Who Will Follow?
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
June 26, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 9: 51-62
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The message this morning is based on the Gospel reading from Luke 9. The passage begins with Jesus being rejected by an entire Samaritan Village because He was set toward Jerusalem. Their rejection of Him was principally based on racial grounds, but, ultimately they deemed the cost too high for them to put their trust in a Jew.
From there Jesus encounters a couple of people who are reluctant to follow Him because they have a few personal matters to take care of first. To them Jesus finally says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We live in a day and age in which many people have come to the conclusion that Christianity is simply a private affair and that they can live out their life as a Christian in isolation from other Christians and in anonymity before the world.
It would seem that many people today find deliverance in the Gospel, not because it sets them free from the wretchedness of their sin, but, because, as they see it, it sets them free from any demands that might be imposed on them by Christ and His Church! Theirs is the oft repeated mantra of the non-church going Christian. "I don't need to go to church to be a Christian." Besides, "surely God's love for me isn't based on something as petty as where I spend my time on Sunday mornings!"
Unfortunately, the general softness and the insatiable craze for comfort that is indicative of our culture leaves all of us reluctant to make sacrifices for the sake of our faith. Consequently, it isn't uncommon for us to hold certain values that are opposed, or, at least, ought to be opposed by our faith in general, and, more specifically by our being a member of a church that holds certain positions on the issues.
A man said to Jesus, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Certainly saying goodbye to one's family doesn't fall into the same category as the wannabe Christian who insists on holding a non-Scriptural view regarding life issues, or, marriage, but, the principal is the same. There is a cost to following Jesus. Sometimes the cost is minor. Other times the cost is quite severe.
Our tendency though is always to underestimate the cost of discipleship and conclude that we, of ourselves, have what is necessary to be faithful in our confession of the faith. Peter, you may recall, swore to Jesus that, even though everyone else might leave Him, he never would. Only a short time later his circumstances had changed and the pressure was on. Huddled around a warming fire in the courtyard of the High Priest, a woman blurted out, 'you are a disciple of Jesus, aren't you.' 'No, Peter said, I am not.' Three times Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter was wrong! He counted what he thought the cost would be for him to be a disciple of Jesus and he mistakenly thought he could pay the price.
With Peter in mind and with Jesus’ words to the man who wanted to say goodbye to his family, the overriding principle before us this morning regarding the cost of following Jesus is that none of us possess the power to do so by our own strength. In other words, if we are to count the cost and stand up to our culture’s continual decline into the abyss of humanism and relativism, we will need the conviction, the strength and courage that we simply don't possess on our own. We aren't smart enough, strong enough, or, even committed enough, to see our promise to follow Jesus through.
Kurios Christos (Christ is Lord) was the creed of a group of people in the Roman Empire in the late first century a.d. This Christian group was far more politically concerned than its simple faith formula might suggest. They lived in a time and place in which all loyal, patriotic citizens were required to assert once every year, “Kurios Caesar,” which means “Caesar—the State—is Lord.” So when these Christians pronounced their creed, “Kurios Christos,” they were not only saying “Christ is Lord,” but they were also saying, “the State—Caesar—is not Lord.” They were affirming what the Lord had told their Israelite forebears on Mount Sinai: “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Having measured the cost of standing for this One who was crucified for us, we conclude that the cost is just too high. So, as always, as disciples of Jesus, we stand before the world and before God, in continual need of forgiveness and grace. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Proclaim What He Has Done For You
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 19, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 8: 26 – 39
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Is there a spiritual difference between this demon-possessed man and an unbeliever? The answer is, “No.” There is no spiritual difference between these two. Both are spiritually dead, blind, and enemies of God.
Now obviously, one is greatly more visible before one’s eyes than the typical unbeliever, but both
are the same. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see which ones were unbelievers by their very actions and say, “Ah, now there’s one we need to evangelize. It’s not so easy.
