Trinity XVI [Luke 7:11-17] (2-Oct-2022)

            

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

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

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

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

In our Gospel reading today, we read about a well-known event in the life of Jesus, where he raised from the dead a young man, who was the son of a widow from the town of Nain. Now, there are many amazing passages in the Gospels where we read about Jesus raising people from the dead, particularly this passage, but also there is the occasion where a young girl, the daughter of a man called Jairus, is raised from the dead, and also in the Gospel of John, we read a lengthy account there about the raising of a man called Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. And of course, all these events point forward to the wonderful occasion where Jesus himself raises himself from the dead.

Now, as Christians, and especially as Lutheran Christians, we derive all of our teaching from the Scripture, from the bible. And when we pastors go about the task of preaching, we should not preach anything that is not from the Bible, because it is not our word that we preach, but the word of God. Actually, Luther once wrote, that a pastor should never ask for forgiveness after he has preached, because he should not apologise to God for speaking his Word. And he also says, If you can’t say that, you shouldn’t be a preacher.

Now, when we talk about the Scripture, we confess that it is inspired, inerrant, infallible, meaning that the Holy Spirit has given to these different writers the words to speak, and has breathed out the Scripture, and also that the words of the Scripture are without mistakes and errors, and that we can always rely on it to speak to us the facts and the truth. Jesus says: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He also says: Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. We also read in 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. We also read in 2 Peter 1, where it says: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So, the Holy Scriptures are a totally unique book, and unlike any other book. Each of the books in the bible has a human author, but also because the Holy Spirit inspired them, and gave them the words, and led them along, these words are nothing less than the very Word and words of God. Now, because the Scripture is the Word of God, it also means that there is no mistakes and errors and lies contained in it, because, as Paul writes to Titus: God never lies. We read in Proverbs 30:5: Every word of God proves true. Even Jesus himself says: The Scripture cannot be broken.

However, there is something that we often forget when it comes to the Scripture. When we say that the Scripture is without errors, we also need to remember that the Scripture often recounts to us and reports to us various facts which actually happened sometime in history. And so, as a pastor, I am called to preach to you the Word of God, and sometimes it happens that we study a passage, like our Gospel reading today, and we look at the Greek, and we study it, and all that kind of thing, and then we can get into the pulpit, and say things like: “St Luke is very clever in his use of the past tense in our Gospel reading.” Then a pastor might say to himself, I’ve preached the text, the whole text, and nothing but the text. Now, sure, the grammar, and the way in which sentences are constructed, and studies about how this particular word is used here or there, is a very useful thing.

However, that’s not the main thing we’re called to preach. In our Gospel reading today, there are not just words here on a page, in the Scripture. But these words actually make a claim about history, that something actually happened, in a particular place, and at a particular time, and that particular people were involved. What do I mean? I’m saying, that in our Gospel reading, Jesus raised a man from the dead. He did it, it happened, it happened in history, people saw it, they witnessed it. That’s what happened, and that’s what we’re called to preach.

Take, for example, the Gospel reading about Easter. What does it mean to preach the text on Easter Day? It doesn’t mean that we tell people how Mark or Matthew used the present tense, or how this word in Luke is also used in a similar way by John. All that is interesting, but it’s not the true Christian preaching. The thing we pastors are called to preach on Easter Sunday is the historical fact that Jesus rose from the dead.

Now, back to our Gospel reading today. Why I am making such a big point of this? Because there is a terrible thing which has infected and corrupted and is destroying many churches today, which is what we might call “liberal theology”. It is a true cancer. And what it does is separates the words of Scripture from the living and breathing work of the Holy Spirit in history. On the Day of Pentecost, we read that the apostles were filled with the Spirit, and the people say: We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. Did you hear that? The mighty works of God.

And so, reading the Bible for many liberal Christians is no different from reading a fairy story, or some literature, or some plays by Shakespeare. And so, there are many theologians and scholars who know their Hebrew and the Greek very well, but they just don’t believe what the Scripture says, and they don’t believe the claims that the Scripture makes. They will protest and say, “But we take the Scripture very seriously.” Yes, yes, yes—when I was in high school too, I studied Shakespeare, and I enjoyed it, and I took it seriously. I just didn’t believe it. There is a difference between “taking the Scripture seriously”, and believing it. Yes, we should take the Scripture seriously, and we should also believe it.

Now, I’m making a big point of this, because for us in a place like Australia, or any western country like America or England or in Europe, this is our greatest obstacle culturally when it comes to reading the Bible. Many people will come to church in our country, hear it read that Jesus raised a man from the dead, but they won’t believe it. They will think: what does this passage mean for me? How is it relevant for my everyday life? How does this passage relate to me personally? And in asking these questions, they have completely missed the point, that this event happened, and that Jesus did it.

Let us pray to our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who is the true leader and Head of the church, our faithful Saviour and our God, that he may fill us with the Holy Spirit and with his gifts, so that our eyes may be opened as we read the Scriptures, and that any scales from our own presuppositions and culture would be removed, and that the precious truths of the Gospel would not be veiled from us. Rather, we ask that the Jesus would fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that our eyes and ears would be opened, in fact that our whole bodies and souls would be raised from the dead and brought out of darkness into light, and that we would be attentive and take notice of these precious things, that we would savour and treasure them, just like we had found a treasure hidden in a field, or a pearl of great price. Come Lord Jesus! Come Holy Spirit! As we say in the Gloria: You alone are holy, you alone are Lord, you alone, O Christ, with the Holy Spirit, are Most High in the glory of God the Father.

So, let’s read our text. It says: Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. Just before this passage, in the previous chapter, Jesus had chosen his twelve disciples, and ministered to a huge crowd, by healing them and casting out demons. And then he gave them a wonderful sermon, with many things a bit like the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Then after this, Jesus healed a centurion’s servant. So, in all these things that have been going on, we see that Jesus has a large crowd that is following him. There have been many wonderful things that he had been doing, and so people were interested in what he was going to do next. But also, in what he was about to do, there are already many witnesses there, many people who were going to see what Jesus would do with their own eyes.

Also, in the Gospels, when Jesus goes to a particular place, the town is often mentioned, whether it is Nazareth or Capernaum or Cana or Jerusalem. Here, the town is called Nain. It still exists today, and people can visit it. It’s always good for us to remember that these places are real places, as real and as tangible as our local shops. All of this reminds us of the fact that Jesus in his great mercy and his great love and compassion lived and walked and breathed and went around to real places at a real time and met and dealt with real people.

We read: As Jesus drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.

Here we see a funeral procession, and it was a very large funeral. Now, sometimes, we see a large funeral, when there is a very important or significant person, like we saw when Queen Elizabeth died recently. However, sometimes, we also see a large funeral, when there is a particularly tragic death, for example, when someone dies young or in an accident, and people from far and near are especially moved by the whole thing, and so they decide to go to the funeral, in order to show their support for the family who remain behind. In our reading, something like this has happened, something particularly tragic. Some time before, there is this woman, who had lost her husband. And she had only one son, and now he had died. And so, this whole business is very sad indeed, because this woman had outlived both her husband and her son. Of course, this would be a very sad business in any culture, but we should also remember that in those times and in that country, widows were much more vulnerable then than they are now and in our country. Not only did they lose family members, but also her husband and her son would have been the ones who had provided for her, who would have gained an income from their work, and then looked after her. She’s lost all of that now.

