Trinity XX [Matthew 22:1-14] (24-Oct-2021)

          

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

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

See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. 

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 reading today tells us of a parable of Jesus about a royal wedding banquet. And this parable is such a wonderful passage that teaches us many things about the Christian faith.

First of all, it shows us in a particularly wonderful way the Holy Trinity. In the Christian faith, we believe in one God in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As it says in the Athanasian creed: The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but there are not three gods but one God.

In our reading today, we have a king who is throwing a wedding banquet for his son. This king in our parable today is God the Father. In fact, there many passages throughout the bible where God is called our king. Psalm 10, for example, says: The Lord is king forever and ever. And we call God our king, because he rules over the whole world. And this is a very important thing for us to confess and remind ourselves of in times such as ours which are becoming very difficult for many people. The Lord is king. God is our king. He rules the world. Psalm 24 also says: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.

But then also, we see that this king is giving a wedding feast for his son. This son in our reading is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is the second person of the Holy Trinity. And just as this son in the parable is a royal son and shares his royalty with his father, who is the king, so also we believe in the Christian faith that Jesus is also true God, and shares his divinity with the Father. Both the Father and the Son are true God together.

But then, also we see in our reading, the Holy Spirit. This king sends out his servants to call those who were invited to the feast. We would often think of these servants as the prophets and apostles, and all kinds of people who call the lost people of the world to the wedding banquet. And these prophets and apostles, and pastors, and teachers, they go out, speaking the Word of God, and as being sent by God, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember how on Easter Day, Jesus said to his disciples: Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father has sent me, so also I am sending you. So as these servants go out, and are sent by Jesus to invite people to the wedding banquet, they go out having received the Holy Spirit.

So we can see in our reading today a wonderful picture of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We see the Father as the king preparing the banquet, the Son as the one who is having the wedding banquet, and also the Holy Spirit working through all these messengers who are going everywhere to call people to this banquet.

Also, Jesus says: The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who have a wedding feast for his son. We notice here that Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven, and he is also talking about a king. Now, we are not used to having a king, quite in the same way that people in early times had kings and queens. Of course, even today, we have the Queen of England, and although she is the head of state in the United Kingdom, and also Australia, and Canada, and some other countries, she acts in a much more restricted and limited way. She gives her royal assent, or we might say, her approval, or signature, to various laws that the government want to approve. In England, she does this herself, but in Australia, it is done through the Governor General and the state Governors.

But in the kingdom of heaven, there is no need for all these restrictions, because the king is the wonderful king of heaven and earth, God himself. Everything that we can imagine as being good, comes from him, because he is goodness itself. Everything that we can imagine as being fair and just, beautiful and lovely, honest and true, everything comes from this king, from God himself. So God does not simply sign off on laws that we make. No, he is the one who has established the world, built it, set it up, established its laws and the way it works. And for us, this means that we should be happy to have his kingdom at work among us and in us, because he is such a wonderful king. Even Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s prayer: Your kingdom come.

And so, our reading today, shows us a bit more of what this kingdom looks like, what it’s character is, and what it looks like. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

So, first of all, we’ve spoken about how the different characters of this parable reveal the Holy Trinity, and we’ve spoken about the royal, kingly character of this parable. But let’s also consider for a moment the fact that this parable is about a wedding feast.

A number of passages in the New Testament speak about Jesus as a groom and his church as the bride. For example, Jesus tells the wonderful parable of the Ten Virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom to arrive at midnight. Also, there is a passage where people ask Jesus why John the Baptist’s disciples practised a lot of fasting, but Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast. On this occasion, Jesus spoke about himself as the bridegroom. He says: Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Also, John the Baptist also spoke about Jesus as the bridegroom. He says: The who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Actually, this picture of Christ as the groom and the church as his bride is the basis of everything to do with the Christian teaching of marriage. We read in Ephesians: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Just as Adam and Eve, right at the beginning of time, enjoyed the Garden of Eden as a kind of continual wedding feast for themselves, so also in the church, our whole life as Christians, and even the next life too, when we see Christ face to face in heaven, is a kind of wedding feast. Even in the Gospel of John, we read that Jesus visited a wedding at Cana, where he turned water into wine. We read that this was the first of his signs, his first miracle. And this miracle he performed first, because he wanted to show to everyone that his own kingdom was a kind of marriage feast, a wedding banquet.

On a side note: today in our world, where there is an incredible increase of darkness and evil, and opposition to Christianity and the church, both from outside the church and within the church, this opposition to Jesus and his people often comes together with an opposition to marriage. There ends up being fewer weddings, and a redefining marriage, and attacking and destroying marriages, and also marriage in general as an institution. Jesus holds the marriage between a man and woman up to us as a wonderful, beautiful thing, to be treasured and respected, and honoured.