This is interesting because this historical account is remarkable in many ways. Jesus leaves the fairly Jewish region of Galilee and goes across the Sea of Galilee to an area that was decidedly pagan both in its culture and in its worship. Going across the Sea of Galilee to evangelize over there and to proclaim the Good News…we know it is a very pagan region because they kept pigs. That never would have been done in a Jewish region.
Now note the condition of the man whom Jesus comes upon. First off, he has no clothes. He has no home. He lives among the tombs and is driven into the desert by the demons. And he is not in his right mind because later in the text it says now he is in right mind. He is demon-possessed.
Merely by seeing the Lord Jesus does he bow down before Him and cry out both in shame and in fear. Now an interesting aspect of this text…When he bows down and cries out, there ensues a conversation and in fact, of all the situations of demons encountering Jesus, this is the longest conversation by far that’s recorded in Scripture. But after this great, long conversation, Jesus takes these unclean spirits, drives them into unclean animals, and sends them into an unclean death.
It is really what happens to the man afterwards. It is really what happened to you at the font. For if you are in agreement with the initial statement that spiritually, there is no difference between this demon-possessed man and an unbeliever, then we have a lot in common with this man.
But Jesus takes what is unclean and makes it clean. He takes you and me, who have no faith in God, who are not possessed by God, and cleanses us and makes us clean, driving out the unbelief and demon, and instilling Himself in that space and that place of emptiness and makes us clean in the waters of Holy Baptism.
Having cleansed us, He doesn’t leave us alone and wash His hands of us and say, “Okay, now you’re on your own. Go and do great things.” He brings great protection to you and me, for having cleansed us by making that which was unclean, clean, He clothes us, just as He clothes the man in the great historical account.
Paul talks in that epistle reading about this clothing or raiment that God alone gives. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ [have been clothed with Christ].” And having been clothed as you and I have been, after having been cleansed, we are protected by Christ’s righteousness.
He does not let us go then. He brings more support. He plants us in the field known as the Church, and having planted us in the field known as the Church, He knits us together into a family, whereas Paul says in the epistle reading, we are all sons of God through Christ Jesus. We are all heirs of the same heavenly Father. We’re not alone in this venture in which God has placed you. He supports us in this that He alone has brought upon us.
Having protected us and supporting us, He now commends us as He commended that man. The man wanted to follow Him and go about Galilee with Jesus and the disciples. Jesus says, “No, you stay here. You do the work of My heavenly Father here.”
And before we think, Oh, that’s easy. He just went about preaching and proclaiming God, you have to put yourself in this man’s shoes. He was well known in that region as a demon-possessed man. The people all kept their distance from him and now the very people who have kept their distance from him have heard about this same Lord Jesus Christ who changes this man’s heart, having slaughtered a whole herd of pigs.
They don’t want Him around. The text says the people of that region say to Jesus, “Get out of here. We don’t want you around.” They’re fearful of it. And that’s the kind of environment in which God has placed this demon-possessed man who now is in his right mind, clothed, clean, and enabled to proclaim. The region in which he has been placed, the people in whose lives he has been placed, and all that has been brought about by this event makes it very difficult for this man to proclaim…which is just like you.
God has placed you in among people who are fearful of the Lord Jesus and what He brings, just as this region was. For most of us who have grown up in the church, this does not cause us fear. This place causes great comfort. Jesus and what He brings to us does not put us at odds. It is embraced and received.
But for most of the people with whom you interact, who are not believers, it scares them. They are the ones who need to hear it the most and they are the ones whom God has given to you to tell what God has done for you.
When we think of God’s design, how He brought into this man’s life the Light of Life, and how He illumined his darkness…when you and I ponder what God has done for this man and where He placed this man, you and I cannot think that we were haphazardly placed where God has placed us. The people with whom we are interacting have been placed in our lives for your proclamation.
You are the one who has been made clean. You are the one who has been clothed. You are the one who has been made heir. You are the one who sits at His feet and you are instructed and are given words to speak. And you are also the one who has been commended by God to go forth.
