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

                

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen.

  

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

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

               

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen. 

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

Apologies

 Dear readers,

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

Advent I [Matthew 21:1-10] (28-Nov-2021)

              

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

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

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

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

 

Behold, your king is coming to you!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Behold, your king is coming to you!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Behold, your king is coming to you!

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

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

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

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

Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity XXVII) [Matthew 25:1-10] (21-Nov-2021)

              

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

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

But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’

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

 

In our Gospel reading today, for the last Sunday of the church year, we read a very rich parable of Jesus, the Parable of the Ten Virgins. We read: Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. The scene that Jesus paints here is one of ten virgins who are bridesmaids waiting for the groom to arrive so that they can go into a wedding reception, or a wedding banquet. At weddings, it is always important that things run on time, and there are a lot of jokes about brides running late. If a bride arrives early, the car might drive around the block a few times so that they arrive at the church at the right time. But in our parable, it is a groom—a bridegroom—that everyone is waiting for, and he is so late that everyone falls asleep.

In our reading, we read that the ten virgins went to meet the bridegroom. And later we read: At midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ So who is the bridegroom in this reading? The bridegroom is Jesus himself. One of the first things we read about in the book of Genesis is the marriage of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with God himself as the match-maker and the celebrant. And then, right at the end of the bible, we read in the book of Revelation: I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. A couple of chapters earlier, we read where an angel says: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Right back in the Old Testament, in the prophet Isaiah, we read about a faithful servant of God speaking of God like their husband: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. In Ephesians, Paul has a lot to say about this: Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

And so you can see this wonderful reality described in the bible here of Christ as the bridegroom, and the church as his bride. St Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:2: I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. He is not speaking only to the Corinthians who were outwardly celibate and virgins, but to the whole church here. And in the church at Corinth, there were virgins and widows, married people, and also people who had converted to Christ from prostitution, who were adulterers and who had slept around, and also Paul even mentions people who had converted to Jesus after having committed incest. But when these people repented and turned to Christ, they became virgins again, not because of themselves and their own righteousness and purity, but because of Christ’s righteousness which covered them. As it says in Isaiah: He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

In our reading, we read about the ten virgins: Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

On one hand, in the bible, the church is always depicted as Christ’s bride. But in this reading the bride isn’t mentioned, only these virgins, these bridesmaids. And so, we learn from this that in this life, in the church on earth, the bride of Christ is hidden, veiled. The church is often not a glorious place at all. It often seems quite ordinary, even a bit uninteresting and boring and commonplace. Sometimes in the church, there are fights and disagreements. From the outside, the church seems to have a lot of hypocrites. Many people don’t want anything to do with the church, because they see a community of ordinary sinners, and if God were really in charge of the world, why would he bother wasting his time with that lot?

But in this life, we don’t see the bride in all her glory. We only see ten virgins, five of them are wise and five of them are foolish. On one hand, the church is found wherever Christ’s word and the Gospel is preached in its truth and purity and where his sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are carried out according to Christ’s command and institution. The Word and the Sacraments are the Holy Spirit’s means that he uses to create faith in people. But on the other hand, not everyone who hears the gospel believes it. But faith is not something that you produce in yourself, but it is something that the Holy Spirit works in your heart. You might even think: “I want to believe, but I can’t”. St Paul writes that God wills and works in us to his good pleasure. If you want to believe, it means that God is already working in you, and you didn’t even know it. Thank him for working in you—he will continue to work in you, and he has already produced faith in your heart.

Now, the Holy Spirit is not a toy. He is the living God himself, and the Spirit of the Living God, and the Spirit of the living Jesus, who has risen from the dead. The Holy Spirit will not be manipulated. And so he works whenever and wherever he pleases in those who hear the Gospel. In John we read: The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. What this means is that just as we might be sitting inside one day and can hear the wind outside, so also when we hear the Word of God, we are listening to God’s own wind, the Holy Spirit. But just as you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going, so also we can’t see the Holy Spirit coming, and we can’t see the Holy Spirit working in this person and that person. As Paul says: I preached, [someone else] watered, but God gave the growth.

And so, we see this happen on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes down upon the disciples, but not everyone who sees this happening believes it or recognises it. We read: All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” Some were interested, but some mocked. When Paul preached in Athens, we read: Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So what we learn here is that we never know how the Holy Spirit is going to work. We should never second-guess him and say: That person’s never going to listen. We simply speak the word and go home, but the Holy Spirit then continues to work and create faith in people.