And so we see just what an enemy death is. We rely on people, we need them, not just in a selfish way, but it’s a completely natural thing for us to live together and with people, and in such a way that we help each other. That’s the way God has made us for community. However, death comes to us as our wages. St Paul says: The wages of sin is death. We are all sinners, and God takes away our life, not because it is of any delight to him, but because it is what his justice requires. The life the pours forth from the heart and the mind of God is a life that is completely without sin.

We also see in our reading two crowds. There is a large crowd following Jesus, and there is a large crowd following the woman. This is the way things are in our life: we are either following after death, or we are following after Jesus. Now, of course, for us Christians, we will also die one day. But to follow Jesus means that when we die, we have nothing to fear, because we are with him. For those who don’t have Jesus, there is much to fear, because to die in our sins is a frightful and terrible thing. Even we know from the Scripture, that there is hell, an eternal judgment and punishment for those who have come to Jesus. There is a large crowd in our world today who are simply walking towards death and toward eternal death.

But Jesus has his own crowd with him. Sometimes, we often might feel as though those who follow Jesus are a small crowd. But Hebrews 12 says: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud [not just a crowd, but a cloud!] of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings to closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.

So, there have been many who have followed Jesus before. And this crowd who follow Jesus are following their Good Shepherd, who has life and every good gift in his hands. We follow after Jesus who has died in our place, and died for us, who has laid down his life for the sheep, who has paid the price for our sin with his own life and with his own blood. And not only that, but he has risen from the dead, and has baptised us into his own life, and filled us with the Holy Spirit. He continually sends to us the Holy Spirit so that we would meet him in his church, through his Word and Sacraments, so that he would lead us, and draw us after him, and pour out upon us every spiritual gift that we need. He is our wonderful Saviour, our Redeemer, our God, our life-giver, our leader, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Let’s look at the next verses in our reading. We read: And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.

First of all, we see that Jesus looked upon this woman, and that when he looked upon her, he didn’t look on her with disdain or with anger, or anything like that. He saw her and he had compassion. This is at the heart of our faith as Christians: that we trust in Jesus, the one who looks upon us, who see us, and who has compassion on us. Can we even begin to imagine how wonderful a thing it is for Jesus to look on us, to see us, to behold us, in all of our hopelessness, in all of our weakness, in all of our sin, in all of our sadness? Can we even begin to imagine what a wonderful thing it is that Jesus has had compassion on us, and continually shows his infinite and perfect and great compassion?

Jesus says to the woman, “Do not weep.” He does this because he really has it in his power to turn her sorrow into complete and total joy, and he will do it. We read: Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. To walk up to a woman in her time of grief and to say such a thing, and to touch the coffin at such a time, was an incredible thing. If Jesus had not done anything after this, he would surely have been arrested and put away as some kind of madman. At this time, everyone would have been very much confused.

Sometimes, it is like that for us too, where we hear and learn a particular word of God, but we don’t understand it, or we don’t appreciate the meaning of it, or we just don’t get it. Such a thing happened at the footwashing, where Peter didn’t understand why Jesus was doing this thing. Jesus said to him: What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. So when Jesus says to the woman, “Do not weep”, he calls her and the people to wait and see what amazing thing he will do. Many times in our lives, we don’t understand what God is doing with us, why we are going through some particular hardship, why he is leading us through some darkness or confusion, but we should just trust his word, and wait to see what he will do.

And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Here now we see the amazing power of Jesus word, and what he can do, and what his words do, what they create. These are words which are filled with the Holy Spirit, and so they have the power to even raise from the dead. Even they have the power to make alive a person who is no longer alive and even no longer able to hear.

Even this is the way we are converted to Christianity: we are called to life by Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit from the dead. We were dead in our trespasses. Also, on the last day, there will also be a great resurrection from the dead, which Luther summarises very nicely in the Small Catechism: On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

Even when think of Jesus and his Word, we cannot even begin to imagine the great power and effect it has. After all, this is the same word that created the world, and said, Let there be light. This is the same Word we come to hear in the church, which we read in the Scripture, which forgives us our sin, which promises us eternal life. This is the same Word which empowers baptism in such a way as to bring people into Christ’s kingdom, and which renews people and gives them new birth by water and the Word, by water and the Spirit. This is the same Word which empowers the Lord’s Supper in such a way that we are fed with the body and blood of Christ here. Everything is through the power of Christ’s Word. And the word itself is spoken not just by anyone, but by this wonderful Jesus, who even today comes and meets us and deals with us personally, and who fills us with the Holy Spirit, in such a way that we become living temples of his Word and His Holy Spirit. Even in Romans it says: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

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

The passage concludes by telling us of the great fear and amazement of the people. Their mouths overflowed with praise and thanks for the wonderful things that they had seen. They glorified God in the presence of each other, they told other people what they seen, and the news spread in all kinds of directions.

In the same way, let the greatness of what Jesus did among these people truly sink in with us, and let the amazement of the whole event take root in us, that we would not just sit and let this all pass us by as if we are waiting for a bus. Jesus has done wonderful things, truly amazing things! If our hearts and minds and mouths and tongues could comprehend it, and could even express it in words, and could even describe it.

They glorified God. Let us also glorify God, and say: Glory to God in the highest. Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Hosanna in the highest! They said: A great prophet has arisen among us! God has visited his people! Even today, as we gather together as his church, we come into the presence of our living Lord Jesus, who is the Lord and master of life. We hear and listen and keep and hold to his words, the words of this great prophet! And we also recognise him and confess him as our God, who has visited his people. He even visits us today, and walks with us each day, and leads us, and in the midst of all things dead and dying, he speaks his living words, his words of life. Amen.

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

 

Trinity XV [Matthew 6:24-34] (25-Sept-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.

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

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

Our Gospel reading today is a very well known passage of the Gospels, that in known by both Christians and non-Christians alike, and also it is so incredibly rich. It comes to us from the passage in Matthew’s Gospel, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, which takes up the whole of chapters 5, 6 and 7.

Chapter 5 begins with the famous beatitudes, or blessing of Jesus, which he speaks. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven, and so forth. He then speaks about his disciples as salt of the earth and the light of the world. He speaks about the law, and also preaches very specifically about the law: about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and also about loving our enemies. Jesus preaches the law in such a way that he holds it right up to people’s faces, so that we don’t run away from it and try to escape from it, but examine ourselves by it, and let the law pierce right to our hearts.

In Chapter 6, where our reading comes from today, Jesus teaches about giving to the needy, about prayer—including where he gives his disciples the Lord’s Prayer—and also fasting. He also speaks about laying up treasures in heaven.

Then we come to our reading today, where Jesus speaks about God and money, and also about not being anxious about our life.

In chapter 7, we also read about where Jesus teaches us not to judge others, to ask, seek and to knock, he teaches us about doing to others as we would wish they would do unto us, and about entering through the narrow way. He also warns us against false prophets and teaches us to build our house on the rock.

So you can see in the Sermon on the Mount, there are many well-known passages. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that the specific part of our reading that we read in church comes from a larger whole and forms part of a bigger picture. It’s worth our while sometimes to go to these chapters of Matthew, and read them in one sitting, because there often insights that we gain from doing this, and common threads that go through the whole sermon.

