants his body to ascend, then it can.

Many people think for example that the Ascension of Jesus, and the presence of his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper are two mutually exclusive things. People think that he can’t be here in the church on the altar in the Lord’s Supper, because he is in heaven at God’s right hand. But God himself is everywhere, and his right hand is everywhere. And if Jesus says that this is his body and blood, he has the power and the ability to make it happen just as he says, and to be in the place where he has promised to be. Just as when Jesus was on the mountain and was transfigured and his body shone with divine light, so also in the Ascension Jesus’ body is alive and active with all the fulness of divine power.

Now Luke also says: [Jesus] parted from them. And in Acts, Luke writes: a cloud took him out of their sight. It is such a wonderful mystery that occurs when Jesus ascends into heaven, that there comes a point when we can’t imagine it anymore, and the disciples can’t watch it anymore. The whole event is too great, too mysterious, too high and lofty, that Jesus is hidden in a cloud. You see, on one hand, Jesus is removed from them. But on the other hand, Jesus does not leave them. Beforehand, the twelve apostles had all had to continuously gather altogether wherever Jesus was. But soon, Jesus is going to send these twelve apostles out to all the nations to speak the good news. And so Jesus ascends into heaven, not so that everyone will need to travel and come to meet him in Israel, but so that he can go out with the twelve apostles and his missionary church, and lead them and be with them wherever he sends them.

So we read in Mark a very special detail about this whole event. It says: So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he didn’t simply go to heaven, just as we look forward to going to heaven. For example, Jesus promised to the thief on the cross: Today, you will be with me in Paradise. St Paul says: My desire is to depart and be with Christ. The old man Simeon says: Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace. All these people have a great desire to go to heaven. But what happens to Jesus is different; the thief, Paul and Simeon never sat down at the right hand of God.

In the book of Ezekiel, we read about Ezekiel’s vision where he saw the angels, the cherubim, these wonderful living heavenly creatures. But then above these living creatures is an expanse, with the throne of God on top of the expanse. This expanse is a kind of dividing line in heaven between the realm of the angels and God’s own throne. In Ezekiel’s vision, God sits above the expanse and the angels are below the expanse. When Jesus ascends into heaven, he doesn’t go there to be equal to the angels or the saints. He doesn’t enter heaven and dwell below the expanse together with all the angels. He enters heaven and sits above the expanse, at the right hand of God, ruling heaven and earth, not as God’s servant, but as God’s equal. Jesus is both true man and true God.

In Philippians chapter 2, we read a well-known passage which mentions the Ascension: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Here we see the great humiliation that Jesus went through in dying on the cross. But in the Ascension, we see this wonderful way in which God has highly exalted Jesus.

And so now, we’re going to look at these three passages, from Mark, Luke and Acts, and see what happens now. Mark, Luke and Acts tell us about three different things that happened after Jesus ascended into heaven. Mark, Luke and Acts don’t tell us about the same thing that happens after Jesus ascended. Instead, the three different books tell us about three completely different things that happened, and yet none of these three things contradict. Acts tells us what happened immediately after Jesus ascended into heaven—within seconds of the event. The Gospel of Luke tells us what the apostles were then doing after Jesus ascended over the next few days. But then in Mark, we read about what the apostles were doing for the rest of their lives.

So let’s first of all look at the Book of Acts. We read: And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Here we see two men in white clothes, two angels, come and speak to the apostles. The angels appear at all the major events in Jesus’ life: at his conception, his birth, his temptation in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and at Easter.

So they say to the apostles here: Why do you stand looking into heaven? Now is the beginning of the end times, when the Holy Spirit will be poured out, and there will be a holy Christian church on earth. Jesus has ascended into heaven, and now we will wait for him to return. This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Just as Jesus ascended into heaven in a cloud, so also he will return at the end of the world on a cloud. Even when Jesus was on trial, he said to the high priest, You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. So here were learn that the Ascension teaches us to eagerly and joyfully wait for that time when Jesus will appear and bring this sad world to an end.

But now, let’s look at what is recorded in Luke, which tells us what the apostles were doing in the days that followed. It says: And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. In this passage, we read about the great joy of the apostles, and about worship. When Jesus ascends into heaven, there is not a single drop of sadness. This is because Jesus doesn’t actually leave his disciples. The Ascension doesn’t mean that Jesus is now stuck up in heaven and is no longer here. Jesus says: Behold, I am with you always to the very end of the age. Jesus isn’t with them like a ghost, or simply spiritually. Jesus is physically with them, because he is both true God and true man, and he is actively working with them and leading them.