So on one hand, the word of God and the Holy Spirit comes to us from outside of us. And all of us hear the word of God altogether. But God doesn’t speak his word in such a way that it hits you on the head like a rock and bounces off. He calls you to believe it. And so, even though all kinds of people might come to church and hear the word, God calls each individual to be saved personally. Later in our reading we read: As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterwards, the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

We learn a few things here. Firstly, we learn that Christ calls us to receive the gift of salvation personally. When the time comes, it will be too late for the individual virgins to share their oil with each other. We can’t rely on others. We can’t say: I’m saved, because I go to church with bla-bla-bla, and he’s a good guy. Or: I’m saved because my grandma is a Christian. Or: I’m saved, because my grandfather, or my son, is a pastor. Or: I’m saved because I go to the church Martin Luther started, and he knew what it was all about. Or: I’m saved because come from such-and-such a country. No: we can’t get our righteousness from each other. We can only receive our salvation from Jesus and him alone. Now, sometimes, when a person dies, we don’t know about their salvation, and so we might commend them to God in prayer and to his mercy. But this does not mean that our good works or our prayers can earn salvation for someone else. Some of you might have a relative or a friend who is not saved and is an unbeliever. Of course, we should pray for them every day and not give up. But we don’t pray that we would be their saviour, but that Jesus would be their Saviour. So salvation is through Jesus and Jesus alone. Peter says in Acts: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So the oil cannot be shared between fellow virgins. It can only be received from Christ and the Holy Spirit, through the living and active word of God.

But secondly, there is a very important teaching here that not everyone will be saved. This is a very unpopular thing to say, but we must learn from the Scripture and not from our own ideas that there will be a judgment, and that each person will be judged by God. There are a number of parables where Jesus teaches this: one of them is the wheat and the weeds, where at the end, the wheat and weeds are separated into different piles. Another parable like this is about the drag net which pulls in all kinds of fish, and then they are sorted into the good and the bad. And here in the parable of the ten virgins, there are two types of virgins: the wise and the foolish. The wise virgins are ready and prepared and they go into the wedding feast, but then there are the foolish virgins who are not ready and it is too late for them, and then the door is shut. So you can see that there is a judgment.

Now today there are many people who don’t believe this. First of all, many people say that there is no distinction between God and his creation. They say that God is everything, God is the universe, or that God is in everything. The first verse of the bible contradicts this and says: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is the creator, and the heaven and the earth are his creation. Second, many people say that the Holy Spirit is in everyone. This is not true. Everyone is born with a conscience, everyone is born with a soul, but to be saved, Jesus says you must be born again, a second time, in Holy Baptism, and God gives the Holy Spirit as a gift. Instead of being united around Jesus and his word, many people today just want to be united in their feelings and experiences, and so there would be no difference between the Christian faith and any other faith. But Jesus says: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If this isn’t true, then Jesus is a liar, and he’s not the true God. If the words of Jesus are not absolute truth, then nothing in this world is right or wrong, there is no good or bad, no heaven or hell, and of course, the church has no mission, and the missionary zeal of the church completely dries up.

Instead, the bible teaches us that God is the Creator, and he has made heaven and earth as his creation, which is distinct from him. Jesus is true God who entered into this creation and took on human flesh, and then died on the cross and made a payment and an atonement for sin. Through faith in Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit. In the end, we will be judged; but through Jesus, forgiveness and eternal life has been won for us, and is ours through faith. Jesus is our Mediator, our Advocate, our Defender. The Holy Spirit brings us the Gospel, and through the Gospel the Holy Spirit creates faith in us. The Holy Spirit is the oil in the lamps, and the light of the Gospel in our hearts is the light. And so while we have the light of the Gospel shining among us on this earth, we need to make good use of the time we have to fill up our flasks with God’s oil. If we leave it, and refuse to believe the Gospel, there may be a time, then, when it is too late for us.