Anyway, let’s come to our passage today, which begins with Jesus saying the following words: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Jesus, first of all, is telling us about having two masters. Sometimes a person might work for a company that is run by two people, and these two people are completely of the same mind about how things should be done, and there’s no problem with working for two bosses. However, Jesus is talking about two masters, where they are completely opposed to each other. Imagine being in a workplace, where instead of having one boss, you have two bosses, and the two people have completely different ideas about things, completely different philosophies, completely different approaches to how things should be done. One day, you’re told to paint a wall black, the next day you’re told to paint it white. One day, you’re asked to build this thing, the next day you’re asked to tear it down. For most people, this would be a completely intolerable place to work, a terrible, frustrating, annoying work-place.

Jesus says: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. If you had a crazy place to work like this, eventually you would find that you agree with one of the bosses, and you would be happy to do some jobs, but then when the other boss asks you to do the opposite, you would be frustrated. Actually, the picture Jesus is planting is one where the two bosses are actually against each other.

And so, after painting this strange picture of working for two masters or bosses, Jesus tells us what he’s really talking about. He says: You cannot serve God and money. Actually, the word here for money is an Aramaic word, “mammon”. And mammon includes a little bit more than money, but includes possessions and things and stuff. It’s probably quite a good translation for us to say, “You cannot serve God and stuff”.

Let’s have a look at the Ten Commandments. When we talk about serving God, we’re essentially talking about the First Commandment, where it says: You shall have no other gods. Luther in the Small Catechism, gives a really helpful and simple explanation, where he says: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. In Romans, St Paul talks about people and how they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. When it comes to having a “god”, we have to understand that no-one is really without a god. No-one on this earth really is an atheist. They might not believe in the one true God, but they believe in something. They fear, love and trust in something—they attach their heart to something. It’s just that that something is not God. St Paul says that you either serve the Creator of the world, or you end up serving the things that he has made, and serve the creature rather than the Creator. And in our reading, Jesus gives us a very strong warning about a particular thing that has a real palpable danger of standing in the way of us serving God, and that is money.

Now, on the other hand, we’re allowed to have money. In the seventh commandment, we read: You shall not steal. If we’re not allowed to steal from people, it means that people are actually allowed to have things, and have possessions, and that it’s important that we realise that these things are theirs, and not ours for the taking. Luther writes his little explanation as follows: We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbour’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

Now, money is a very difficult thing to talk about, because depending on people’s situation in life, we sometimes have quite different views about money. Sometimes, people have been brought up during hard times, either in a time during Australia’s history where things were a lot harder than now, or from another country, where they had to learn to be quite frugal. Sometimes, people have grown up in a situation where they received government welfare. Sometimes, people have pulled themselves up “by the bootstraps”, as they say, and have gone from rags to riches. Sometimes, people are the other way, and have been wealthy, and then have found themselves in financial hardship, and have gone from being comfortable to then having to make financial sacrifices. Sometimes, people are quite comfortable in life, and have always had everything they need. Sometimes, people are very wealthy, and really have much more money than they really need, but are quite at luxury to use their money in really whatever way they please. Some people don’t really understand how money works, and some other people have a real head for money and really do understand how it works. There are people who struggle to work for a living, some people work well for a living, some people who run their own business, some people who invest their money. All these people have to deal with money, and sometimes think about it differently.

Now, you might think about these things, and think: yes, I probably fit in there or there. But no matter what our situation in life, the temptation to serve money instead of God is there for all of us. And sometimes, it looks quite different for different people. For example, poor people sometimes look to rich people and despise them for having money. Rich people sometimes look at poor people and despise them for not having money.

When we’re in need, we can often think that all our problems just have to do with money, and we forget about God, and we can forget to ask him for our daily bread. But when we’re in plenty, we can so easily relax in our comfort and forget about God, and forget to thank him for our daily bread.

We also learn from the bible some principles when it comes to money which go against the normal way that people think. For example, St Paul says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. We should remember this. Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. This passage causes some despair to the disciples, who ask: Who then can be saved? Jesus says: With man this impossible, but with God all things are possible. We should really think about this passage. But then also Jesus shows his disciples other things to do with money, where, for example, when he is asked about paying a tax, he sends Peter to catch a fish and open the fishes mouth and take out a shekel, and to give it as the tax. We also have Jesus talking about tax in the temple, and says: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. We also read the passage where a poor widow puts all that she had to live on into the offering bowl at the temple. Jesus says: Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. There are many different things that Jesus teaches about money.

But what we learn here from Jesus is that it’s okay to have money, we need our daily provision, and Jesus actually teaches us to ask God for our daily bread. We shouldn’t steal from others, and this also implies that God is happy for people to have money and possessions. But Jesus says you cannot serve it. Money can serve you, but you cannot serve it. In the meantime, all of us have a tendency to serve money and mammon, and that this attitude of our heart forms a hindrance to us in serving God. So whatever we have in our life, we are called to thank God for it, and to place it into his hands. That way we serve God with out money and things, and not serve our money instead of God. But it goes against the grain, it goes against the sinful human flesh that we constantly carry around with us. So when Jesus says to us: You cannot serve God and money, these words are always a call to repentance. As long as we have to deal with money in this life, we always have the constant temptation to turn away from God. Even Jesus says: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. Anyway, money only belongs to this life. When we die, we can paint our coffin with gold like the Pharaohs in Egypt, or even papier-mache our coffin with $100 notes. Whatever we have in this life will be useless for us once we’re dead. We can’t buy our way into heaven—only faith in Jesus Christ saves us. Turn away from serving money, stop serving it, stop loving it, stop devoting yourself to it, and instead love God and be devoted to him. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Jesus is a faithful Saviour, who has died for you and paid for your sins with his blood. Trust in him, and commend yourself to him.

Now, I’ve devoted a lot of time so far to this one verse at the beginning of our reading, which is so important. In fact, this verse provides the basis and the foundation for everything that Jesus says next. He talks about this life. He knows that we need our daily bread, and he knows that we need money to buy things, and all that kind of thing. So if he calls us to stop worrying and serving money, what then?

Jesus says: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat and what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow not reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of your by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you nee them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There is so much to think about in these verses, and we don’t have the time to consider it all carefully today. We pray that God will give another occasion for that! But I’ll make some more general comments.

You know: when Jesus points us away from money and mammon, and points us to God, he is pointing us away from trying to solve our problems in life ourselves. When we’re dealing with money, and we’re counting it out, we think that we’re in charge. When we’ve got clothes on our back and a roof over our head, we think that we don’t have anything to worry about. But as soon as we have some problem, we often try to solve it ourselves, and rely on our own means and our own brains to do what we think needs to be done. But then, for some reason, the problem is not solved, and we become much more anxious to solve it.

Many people in our country and our world are highly anxious at the moment. I’ve been anxious too. There are all kinds of things going on that we can’t control and can’t fix by ourselves.

There’s been great chances in our society since the Corona Virus started, and then there’s also the problems to do with civil freedoms and liberties, which have taken many people by surprise too. People ask the question: are the government and the police on our side? Do they have our best interests at heart? When will things go back to normal? Are things already back to normal, really? Many people are tired and exhausted. Many people just don’t want to think about anything, and want to put their head in the sand. Many people have realised, some for the first time in their life, that the way in which we receive our daily bread, the way in which our daily bread comes to us, is a fragile process. God preserves it, and he preserves people in various vocations and jobs to do various things, so that we are able to have what we need in this life. But when that process and that system is shaken up a bit, what then?