So, all of these things—the Holy Trinity, the fact that God is our King, the fact that he holds a wedding banquet for his son, with his bride the church—all these things form the backdrop and the setting for this parable in our reading today.

But there’s one other part of this parable that we should also consider. When the king sends out his servants, they say: Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”

The word here for “slaughtered” can also be translated as “sacrificed”. Sometimes, this word is used to just mean the animals were killed, but sometimes it refers to the way that animals might have been sacrificed, for example, in the temple, in religious ceremonies. Here it seems as though they’re just talking about the animals being killed. But in many ancient cultures, and still today, in some traditional cultures in Africa and other places around the world, many people most of the time lived as vegetarians, and didn’t eat much meat. Actually, even in the life of Jesus, he eats fish mostly on various occasions. The time to eat meat, and kill an ox or a calf, was for a special occasion. In the parable of the prodigal son, when the boy comes home after his long disappearance, then his father kills the fattened calf for him. It’s a special occasion. And because it was such a special occasion, people probably said prayers and dedicated the animal to God, offering it to him, before they killed it. Even today in many parts of Africa, they do the same. If they someone has been away for a long time, and they return home, and they have a special banquet, they would dedicate the animal to God out of thanksgiving, and then kill it, cook it up, and enjoy the feast.

So, in the same way, in our reading, there is a kind of animal sacrifice that is part of this wedding banquet. And what does this remind you of? Well, at God’s wedding banquet, the wedding banquet held in honour of Jesus Christ and his bride the church, Jesus himself, is slaughtered, sacrificed, and offered on the cross. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He offers his life for us, and gives his life as sacrifice, as an atonement, as a offering, a payment, for sin, for all sin, for each and every single sin.

It seems strange to us that the person who is the bridegroom, the son of the King who is getting married, is also the food of the banquet, which is offered and sacrificed. This is an incredible mystery, where all of the ways in which we imagine things, and all of the pictures in the Scriptures all seem to be muddled up somewhat. But this is precisely how the book of Revelation speaks about it. On one hand in Revelation, it says: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. On the other hand, it says: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

And so, in our reading, we also have this picture: the Lamb who is the bridegroom, and the Lamb who is the offering, who is slain. And this whole picture of things gives us a wonderful and tremendous insight into the whole character and nature of Christianity. We have a wonderful king, we have a wonderful banquet, we have a wonderful sacrifice.

Also, in the church, the Lord’s Supper also brings together all these things. We sing before we come to the Lord’s Supper: O Christ, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us. Here, in the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is the bridegroom and you are his bride, and God is preparing for you this wonderful banquet, as it says in Isaiah: A feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine. And so Jesus gives his body and blood for you to eat and drink. He is the Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed—this sacrifice happened back then on Good Friday—and now he places his sacrifice on our altar, as our food. One of communion hymns, says about Jesus: Himself the victim and Himself the priest. In our reading today, we say that Christ is himself the banquet and the bridegroom.

The rest of this parable has to do mostly with the fact that the king was inviting people to attend this wedding feast. Jesus says that he send servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

First, we read that there were a group who simply would not come. Second, there were other servants sent, but we read, they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business.

It has always been the task of the prophets throughout history and then later the apostles to call people to return back to God. As it says in Joel: Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This is not just the word of the servants, the words of the prophet, or the words of an apostle, or a preacher, or pastor, or whoever, but it is the voice of the living God himself. It is the voice of the king, and invitation of the king to come to his palace and eat his banquet in his dining room. But people’s hearts are so numb, so sinful, so calloused, so bored, that they can’t be bothered listening. They don’t come, they just go about their business.

But we also read, that the invitation of God sometimes makes people angry. It says: The rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully and killed them. We have an example of this in the book of Acts, where Stephen was preaching to the Jewish high priest and the council of the elders and scribes, and says: You stiff-necked people… you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Here is a prime example of what is mentioned in our parable, where people resist the Holy Spirit, they refuse to listen to God’s servants. And sometimes, they realise exactly what is being said, that they have to repent, and turn their hearts back to God. And if they don’t like what they hear, then they seize the servants, treat them shamefully and kill them. This is exactly what happened to Stephen—they stoned him to death.

We then read in the parable, that it says: The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. We need to realise that the lives of God’s servants who speak his word is not nothing in God’s eyes. We can’t treat God’s servants badly, or kill them, without dire consequences. We are living in a time when people don’t listen to the Gospel, don’t want to hear it, don’t want to come to his banquet. It doesn’t come without consequences. God doesn’t carry on as if nothing matters.

