Epiphany V Year B: Audio Sermon (8-Feb-2015)

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Epiphany V Year B [Mark 1:29-39] (8-Feb-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

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

I’d like to read to you the Holy Spirit’s words from the book of Mark, where it says:

[Jesus] went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

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

The church is not a silent place. It is always a place where we speak God’s word. A silent church is a useless church. But also in the church we don’t simply say anything. Pastors, for example, are not called to say to you simply just anything. We are only called to speak one thing and one thing only, and that is God’s word.

A church without God’s word is like a car with no petrol. It’s like a house with no people who live in it. The word of God is the church’s living power—a church could have 20 people in it, 200 people in it, 2000 people in it. A church could come together in a straw hut, a tin shed, a comfortable church, or a grand, massive cathedral—without God’s word, those places are just empty buildings, no matter how many people have come to gather. But where there is God’s word, then there is life, there is power, there is love, there is mission, there is faith, there is hope, there is God creating light out of darkness.

But let’s also take baptism—baptism is not performed in silence. When we baptise a person, if we only splashed water over them, but said nothing, it would not be a baptism. Could you imagine if we came for a baptism, but without saying anything? We’d all look at each other and say, “What was that?” And the other person would say, “I don’t know. Ask that person over there. They might know.”  But when we baptise, we say: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is God’s word, and when it is spoken, and it enters our ears, it creates faith. If we said nothing, we wouldn’t know anything about baptism, and we would have no idea about anything to do with it. But with God’s word, then all of a sudden we can know something about it, and believe in it, and trust in it.

But let’s take the Lord’s Supper too—the Lord’s Supper is also not performed in silence. Without God’s word, we would have no idea about anything to do with the Lord’s Supper. When we use God’s word, then we know about it—then we know that this is no ordinary bread and wine, but that this is the body and blood of Christ. And the only way we could possibly know this is that Jesus himself says: Take, eat, this is my body, given for you. Drink of it, all of you, this is my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Without God’s word, all we are is a bunch of ordinary people who come together on a Sunday morning to do a whole lot of not much. But with God’s word, we are transformed into God’s living church on earth, a holy people, and as St Peter says, a royal priesthood, the temple of the living God.

Now in our reading today, there are various things that happen: we read about Jesus going to the house of Peter’s mother-in-law and making her well from a fever, and then how Jesus makes people well and casts out demons. We also read about how Jesus spends time in prayer to prepare himself for the next phase of his ministry. But the key to everything here is in the verse: And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Can you see? Jesus goes and preaches. And when he preaches, his words have living power, so that even demons are cast out, and even diseases are healed. From face value, we might think that Jesus simply going around and preaching in this place and that place, is not the most interesting things in his life. But it is incredibly important, because this is where the power of his ministry comes from, from preaching, from teaching, from explaining, from correcting, from encouraging, from comforting.

There’s a place in the book of Acts, where St Paul is preaching at a certain house, and goes long into the night explaining to people God’s word. There so happens that there is a man there who is listening to Paul preaching, and he is sitting in the window, and he falls asleep, and falls out of the window down three stories and dies. What then happens is that Paul goes and gets him, and raises him up from the dead. I once heard a pastor say that this is a pastor’s job: first of all, you teach people, you preach to people, and you teach, teach, teach, right until they’ve all dropped dead—then you raise them up from the dead, and you preach to them again!

So let’s read about Jesus does in our reading today.

It says: And immediately [Jesus] left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve him.

Here we read that Jesus left the synagogue. He has been teaching people. And people were amazed at Jesus, because while he was teaching, a man with unclean spirit stands up and speaks to him. Jesus then silences him, and commands the demon to come out of him. And we read: They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

Do you see? Jesus teaches with authority—this is the power and authority of his word. And so when speak the words of Jesus, it also comes with all of Jesus’ authority, and with all his power.