All of that aside, we actually have no need to be anxious in our life about anything at all whatsoever. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we don’t genuinely feel anxious, and that we don’t actually feel genuine anxiety. After all, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus knew he would be tortured and crucified the very next day, and he trembled and shook and sweated drops of blood. He was anxious too, and when we feel anxious, we should commend ourselves to him, who knows our hearts much better than we do.

But there’s a reason why we don’t need to be anxious about our life. As soon as we start to serve and be devoted to money and things, we will find ourselves being anxious about our life again. No—we have no need, because we have a faithful God, who has created us. He has sent His Son into the world, to take on a human body like ours, and to suffer, to experience all kinds of anxieties and troubles, to suffer, to die, and to pay for and atone for our sins on the cross. He has risen again from the dead, and is alive, and sends upon his church his living Holy Spirit. And this wonderful God, our wonderful heavenly Father, knows our needs. He knows what we need to live a life on this earth. He knows what your family needs. He knows what you worry about, and he cares for you. When things happen in the world that we can’t control and that rock our world and that shake our existence, we must always keep in mind the fact that God has not changed, he is still there, he is still just as much in control of things as he was before, he still holds us in his hands, he still love us, he still cares for us, and he is still leading us. So we have a very good reason and a solid basis and firm foundation why we can seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and have a firm trust that all these things will be added to you. We have a solid and firm grounding and footing in Jesus Christ, so that we don’t need to be anxious about tomorrow, because we are only here today. Jesus is already there tomorrow, before we have arrived.

In the meantime, we take our stand in the waters of baptism, where we have received the kingdom of God and the righteousness of Christ. We receive the forgiveness of sins in the words of absolution, spoke by the pastor. We receive the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, commending our sins and our troubles to him, our worries, our needs, our anxieties. We come to him in our weakness, and pray to him for his strength, that his strength may be made perfect in our weakness.

So let’s commend ourselves to Jesus, and ask that may shape and form us in his image by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we may love him and be devoted only to Him. Amen.

 

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

 

Trinity XIV [Luke 17:11-19] (18-Sept-2022)

      

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

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

And [Jesus] said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

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 Exodus 15, we read a wonderful passage, where after God had led Moses through the Red Sea and rescued the people from the Egyptians, they come to a place called Marah, where they couldn’t drink the water. And God gave Moses a log which he placed in the water, which then made it sweet. We read that God says to the people: If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer. We read that it is God who is the giver of good health, and he is the one who heals us.

For us, God heals in two ways: either directly, or indirectly; either through means or without means. So, sometimes God heals us without means, that is, he heals us in a miraculous way, that we simply can’t explain in any other way. But also, God uses people who serve in the medical profession, doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc. who diagnose, prescribe medicine, or whatever. Even when God uses these people who serve in these vocations, it is still God who heals, because the doctors and the medicine are a gift from him, and also, the circumstances have to be just right for someone to be healed. The doctor might diagnose, the doctor might prescribe, the doctor might give a treatment, but it is God who does the healing. It is similar to a pastor, who preaches the Word of God, speaks the Word of God, but then it is God the Holy Spirit who converts people’s hearts.

But then, also, sometimes God might also grant a healing in a direct way, without a doctor, simply as a gift, that is completely unexplainable in any other way, according to his will, and according to his purpose. You might know someone this has happened to, or it might have happened to yourself. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we reject doctors or medicine, because they are a gift from God. But sometimes, God works apart from these means.

In the life of Jesus, we read about how he performed many miracles of healing, although he was not a trained doctor, and did not perform any diagnosis, or prescribe any medicine or treatment. In doing this, Jesus demonstrated that he was both true God and God’s Messiah. Just as God had said to Moses, I am the LORD, your healer, we also say the same thing about Jesus, because he is also true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as one God in three persons.

But also, in the Old Testament, we read that the Messiah will show miracles of healing. In Isaiah 35, we read: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. We also read in the book of Malachi that the Messiah will be the sun of righteousness who shall rise with healing in its wings.

There’s also a passage where John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to visit Jesus and ask him the question: Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And Jesus replied: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Now, for us Christians, if we are sick or disabled, what should we do? Well, if our problem is significant enough that we need medical help, we are completely free to go and seek medical help from a doctor. We are not rejecting God if we visit a doctor, but rather we receive the doctor and their expertise as a gift from God. But also, we commend our body to Jesus for him to heal, in accordance with his will. If he grants a miracle to us in this life, then that’s a wonderful thing. But if not, then we also trust that in the next life, in the resurrection from the dead, we will be completely and totally healed of every ailment, every disease, every trouble and sickness that bothers us, when we see Jesus face to face. We look forward to this in faith, and in trust, knowing that Jesus is alive and risen from the dead, and anything else with respect to the healing of our bodies in this life that he grants us along the way is also a wonderful gift. But we leave the matter in his hands, and we commend it to him. This is the reason why each Sunday in the Prayer of the Church, we commend to God those we know who are sick. We don’t do this simply as some kind of empty ritual or tradition, expecting nothing. No—this is the church of God commending the sick to their faithful Saviour, to their true healer of body and soul.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about Jesus healing ten lepers. We read: On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.

In the Old Testament, there were very strict rules about lepers. Leprosy was a skin disease, that was quite infectious. So, if there was a case of leprosy, they were examined by the priests, and declared to be unclean. They had to live separately, in a kind of quarantine, until they no longer had leprosy. When they were cleansed from the leprosy, then they had to go back to priest and offer a special offering in the tabernacle, or later the temple, and then they could be readmitted back into normal society again, and into the temple as well.

Notice a couple of things in this whole situation. The leprosy was dealt with not by doctors, but by the priests. The matter was not simply a medical one, but also a religious one and a spiritual one. They were unclean not just in a medical sense, in such a way that they couldn’t be around other people, for risk of infection, but also they were unclean in such a way that they couldn’t enter into God’s presence in the temple.

So, Jesus sends them on their way to the priests in the temple. The reason why this was the case was that it was the priests who dealt with this matter, and if a person was cleansed from their leprosy, they had to make the offerings and sacrifices, and readmit the person back into the community and allow them to enter back into the temple. As they went, it says they were cleansed.

Now we also read: Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he saw a Samaritan. This is a very interesting thing, because this one man, being a Samaritan, wasn’t allowed to enter the temple anyway. If he had gone back to the temple, the priests wouldn’t have readmitted him back into the Jewish community, because he wasn’t a Jew. In some sense, this man had nowhere to go. So when he sees that he is cleansed, he has nowhere else to turn, and he returns to Jesus, falls on his face, and thanks him.

And Jesus says: Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” We could also translate these last words: Your faith has saved you.