We read in the reading that then the servants were asked to invite as many as they could find, both bad and good. This has always been the way things have been all throughout church history with various people. For example, at first the Gospel was brought to the Jewish people in those times, but when they didn’t listen they moved on to the Gentiles. Later in history, other countries and cultures took on the Christian faith, but as they starts to reject the Gospel, the servants of God move on to other places, and invite other people.

But then at the end of the reading, it says: But when the king came into look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.

Here, we see the final judgment. And we see there that there is a man who does not have a wedding garment. There is something that this man must have which determines whether he stays in the wedding hall or is thrown out.

When we attend this wedding, we must come with the clothing of Christ’s righteousness. And this righteousness becomes ours by faith. There is nothing that we can do to earn this righteousness and purity before God. But at the same time, this righteousness must be ours, and must be received by us.

You see, sometimes, people come into the church and into the wedding hall and into the outward fellowship of the church, and they are baptised and hear the word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper, and all that kind of thing. But they don’t believe it, they don’t take it all that seriously, it doesn’t mean anything to them. No—these things are here, because they are for you, for your benefit, so that you would take the wedding garment and put it on.

Sometimes, people have said that this wedding garment is good works. And sure, Christians should do good works, which flow from faith. But we are not saved by these good works. St Peter says: Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. The wedding garment that makes us acceptable before God is the gift of faith, which trusts that the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and Christ’s righteousness is ours. It’s one thing to be called and invited, and to enter the wedding hall, but this calling and invitation is not there in such a way so that you would not wear it yourself.

So we have this wonderful parable today in our reading. Let’s listen to this invitation of God to come to the wedding banquet, and be clothed with Christ’s righteousness. Let’s come and meet the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the wedding hall, and enter into his royal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. Let’s celebrate the wedding between Christ and his church, and partake of the wonderful banquet. Let’s enjoy the foretaste of this supper which he gives to us in the Lord’s Supper week after week. We meet here the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Lamb of God who was slain, at the marriage banquet of the Lamb. Let’s thank God for all these wonderful gifts! Amen.

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

Trinity XIX [Matthew 9:1-8] (10-Oct-2021)

         

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

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

Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven. 

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

Our Gospel reading today tells the history of a paralytic man who is healed by Jesus. And we read in the first verse of our reading these words: And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. The setting of our passage today is near the Sea of Galilee. In the previous chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus had been in a boat with his disciples on this big lake, and had woken up from his sleep and calmed a storm. Then they spent some time over on the other side of the lake, where there was a demon possessed man, who had many demons cast out of him into a herd of pigs that rushed down the banks of the water and were drowned.

Now, we read that Jesus crossed back over the lake and came back to what the evangelist calls his own city. In the other Gospels, this city is named: it is Capernaum. Many people would not often think of Capernaum as Jesus’ own city. Maybe you would think of Bethlehem or Nazareth as his city. After all, he was born in Bethlehem, and he grew up in Nazareth. We often call Jesus, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Even Pontius Pilate ordered that a sign be put over Jesus when he was dying on the cross, which said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. But when Jesus was older, and after he had been baptised and been tempted by Satan in the wilderness, we read: When [Jesus] heard that John [the Baptist] had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea. This is where Jesus was recognised as a local preacher, where he preached in the local synagogue.

So Jesus comes to Capernaum, and we read: And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” This event is also recorded in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and in those Gospel accounts we are actually given a lot more detail about what happened. Mark tells us: And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. Luke tells us much the same thing, saying that they had to remove the roof tiles to let him down through the roof to bring him to Jesus. What an effort these people made! To think what lengths they went to! To think of all the people that must have had all kinds of needs and things to bring to Jesus, all these people pressing around, and then all of a sudden, some people start pulling the roof apart to get to Jesus.

When we come together to church, and when we meet together like this in the Divine Service, in the liturgy, we’re not coming to meet each other. Of course, it’s always nice to see each other, but that’s not the main point. We’re not a social club. But also, we’re not coming to see a particular pastor, like me. That’s not the point either. We come together to meet Jesus. I remember when I was a boy, at my home congregation, there was a little sign on the inside of the pulpit, with a verse from John chapter 12, the words of the Greeks that came to Philip, and said: Sir, we wish to see Jesus. And so, in the same way, there was this little message in the pulpit as a reminder for the pastor: Sir, we wish to see Jesus. The pastor must decrease and Jesus must increase. That’s the reason why pastors wear vestments, for example. It’s because it is to put the personality and characteristics of the pastor down, and to hide his person, and to point to the fact that it is Jesus is working through him. For example, on this chasuble that I’m wearing, there is a giant cross on the back. And I think it serves as a wonderful reminder that when the pastor speaks or does things, or whatever, it is Jesus who is doing it. The personality of the pastor is covered up by the cross.