So immediately after this, we read that he heals Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus teaching comes with this wonderful power to perform miracles. And it’s not just any miracle that he performs—it’s not as if he gives Peter’s mother-in-law a fever. That would also be a miracle. But he heals Peter’s mother-in-law from the fever. He performs a miracle of comfort, and of joy. And we read that after that: The fever left her, and she began to serve them. Her health is restored, and now she welcomes Jesus and his disciples to her house. She show her hospitality to them, makes them some food, and looks after them. How do we welcome Jesus today? What wonderful gift has he given to us today, or all throughout our life? How will you welcome him, and serve him with a thankful heart?

We keep on reading in our reading: That evening at sundown they brought him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Now, here we come across a topic that probably makes us somewhat uneasy in our culture. It says that there were people oppressed by demons. And it also says that Jesus cast out many demons.

Now what’s going on? What’s he talking about? Well, here in our reading, it mentions how Jesus casts out demons and also heals diseases. But when Jesus meets all kinds of different people, he has the right medicine at hand that is needed for the right situation. In many places, he also forgives people’s sins. And this is where this authority comes from—the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus forgives our sins, then there are all kinds of gifts that come with this—in our reading today is mentioned physical healing, and also the casting out of demons.

Now—I’d like to say something first about demons. A demon in a fallen angel. Christians believe that God has not just created people and animals and the world, and all the things that we can see, but that there is also another realm, an invisible realm, and that God has created and appointed all kinds of different angels for his service.

However, like human beings, these angels serve God, out of freedom, out of love. God does not create the angels to worship him by force, but in freedom and in love towards him. But of course, where there is there kind of freedom—there is also the potential to fall away from God, as we know happens all too well with many people. The same has also happened among angels—the devil is a fallen angel, an angel who used his freedom for evil. And we also read in the bible how the devil has all kinds of evil spirits in his power, who are called unclean spirits, and demons.

I think it is fair to say that today in the church today there are two kinds of Christians emerging—those that believe in the existence of the devil, and those who don’t. And if people don’t believe that the devil exists, this is a very dangerous thing, because then they have fallen for the ultimate trick of the devil. Of course, the devil doesn’t want you to know that he exists—it’s much easier for him to work like that, in an undercover operation.

But what that also means in that many Christians don’t believe that they have an enemy. Or when they get to some point in their lives that they seem to need an enemy, they fight against each other. No—we have a real enemy. As St Paul says: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic power over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So what then often happens when people deny the existence of the devil and of evil spirits and demons is to say: Well, we’re enlightened people! We don’t believe in that stuff anymore! We’re not living in the dark ages! We’re modern, scientific people! But when we say these kinds of things—we are far from enlightened, we are far from wise, we are far from prepared for the Christian life, and we have forgotten how to fight, and we have forgotten how to win.

The victory comes through Jesus and it comes from his word. As it says in our read: Jesus would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. The demons recognise this word, and they flee.

Even in our reading, we read: And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

Can you see how seriously Jesus takes his task of preaching? He prepares himself in prayer, in solitude. What for? In order to go back and speak. In order to go back and preach.

But one more thing about demons. We need to take sin seriously. We human beings, although we are created by God as his wonderful, precious creations, the devil has corrupted us, through and through, so that all our thoughts, words and actions are tainted and corrupted by sin. This is what demons cling to. Some people in the church, just deal with sin by shrugging it off as it’s nothing, as it’s something minor. So when someone sins, they just say: “It doesn’t matter—it’s nothing really.” These are people who don’t believe that they are sinners. But then there are others who also don’t believe that they are sinners, so that when they sin, they think that the person needs to have an immediate exorcism. What people need is the forgiveness of sins, and with the forgiveness of sins comes life and salvation, with the forgiveness of sins comes cleansing from evil and healing. Jesus’ words are a powerful medicine to heal all our problems in all their seriousness, and to plummet the depths of our sin. No matter how deep we may think our problems are, or our sin is, Jesus’ forgiveness stretches far deeper.

So what does that all mean for us? What it means is that when Jesus speaks, it comes with power. When we come here and hear the message of the forgiveness of sins, demons are cast out, evil spirits are driven away. And this word that we speak is a down-payment and preparation for that time when we meet Jesus face to face, with the complete and total healing of our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our souls.