And so, at the very end of our reading, Jesus says: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Jesus here is calling us to repent and to reconcile ourselves with God now, in this life, while we have the Gospel. Psalm 95 says: Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Isaiah says: Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. St Paul says in Romans: The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. And in Galatians we read: As we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone. The time for acquiring faith, and believing in Jesus, and receiving the Holy Spirit is now. It is not next year, not next month, not tomorrow. When we hear the Gospel, we can’t guarantee that it will be there for us when we need it. We might say: I’ll read the bible at home another day, but who knows if later you’ll go blind in your old age? People might say: I won’t listen in church all that carefully, but then later on they go deaf and it’s too late? They might say: I’d like to come to church, but then later they find themselves unable to come when they want to.

Or someone might say: I’m going to church at Easter. I haven’t gone to church for a long time. And then they go along, and the preacher tells everyone that Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead after all. It’s too late – the Gospel isn’t preached in that church any more, and the glory of God has departed from that place. They rejected God earlier, and when they sought him later, they couldn’t find him anymore. They might call for a pastor to come and see them on their deathbed, but then they can’t find anyone to come, because by that time, either no Christians live there anymore, or the Christians who do are too lazy and apathetic to come.

The time of grace is now. And while we have the Gospel, our Lord Jesus doesn’t call us to be apathetic, but to fill up, to stock up our vessels, and to keep our lamps burning. And when our lamps burn brightly, and when they burn with the wonderful light of God’s word and his Gospel, then the words will be fulfilled: Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Others may see the light in the lamps, and will say: I want to go and fill up on the same oil as they. I want to fill my lamp with the same word of God, and the same Gospel, and the same Holy Spirit.

And so, let’s be ready and prepared. Let’s continually learn God’s word, receive the free forgiveness of sins, and to fill up our vessels continually, so that when the time comes we can wake from our sleep and hear the words: Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him’. And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. We ask that Jesus, our loving bridegroom, will keep us watchful and ready, and continually fill our lamps with his precious Word and His Holy Spirit. We ask that He may wake us up from our sleep, forgive us all our sins, and lead us into the wedding banquet of eternal life. Amen.

 

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

Second Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity XXVI) [Matthew 25:31-46] (14-Nov-2021)

             

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

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

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

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

In the Gospel of Matthew, right in the last week before Jesus dies, we read that Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives to give his disciples a final sermon out in the open air. Our Gospel reading today is the last thing that Jesus teaches in this sermon, the last words of Matthew 25. In Matthew 26, we read about the Last Supper, Jesus' prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest and betrayal by Judas, and his trial. 

He says: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, with all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

There is not a flicker of fear in Jesus' eyes here. He preaches a powerful prophecy about the future, and he wants the disciples to remember this prophecy as he goes to his suffering and death on Good Friday. Here we see Jesus teach us that after everything that will happen to him—after he suffers, dies, rises again, ascends into heaven—after all kinds of things will happen in the world in history—after many nations will rise and fall, after many cultures and peoples will hear the Gospel, after the many crusades of the middle ages, after many wars, and world wars, famines, and hardships throughout history—after all of this, Jesus teaches us that he will come again.

He says: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, with all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Of course, all the disciples abandon him and run away from him as soon as he is arrested. But Jesus promises a number of things: first of all, he prophesies that he will rise from the dead. The Son of Man will come in his glory. This is a prophecy of the resurrection because he calls himself the Son of Man. God cannot rise from the dead, unless he has also become a true man, and taken human flesh. Someone who is truly God cannot die, and someone who is truly God cannot rise from the dead--unless God himself takes human flesh and becomes a human being. Jesus, who was true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, descended from heaven in all his glory, and took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. So Jesus says: The Son of Man will come. He emphasises his human nature--his true human body--by calling himself not the Son of God, but the Son of Man. On that occasion all his angels came to earth and celebrated with him. And they sang Glory to God in the highest when they went to the shepherds in their fields.

Jesus also prophesies that after the resurrection he will ascend into heaven. He says: The Son of Man will come in his glory. If he's coming in his glory, where's he coming from? There's no glory in hell. If he's coming in his glory, he must be coming from heaven. And if he's coming from heaven, he must have gone there--he must have ascended into heaven. It also says: He will sit on his glorious throne. Therefore, he must be sitting at the right hand of God the Father. So all these things from the creed that we say are all prophesied here, that on the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

But also, Jesus prophesies that he will come to judge the living and the dead. This Jesus describes in the rest of the reading.