But then we also read that the disciples worshipped him, that they returned to Jerusalem, and were continually in the temple blessing God. Because Jesus is now seated at God’s right hand, it means that when they worship God, they worship Jesus. Wherever God is, Jesus is there too. Where God hears their prayers, Jesus also hears their prayers. And so when we come to church, we come here to worship Jesus, and we come to meet together in the presence of Jesus. When we hear the words of the Scripture, Jesus comes to speak these words himself. And Jesus gives us his own body and blood to eat in the Lord’s Supper. All this is possible because of the ascension, and so the apostles worship Jesus with great joy.

But the third thing we read about after the Ascension, is from Mark, where he tells us about what the apostles were basically doing for the rest of their lives. It says: And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. Jesus did not command the apostles to preach, and then abandon them. Jesus is not like a CEO of a large company, who sets his employees to work, and then leaves them to it. Jesus sends his apostles to preach, and then Jesus works with them. He promises them: He who hears you hears me. He who receives you receives me. He says: As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you. And so, on the day of Pentecost, the disciples dedicate themselves to the apostles’ teaching.

And so even today in the church, we confess in the creed that we believe in one holy Christian and apostolic church. The word “apostolic” means that we stick to the teaching of the apostles, because where we have the teaching of the apostles, there we have the teaching of Jesus. Jesus himself never wrote anything, but he commanded the apostles to bring the message of the Gospel to the world. And so even today, we Christians dedicate ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, just like the first Christians. And where we have the apostles’ teaching, then we know, from our reading that the Lord will work with them and confirm the message by accompanying signs. Amazing things will happen when we remain to this heritage, this legacy, this doctrine, this Gospel, that the apostles have given to the church.

Today in the church, we have the wonderful gift of the word of God, and the Sacraments. And Jesus promises to speak to us personally himself when we read and preach his word. When pastors speak the absolution, this is not the pastor’s word of forgiveness, but Jesus’ word of forgiveness. When we baptise people, Jesus himself comes into our midst and baptises them. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus feeds us with his very own body and blood. Jesus is ascended into heaven and he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Many people think that the Jesus abandoned the church, or that he is isn’t working, or that he isn’t here. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus’ ascension means the exact opposite of these things: he hasn’t abandoned us, but is right here every day with us. He is here, and he is living and active. He is our risen and ascended Lord, and he is the Lord who works with us and confirms his apostolic word by accompanying signs.

So we see in Acts the wonderful promise of Jesus return as the king of heaven on the clouds of heaven. In the Gospel of Luke, we see the great joy that Jesus gives to his church through his presence, so that they worship him, and continually bless and praise him in the temple. And in the Gospel of Mark, we see the wonderful way in which Jesus works with the apostles and confirms and strengthens their preaching. Even today, as we live in a world that seems to be getting worse, the message of Jesus’ return at the end of the world fills us with hope. The fact that Jesus is present in his church to bless us fills us with great joy. And the fact that Jesus works and strengthens the preaching of the word strengthens and encourages our faith. So let’s thank Jesus for the amazing and wonderful way in which he has ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for the wonderful miracle of your ascension. Strengthen us while we walk here on this earth, until that time when you will take us to yourself, and transform our lowly bodies to be like your glorious body. Amen.

Easter VI B [John 15:9-17] (6-May-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

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

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

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

Today our Gospel reading comes from John chapter 15, and this particular chapter is part of a sermon that Jesus gives to his disciples on Maundy Thursday evening, on the night when Jesus was betrayed. Maundy Thursday is a very special day in the church calendar, and it is the day before Jesus died, which is Good Friday. So Jesus had had the Lord’s Supper with his disciples, he had washed his disciples feet, and then in chapters 14, 15 and 16 of John, we read where Jesus gives a powerful sermon, a farewell speech, before he goes out to the Garden of Gethsemane. Also he gives this sermon to his disciples after Judas had left the room to go to the high priests to organise Jesus’ arrest later that night. This message was not for Judas, but for the other eleven disciples.

So at the beginning of chapter 13 of John we read about where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, and he prophesies and predicts that Judas is going to betray him, and Judas leaves. We also read where Jesus says: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. This is a very well-known verse. Jesus also foretells that Peter will deny him three times. And then in chapters 14, 15 and 16 we read this sermon of Jesus, where he says: In my Father’s house are many rooms… I am the way, the truth and the life…Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you… There are so many memorable verses in this sermon. Also in chapter 17, Jesus prays a wonderful prayer, often called the “High Priestly Prayer.”