The nine others return to the temple and to the priests. But this Samaritan, returns to Jesus. Jesus is both the temple and the priest. We read in John 2, a wonderful passage where the Jews say to Jesus: What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

In the Old Testament days, people met God in the temple. Now, today, as Christians, we come together to church buildings too, but when we speak about the church, we’re not talking about a building, but we’re talking about the gathering of Christian people around their Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Jesus promises to be present with his people in the preaching of his Word and the administration of his Sacraments according to his Word. When we’re talking about the Sacraments, we mean baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these things, Jesus builds his people into a living temple together with him, into his body. The preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments are what make the church visible on this earth, so that people can find the church and gather themselves around it, no matter how small or humble it might look to the everyday person. That’s why we believe that our little gathering here is also the temple of the living of God, the true church on earth, together with all Christians throughout the world, because we have Jesus’ Word and we come to receive his Sacraments according to his institution. We pray that Jesus would preserve his church among us, and gather it from the nations, and from far and wide, and keep his Word pure among us and the administration of the sacraments among us. It’s not that we are so special or such wonderful perfect people. In fact, we are from it. We have many struggles and many troubles and sins that we wrestle with. But the Holy Spirit calls us to cast in our lot with Jesus, who creates a living a faith in us, who leads us and guides us and encourages us each day towards a holy life. We read in St Peter’s first letter: As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So, this man, this Samaritan, who doesn’t have a temple, comes to Jesus, and receives him as his temple.

But also, this Samaritan, who doesn’t have a priest, comes to Jesus, and receives him as his High Priest. In the Old Testament, we have two kinds of priest: We have the priests that came from the family of Aaron, from the tribe of Levi. This is where the word, “Leviticus”, comes from, from the tribe of Levi. These were the priests from the Old Testament, who were from a special family, from a particular tribe, Levi, and were part of a particular genealogy, and were asked to perform the sacrifices and all kinds of duties in the temple.

But, in the Old Testament, there is also another priest, who comes even before Levi was born, or even before the book of Leviticus was written, and before Moses and Aaron. This man was called Melchizedek. In Genesis 14, we read about Abraham meeting this man. We read: And Melchizedek kind of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. And he blessed [Abram] and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

In the Book of Hebrews, Jesus is called a priest, not according to the tribe of Levi, but after the order of Melchizedek. We read: For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything… He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

With the normal priests in the Old Testament, everyone knew when they were born and when they died, and where they were from. But with Melchizedek, nobody really knows where he came from, who his parents were, where he was born and where he died. So, also with Jesus, he comes from Bethlehem, but also comes from heaven. He has the Virgin Mary as his mother, but also God the Father as his father. And so Jesus enters into this world as a different kind of priest, not like the Levites, who were also part of the one family, but from eternity, being sent into the world to be our Saviour. And instead of offering animal sacrifices, Jesus offers himself as the one perfect sacrifice and atonement for each and every sin of the whole world.

So, the Samaritan man in our reading, who was a leper, receives Jesus, and in doing so, he is welcomed into a new community, a community of believers around Jesus. Jesus says: Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well, your faith has saved you. But also, he is gathered to a new temple. The nine others went back to the Jewish temple that would later be destroyed. The Samaritan man here is welcomed into a temple that can never be destroyed. But also, the Samaritan gain a priest, a high priest, who will offer a true and eternal sacrifice on the cross for his cleansing and purity and righteousness. The nine others go back to the Jewish priests, from the tribe of Levi. But this man receives Jesus, the eternal son of God, and an eternal High Priest of the living God, who is a priest like Melchizedek.

But also, let’s remember the fact that the lepers were not simply healed, but the text says, they were cleansed. They were made clean.

Jesus, being true God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, when he became a human being, being born of the Virgin Mary, entered into the dirtiness of human life. We have an outward dirtiness which comes from dirt and germs, but there is also an internal dirtiness, with comes from sin. In the old Christian hymn, called the “Te Deum”, it says: When you became man to set us free you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb. It also says in the Christmas Carol, “O come all ye faithful”: Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s Womb. What does this mean? It means that the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, was not worried about getting dirty when he became a man, but he entered into this life in the normal way, just like the rest of us. He lived a human life, just like the rest of us, and experienced the same kinds of troubles that we experience.

When Jesus cleansed the lepers, he took their dirtiness upon himself and carried it to the cross. We read in Isaiah: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. In Matthew, this is translated as, He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So when Jesus became a man, we call this the incarnation. Incarnation means that he became flesh. In Hinduism and Buddhism, they believe in reincarnation, which means the spirit of a person keeps entering into different people or animals. But in Christianity, we speak about the “incarnation” of the Son of God, which means that Jesus, being true God, entered once and for all, into human flesh, and took on a human body.

Even in the church, we still receive the blessings of that event, because Jesus has died and risen again, and is with his church in a physical way. When we pray to Jesus, we do not pray to him as being far away, but we pray to him as being right near us and in front us, not as a spirit, but as a real, living human being, because his human body is glorified in a wonderful divine way. In the church, when we hear the reading and the preaching of God’s Word, this is not simply a pastor speaking, but it is Jesus speaking. When we hear the absolution, the forgiveness of sins spoken, this is not the pastor’s personal forgiveness, but this is Jesus’ forgiveness, and the forgiveness of God the Father, which we receive simply by believing it and trusting that these words are true. In Holy Baptism, Jesus washes us with water, water that simply comes from our every day taps, and with his Word, he makes us members of his kingdom. In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus descends into our midst, to give us the holy and precious gift of his true and real body and blood to eat and drink. He enters into the bread and wine, so that the bread and wine are changed and transformed into the holy vessels of Jesus’ body and blood. The Lord in all his purity and holiness and righteousness is not ashamed to enter into our midst through these things, which seem so humble. He comes to distribute his body and blood, and through these things, his forgiveness, as a true medicine for our souls, but also life and salvation, and strength and healing and health according to his mercy and will, and as it suits his purposes. The Lord’s Supper in this sense is a true medicine of immortality, as it was often called in the early church. We receive these gifts in faith, trusting that his words are true.

So, we come today to our Lord Jesus: to our true healer and doctor, who holds our bodies and souls in his hands. His blood cleanses us from all sin. We come to him as the true temple of God, and as our true High Priest. We also come to him as a true man, a true human being, just like us, who is enthroned at the right hand of God, and even today, strengthens and comforts and blesses and feeds his church. Amen.

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

 

Trinity XIII [Luke 10:23-37] (11-Sept-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.

Which one of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

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 in our Gospel reading we read the well-known parable of Jesus about the Good Samaritan. Now, this parable comes from Luke, chapter 10, and earlier in this chapter, we read about how Jesus sent out seventy-two missionaries out on a kind of mission trip, who were to visit people and stay with them, and heal the sick, and all kinds of things like this.

Now, after this mission trip, we read about the tremendous sharing of joy between these seventy-two missionaries and Jesus and the disciples. When the wise men from the East visited Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, we read that they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! This is quite some joy! And in this chapter of Luke, we read about something similar. It says: The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And [Jesus] said to them, “Behold, I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

You can see here that the seventy-two were so encouraged by their missionary trip, and also when they came back to Jesus, they shared their joy with him, particularly the joy that they found in having authority over the demons, and this authority was not from themselves, but it was from Jesus himself. And what tremendous joy this is, because often when people are dealing with unclean or evil spirits, and demons, people often feel quite desperate and are tempted to despair, because people’s lives are often turned into such a mess, and they don’t know how to fix it. However, we are taught here in this passage, that actually the wonderful name of Jesus has power over all these things. If only people in all their desperation and despair would commend their situations and the lives into the hands of Jesus, and place them under the protection of his holy name. He is our one Good Shepherd, he knows how to lead his people, he is the chief and the head missionary in the church, and all missionaries follow behind him, simply with his name on their lips.