So this fact that the Son of Man will come in his glory, with all his angels with him, and sit on his glorious throne, gives the disciples wonderful comfort, because they know that after Jesus has suffered, been crucified, dead, and buried, he will triumph over his enemies. He will be victorious. He will win the victory. He will be clothed in all the glory of heaven. In fact, as soon as Jesus rose again from the dead, that victory was already there, which is now hidden from our eyes. One day, when Jesus returns that victory will be shown forth in glory again.

Jesus says: Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Many Christians today don't like to think about judgment. Actually, all around the world, but also in Australia especially, there are a lot of people who don’t think very deeply about things, and who don’t like to discuss heavy and weighty topics, important things. Perhaps many people are too comfortable to really care, or are indifferent. Perhaps the fact that many people don’t think about these things is a real testimony to the godlessness of our society and culture. Whatever the case may be, we need to realise and bring to our attention the fact that there really is a God, and that there will be a judgment.

But judgment also means that there will finally be a time when the followers of Jesus will be separated from their persecutors. Even now, there is a growing separation in our times between those who hope in Jesus and those who don't. In politics, the catchphrase "separation of church and state" is often used as an excuse to keep Christians quiet, even when Christians are actually not making very much noise! Christian young people are feeling more and more isolated in their faith among their own generation that knows nothing of their faith. We might see in the world today all kinds of ways in which people are polarised, they are on opposite sides of a fence. All of this points to the fact that there will come a time when Jesus will come at the end of the world, when he will return as the judge of all the nations.

And he will separate people one from the other as a shepherd separated the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

Notice, here Jesus calls himself the King: The King will say to those on his right. Remember that Jesus preaches this passage just before he is about the crucified at the end of the week. Jesus, on that occasion, will receive a crown, and have a kind of coronation as a king, but it will be a crown of thorns from the Roman soldiers. He will receive his royal robes from them, he will be given a reed in his hand, like a royal scepter, and then he will be led along a long road to ascend his throne on the cross. Yes, the Romans think that they are pretending when they mock him, but what they don't realise is that the crucifixion is the coronation of Jesus as the king of the whole world. This King is the Lamb of God who was slain, and he will speak to his fellow sheep. This King is the suffering servant of God and he will lift up his hands of blessing upon his flock, and they will see the glory of God, brighter than the sun, shine through the nail wounds in his hands, and he will say to them: Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

The king, the Lamb, makes all his sheep kings as well. In the next life, there will not be one single Christian who does reign with Jesus in his kingdom. Jesus says: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. I will crown you and make you a king, a queen. And this kingdom that is given at the end of the world, is prepared right from the beginning of the world.

This is what Holy Baptism is: it is when people are called out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It is where we become disciples of Jesus, and are blessed by his Father, and named with the Father's name: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Here at baptism is given the kingdom prepared from the beginning of the world to all who believe it.

Then Jesus says: For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

As Lutherans, we hold very strongly to the biblical teaching that we are saved by grace, through faith, for Christ's sake, apart from works. But sometimes people think from this reading that we really might be saved by works after all. Many Christian charity organisations often print this passage on their brochures: I was hungry and you fed me, or something like that. Some people think that Paul taught salvation by faith, and that the Gospel of Matthew here and the book of James teach salvation by works.

However, there is only one way that a person can be saved: through Christ's work alone, which is given to us by grace alone, and is received by faith alone completely apart from works. The Law preaches to us that we are sinners, and calls us to repentance. But the only way that a person like you or me, crushed by God’s law and brought to repentance, can be saved, is to put our trust in our only Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has died for us, risen for us, and gives and applies to us the free forgiveness of sins in the preaching of the Word, in the Absolution, in Baptism and in the Lord’s Supper.

However, James also teaches that faith is dead if good works and the fruit of the Spirit of every kind do not follow. Love and good works are the evidence of faith. This is what it means when James says: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Also he says: As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. He's talking about the evidence of faith. It’s a bit like a tree: a living, healthy tree produces good fruit. It’s just what happens.

But earlier in the book of James, he says: Of his own will [God] brought us forth by the word of truth. Here we read that God made us his own children not by own works, but by his own will, by the word of truth. These things we simply receive by faith, and so James agrees with Paul.

So in our reading today, Jesus puts the sheep and the goats on trial. And just like any courtroom, he judges people by the evidence. He commends the sheep for their good works, and condemns the goats for their lack of good works.