Our reading from today comes from chapter 15, in the middle of this Maundy Thursday sermon. Jesus says: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. We see God the Father here cutting off and removing the dead wood on the vine, but also he prunes the good branches so that they bear more fruit. But also we see that Jesus is the vine. All the members of Christ’s church, his family, his bride, are so intimately connected to him that the same juices that flow through him flow through his disciples. And sometimes as Christians we suffer tremendously, and we ask God why this is happening. But God is not cutting us off, but pruning us.

Jesus says: Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 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 do nothing. Here Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the way that he will be with them, and dwell with them and in them, and will be so intimately connected with them in everything that they do. It is not just Jesus’ teaching or his doctrine or his power that is with them, but himself! He says: Apart from me you can do nothing. Jesus will be with them all the way.

Then Jesus says: If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Everything that turns away from this vine is thrown away. Everything comes from remaining in Christ and his word. Jesus says: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you. Jesus and his words go together. When we have Christ and his word, then our prayers are wonderfully answered. Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. But none of this is for our glory, but for the Father’s glory. Jesus says: By this my Father is glorified.

Now we come to our reading for today, which says: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. Jesus speaks here about Christian love. This wonderful love reaches from the Father to the Son, and from the Son to us. And Jesus says: Abide in my love. Jesus has been talking about how we are connected to him like branches on a vine. Love is a fruit of faith. St Paul even calls love a fruit of the Spirit, in fact, he lists it as the first of many fruits. So when we saved by faith, and this faith then looks to Christ and our neighbours, faith produces the fruit of love, friendship, and fellowship.

Now if love is produced from faith, it’s also very important that faith is right. When we speak about faith, we don’t put our trust in ourselves or in the things in our sinful human hearts; we put our trust in the pure, clear word of God. Faith clings to the word, just as Jesus says: If you abide in me and my words abide in you… So when we turn our backs on the truth of God’s word, love also dries up, and we end up with tremendous fighting in the church. St Paul wrote a wonderful chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13, where it says: Love is patient and kind, and all that kind of thing. We often read this passage at weddings. But in the middle of that chapter it says: Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Also, there’s another wonderful passage about love in 1 John 4, where it says: God is love. Perfect love casts our fear. But at the beginning of the chapter it says: Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Do you see how John here talks about truth and then he goes on to talk about love? Also St Paul says in Ephesians, not simply to speak with love, but to speak the truth in love. I mention these things because today often when we talk about love, people often say that speaking the truth even when people don’t want to hear it is loveless. No—it’s not loveless at all! As Christians we should strive to believe the same thing, live the same way, and help each other in doing this—all on the basis of God’s word. We see all throughout the New Testament about how the apostles stood very firmly together, in unity and peace, being of one mind and one heart, speaking the truth with the very voice of the Holy Spirit. It is the same oneness and unity of mind and heart around the word of Christ that we should also strive together for, which draws us together in love.

And so we read in our reading how Jesus says: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. By faith we are grafted on and united to Christ, like branches on a vine. And branches bear fruit. Each day we learn what it means to love. Jesus tells us to keep his commandments, and to do good works, not because the good works save us, but because this is simply what branches on a vine do. A wheel doesn’t spin so that it can become round. The fact that it is round is the reason why it spins. So we don’t love in order to be grafted into the vine, but because we are grafted in, we then start to bear the fruit of love.

Jesus then says: These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Jesus is the bringer of joy. Now many people in the world seem happy enough, and don’t look to Jesus at all for joy. Sometimes these people are even happier than most Christians. But it is short-lived. Something happens in their life that they don’t expect, and everything is wrecked, and they don’t understand why. Jesus was sometimes very sorrowful and sad, especially when he went to the cross. But he had sadness first and joy later. So like Jesus, we have sadness and suffering first, and then eternal joy which Jesus promises us comes afterwards. Jesus shares with his people not just any joy, but his own joy: that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

So Jesus says: This is my commandment, that you love another as I have loved you. Jesus has loved us, by dying on the cross, and saving us completely freely, without any contribution from us. And we see here that Jesus commandment to love one another comes from the wonderful way in which he has loved us. He loves us even though we don’t deserve it and we have really treated him terribly, and so also even when we hurt each other and treat each other badly, Jesus calls us to love one another, to model and picture that love which he has shown us. Sometimes this love is very difficult for us, but it is this kind of love that Jesus shows to us all the time, and which is continually pumped into us because we are his branches connected to him, the vine.