Jesus, however, says: Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Of course, the fact that the demons are subject to them, and also to us, is an amazing thing. But even more wonderful and amazing and tremendous is the fact that their names are written in heaven, and even our names too. Jesus is not just a missionary, and an exorcist, and a Shepherd, but also a Saviour too. His protection and leading of his people extends not just in this life, but also into the next life too, where we follow him, covered in his blood and in his righteousness, from this valley of sorrow and tears to be with him in heaven.

And so, we read that Jesus also rejoices, and it says in the Gospel of Luke, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. This missionary work that the seventy-two have done in Jesus’ name has been empowered and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the same goes for us: we are weak sinners, who are conceived and born in sin, and even every day, our sinful nature, our sinful and corrupt flesh, is always bursting forth like a volcano and pouring sin forth from our hearts and our mouths. And yet, Jesus himself has borne this sin, he has taken it on himself, and he has stood in our place, and offered his life and his blood for all of it, and then through Holy Baptism, he has received us into his kingdom, given us the Holy Spirit, forgiven us all our sins, covered us with his blood, and clothed us with his righteousness.

And, so as Christians, when we gather together as the church for the Divine Service, what are we doing? We are gathered here for our sanctification, for being made holy, for being continually filled with the Holy Spirit. And what are the wonderful gifts that serve for this purpose? It is the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments. We come here to hear the Word of God, to speak the Word of God, to pray the Word of God, to sing the Word of God. Even in our chapter from Luke, Jesus sent the seventy-two out and said: The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. And so, just as we come to hear and receive the words of God’s prophets and apostles and evangelists in the Divine Service today, we hear Jesus himself, and when we hear Him, we receive the Holy Spirit and are filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we become living temples of the Holy Spirit and living temples of the Word of God. And we receive the holy and precious body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, for our strengthening in our Christian life, according to the gracious will of Jesus.

Now, all of these things are given to us for our sanctification, meaning, our being made holy, so that we may be transformed in the renewing of our minds, and also for our great encouragement, as we also constantly recognise our own unworthiness, our unholiness and our struggles and fight with sin each and every day. We read in Ephesians: Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also read in Romans 8: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you. Jesus has died for sinners, and he writes the names of his people in heaven, and rejoices in the Holy Spirit over it.

We read: In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

So in the midst of all this rejoicing, and all this gladness, and joy, and happiness, which comes from the Holy Spirit, we come to the first words of our Gospel reading today, where we read: Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

It’s an amazing thing, really! When we consider this wonderful missionary activity that has just been happening, we need to remember that this is how we became Christians. Somewhere in our lives, or somewhere in our family history, the drag net of Jesus and his apostles and his disciples was cast, and drew us into it. Many people in history – prophets and kings – were looking forward to the time of Jesus, but never saw it and heard it and experienced it for themselves.

In the same way, there are many people, even people who are in the church, who have the Bible and read it, but don’t believe that it is the living Word of God, and so they never really meet Jesus. They only go along with things in the Bible that they think they already know, and so make themselves the authority over everything, rather than Jesus. They want to save themselves by their own works, and their own efforts, and all this kind of thing, but to actually have Jesus as their only Saviour, as their only hope, as their only Good Shepherd, as their only missionary and their only exorcist, as we were reading about before, this is quite a different thing. To have Jesus as the one who writes their name in the book of life and rejoices over them in the Holy Spirit is quite a different thing! And so Jesus says to his disciples: Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! May the Lord Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, open our eyes, and remove whatever scales from our eyes are still there to prevent us recognising and seeing what he would have us see, and open our ears to hear his Words, and fill us with the Holy Spirit. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!

By stark contrast to all of this excitement and this joy and rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, arises a lawyer, who is spiritually dead. Is it too harsh to say this? Well, our text says that he did not come to learn from Jesus, and sit at his feet, like Mary did, in Mary and Martha’s house. But rather it says: a lawyer stood up to put [Jesus] to the test. He says: Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? When someone asks a question like this, we realise that he is not really interested in Jesus’ answer so much, as to see if he catch him out.

Now, in the Bible, we constantly come across two doctrines: the Law of God, and the Gospel. And the Law tells us what we should do and shouldn’t do, and what God threatens because we don’t follow his law, and also the rewards if we do follow it. The Law is also God’s teaching about sin and judgment. But the Gospel is spoken for those who have been crushed and broken by the law and know their sin. The Gospel shows us that we have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has paid the price for sin, and forgives us our sin freely, apart from any works that we have done.

Now, also, the Law and the Gospel differ in the fact that in different situations, some people need to hear the Law because they need to be woken up from their sleep, and also some people need to hear the Gospel because they need to comforted and encouraged.

And so in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we see how Jesus deals with this man completely on the basis of the Law, and wants to show him that he has not fulfilled it. But also, at the same time, Jesus also hides in his parable a wonderful comfort and picture of himself as our Saviour, and preaches the Gospel to those who have the ears to hear it.

So, Jesus says to the lawyer: What is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” And [Jesus] said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Now, this is very interesting. Actually, the lawyer is obviously a man who knows the Word of God very well. He actually answers very well, and Jesus commends him for it. Even at one time a lawyer asks Jesus, which is the great commandment in the Law? And Jesus answers in an almost identical way. But the Law is all that this lawyer has. And Jesus says: You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.

When Jesus says: Do this, and you will live, there is also something which isn’t said: “If you don’t do this, you will die!” And so the man, with his book knowledge, with this theological studies, as it were, is left with the cold hard law. Most people who aren’t Christians are left face-to-face with this cold law. They know, if they do this, they will live. But the problem is, they think they can do this, and therefore that they can live. Or else, they change God’s law into a law that they can do, and by doing so, they actually make themselves into their own God.

The lawyer realises that there’s something about this answer that has left him unsatisfied, and realises that he can’t possibly do everything the law requires. So we read: But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 

And so, Jesus tells this parable. The man is beaten and left half-dead on the side of the road, while walking from Jerusalem to Jericho. We read: Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Here Jesus shows to the man the righteousness of the Law. This lawyer in all of his helplessness just can’t be helped by this priest and Levite. And Jesus mentions a priest and a Levite, because he wants to lawyer to see in this parable someone like him: someone righteous, and holy, and pure. Perhaps they were in a hurry – also, they didn’t want to touch the man, and become unclean. So, Jesus says to the lawyer: Look at this priest and the Levite! They are just like you. They know the correct answers on the test-paper, but they can’t, they won’t, they refuse to help this man. And so they break the law. They see a man just like themselves in need, and they refuse to help him.

At the end of the parable, Jesus says: Which one of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers? The man knows full well that it wasn’t the priest and the Levite. And when he says: The man who showed him mercy, Jesus says: You go, and do likewise. On the other hand, Jesus also says: Don’t go and do like the priest and the Levite. Don’t follow their example. They are just like those prophets and kings who lived in old times, who desired to see what you see, and yet they didn’t see it. But also, there were many people at the time of Jesus, who also saw what these people longed for, but didn’t recognise Jesus as their Saviour.

And so Jesus tells us about the Samaritan. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he saw, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Now, it is the example of this man that Jesus then says: You go, and do likewise.