So, this is the point of every church service we go to. We are coming to meet Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth is passing by! He makes an appointment to meet with us, and we touch his garment as he walks by. Sometimes people say, “I don’t need to come to church. I can worship God at home.” Just imagine if the paralytic man thought like that in our reading today, and said, “It’s okay. I don’t need to come and meet Jesus. I can talk to God at home.” Of course, he can talk to God at home. But that’s not the point. This is Jesus here! Aren’t you going to come and meet him? Aren’t you going to come and put your need to him?

If only people knew this. People don’t come to meet Jesus, because they don’t know their need. This paralytic man knew he was paralysed so he got his friends to bring him to the only man he knew who could help. Many people don’t know their sin, and so they don’t have a need for Jesus. Or, even if they know they have some kind of need or problem, they don’t know or don’t believe that Jesus can help them with it. Just imagine, though, if people knew these things, and if they queued up and down the street, lining up to hear the word of God, and if they still couldn’t get in to hear, they then started to tear up the roof so they could get a glimpse of Jesus and could come to get close to him.

In those days, when Jesus was visible, and people could see him, and touch him, and hear his wonderful words, it was much easier perhaps. But today, we must realise very clearly that Jesus is still here with us invisibly. And we are so cold-hearted about the whole thing, we are so numb and bored and we just come to church like a bunch of blank cows starting at a gate, like we don’t know what’s happening. Our sinful flesh is just so incredibly dull and asleep to the realities that God puts in front of us. If only we had a tiny glimpse of an idea about what happens here when we gather as Christians! Jesus said to his apostles when he sent them out to baptise and teach: I am with you always to the end of the age. Jesus also said to his disciples: Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Jesus doesn’t say, “My spirit will be with you”, or “I will be with you spiritually”. No—he says: I am with you, I am there in the midst of them. So when we preach, when we baptise, and absolve, and administer the Lord’s Supper, and gather together as Christians, to pray, to praise God, to sing to him, to confess the truth about him, Jesus promises to be here. The angels know all this, and they cover their faces in awe. If we can’t get in, maybe we should start tearing apart the roof!

Now, let’s see what happens in our reading. We read: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

Notice here, that it says: When Jesus saw their faith. We don’t know whose idea it was to lower down the paralytic. Was it the man himself, or was it his friends, or what? What we do know is that they were all in this idea together. It was a group effort! This man wanted to see Jesus, and he had good friends who wanted to help him get to see him. And Jesus is struck and moved by their faith.

Our sinful heart always works in such a way that we want to do everything ourselves, and solve all our problems on our own. But, sometimes, we need the help of friends. Sometimes, we need to tell our problems and our struggle to a fellow Christian, or Christians (plural), so that together, as a group, you can bring the matter to Jesus. We pastors are particularly bad at this, actually. We pastors like to give the impression that we’re the spiritual experts, and that all you people down there in the pews need us to look perfect. But in actual fact, we have just as many problems and struggles and temptations as you, in fact, sometimes more. The devil wants to attack pastors in the ministry. So sometimes, when we are under attack, or struggling with our faith, or are going through a hard time, or have some particular burden that we need fixed, whether it’s me or you, it’s important to share the burden so that we can come to Jesus together. Different Christians will have different ways of thinking about things. There’s the paralytic man, who might have some ideas, but then there’s other people who have the ability to carry the man, there’s other people who have the ability to take a roof apart, there’s other people who know how to lower a bed down by ropes and pullies. We shouldn’t stay paralysed by ourselves. Some people in the church can pray, some people can sing, some people can write, some people can cook, some people can support, and then, you know, some people just need to sit around and be paralysed. This is what the church and the community of the church is here for. So, let’s keep this in mind, when we see these people bring the paralytic man to Jesus, and how Jesus sees their faith, not just the paralytic man’s faith, but the faith of all these people who were involved in his life.

Jesus says to him: Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven. This is a wonderful, and very special word of encouragement which this man receives. But it’s also a little bit strange. The man was paralysed – why did Jesus respond to this problem by declaring to him that his sins are forgiven? Jesus teaches us here something very important about all kinds of problems in the world, about paralysis, disease, heartache, troubles, and all these things of things. They actually all come from sin. Now, with this man, who was paralysed, it is not as if his particular problem was caused by a particular sin. So, for example, it was not the case that this man had robbed a bank, and as a punishment, God had struck him with lightening and made him paralysed. Not at all. But there was a time in the world, right at the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, before the fall into sin, when there was no such thing as a paralysis, or blindness, or deafness, or pain, or any kind of suffering. When there was no sin in the world, there was no suffering. But when sin entered into the world, then death also entered the world, and everything else that we suffer is a kind of precursor to death. So in Romans, we read: Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. So because we are all descended from Adam and Eve, and are all part of this human race, from the time of the fall, we also have sin in us, and this means that we are sinners ourselves, and that we sin. It also means that we live with the consequences of sin: all kinds of sufferings and troubles. This includes the man’s paralysis.