These three things go together: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

This happens in baptism: When we baptise a person, they are given the complete and total free forgiveness of all their sins, evil spirits are cast out, and this baptism then is the down-payment for the complete healing of their bodies in the next life. This is what God’s word says about baptism—that it saves us. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved. Without faith in it, baptism is no use to us, and its power is not received by us. That’s why we use God’s word at baptism, so that you can trust in it.

In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther says that baptism works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil (that’s like the casting out of demons), and gives eternal salvation (complete healing of body and soul in eternal life) to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

But also, in the Lord’s Supper, we receive the body and blood of Christ, under the bread and wine. But what for? Why should we come? Because Jesus says that his body is given for us, and his blood is shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.

Martin Luther also writes in the Small Catechism: These words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”, show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

Life—that what Jesus shows in our reading by healing Peter’s mother-in-law. He restores her to life. And he also restores us to life, not always now, when we want it, but certainly in eternal life, when we will completely healed in body and soul. That’s why the Christians have always asked for the Lord’s Supper in times of sickness.

And salvation—that is what Jesus gave in our reading when he cast out demons. He saved people from the power of the devil.

You see—this is what we come and receive in the church week after week: Preaching and miracles. Word and Sacrament. We always have the preaching of God’s word, and we also have the miracles: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

And demons are cast out, sickness is healed, and forgiveness of sins is applied. What wonderful blessings we continually enjoy here in the church, in the presence of Jesus! And so that you can believe in Jesus working in these things, and trust in them, and be comforted and strengthened by them, nothing is ever, ever done in silence.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, bless us this morning, and enter into our midst, and cast out all evil at work in us. Forgive our sins, heal us from our diseases and weaknesses, until we look forward to that time when we will see you face-to-face and receive from you the complete and total healing of our bodies and souls, in the resurrection of the dead. Amen.

Harvest Thanksgiving: Audio Sermon (1-Feb-2015)

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Harvest Thanksgiving [Matthew 6:25-33] (1-Feb-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

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

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

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

Today in our church, we are having a special focus on thanksgiving. And thanksgiving, giving thanks to God, is right at the heart of our faith. For example, here are so many times in the bible where it says: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever.

There’s a particularly favourite passage of mine about this topic, about thanksgiving, that comes from Romans 1. The book of Romans is a wonderful book, written by St Paul, where he gives a very detailed explanation of so many of the central parts of the Christian faith. It’s a book that is well-loved by many Christians. In Romans chapter 1, St Paul describes the world of unbelief, and of unbelievers. He says: Although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

He says that although people may have known that there was a good, even though people may be able to look at the world and all the wonderful plants and animals and the way so many things in the world and in nature are structured and ordered in a wonderful way, what was the problem? It says: they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him. Can you see how giving thanks is so important here, and how St Paul makes such a big deal out of it?

But then what’s the alternative to thanksgiving? It says: They did not honour him or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Instead of thanksgiving, they end up with futile thinking, foolish hearts which are darknened. Futility, foolishness, darkness. It’s almost like there’s this cancer that sets in, or a mold, or a rust that enters into our hearts. But with thanksgiving, the cancer, the mold and the rust is washed away. Giving thanks to God is like an antidote, like a medicine that drives the darkness away. I remember meeting someone once who said that when she couldn’t sleep, she would just go through her mind of all the things she could give thanks to God for.

But there’s one more thing that’s really wonderful about this first chapter of Romans. In verse 21, we read the verse I just read: For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. But if we back track a few verses, right back to verse 8, which is just after Paul has written his greetings and introduced himself at the beginning of the letter, this is what we read: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. Did you notice what he says? First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. St Paul is about to write this wonderful letter to the Romans, and he has so much to teach them, and the Romans have so much to learn. But he doesn’t begin by saying: You lousy Romans, you’re all so stupid, and none of you know anything about anything. He says: First, I thank my God. So even though later in the chapter, he makes that wonderful statement about thanksgiving as being a kind of antidote to the diseases of foolishness, darkness, and futility, here at the beginning of the chapter, he actually models thanksgiving to us. This is so incredibly helpful for us, in our fast-paced lives—what do you have to give to God for?