He says: For I was hungry and you gave me food. It is a good thing for Christians to perform acts of charity and works of mercy to all people that we meet. And in many places in the bible, Jesus encourages us to be charitable, and merciful to all people. But in our reading, Jesus is talking about a specific kind of people. He says: As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. This is very important, because if we are to take this passage as talking about charity generally, Jesus’ brothers and sisters would have to be anyone and everyone in the world. Now, in some sense, when Jesus became a human being and took on flesh, he did become everyone’s brother and sister, but the Gospels don’t really talk like that. We could spin the text in that way, but it’s not really in line with the normal way in which Jesus talks. Normally, when Jesus speaks of his brothers, he is talking about his disciples, and often his apostles. He says: He who does the will of my Father is my mother and sister and brothers. He also says to Mary Magdalene and to the disciples to tell the news of the resurrection to his brothers. He doesn't mean his flesh-and-blood brothers, but his disciples and his apostles. Now, this is important, because when Jesus commends the sheep for what they did to his brothers, he is commending them for giving them the support they needed in response to hearing the words spoken from their lips. Sometimes, these people are pastors, and sometimes, these people are simply wise Christian friends, who are of great encouragement. We are saved by the Jesus’ Word alone and his forgiveness—when people speak this word to us, wouldn’t we want to help them and do everything that we can for them?

For example, Jesus says: I was in prison and you visited me. Here we see that close connection between Jesus as he suffers on the cross, and those who suffer for sake of the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 11, St Paul boasts of all the hardships he endured. He says: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. James begins his letter by saying: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

What do you think you would do if you were alive at the time of St Paul and knew he was suffering nearby? What would you do if an apostle was enduring hardship, or if the people who speak God's word to you were suffering greatly? If a dear Christian friend who encourages you so deeply and profoundly in your faith suddenly falls into hard times? Just as Jesus was crowned with thorns, what would you do if you saw a fellow Christian neighbour crowned with many thorns of Satan? Wouldn't you want to protect that person from harm and help them? Wouldn't you want to savour the last words of Jesus that you could from them? Wouldn't you feed them if they were hungry, wouldn't you give them a drink if they were thirsty, wouldn't you clothe them if they were naked and welcome them if they were a stranger, wouldn't you visit them in prison and strengthen them in their sickness?

Of course, you would-- How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news! Anyone would do this for the sake of that Christian encouragement that we so desperately need. Anyone would do this to hear the word of life from their lips. Those who don't value the word of Jesus, wouldn't do anything to protect the people who bring it to them--these people are called the goats. How often the apostles address the readers of their letters so affectionately and with such friendliness and with such gratitude for the love which is showed them on account of their words!

So this passage is not about salvation by works, or salvation because of Christian charity--it's about our reception of the living words of Jesus through the messengers of Jesus.

And just so that you know this passage is not about salvation by works, listen to the way in which the sheep respond: Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' They don't even know that they were serving Christ.

And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' The least of these my brothers: not just the apostles and the St Pauls of the world, not just the bishops and the pastors, but every simple Christian who receives hardship because of the words of Jesus. Of course, when we see anyone in hardship or need, whether they are a Christian or not, we should help them in their need and show love to them. But Christian charity in general is secondary to what this text is talking about here. It’s not the main thing that we’re talking about in this particular text. This text is focussed particularly on the brothers of Jesus.  

And just as the sheep had no idea that they were serving Jesus, the goats had no idea that they were rejecting Jesus. Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'

They do not value these living words of Jesus, and treat those who bring this word to them with contempt and so at the end they will depart from [Jesus], [as] cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell was not made for the sake of human beings, it was prepared for the devil and his angels. And just as there is an eternal life for the sheep, there will be an eternal punishment for the goats.

Now, this reading is almost too harsh for our times, and our society today. People have so much, and the more they have, the more they are afraid of losing. Many Christians too don't value the simple message of Jesus and his cross, and also don't value the simple--sometimes even simplistic--Christians who speak it to them. Many Christian reject their baptism, reject the church, reject the authority and care of their pastors, and reject the fellowship of Christians. When did we see you hungry and not feed you? they will say. This word is such a thunderbolt for our country and our times which are full of small churches with few people. Would that the Holy Spirit would open the floodgates that people may hear and receive the precious words of Jesus, and hasten to meet him as their brother, their king, the Son of Man who shares their flesh and blood!