Now, Jesus goes on to show exactly what this kind of love looks like. He says: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus’ love is not just a sentimental, emotional, soppy love, like from a love story on some kind of soap opera. Jesus is not a man of feelings and sentiments and warm fuzzies, but he is a man of action. He speaks the truth, and then he acts upon it. And what is this wonderful act of love that he has done for us? He laid down his life for us. Jesus says: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Here he says: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus sees what needs to be done for us, and he does it.

But Jesus doesn’t die for his friends, for people who already love him. St Paul says: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When Jesus dies, then he makes us his friends, even though we were his enemies. So he says: You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. In ancient times, a friend of a king was like a member of his cabinet, or inner circle. A servant is just told to do something without thinking. But Jesus tells his apostles everything, and the apostles then preached and wrote it out for our benefit.

Jesus’ friends are the people to whom he has told everything. All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. When the apostle Paul was preaching once, he said: I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Jesus didn’t shrink from telling everything to the apostles, and Paul and the other apostles didn’t shrink from passing everything on from Jesus. Even in the church, we continually pass everything on. Jesus says: teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. In the church, we pass on everything—the law and the gospel—the things we should do and not do, and the things we should believe. We are Jesus’ friends, and we learn his teaching and his doctrine, we grow in love, and we tell it to others. And this is how Christian friendship grows: we talk about everything there is to know in the Scriptures, just as Jesus told his disciples everything from God the Father’s own heart and mouth.

Jesus says: You are my friends if you do what I command you. We often hear this as meaning that we are only Jesus’ friends when we do good works. If our good works are not perfect as Jesus commands us, then we are not his friends. But Jesus has also commanded us to pray: Forgive us our sins. We also do his commandments not when we simply follow his laws, but also when in all of our failures we continually bring our sins to him and receive his forgiveness. Jesus also commands us to believe the good news, and we are his friends when in all our sinfulness, we believe these pure words of forgiveness which he speaks to us.

And so 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 to you. When we think about making friends, we often think about choosing friends. Some Christians often think that they became a Christian by choosing to follow Jesus. There’s even an old song: “I have decided to follow Jesus”! But it is not us who have chosen to follow Jesus, it is Jesus who chose us to follow him. Even with the apostles, we read about how Jesus went to them and said: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men! He chose them, and so also through his word and holy baptism, Jesus also chose you to be his disciple and to follow him.

As Jesus’ friends, we learn and talk about all his words in the Scripture—he has hidden no secrets from us. Jesus chose and appointed these disciples, and he has chosen and appointed you, not to accomplish nothing, but to bear fruit, and fruit that will last, that will remain, that will abide. As soon as you and I are taken out of the picture, the living words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit will continue. The Holy Spirit will continue to work long after we have died. We human beings won’t last, but the fruit that has been produced from Jesus the vine will continue to abide until the very last days of this world.

Jesus says: So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. As we learn Christ’s word and grow in Christian love, we also grow in prayer. Prayer is also a fruit of faith—when we in faith see our own need and look to God, then our faith produces the fruit of prayer. Jesus says: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you. We might look at many prayers we have asked, and they seem to be unanswered, even some of those prayers that we have asked from such a state of desperation and helplessness and despair. God was our only help, and even then he didn’t seem to help.

But Jesus and the Father know what we need so much better than we do. Little children ask their parents for such ridiculous things like trains and aeroplanes and pet ponies. We are such little children when it comes to prayer. We stumble and stammer, and God knows what we need. And he will give us whatever we need to serve him in his kingdom. His ways are often above our ways, and we don’t understand why he gives someone something and doesn’t give someone something else. But we simply ask in Jesus’ name, and if it glorifies that holy name of Jesus, God will give it to us. He gives us so much that we so often don’t notice or even thank him for. The most wonderful thing he gives us is the precious gift of making us friends of his own son, and grafting us onto this vine, so that we may produce wonderful rich fruit.

And so let’s thank Jesus for this wonderful message that he gives us today. Let’s thank him for the wonderful words of forgiveness that he continually speaks to us, because of his death on the cross. We thank you for the way in which he comes and dwells with us and in us, and connects us so intimately to himself like branches on a vine. And we pray in his name that we may continually learn his word, learn his perfect sacrificial love, and ask him to use us in his kingdom in whatever way he sees fit. Jesus says: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Amen.

Dear Jesus, our true vine, use us, your branches, to bear fruit, and fruit that will abide. Let your Father be glorified in us, so that we may bear much fruit not to our glory, but to his glory. Into your hands, dear Jesus, we commend our bodies, our souls, our minds and our spirits. Amen.