Actually, Martin Luther, has some wonderful things to say about this in his Small Catechism, about the Lord’s Prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray: Give us today our daily bread. And Martin Luther explains it like this: God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realise this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. What makes Christians different from other people? Do Christian farmers get healthier and more fruitful crops than other farmers? No. Do Christians have nicer homes than other people, more money than other people, better clothes than other people? No. Are Christians healthier and less sick and less injured than other people? Once again, the answer is no. In Matthew chapter 5, it says: God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Everyone, whether you are a Christian or not, enjoys the gifts of sunshine and rain, and the many gifts that come from it. So if there’s going to be a difference—if Christians are going to make a difference—what’s it going to be? Let’s listen to Luther’s words again: God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realise this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

Our whole lives as Christians is one big offering of thanks. There are so many things that God has given to us—we are called to thank him, and to offer our lives back to him in thanksgiving. We are given so many things for our bodies and for our lives—food, drink, clothing, shoes, a house, a home, a family, peace, good government, protection from war, from violence, from major disease. We are so blessed in this country. Just a word about government—we have heard a lot of talk in recent years about corruption, but there are some countries that have had years of corruption that has completely crippled their country, and would take years to turn around. Also, I remember when Kevin Rudd returned to be prime-minister again after Julia Gillard, an African man said to me at the church door, that if that had happened in Africa, there would be a civil war. Don’t we have so much to be thankful for in this country? And not to mention, all the spiritual things that God gives to us, for the benefit of our souls—God’s word, the ability to read it, to ability to hear it, a wonderful church building such as this one, our church musicians, the gift of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the opportunity and the privilege of prayer, Christian friends, and people who speak to us God’s word. And we have I remember hearing a story about an old pastor, who used to say a prayer like this: Heavenly Father, you have give me so many things in life to enjoy. Give me one thing more—a thankful heart.

And so now, I’d like to come to our Gospel reading for today, which is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. And this is a well-known passage, where Jesus teaches us about the relationship between our spiritual life to the needs of our body. He says: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

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

After this, then our reading begins where Jesus says: Therefore, do not be anxious about your life. On one hand, the worship that we offer to God is thanksgiving. On the other hand, the worship we offer to an idol, to a false good, is anxiety. Jesus says: You cannot serve God and money. If we serve God, we do with thankfulness. If we serve money, we do it with anxiety.

In the broad scheme of history, and in comparison to the rest of the world, we are very wealthy people. And yet, there’s many people who are constantly anxious about all kinds of things—about their finances, about the future, and all kinds of things like that. Many parents today are especially anxious about their children. But our Christian life should not be directed in such a way to simply alleviate their anxiety. Some people are anxious and they don’t even know why they are anxious. And then they jump from one thing to the next, from one novelty to the next, looking for a fix. But people don’t become closer to God by offering little sacrifices to their false gods through anxiety. There’s no use saying: My prayers to God don’t seem to be working, I think I’ll pray to the devil instead. Of course not!

Let’s listen to what Jesus has to say. Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Think about it, Jesus says: what has anxiety ever really done for you, except make your life a misery?

Jesus says: And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

Let’s just stop for a minute—do we really worry about what we’re going to eat or drink or wear? In Australia, we really don’t have to worry at all about famine, or going without clothes. But then, we like to have variety in our food and diet—I’m not talking about the fact that a varied diet is a good thing, but we get bored with the same old thing. So we worry: what are we going to eat? We can’t eat lasagne tonight! Why? Because we had it last night. All this is anxiety about food and drink.

Or what about clothing? Many of us are not overly anxious about not having anything to wear. But then, there’s the whole question of variety again. Many people can’t bear to be seen wearing the same clothes to two different occasions. People say: I can’t wear that outfit, or that tie, or that jacket, or that dress, to that wedding, because people will remember it from some other occasion. All of this is anxiety over clothing. When I was at high-school, I remember that over a third of the school used to stay home on casual clothes day because they couldn’t face the shame of being judged on what they were wearing. We might think that we have to live in this kind of luxury in order to survive in our society, but if that’s the case—fine, then you have to know that we’ll be anxious. And this anxiety is simply the offering we make to a false god.