What it also means is that when we die, not only will be free from sin, but also free from all of sins consequences too. We will be completely forgiven, and we won’t have to live with any suffering. And when we are raised from the dead, and our bodies and souls are reunited and glorified, we will also be completely free from all of our physical problems, our physical ailments, and all of our worries and sorrows. At the end of the book of Revelation we read: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Even when we receive the Lord’s Supper here in the church, we receive it as a down-payment, a guarantee, if you like, of this wonderful resurrection, but we eat and drink the resurrected and glorified body and blood of Christ. And so we receive it for our forgiveness, but also for the future glorification of our bodies. That’s why at the end of the Lord’s Supper, the pastor says: The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy precious blood strengthen and preserve you in body and soul unto life eternal.

And so, when Jesus meets this paralysed man, he says: Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven. Now, what’s interesting about this is that we know that Jesus actually came to bring forgiveness to everyone, and that he died on the cross for the sin of the whole world. We say that he is Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. But also, that wonderful forgiveness, and the wonderful atonement that Jesus acquired for us, and won for us, also needs to be applied to people individually. And in our reading, Jesus declares to this man, individually, the forgiveness of his sins. And he says to him personally: Take heart, my son. He says: Be encouraged. Let me tell you some good news for you!

Now, it is this speaking of the forgiveness of sins to this man personally that makes the scribes start to grumble. We read: And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” They would have been quite happy if Jesus had said to the man generally, that God in heaven forgives sins. But what upsets them is the fact that Jesus gives the man his own personal, private absolution in the presence of everyone.

But Jesus actually uses the whole situation not only to heal the man of his paralysis, and not just to forgive his sin, but to demonstrate to them that he really does have the power to forgive sins, and that these two things really do go together. So we read: Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—and he said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home.

You know, there are many people that don’t care much for the forgiveness of sins. When we start to feel apathetic to the forgiveness of sins, it means that we are losing sight of our need for forgiveness, and are apathetic about our own sin. But sometimes, people just want something physical, something practical and down to earth, from Jesus, but they don’t want his forgiveness. Here in this reading, the two go together. Jesus gives to the man not just healing to his paralysis, but he gives him a higher and greater gift, the forgiveness of sins. To those who don’t value forgiveness or don’t believe it, it’s easy to throw around the forgiveness of sins. It’s much harder for us to say, ‘Rise and walk’, in such a way that it cures a man who can’t walk.

Jesus says: Which is easier? The forgiveness of sins was certainly no easy task for Jesus. He walked a long road to cross, was beaten, flogged, whipped, tortured, nailed to a cross, crowned with thorns. This was what is cost Jesus to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, because he actually laid down life as a ransom for sin, and paid the price for sin, and satisfied the righteousness of God with his own sacrifice and his own blood. No—it wasn’t easy for him.

But then, Jesus also rose from the dead, and what this means is not that he was the last person to rise from the dead, but he was the first. The firstfruits, as St Paul calls it, the first of many brothers. So, when we are raised from the dead, all our paralysis and everything will also be healed. He died for our sins, and he was raised for our perfect healing.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says to his disciples: Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. In Jesus’ earthly ministry, he healed various people of all kinds of diseases and disabilities, and all sorts. But he says that in the church, we will do greater works. When we speak the forgiveness of sins even here today, it gives the promise of the future healing of body and soul in the next life and in the resurrection. What begins here in the church, when you are baptised, when you receive the absolution, when you receive the Lord’s Supper, is finished in the next life and in the resurrection, when there will be no more suffering and pain.

We should remember, also, that the gift which Christ has given to his church on earth is not simply a general message that God forgives sin, or even that Jesus has died for the sins of the world. Jews also say that God forgives sin. Muslims also say that Allah is all-merciful. But in the church, we don’t just have a general forgiveness, but we have forgiveness of sins which is given and applied to you personally. This is why we are baptised. Jesus takes everything that he won on the cross, and he showers it all upon you in your baptism, so that you can point to your baptism and say, “That is the day when God made me his child, and washed me clean from all my sin.” But then also, the Lord’s Supper is given to us individually and personally for the forgiveness of our sin, and we are asked to receive this not like animals coming to a trough, but in faith, trusting that this is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We also have the absolution spoken in the church by the pastor. Even, we can ask the pastor to speak the absolution to us personally in a private situation. We call this “private confession and absolution”. It is a wonderful gift of the church from Christ himself, which we can talk about in more detail another day. On Easter Day, Jesus said to his disciples: If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. This is the wonderful gift that the forgiveness of sins is not just given in general, but to you personally, in many and various ways, for all kinds of different spiritual troubles and ailments that you might have.