Listen to those words of Jesus, little flock! Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Come, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Friend, come up higher! Come to the banquet, for everything is ready. Come, bride of Christ, come, beloved sheep of the Good Shepherd! Come, and hear the loving voice of your shepherd! Amen.

 

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

Third Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity XXV) [Matthew 24:15-28] (7-Nov-2021)

            

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

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

When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

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 Sunday today marks the first of three Sundays at the end of the church year, which focus on things to do with the end of the world. Today, our Gospel reading is taken from Matthew 24, and this is a passage that we don’t often consider in preaching and in sermons, at least anymore.

Right at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus and his disciples are walking near the temple in Jerusalem and its buildings. And Jesus says: You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Jesus prophesies that the temple will be destroyed some time in the future. And this actually happened in the year 70 AD, when the Romans came into Jerusalem, and laid the temple bare. And to this day, over the course of almost 2000 years, the temple has never been rebuilt.

But of course, what Jesus said here is a prophecy of the things that would happen in those times. And the fact that Jesus mentions this provokes a question in the hearts and minds of the disciples. We read: As [Jesus] sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” They ask two questions: they ask about when the temple will be destroyed, as Jesus had just prophesied, and they also ask when Jesus will come and when the end of the age will come. In our reading today, Jesus particular speaks about the abomination of desolation. An abomination is something which is disgusting, and something disgusting that goes very much against God’s law, which defiles, which desecrates. And desolation means that something will be laid waste, laid bare, be made empty. And so this abomination of desolation that Jesus speaks about is something disgusting, something which is evil or filthy, something which defiles and desecrates, that then causes something to be made empty and laid waste.

Jesus talks about something that will come about in the Jewish temple, and will have a particular effect on the Jewish people at that time. But also, he speaks about the future history of the church, and how there will be an abomination of desolation in Christianity too before the end of the world. The first abomination is a physical one that stands in the physical temple built by King Herod, but the second abomination is a spiritual one that stands in the temple of the Christian church and the Christian community.

And so in our sermon today, we are going to consider first of all the physical abomination of desolation in the temple in Jerusalem, which was a sign of the future destruction of Jerusalem and of the whole land of Israel. Then secondly, we are going to consider the spiritual abomination of desolation, or the Antichrist, which the Lord calls false Christs and false prophets, which will be a sign of the end of the world.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to open our ears and our hearts and minds to understand his truth and his message to us today. Amen.              

At the beginning of our reading today, Jesus says: So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

First of all, we should take note that this is probably the only time when Jesus tells us particularly to take notice of a particular book of the Old Testament. Of course, he mentions Moses and the Prophets and David, but here he mentions the Prophet Daniel, and says to us: Let the reader understand.

So what particularly in the book of Daniel is Jesus talking about? The Book of Daniel has some particularly well-known passages in it, especially the event where the three men were put in the fiery furnace, and when Daniel was put in the lion’s den. But also, there are many things in the book of Daniel, which are prophetic, and not easy to understand, a little bit like the Book of Revelation.

In chapter 9 of Daniel, we read: The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed…. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.

This passage describes the visible signs of the destruction of Jerusalem. Daniel mentions here the city, and the sanctuary. He also mentions wings of abomination. It so turned out in history, that all of these things were significant. At the time of Jesus, we know that the land of Israel was under the power of the Romans. We read about various centurions that met Jesus, we hear about some Jews like Matthew and Zacchaeus who were tax collectors working for the Romans, and also we read about various Roman people like Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor. We read also in the book of Acts, that Paul appealed to Caesar and was actually sent to Rome.

Now, many Jews were not happy about the Roman occupation, which continued still for many years after this, and there were various conflicts and tensions. Eventually, it happened that Caesar Tiberius set up his own image in the Jewish temple, which of course was a great offence to the Jews, and an abomination to God, to set up an idol in the temple. Then, afterwards, there was another Caesar, called Gaius Caligula, a particularly evil ruler, who was known for his cruelty and his immoral live. Caligula also set up a statue of himself in the temple in Jerusalem, and called the temple after his own name, “Gaius the Great God”. This, of course, infuriated the Jews, and there was much bloodshed. Then the emperor Nero, set up his statue together with a statue of the Roman god Jupiter in the temple.