Jesus, who comes and brings all these gifts with Him…You and I know we’ve received such glorious gifts, and if that’s not enough, you and I know we’ll receive it again when He gathers us again around His table to feed His hungry chicks, telling us to open wide our mouths that He may fill it. But then He commends us to go and proclaim that with which He has filled our mouths, with those people in your lives. No one else has been commended to proclaim to them what He has done for you, but just you.
It is Satan’s desire that you forget such glorious things that the Lord has done. And yet that is where God has placed us, for those people are the ones for whom He has designed your words, out of your mouth, that which has been filled by your God to proclaim. Go and do likewise as a son and daughter of the King. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Who Is This Who Even Forgives Sins?
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
June 12, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 7: 36 - 8:3
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Who is this who even forgives sins? It is the Prophet like Moses, who is not only a prophet, but is also a Priest forever and is the Heir to the Throne of heaven. He is Jacob’s ladder, upon whom the angels ascend and descend. He is the Suffering Servant, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Mercy Seat of the Lord that stands between us and the Law.
The significant thing about Jesus is not the miracles: the turning of water into wine, healing lepers, raising the dead, or stilling storms. It is not the reordering of creation back again from chaos to goodness. The really significant thing is the astonishing peace He brings to sinners ravished by the cruel world that seduced them. The significant thing is that He even forgives sins.
Simon the Pharisee is interested in Jesus. The penitent woman, who had found grace, acceptance, and mercy in Jesus, is not interested. She is in love. Having received so great a gift, even life itself, she cannot contain herself. Her joy overflows. Her tears wet the dusty, grimy feet not yet pierced, she wipes them with her hair, brushes them with her lips, and anoints them with oil. For, Oh how beautiful are the feet of Him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
The Good News those feet brought is that Our God reigns by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He rules over His children by the power of forgiveness in the Kingdom of Grace. His love declares them righteous. Thus the joy and peace of the sinful, penitent women who weeps at Jesus’ feet. We suspect that she is Mary from Magdala, from whom seven demons were cast out, who was faithful at the foot of the cross, and who first saw the risen Lord.
Her confession and penance are courageous, bold, and unashamed because her God reigns! She does not care what Simon, or anyone else, thinks of her. She knows what Christ thinks of her, esteeming her high enough to die for, and that by means of the most shameful and excruciating death known to man. Mary, by the Grace of God in Christ Jesus, is finished defending herself, looking out after herself, holding grudges and prejudices, fighting for everything she has. She no longer boasts or postures. She is not being provocative or temptuous. She is empty of bravado and pride and worry. Her heart is open. She is free. She lets go. She has heard the Shepherd’s Voice. She has found perfect joy and liberty in the wounds of the risen Lord. For that Voice has called her from the bondage to sin, from the seduction of death. It has found and restored her. It has cleansed and purified her. In Him, by Him, she is blameless and chaste. She is immaculate. Her heart and eyes overflow at the goodness that is the God whose feet catch her tears.
Simon the Pharisee doesn’t like it. It doesn’t fit with the kind of God Simon wants. It is too much, too extreme, too radical. He would rather have a more conventional, convenient, and comfortable god. He is embarrassed by Jesus and her. He becomes defensive and judgmental. What kind of prophet is this! He is so shocked, so afraid it might be the kind of Prophet that he needs.
And what of us? How often have we tried to apologize for God to modern Simons because God did not behave in ways that pleased them? How often have we been ashamed that God is so uncompromising, so unbending when it comes to “modern” issues: transgender bathrooms, abortion, marriage between one man and one woman? How have the Simons of our day chided us with their damning remarks that always seem to follow the line: “What kind of a god would allow. . . ” and then fill in your tragedy or injustice: the Holocaust, ISIS, police officers being randomly killed, the floods in Paris and Texas?