Don’t you know how valuable God thinks we are? Don’t you know that he values us so much more highly than anyone in our life who we think might value us and appreciate us the most? Jesus says: Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Jesus says: For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and you heavenly Father knows that you need them all. You see—here Jesus points out the fact that our anxiety about our life doesn’t make us different from anyone else. Gentiles can be anxious too. Unbelievers will be anxious too—they don’t honour God or give thanks to him, and so as St Paul says, they become futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts are darkened.

So what then? Jesus says: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own evil.

Seek first the kingdom of God. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Build your life and your faith with a thankful heart. And seek his righteousness. God’s righteousness comes from the forgiveness of sins, which Jesus has won for us on the cross through his suffering and death and through his resurrection. Seek this. Trust in it. Put your anxieties into the hands of this man who shed his blood for you. St Peter says in his first letter: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. St Paul also says in Philippians: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (notice that: with thanksgiving!) let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

A pastor once said to me, that God provides everything we need for any given day. If we find that we are not coping with what needs to be done, if we think that God hasn’t provided the strength and the capacity for us to cope, maybe we are doing something and dedicating our hearts to something that we don’t need to. God is constantly our teacher, and he knows in his wisdom how to alleviate our hearts from all of our burdens.

So, to conclude our sermon today, I’d like to read a couple of verses from the book of Acts, by way of encouragement, about the first Christians after the day of Pentecost. It says: And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people. May the Holy Spirit give us the same gladness and generosity of heart, and above everything, a thankful heart!

Amen.

Dear Jesus, you have given us so many things to enjoy, both for our bodies and for our souls. Give us one thing more, a thankful heart. Amen.

Funeral of Judith Gierke [Romans 8:18] (27-Jan-2015)

This sermon was preached at Adelaide Hills Funeral Services, Mt Barker, 10.30am.

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

(Romans 8:18)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

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

In the year 1613, in what is modern-day Poland, there was a massive epidemic that broke out in the city of Fraustadt. The Lutheran pastor there in that town, called Valerius Herberger, then wrote the only hymn that he ever wrote, which begins like this:

Farewell, I gladly bid Thee,

False, evil world, Farwell!

Thy life is vain and sinful,

With thee I would not dwell.

I long to be in heaven,

In that untroubled sphere,

Where they will be rewarded

Who serve their God while here.

Now to our ears, we might think: The world is false and evil? Life is vain? Life is sinful? Is that all there is? But I often think that if we consider the fact there are over 2 billion people who profess to be Christians in the world today, and if we consider that Christianity has been going on now for 2000 years, I think it would be safe to say that most Christians who are alive today and most Christians who have lived throughout history have understood this very well. Most of the Christians in the world today don’t live lives that we might think are particularly successful, particularly affluent—in fact many Christians today live in poverty and suffer tremendously. Most Christians throughout history have never lived in such prosperous times as what we do. And yet—the Christian faith continues. Why? Because the Holy Spirit knows how to encourage us, and the Holy Spirit reveals in God’s word, as St Paul says, that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Do you hear that? The glory that is to be revealed to us.

So as we gather here on this day for Judith’s funeral, there’s a wonderful truth for us to remember: the sadness of this occasion is only felt by us, but not by Judith. Her death is a sad for us, but not sad for her. Because the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

In the bible, this comes out constantly—In the gospel of Luke, we read that there was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and liked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his bosom.

This is such a powerful story that Jesus tells here. Here we see a rich man, an important man, a wealthy man, a successful man. And outside of his house we see a battler, a struggler, someone who in the eyes of the world isn’t important, isn’t successful—but at the end of the day, what happens? Is it the rich man who goes to heaven, and the poor man who goes to hell? No—it’s the poor man who goes to heaven. He has been the faithful one.