So, all these things, all these idols and abominations that were set up in the temple, were to be a sign of the destruction of the temple, according to Daniel. And we read in Daniel that it was to take place like a flood. I remember seeing a place in Queensland where there had been a terrible flood, where there was a bridge in the middle of nowhere, because the river had moved. Eventually, the city of Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed so mightily and so terribly by the Romans, that is was a like a flood, and the city was completely laid waste. Jesus says in our reading: For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. It must have been such an incredible, unspeakable, horrific thing when Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed in those times.

In our reading, Jesus says: When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Jesus is telling the people that when these things happen, it is time to get out. He gives them a warning, and tells them not to back to their houses to get their things and their possessions. He even laments about women who are pregnant and nursing babies. He also tells them to pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

Now in the bible, we read about all kinds of reasons why particular cities and societies have been destroyed and desolated. For example, first, we might think of idolatry and false teaching. This is why God’s people were taken into captivity into Babylon, before the time of Jesus. Second, when God’s people and the prophets are persecuted. Jesus says in Matthew 23: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets… your house is left to you desolate. Third, when unrighteousness prevails, when poor people are oppressed, and courts and leaders become corrupt. Fourth, cities and societies are often desolated and destroyed because of people’s godless life, particularly, when people fight to destroy the family and indulge in all kinds of sexual sins, such as when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Fifth, is when a society is divided, and there is revolt and revolution. Jesus says: A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. So, for example, we know that Jerusalem was destroyed at this time, but also after the time of the apostles, and such like, there were plenty of other cities throughout Asia, and in other places because of these kinds of things.

Of course, today, we see that the whole world is full of these things. There is idolatry everywhere, false teaching everywhere, persecution of Christians everywhere, unrighteousness everywhere, corruption everywhere, sexual sin everywhere, division, protests, riots everywhere. And when these things happen, desolation cannot be too far away.

Now, in our reading about these things, Jesus gives us many different comforts. He says: Flee to the mountains. Jesus points these things out to people, and then gives them a way of escape. In a similar way, Lot was rescued from Sodom. The Israelites were rescued from Egypt. Jesus, Mary and Joseph were rescued from Bethlehem, when King Herod went to kill all the baby boys there.

So, for example, when there is great trouble in a particular place—like war, or plagues, hunger, war, and all that kind of thing—it is a perfectly legitimate thing for a Christian to flee. If God gives a means of escape, and a means to save and preserve your life, it is a perfectly legitimate for you to take it. However, sometimes, people are called to stay in a difficult place, because of their vocation and calling. For example, you can’t abandon your family and children. Also, sometimes, our confession of faith may require us to have to stay in a particular place where things are difficult. Throughout history, many Christians have had to consider these matters. In these situations, we place our lives and our situation into the hands of God, and we trust that he will rescue us and deliver us in his own way and in his own time. Psalm 50 says: I will deliver you. Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble. Psalm 91 says: I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honour him.

But then also, there is a second comfort, and that is that Jesus particularly shows his concern and his care for those who are vulnerable. He says: Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! He knows that there will be people who will need particular care and looking after. Pregnant mothers, new mothers, old people, weak people, disabled people—Jesus knows how to care for each of us in our particular situation, and he knows how to rescue each person from whatever situation they find themselves in.

The third comfort that Jesus gives to us in these situations is prayer. He says: Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. When we see all kinds of various troubles happening in the world, and we are worried about what might happen, Jesus asks us to commend our worries to him in prayer, and we know that he is a loving Saviour and that he will hear us.

So, when we look at all of the abominations in our world today, and begin to consider the desolation and destruction that may very well come as a result, let’s look to God—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—as our own means for rescue and escape. Let us remember Jesus’ particular concern for us in all of our weakness, and turn to him in prayer, knowing that he is our faithful friend and loving Saviour.

In the second part of our reading, we read about the future history of the church, which Jesus speaks will come after the time when he is speaking. He speaks about a spiritual abomination of desolation, that will come about even within the church, which we call the “spirit of antichrist”.