Repent. This is no game. And we are not in control. God does not answer to us. He is God. We are not. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. But He is good. His mercy does endure forever. He does seek and save, cleanse and restore, forgive and love. He does all things well. Ours is not to reason why. Ours is just to believe, to throw ourselves upon His mercy, to suffer the scolding and shame of Simon and the Pharisees that we would gain the love of Christ. For, mysterious and unexpected as it is, He cleanses and purifies sinners. He heals them by the power of His atoning, sacrificial, life-giving, life-preserving death and resurrection. He feeds and nourishes them with the fruit of that holy death: His Body and Blood. He names them with His Name. He welcomes and comforts them. He has freely forgiven.
What manner of God is this? It is the God of Mercy, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who satisfied His own wrath to rescue us from Hell. His Name is Jesus, for He saves His people. God be praised for Mary and all who kneel at the Lord’s feet asking forgiveness. God give us the strength and charity, the courage and conviction, to follow Mary’s example. But most of all, God be praised that He has even forgiven us. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
God Has Visited His People
McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish
Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 5, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 7: 11-17
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Saint Luke writes that the people said, "God has visited His people." They said this after Christ raised the young man at Nain.
The Scriptures speak of visiting as drawing near to someone, especially in the sense of doing works of mercy on their behalf. Scripture never describes visiting as stopping by for a chat to make someone feel good. That is an entirely modern concept.
When God visits, He brings His presence near to do His mighty work among people. This is not necessarily to bring them gifts of grace. God can also visit with His wrath and punishment. For instance, in our Catechism we should be familiar with the phrase, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me." Here the word "visiting" is just about as opposite from a nice little social chat as you can get.
On occasions when we would expect the Scriptures to use the word "visit", they do not. Although we call Mary's stay with Elizabeth the Visitation, the text does not use any form of the word "visit" at all. When Jesus went to the house of Mary and Martha, the narrative never calls His stay a visit.
Also, the word "visit" is never used when pastors are given the duties of the holy ministry, nor did Jesus ever use the word "visit" when He instructed His disciples what they were to do. Yet visiting can be a beneficial thing. The Word calls visiting the sick and widows and orphans a good work. Again, we need to remember that our English use of the word is not the same as the Scriptural use. When a pastor visits, he is bringing the presence of God near in Word and Sacrament. That is the mighty work of God's visitation. We should magnify and yearn for this grace of God above all else.
With these things in mind, let us see what the text says about the Visitation of God to His people.
Christ came to the city of Nain and interrupted a funeral procession. He disrupted the proceedings by making them unnecessary. He robbed the people of the one thing they need for a funeral: a dead body.
Our Lord is the Reverser of death. The usual order as we see it is that we live, and then we die. But Christ says, "No, you were conceived and born dead, but I have made you alive," in other words, death first, then life.
At Nain, Christ revealed this new order. He did not comfort the widow who lost her only son by saying, "He is in a better place." No, Christ is not satisfied with providing sanctuary for disembodied spirits while bodies lay in the ground. So He has become the Resurrection and the Life for us. He raises bodies, as this sneak preview at Nain shows us.
Only resurrection fully reverses the curse of death. Only God can provide resurrection. He does it through His mighty Word. He declares, "I say to you, arise!" and even a dead body must obey His voice.
So the people of Nain rightly said, "God has visited His people." God in human flesh had brought the resurrection Word to His beloved people.
Today, Christ visits you. His words of Gospel are no less powerful. He raises you also by every Gospel syllable in His temple.
Your old Adam was born dead, and continues to be a stinking corpse of sin today. You need resurrection out of the grave that your sins have earned.
So God in the flesh visits you today and tells you, "Arise!" and His Word raises you. This is no mere spiritual resurrection. Christ is not satisfied with making your soul alive. No, He has planted the seed of immortality in you - spirit and body. Thus you shall be raised, even as He was raised.