Now, is Jesus saying that all poor people go to heaven and all rich people go to hell? No—that’s not true. Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom, and Abraham himself was a very rich man. In Genesis 13, it says: Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. But these things didn’t define Abraham. When you read about his life, you don’t necessarily notice his wealth. But for the rich man in the story—the only thing that can be said about him is that he rich. He is defined by what he owned, by what he wore, by what he ate.

And so in the story—it’s the poor man, called Lazarus, who goes to heaven. What’s amazing about this story is that Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate, and for years and years the rich man didn’t notice him. And yet, God noticed him.

And so—here we might think about Mt Barker or the areas in which we live? Who are the important people in the eyes of the world? Who are the successful people? Who are the influential people? And yet, these are not necessarily the people whom God notices. And this is the most important thing—God shines his light on all kinds of people, who go about their everyday lives, not making a big name for themselves, but who hear his word, believe it, and carry on in faith and in hope.

It strikes me that Judith would never have run for mayor in Mt Barker. There would be plenty of people who would never have noticed her, even in the church. But God noticed her—and this is the greatest blessing of all.

And so, the old Lutheran pastor I mentioned before, says not just farewell to the world, but good morning to heaven: I long to be in heaven, in that untroubled sphere, where they will be rewarded, who serve their God while here.

You see, whatever sadness there is in the world, whatever heartache, whatever grief, there is something that is stronger, and deeper, and more powerful than any of that put together, and that is the blood of Christ. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that he is the one who has paid the price, the bill, which we should have paid for our lives, not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood. In this world, people may think success likes in gold and silver, achievements, successes, but in the church, our success, our boasting, and our joy is in one thing: the precious blood of Christ. When we go to bed at night, as it says in an old musical, we might like to snuggle up to our cash register—it’s a little lumpy but it rings. And when we die, we’ll take none of it with us. But the Christian faith believes in something much more precious: the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin.

Now, you might think—goodness me, pastor Stephen—this is a gloomy sermon. Sure—it’s a gloomy sermon, if all we are looking forward to is something in this life? St Paul says: If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

All of the gloominess has been destroyed by Jesus. His death and his resurrection have destroyed it all. And so, when we die with Jesus, then we will have every wonderful gift, and joy, and pleasure of heaven to look forward. The gloominess has been washed away with Christ’s blood, so that all that is left is pure joy.

A pastor said to me recently: Don’t you know that we live in Sodom? He’s referring here to the old cities in the bible, Sodom and Gomorrah that were well-known especially for their wickedness, as it says.

And so, isn’t it a wonderful thing to come and remember the fact that our sister in Christ, Judith, has left the city of Sodom once and for all, and has now entered the city of Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem?

We all know from our own experience that there are many sorrows and disappointments to be found in this life. Isn’t a wonderful thing to come and remember the fact that Judith has left each and every sadness far behind her, never to return to again?

We all know that there’s plenty of sin that catches us all the time. Isn’t it a wonderful thing that Judith is now completely free from sin now for the first time in her life?

And it’s not because of her or what she has done, her virtues, or even her successes or her wealth—it’s because of the precious blood of Christ, it’s because of her Saviour, her Lord, her Jesus.

And so no wonder that St Paul says: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I once read where an old writer wrote that we are all built into God’s house like living stones. But if we are going to be useful for the house, we have to be cut and polished, and then brought to the house, and built into the walls. And then all the walls form together a wonderful city, the heavenly Jerusalem—and in this city, we will no longer hear the hammer or the axe.

That’s what we remember today—the hammer and the axe have ceased, and the only thing left is God’s comfort, God’s joy, God’s pleasure that another one of his little ones, another one of his quiet ones, has entered his city. As it says in Hebrews: For her we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Jesus says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Amen.

We thank you, dear Jesus, that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us. We thank you for Judith and for the great many blessings that so many of us have received from you through her. Strengthen and comfort us in our grief with your word and with your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Epiphany III Year B: Audio Sermon (25-Jan-2015)

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Epiphany II: Audio Sermon (18-Jan-2015)

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