When Jesus mentions a Samaritan, he is showing to the lawyer, someone who is not like him at all. The lawyer was a self-respecting Jew, who would have despised Samaritans. Jews were not allowed to converse and associate with Samaritans, because in some sense, they believed falsely. But later on, after Jesus rose from the dead, he sends his disciples out to Samaria, and includes them in his kingdom, because when they acknowledge their sin, and receive Jesus as their Saviour and are baptised, they then believe rightly. Just as before our reading, there was all this missionary activity, Jesus points in this reading to the fact that there will also be some wonderful missionary activity coming soon, even among those dirty Samaritans! We read about how Jesus says in Acts 1, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And we can read about the Gospel going to Samaria in Acts, chapter 8.

Even in John chapter 4, we receive about how Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman. We even read there where it says: For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. But as the conversation goes along, Jesus then says to her: The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

What is Jesus saying here? There is coming a time when people will not be saved because they fulfilled the law, but they are saved—Jews and Samaritans and all people—through faith in Jesus, who has fulfilled the law for them.

And so, what about the Samaritan in our reading? Well, Jesus is telling you about himself here. Because of our sin, we are left beaten and naked and half-dead on the side of the road. Jesus himself has entered our world—like a person from a foreign country, even from heaven. He is a stranger, but he sees us in our need, and he has compassion. And he gives us everything that he has that he could possibly give to us. He heals our wounds with his own life and his own death, and forgives us our sin, and carries us to his church where we will be looked after. And what does he give to the innkeeper? He gives a payment. Here see a wonderful picture of how Jesus pays to the innkeeper, as to his own Father, the ransom and the price for our sin, with his own sacrifice and atonement and death on the cross. Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. This is how Jesus himself shows us mercy, and there is no limit to his mercy and no price too high, which Jesus has not paid.

Which of the three, do you think proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers? He said: The one who showed him mercy. Not the priest, not the Levite, but Jesus, who in all his compassion, reached out to us, and shows us mercy. And in all attempts to go and do likewise, we are always only ever learning how to do to others, as Christ has done to us first. As it says in St John’s first letter: We love, because he first loved us.

And so, let’s learn from our merciful Lord how to be his merciful people. Let’s thank him for his compassion and his mercy to us, and rejoice with him in the Holy Spirit, that our eyes have seen in him what even many prophets and kings desired to see. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.    

 

Trinity XII [Mark 7:31-37] (4-Sept-2022)

     

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

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

And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

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 in our Gospel reading, we read about an event where Jesus is travelling near the Sea of Galilee, in what is called the region of the Decapolis. The word “Decapolis” means “Ten Cities” and referred to an area where there were 10 Greek speaking cities, mostly on the Eastern side of the River Jordan, in a region which is in modern day Jordan and Syria.

In this region, a man is brought to Jesus who is both deaf and is not able to speak. We read: They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. It is often the case, that when people are born deaf, they have a lot of trouble speaking, because people normally learn to speak from listening to the speech of those around them.

We read in the Gospel reading: And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

There are many amazing things here in what Jesus does. First of all, we read that he took him aside from the crowd privately. The man whom Jesus is dealing with is not able to hear or talk, but he is able to see. And Jesus takes him aside privately, because he wants the man to recognise that Jesus is dealing with him, and him alone. We read: He put his fingers into ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. It is probably the case that Jesus was perfectly able to heal this man without these gestures, but it is obvious here that Jesus really wants the man to see for himself, and feel for himself that Jesus is doing something for him. He puts his fingers into his ears, because he wants to demonstrate to the man that he is going to do something for the benefit of his ears, and he touches his tongue because he wants to indicate to him that he is going to do something for the benefit of his tongue. We read also, that Jesus looked up to heaven, and sighed. Jesus wants to show to the man that he and the Father are one, and that Jesus’ power to heal comes from his unity with the Father. So Jesus lets this man see the fact that he looks up to heaven, and sighs. He shows to this man the gestures of prayer.

Also, we read here that Jesus says, “Ephphatha”, which means, “Be opened.” Now, in the Gospel of Mark especially, there are a number of places where it is recorded where Jesus said something, and it is recorded in Jesus’ native language, which was Aramaic. Aramaic was like a later version of Hebrew that was spoken at that time, and it is still spoken today in parts of Syria, especially by Christians in Syria. But this is also significant in our reading today, because it reminds us of the way in which we all learn to talk, and how Jesus learnt to talk—that is, from our parents. That’s why we often call our native language, our “mother tongue”. With Jesus here, he also learnt how to speak Aramaic in his mother tongue, but the man he is speaking to doesn’t have a mother tongue, because we assume he wasn’t actually able to hear his mother, and so couldn’t learn how to speak from his parents.

Jesus then speaks a word in his own native language, his mother tongue, and enables this man to hear and to speak.

We read: And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. This is an amazing thing. Actually, in Greek, the word “plainly”, in the words “he spoke plainly”, can also mean rightly or correctly. This man then spoke in a normal way, without any trouble.

In our reading, then, there is a very interesting verse, where it says: And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

Often in the Gospels we read about this, where Jesus performs a miracle, and Jesus tells the people not to tell anyone about it. However, we often read too that even though Jesus told them not to say anything, they did it even more. Actually, in our reading today, it’s almost as if there’s a kind of proportionality with it! The more Jesus tells them not to say anything, the more zealously, the more enthusiastically they tell people about it. It’s as if Jesus tells them three times not say anything, so they go out and tell six people about it, or nine people! If Jesus tells them four times, then they go and tell eight people or even sixteen people!

It’s a very strange thing! In some sense, it shows us that the most important thing in this miracle was the miracle itself. The fact that the man was healed was the most important thing here that happened. Jesus was not doing it, so that he might get some kind of publicity out of it. He did not heal the man, so that he could get some advertising out of it!

I assume that Jesus knew perfectly well that the news would spread and that the people just wouldn’t be able to keep their mouth shut about this event. It would have been completely natural for them to want to tell people! When something amazing happens, people just want to tell someone else. And so, it’s almost as if Jesus is telling them not to something that is completely natural for them, and is trying to stifle their most natural impulses.

But I think we know that Jesus knows that they will do the exact opposite of what he says, but Jesus forbids them anyway, to demonstrate to them that is not some kind of show-off, he is not trying to gather an audience at some kind of side show, he is not trying to promote himself. The fact that Jesus healed for the man was for the benefit of this man, not for the benefit of himself.

And we read at the end of the read: And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Here we read about how the crowd was amazed at Jesus, because of his healing power, and also his creative power. When they say: He has done all things well, it is very similar to what we read at the end of the first chapter of Genesis, where it says that God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Here in our reading too, we see that Jesus does something, creates something, makes something, and behold it is very good. He has done all things well. 

The crowd also say: He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. Of course, they are just saying what happened. But also, in Isaiah 35, we read a prophesy about Jesus, where it says: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. Four things are mentioned in this verse: blindness, deafness, lameness and muteness. And two of these things are fulfilled in the event in our reading. And so, we can see that in discussing these things with each other, people are wondering whether Jesus really might be the Messiah who was prophesied. Of course, we believe that he really is the Messiah who was prophesied.

Actually, in Matthew chapter 11, we read an event where John the Baptist, who at that time was in prison, sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah or whether they should wait for someone else. Jesus instead of pointing to himself, points to the people he had healed instead. He says: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

And so, we can see here, that Jesus actually does commend the people when they look to these miracles, and when they look to the fact that these people had been healed, because these people and these miracles that were performed in them are all part of the witness which testifies to the fact to Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one who will come to be king, but also in a way that many people won’t recognise. He will suffer and die for their sins on the cross, and rise from the dead.