This is true because He has conquered sin on the Cross. The death He died paid for all deaths. The Blood He shed has destroyed guilt for you. So the grave is not your rightful resting place. In God's eyes, you are immaculately holy, and deserve no death. The tomb cannot hold you any more than it could hold your dear Lord Jesus.
Resurrection is yours now in this holy Word. You only wait to see it revealed in its fullness on the Last Day.
This is the visitation of God to you. When He speaks His Word to you, remember that this is not the weak platitudes of a weak man. Pay no attention to the earthen vessel who speaks in the place of Christ. As some in Christ's day took offense at the form of a servant that He took, so many will take offense at the feeble under-shepherds who preach the Word. If you fixate upon me, then you will miss the incredible wonder of the treasure that God speaks. Every syllable of this Gospel is an outpouring of life out of death.
When the pastor sits in your house or next to your hospital bed, pay no attention to how sociable he seems or whether his mannerisms are pleasing to you. Instead, listen eagerly for the Visitation of God. When He speaks, all else pales in comparison.
This same God keep you in faith until His final visitation, when you will hear His voice: "I say to you, arise!"
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
June 26, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 9: 51-62
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The message this morning is based on the Gospel reading from Luke 9. The passage begins with Jesus being rejected by an entire Samaritan Village because He was set toward Jerusalem. Their rejection of Him was principally based on racial grounds, but, ultimately they deemed the cost too high for them to put their trust in a Jew.
From there Jesus encounters a couple of people who are reluctant to follow Him because they have a few personal matters to take care of first. To them Jesus finally says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We live in a day and age in which many people have come to the conclusion that Christianity is simply a private affair and that they can live out their life as a Christian in isolation from other Christians and in anonymity before the world.
It would seem that many people today find deliverance in the Gospel, not because it sets them free from the wretchedness of their sin, but, because, as they see it, it sets them free from any demands that might be imposed on them by Christ and His Church! Theirs is the oft repeated mantra of the non-church going Christian. "I don't need to go to church to be a Christian." Besides, "surely God's love for me isn't based on something as petty as where I spend my time on Sunday mornings!"
Unfortunately, the general softness and the insatiable craze for comfort that is indicative of our culture leaves all of us reluctant to make sacrifices for the sake of our faith. Consequently, it isn't uncommon for us to hold certain values that are opposed, or, at least, ought to be opposed by our faith in general, and, more specifically by our being a member of a church that holds certain positions on the issues.
A man said to Jesus, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Certainly saying goodbye to one's family doesn't fall into the same category as the wannabe Christian who insists on holding a non-Scriptural view regarding life issues, or, marriage, but, the principal is the same. There is a cost to following Jesus. Sometimes the cost is minor. Other times the cost is quite severe.
Our tendency though is always to underestimate the cost of discipleship and conclude that we, of ourselves, have what is necessary to be faithful in our confession of the faith. Peter, you may recall, swore to Jesus that, even though everyone else might leave Him, he never would. Only a short time later his circumstances had changed and the pressure was on. Huddled around a warming fire in the courtyard of the High Priest, a woman blurted out, 'you are a disciple of Jesus, aren't you.' 'No, Peter said, I am not.' Three times Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter was wrong! He counted what he thought the cost would be for him to be a disciple of Jesus and he mistakenly thought he could pay the price.
With Peter in mind and with Jesus’ words to the man who wanted to say goodbye to his family, the overriding principle before us this morning regarding the cost of following Jesus is that none of us possess the power to do so by our own strength. In other words, if we are to count the cost and stand up to our culture’s continual decline into the abyss of humanism and relativism, we will need the conviction, the strength and courage that we simply don't possess on our own. We aren't smart enough, strong enough, or, even committed enough, to see our promise to follow Jesus through.