At the end of our reading, we read: When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. They were amazed not simply that God forgave sins generally, but that this power had been given to real human beings on this earth, just as Jesus actually did in the reading. He says: Your sins are forgiven, and he says this with all of his wonderful authority.

Let’s glorify God also for the wonderful way in which Jesus, even today, stands in our very midst, and forgives our sins, and applies the forgiveness of sins which he won for the whole world to us individually and personally. This forgiveness is effective and valid and legitimate not just here on earth, but before God in heaven, and in a such a wonderful way that in eternity and in the resurrection from the dead, every single tear will be wiped away, and we will be completely and totally healed in body and soul from each and every single thing that is wrong with us. Amen.

 

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

Trinity XVIII [Matthew 22:34-46] (3-Oct-2021)

        

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

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

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 

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

Our Gospel reading for today comes from a section of Matthew’s Gospel which is between two major events in Jesus’ life. In chapter 21, the chapter before our reading, we read about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday. In chapter 26 and 27 a few chapters later, we read where Jesus suffers and dies. So what does that tell us about our reading today? It means that the discussions that Jesus was having with these people in our reading today happened in the few days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, during what we call Holy Week. This discussion happened at a time when Jesus knew he going to die at the end of the week. If you knew that you would die at the end of the week, what do you think you would be doing? Jesus dedicates himself to one thing: he teaches.

And this is a wonderful example for us today, because the church of God on earth is always a teaching church. It always has something to teach, and right until the very end, this is its task.

In this chapter, we read about where Jesus tells a parable about the wedding feast, and the guest who came in without a garment. Also, he teaches them about paying taxes to Caesar. Then, we also read about where the Sadducees came to him and tried to put to him a curly question about how the resurrection would work for a lady who marries and outlives seven different husbands.

Now, we come to our reading today where we read about the Pharisees. We read: When the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

Our reading here talks about the law of God, and the commandments. Now, before we go on, I think it will be a very useful thing to take a few minutes to talk about what we call in the Lutheran church, the “Law” and the “Gospel”. In the Lutheran Church, we make a very sharp distinction between these two teachings or doctrines in the Scripture, the Law and the Gospel. Actually, it is not simply a tradition of ours in the Lutheran Church, or a kind of custom, or an old favourite thing that we just happen to like to talk about. We teach this because the Scripture itself teaches these two doctrines.

So, first of all, we have the Law of God. The Law is that part of God’s word which teaches us what we should do and what we should not do, and also what God promises to do if we keep these things or threatens to do if we don’t do these things.

But then, secondly, we have the Gospel. The Gospel is that part of God’s word which teaches us what Christ has done for sinners who have broken God’s law, in shedding his blood for them, rising from the dead, and promising the forgiveness of sins and eternal life to them.

The Law never makes a person a sinner. It only finds the sinner, and shines a laser beam on them. The Gospel never finds a saint. It only makes a saint.

The Law of God shows us that we are sinners, that we have sinned, that we have fallen, and what we need. But the Gospel points us away from ourselves and shows us our Saviour.

Now, there are many things we could say about Law and Gospel. Actually, there are many good books written about this topic. Even when it comes to a pastor, and whether he teaches rightly or wrongly, whether he is an orthodox preacher, it is not enough that he simply speak the truth, but that he also separate the Law and Gospel. Actually, the proper distinction of the Law and the Gospel is the highest art that a pastor, and in fact, any Christian, learns. It is something that we continue to learn our whole life long.

When we come to the Law and the Gospel, sometimes people completely misunderstand these things. In my years as a pastor, I think the most common misunderstanding of Law and Gospel is that the Law of God is the nasty parts of the bible, and Gospel is nice parts of the bible. You would be surprised how many people think like this! Now, it is true, that the Law accuses us, shows us God’s anger, his wrath, his judgment, which causes us fear and trembling to our hearts and consciences. And it is true, that the Gospel gives us tremendous comfort, which soothes us and is a healing medicine for our souls.

However, let’s say, we’re talking about where Jesus says: Love one another. We might say, “that’s nice!” Love is a good thing! I’m happy to hear about this. But the command of God to love one another is not the Gospel, even though it’s “nice”, but it’s law.