Now, let’s think about this reading, and how it applies to us today. First of all, we see Jesus simply performing a miracle for this man, and really makes it very clear to this man that he cares about him, that he is happy to heal him, and that he has no other motivation in the whole business except to heal him and make him glad and happy and to rejoice. Jesus performs miracles, because he wants to make people happy, and he is the source of happiness. It really is as simple as that.

And this is very important for us too, because in western countries we can sometimes be so intellectual and academic and theological about our faith. But what we sometimes forget is that when we are in need, we should turn to Jesus in our need. When we are sick, we should turn to Jesus. When we are sad and depressed, we should turn to Jesus. When we are struggling and tired and weary, we should turn to Jesus.

Because in all our own most bitter darkness, whatever it might be, Jesus is our light, and our peace, and our joy.

Now, of course, when we are sick, we might go to the doctor. When we are depressed, we might go to a psychologist or a counsellor. When we are tired, we might look to take some vitamins. But one thing we often forget: just because we go to a doctor, or a professional person, or seek some medicine, or treatment, or vitamins, or whatever, no matter how good the person is or how good the product is, nothing works without the good and gracious will of Jesus. We should always remember that.

Of course, sometimes, there are some Christians who refuse to go to a doctor, because they say, “Jesus will heal me.” Actually, Jesus also provides doctors and other professionals in order that he might work through their vocations for our benefit. But nothing works for out benefit and no one can do anything for our benefit without the good and gracious will of Jesus.

So, when we are in some need, or some turmoil, or some trouble, or some darkness, we shouldn’t go to Jesus as our last resort, after we have tried to solve our problem by ourselves in hundreds of different ways. No, we should bring our suffering or our problem to Jesus first, and let him send his blessing to us in our need, and send the cure to it, however he may do it, whether it is through means, through people, through professional people, or whatever, or whether he does it without means, in a miraculous way.

Now, when it comes to miracles, we should not be ashamed to ask Jesus for things that to our reason seem to be unanswerable prayers. There are some people in our world who are deaf and can’t speak, and almost can’t imagine for a moment what it must be like to be able to hear and be able to speak properly. And yet, Jesus allows this for this man, and heals him.

When it comes to prayer, and bringing our needs to Jesus, most of the time, we have absolutely no idea of what he could possibly have in store for us, because it is beyond our comprehension. As it says: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. We shouldn’t limit what we ask God to only those things which we can already imagine an answer in our own head. No, ask God for things for which we can’t even begin to imagine an answer. Jesus performs miracles, because he wants to make people happy, and he is the source of happiness.

Now, also, when it comes to asking for miraculous things of God, we should always ask in the name of Jesus, which means, according to the will of Jesus, whatever would glorify the name of Jesus. In our reading, the name of Jesus is glorified by the people, even though Jesus doesn’t glorify his own name, and asks the people to be quiet about it.

Jesus says in many places: Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. He says: Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. He says: If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.

Now, often when we hear these passages of Jesus, we can become discouraged by them, because we think: I’ve asked for this or that, and I never received it. Maybe I don’t have a strong enough faith.

Well, of course, your faith is weak. Everyone’s faith is weak, and is not as strong as it should be. When we talk about “salvation by faith” and “justification by faith”, we’re not talking about strong faith, because otherwise we would be justified by strength, and saved by our own strength. Rather, Jesus is the one who is strong, who sacrificed himself for us, and died for us, and we trust in him, in all of our weakness.

So, Jesus actually does want to encourage us in asking him for things for which we can’t see an answer. We should not be ashamed to ask him for such things, and also to persist and keep asking him, and not to give up. Because, you see, in our reading today, Jesus addresses the needs of this man in a way in which he is very clear that it is Jesus who has healed him and no one else. And sometimes, in our lives, it takes some time for us to recognise that it has been Jesus who has answered our prayer, for us to see him and recognise that it really was him, and it was not by our own doing and our own efforts. Sometimes, even Jesus really does answer our prayer, and we don’t even notice it anyway.

Of course, sometimes in Pentecostal circles, people carry on as if we should all line up and receive our miracle on tap. Let’s also remember that we need to keep our eyes focussed on Jesus, and whatever it is that he decides for our lives, and not look to the thing we ask for and make it a kind of idol. For example, let’s say we have become paralysed in one leg. Then a person looks for a miraculous healing, but in such a way that it doesn’t matter whether God grants it or the devil gives it. Jesus prophesies that false prophets will also perform miracles. We don’t seek miracles in such a way that we sell our soul to the devil. So, we should always commend ourselves into the hands of Jesus, and say to him: Jesus, I’m praying about this thing. I know that you can do all things, and I pray that you would glorify your name in me in such a way that I learn to bear this cross as long as you would have me bear it. But also, if it would glorify your name, that this thing would be taken away, then I pray that you would do it. But if I glorify your name that I would continue to bear it, then I pray that you would glorify your name in me in such a way that I may have the strength and the faith to bear it. In everything, we pray that Jesus would glorify his name.

But let’s also look at another aspect of this reading. Jesus actually shows us here how people are converted. The man who is brought to Jesus is actually deaf and dumb. He can’t hear and he can’t speak. And when it comes to spiritual matters, we are the same. Without the Holy Spirit, we can’t actually hear God’s Word, and we can’t actually speak it. St Paul says in Ephesians: you were dead in the trespasses and sins… but God made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved… And so, if we hear the Word of God and believe it and trust in Jesus, this has happened because Jesus has actually come and sent to us the Holy Spirit. He has come to us, he has baptised us, he has absolved us and spoken his forgiveness to us, he has preached his Word into our ears, and he has put his fingers into our ears and uncorked them, if your like, by the power of His Holy Spirit. Even in the Baptism, he has made sure, just like in the way that he did with this deaf and mute man, that we can actually see his Word and his Holy Spirit apply specifically to us, with the water actually coming down on our head personally.

In a similar way, with the Lord’s Supper, he actually wants to make sure that we can see and taste and experience him actually feed us and enter into us for our continual encouragement and forgiveness and strengthening as Christians, by giving us his body and blood through these earthly means of bread and wine. It’s like he touches our tongue, just like he did for this man in our reading, and he wants us to know that this is really for us individually and personally. And so, it is a great wonder and a great astonishment and amazing thing that he should do all things well for us like this.

Sometimes, too, in our lives, we see people whom we love, who are close to us, who we really and genuinely feel for, who seem to be completely unable to hear the Word of God, and are deaf to it, and because they are deaf to it, they can’t speak it, they can’t pray, they can’t do anything. In this case, we should be like this man’s friends who brought him to Jesus to lay his hand upon them. He will not just lay his hand upon them, but unblock their ears and release their tongue. And in these cases, we should not despair and give up hope when something doesn’t happen immediately, but persist, and let their inability to speak spur us on more and more to speak for them, and intercede for them, and pray for their conversion, and for their opening of their ears and hearts. Because, this is exactly how God has dealt with us. If we hear and speak his Word, if we believe with our hearts that Jesus has risen from dead, it is because the Holy Spirit has come and worked this in us. Jesus himself has come and spoke to us his own “Ephphatha”, and says to us, “Be opened”. Don’t be deaf any longer, but hear, and believe and speak. And so, we should continually come to Jesus with our songs of praise and say: He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. Amen.

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.