Kurios Christos (Christ is Lord) was the creed of a group of people in the Roman Empire in the late first century a.d. This Christian group was far more politically concerned than its simple faith formula might suggest. They lived in a time and place in which all loyal, patriotic citizens were required to assert once every year, “Kurios Caesar,” which means “Caesar—the State—is Lord.” So when these Christians pronounced their creed, “Kurios Christos,” they were not only saying “Christ is Lord,” but they were also saying, “the State—Caesar—is not Lord.” They were affirming what the Lord had told their Israelite forebears on Mount Sinai: “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Having measured the cost of standing for this One who was crucified for us, we conclude that the cost is just too high. So, as always, as disciples of Jesus, we stand before the world and before God, in continual need of forgiveness and grace. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Proclaim What He Has Done For You
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 19, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 8: 26 – 39
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Is there a spiritual difference between this demon-possessed man and an unbeliever? The answer is, “No.” There is no spiritual difference between these two. Both are spiritually dead, blind, and enemies of God.
Now obviously, one is greatly more visible before one’s eyes than the typical unbeliever, but both
are the same. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could see which ones were unbelievers by their very actions and say, “Ah, now there’s one we need to evangelize. It’s not so easy.
This is interesting because this historical account is remarkable in many ways. Jesus leaves the fairly Jewish region of Galilee and goes across the Sea of Galilee to an area that was decidedly pagan both in its culture and in its worship. Going across the Sea of Galilee to evangelize over there and to proclaim the Good News…we know it is a very pagan region because they kept pigs. That never would have been done in a Jewish region.
Now note the condition of the man whom Jesus comes upon. First off, he has no clothes. He has no home. He lives among the tombs and is driven into the desert by the demons. And he is not in his right mind because later in the text it says now he is in right mind. He is demon-possessed.
Merely by seeing the Lord Jesus does he bow down before Him and cry out both in shame and in fear. Now an interesting aspect of this text…When he bows down and cries out, there ensues a conversation and in fact, of all the situations of demons encountering Jesus, this is the longest conversation by far that’s recorded in Scripture. But after this great, long conversation, Jesus takes these unclean spirits, drives them into unclean animals, and sends them into an unclean death.
It is really what happens to the man afterwards. It is really what happened to you at the font. For if you are in agreement with the initial statement that spiritually, there is no difference between this demon-possessed man and an unbeliever, then we have a lot in common with this man.
But Jesus takes what is unclean and makes it clean. He takes you and me, who have no faith in God, who are not possessed by God, and cleanses us and makes us clean, driving out the unbelief and demon, and instilling Himself in that space and that place of emptiness and makes us clean in the waters of Holy Baptism.
Having cleansed us, He doesn’t leave us alone and wash His hands of us and say, “Okay, now you’re on your own. Go and do great things.” He brings great protection to you and me, for having cleansed us by making that which was unclean, clean, He clothes us, just as He clothes the man in the great historical account.
Paul talks in that epistle reading about this clothing or raiment that God alone gives. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ [have been clothed with Christ].” And having been clothed as you and I have been, after having been cleansed, we are protected by Christ’s righteousness.
He does not let us go then. He brings more support. He plants us in the field known as the Church, and having planted us in the field known as the Church, He knits us together into a family, whereas Paul says in the epistle reading, we are all sons of God through Christ Jesus. We are all heirs of the same heavenly Father. We’re not alone in this venture in which God has placed you. He supports us in this that He alone has brought upon us.
Having protected us and supporting us, He now commends us as He commended that man. The man wanted to follow Him and go about Galilee with Jesus and the disciples. Jesus says, “No, you stay here. You do the work of My heavenly Father here.”
And before we think, Oh, that’s easy. He just went about preaching and proclaiming God, you have to put yourself in this man’s shoes. He was well known in that region as a demon-possessed man. The people all kept their distance from him and now the very people who have kept their distance from him have heard about this same Lord Jesus Christ who changes this man’s heart, having slaughtered a whole herd of pigs.