On the other hand, let’s say we’re talking about Jesus’ blood and the nails that went through his hands and feet, and the way in which he sacrificed himself, completely and totally so that you would enter heaven to be with him. All of this history of Christ’s crucifixion is unpleasant and gory, but it is the Gospel. It is the event where Christ offered himself for the sin of the world, for you.

Now, when we talk about the Law, there are three ways in which God’s law applies to us, which we call “the three uses of the law”. The first is the fact that God simply orders the world through his law. God’s law prevents people from doing wrong and doing good in our every day lives. Second, the law of God shows us our sin, and the fact that we haven’t kept it. And this is a very important function of the law, because unless we confess that we are sinners, and know that we have not kept the law, then we have no need of Jesus. But then third, the law of God also gives us direction and guidance and instructions for us as Christians, we who have already been converted, who have been baptised, and have received the forgiveness of sins, and now shows us how we should live our lives.

In the church today, many Christians don’t like to hear the law. They think it’s all thunder and lightening, they it’s all doom and gloom, they think it’s all “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not”, and they shy away from it. In fact, when Moses received the law on Mt Sinai, the people talked exactly like this. They were afraid of the law.

Many Christians only want to hear the Gospel. And sure, the Gospel is a wonderful thing. We all need to hear the Gospel as the living word of God that opens the kingdom of heaven for us. But the Gospel is not there to make us lazy, or to give us an excuse not to do anything, or to give us a license to do whatever we like. That’s not how it works. However, what the Gospel actually does do, is takes away the condemnation of the law, in such a way that we can now live a Christian life without the accusation of it. So in Romans 8:1, it says: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so, as we live a Christian life, we are continually learning, and putting our lives up against the 10 Commandments constantly, so see where we have failed and to show us how we can do better. We are always learning, and we should always want to improve our lives, and do better than we have previously done, but not in such a way that we have to earn God’s grace. No—God’s grace and his favour and his forgiveness is already given to us.

So we read in our reading, where the lawyer from the Pharisees says: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the Law and the Prophets.

It’s strange: the lawyer wants a straight answer, he wants one commandment, which is the greatest. But Jesus gives him two commandments. And in doing so, he actually summarises the entire law. The great and first commandment is directed upwards toward God, and the second commandment which is like it is directed sideways to our neighbours and the people. First, Jesus teaches us about love towards God, and then love towards our neighbours.

In fact, this was how the Garden of Even would have been before the fall. Adam and Eve would have had a wonderful, pure, devoted, and full love towards God alone, and also a wonderful love towards each other. We, on the other hand, don’t live in that time, but we live in a sinful world, that has been infected by sin.

And so let’s listen to Jesus’ words: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The problem for us is that our hearts, our souls and our minds are often occupied with other things. The evil one, Satan, has a very close ally in our sinful hearts, and we are often tempted to go along with him rather than walk with God. Our whole world is corrupted, and we are tempted by its things, and by its pleasures, and by its deceits, and its traps. Instead of trying in every thing to love and please God, we often simply try to please other people, most of whom care nothing for God. And the world is so full of hate, hatred toward this person, that person, this person is rubbish, this person is cancelled, this person is filth—hatred, hatred, hatred is all around us. And then the world takes its hatred and then calls it love, and then calls the true speaking the truth in love hate-speech. We Christians are always having to relearn things that we learnt wrongly, and we need to learn what God teaches about love.

And then, many of us, as Christians, think that because we have the forgiveness of sins, that we don’t need to devote our hearts and souls and minds to God, to make any effort, or ever to take a stand, or to say no to what is wrong and yes to what is right. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day who were asking these questions—who did not have Jesus as their Saviour, and did not have the forgiveness of sins—were probably much more devoted in heart and soul and mind to God than many of us are today. Many Jews even today are constantly concerned with holiness and pleasing God in every aspect of their daily life. Many Muslims all throughout the world devote themselves to prayer five times a day.

What about us Christians? Don’t we know that when we lie down at night and get up in the morning, that our bed, our pillow, the blanket, the roof, the lampshade, the side table, the sheets, the mattress, everything is a gift of God? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every Christian would thank God for each of these things? Do we thank God for the water when we go in the shower? Do we praise him when we eat a small biscuit by ourselves in the kitchen, or have a cup of coffee? Don’t we know that Jesus has provided for us the wonderful sunshine and the rain and the clouds? Don’t we know that he has provided for us our wonderful country and the people who live in it? And what about our loved ones, our husband or wife, our children, our friends? What about just the fact that you can hear, the fact that you can see, the fact that you can talk, and walk, and smell and taste?