Now, one of the things we have to understand is that right from the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down upon the disciples, and when they spoke in many languages, and the wind and the fire came down, right from this time, when the Gospel first was preached by the Apostles, this was the last days. The whole life of the church is the “Last Days”. Sometimes people look around at world and they say: I really think we’re living in the end times, or in the last times. Of course, we are. The fact that Jesus has a church on earth means that it is the last days and the end times, and we are really only looking forward to one thing, which is when Christ will return. So on the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached the Gospel to the people who saw the tongues of fire and everything else, he quoted from the Prophet Joel, which says: In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. When does God pour out his Spirit? In the last days, says Joel, and Peter in his sermon.

Also, in the Apostle John’s first letter, we also read about something else in the last days. He says: Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they are not of us.

So, John here speaks about the spirit of antichrist as coming about in the last days too. He says twice here that it is the last hour. And that these false teachers went out from us—they came up from within the church and from within Christianity, but did not stick with the teaching of the apostles but went their own way. Sometimes, in the history of the church, Christians have had to expel false teachers from their midst, and sometimes Christians have had to run away from and flee false teachers.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus gives us a few marks of this spiritual abomination of desolation. Firstly, he calls them false christs and false prophets. A false prophet is a person who claims to speak for God, but is actually not speaking the word of God at all. Sometimes, people don’t know the difference between a prophet and a fortune teller. We know that there are these mystic types, occultists, or fortune tellers, who claim to give people insights into the future. Of course, then, there are people who call themselves Christians who also claim to do the same thing, but they give a Christian appearance, and they use the names of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But in actual fact, they don’t tell the truth. We are living in a country and a world where there are many false prophets. But then, also, a false “christ” is someone who puts themselves in the place of the true Christ, and instead of pointing themselves to Jesus Christ crucified, as their Saviour, their Lord, their King, their intercessor, their Good Shepherd, as the head of the church, etc. they point to themselves, or other things, to replace Christ in these situations, whether it is a particular pastor, or a bishop, or the Pope, or a charismatic preacher, or whoever.

Second, Jesus speaks about false prophets and false christs who want people to find Christ in all kinds of places where he has not promised to be. Jesus says: Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it… So if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness’, do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. Now, it is true, that Christ wants us to meet him and to find him in his Word and Sacraments. He specifies this in his own Word in the Holy Scripture. But here Jesus is talking about where people are pointed to all kinds of other people, as if they are the Christ, or a kind of Saviour. Or where people are pointed to all kinds of places, in deserts, in inner rooms, as if they can meet Jesus through this experience or that experience.

But then, thirdly, Jesus speaks about these false prophets and false christ performing great signs and wonders. This is a big topic, because there was a time when it was not common for Christians necessarily to expect many miracles in their every day lives. Today, many Christians are always looking for miracles. Sometimes, there are very large gatherings of Christians, where it is claimed that there are miracles on tap. We always need to be mindful of the fact that Jesus has prophesied that there will be signs and wonders performed by false prophets. I’m not just saying that they are fake miracles, such as when people have a person in a wheelchair stand up who is not actually disabled. Sometimes, the miracles are genuine, but the prophet is false. Jesus says in our reading: They will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Even Jesus says that these prophets and false christs are dead, and that even vultures gather around a carcass. He says: Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

So, in our reading today, Jesus teaches us to be wary, to be alert, to be discerning, to be watchful, to be careful, and make sure that we are following him and not some kind of false prophet or false christ. It’s a very important lesson for us to learn in our climate today. However, Jesus also gives us some wonderfully rich comforts too.

First of all, he comforts us with the fact that he has elected us, that he called us, that he has gathered us into his kingdom. When we hear his Word, and believe it, and take our stand in our Baptism, where he washed us with water and the Spirit, we can take comfort in this, knowing that we have been adopted as a child of God and made part of God’s family and his kingdom. Jesus says: For the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. He cares for his own people, and he knows that things can be hard for his own children, and he won’t let them be tempted beyond what they can bear. So we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus cares for you, and takes care of his sheep, even though there are many difficult things happening in the world, and many false teaching and false prophets at work among the church. The Scripture says: Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

Second, he comforts us with the promise of his own coming. He says: For as the lightening comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. When Jesus returns, or even if we die before he returns, this will be the time when he will wonderfully rescue us from this valley of the shadow of death, and will take us to be with him in heaven. We pray in the Lord’s prayer: Deliver us from evil. And Luther writes very nicely and beautifully in his Small Catechism: We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

Let’s commend ourselves to our loving Saviour, Jesus Christ, and trust in him to rescue us from every evil of body and soul. Amen.

 

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