All these things are such wonderful gifts of God! What a wonderful thing it would be that we would dedicate ourselves to God in every minute, every hour, every part of the day! And yet, we could find ourselves quite burdened by these things, and worn out! We could easily then say a prayer, or whatever, out of a sense of duty, and be completely overwhelmed by a life of prayer and devotion to God, and it still would not be love! Jesus doesn’t just say: offer yourself to God, sacrifice yourself to God, commend yourself to God. He says: You shall love the Lord your God. This love can only come forth from our faith, when we know just what a wonderful Saviour we have, and what he has done for us in his tremendous sacrifice for us on the cross.

And then Jesus says: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The love of God and towards the neighbour goes against ourselves. The world wants you simply to love yourself, to do what makes you comfortable, to do what makes you happy, but it doesn’t turn you outward. The world doesn’t turn you away from yourself and upwards and outwards. Jesus has sacrificed his life for us. And now, St Paul says that through baptism, you have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. So put to death the old person that you carry around with you, the old selfish person, that only looks out for number one. Give that dead body to Christ, and he will resurrect it with his own life, and give you a completely new life. The life we are called to live as Christians is a wonderful life, because it is with Christ. It is a selfless life, which is directed towards others, in service to God. Of course, it is a life that our sinful flesh hates, because it goes against the flesh. But is a wonderful life, because it is lived with the resurrected Jesus, the resurrected Christ, the resurrected Son of God. As St John says in his letters: We love because he first loved us.

Now, I don’t say all these things to burden you. Of course, the law burdens us, it always accuses us, because there is always too much that we are called to do, there is always much more expected of us in God’s law than we can possibly do. But we put to death our old selves, we lay our dead selves, our crucified selves, at the feet of Jesus. Jesus knows what to do with us, he knows how to make our dead bones live, he is far more loving that we can ever know or comprehend, and he is able and willing and powerful to train us and empower us and fill us with his love, and to lead the selfless life with him. This is our endless task that only just begins on this earth, and is fulfilled in eternity in a perfect way, when Jesus raises us to be with him so that we radiate his perfection and his glory. In the meantime, we say to him, “Jesus, I who am so unholy, teach me to be holy. Jesus, I who am so weak in faith, uphold and sustain my faith. Jesus, I who am so unloving, teach me your love, the love towards God and the love towards my neighbour.”

Now, in the second part of our reading, we read something very interesting and mysterious. Jesus doesn’t simply let the Pharisees off, just then and there. Jesus gave a good answer about the law, and they simply could have gone off thinking that Jesus answered rightly and truthfully, and now that’s it. But he says: While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

When we think about the commandments from before, to love God and our neighbour, Jesus says about the second commandment that it is like the first. Why is loving our neighbour like loving God? In some sense, we could think that they are entirely different things. However, Jesus is both. He is a human being, a neighbour, a friend, a person that people met down the street. But he is also our true God. To love God and to love our neighbour comes together in the person of Jesus.

St Paul calls love the greatest virtue. He says: Now these three remain, faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. Love is a wonderful thing, but it comes from faith. The power and the quality and the actions and the workings of our love don’t save us. Love is something that we are always learning, and as we learn it more, it can accomplish great and wonderful things. But it is faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. He has offered himself on the cross for us, and he has risen from the dead for us. He has borne the load of our failed love, our cold love, our weak love, and died for it.

And so, Jesus puts a question to the Pharisees, making them think about something: how is that the Messiah, the Christ, is both the Son of David and also David’s Lord? Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the city of the David, from the family of David, as the Son of David. He is a true human being that was born of that lineage. But also, he is David’s Lord, because he created David, and Abraham, and even Adam and Eve, and even gave the law and planted the Garden of Eden.

Jesus is both our true God and our true man. And this one fact is of such tremendous comfort for us. It means that when he offered himself on the cross, that everything was real, it was real human blood, real human hands and feet that were nailed, a real human head that had a crown of thorns placed on it. But also, because Jesus is true God, it means that this sacrifice is completely and totally sufficient and perfect and nothing less than perfect. You can cling to him in faith and in love, knowing that he has done such a wonderful thing for you, and knowing that your heavenly future with him is beyond what you can possibly imagine.

So we have in our reading both the Law: the love towards God and towards our neighbour, and also the perfect person of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Without him there is no salvation, and there really isn’t any love. Without him, and without his sacrifice, and without his forgiveness, and without him completely wiping away and cancelling our guilt and condemnation, all we have is striving, grasping, and a kind of empty hope that maybe God will receive us. Jesus promises us so much more. He has bound himself to his own words, and promised that whoever believes in him will never be put to shame. So let’s put our trust in him, let’s commend our lives to him, our hearts, our minds and our souls, and learn from him each day in our every day lives that perfect love, that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and that never ends. Amen.

 

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

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

       

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

      

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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