They don’t want Him around. The text says the people of that region say to Jesus, “Get out of here. We don’t want you around.” They’re fearful of it. And that’s the kind of environment in which God has placed this demon-possessed man who now is in his right mind, clothed, clean, and enabled to proclaim. The region in which he has been placed, the people in whose lives he has been placed, and all that has been brought about by this event makes it very difficult for this man to proclaim…which is just like you.
God has placed you in among people who are fearful of the Lord Jesus and what He brings, just as this region was. For most of us who have grown up in the church, this does not cause us fear. This place causes great comfort. Jesus and what He brings to us does not put us at odds. It is embraced and received.
But for most of the people with whom you interact, who are not believers, it scares them. They are the ones who need to hear it the most and they are the ones whom God has given to you to tell what God has done for you.
When we think of God’s design, how He brought into this man’s life the Light of Life, and how He illumined his darkness…when you and I ponder what God has done for this man and where He placed this man, you and I cannot think that we were haphazardly placed where God has placed us. The people with whom we are interacting have been placed in our lives for your proclamation.
You are the one who has been made clean. You are the one who has been clothed. You are the one who has been made heir. You are the one who sits at His feet and you are instructed and are given words to speak. And you are also the one who has been commended by God to go forth.
Jesus, who comes and brings all these gifts with Him…You and I know we’ve received such glorious gifts, and if that’s not enough, you and I know we’ll receive it again when He gathers us again around His table to feed His hungry chicks, telling us to open wide our mouths that He may fill it. But then He commends us to go and proclaim that with which He has filled our mouths, with those people in your lives. No one else has been commended to proclaim to them what He has done for you, but just you.
It is Satan’s desire that you forget such glorious things that the Lord has done. And yet that is where God has placed us, for those people are the ones for whom He has designed your words, out of your mouth, that which has been filled by your God to proclaim. Go and do likewise as a son and daughter of the King. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Who Is This Who Even Forgives Sins?
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
June 12, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 7: 36 - 8:3
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Who is this who even forgives sins? It is the Prophet like Moses, who is not only a prophet, but is also a Priest forever and is the Heir to the Throne of heaven. He is Jacob’s ladder, upon whom the angels ascend and descend. He is the Suffering Servant, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Mercy Seat of the Lord that stands between us and the Law.
The significant thing about Jesus is not the miracles: the turning of water into wine, healing lepers, raising the dead, or stilling storms. It is not the reordering of creation back again from chaos to goodness. The really significant thing is the astonishing peace He brings to sinners ravished by the cruel world that seduced them. The significant thing is that He even forgives sins.
Simon the Pharisee is interested in Jesus. The penitent woman, who had found grace, acceptance, and mercy in Jesus, is not interested. She is in love. Having received so great a gift, even life itself, she cannot contain herself. Her joy overflows. Her tears wet the dusty, grimy feet not yet pierced, she wipes them with her hair, brushes them with her lips, and anoints them with oil. For, Oh how beautiful are the feet of Him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
The Good News those feet brought is that Our God reigns by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He rules over His children by the power of forgiveness in the Kingdom of Grace. His love declares them righteous. Thus the joy and peace of the sinful, penitent women who weeps at Jesus’ feet. We suspect that she is Mary from Magdala, from whom seven demons were cast out, who was faithful at the foot of the cross, and who first saw the risen Lord.
Her confession and penance are courageous, bold, and unashamed because her God reigns! She does not care what Simon, or anyone else, thinks of her. She knows what Christ thinks of her, esteeming her high enough to die for, and that by means of the most shameful and excruciating death known to man. Mary, by the Grace of God in Christ Jesus, is finished defending herself, looking out after herself, holding grudges and prejudices, fighting for everything she has. She no longer boasts or postures. She is not being provocative or temptuous. She is empty of bravado and pride and worry. Her heart is open. She is free. She lets go. She has heard the Shepherd’s Voice. She has found perfect joy and liberty in the wounds of the risen Lord. For that Voice has called her from the bondage to sin, from the seduction of death. It has found and restored her. It has cleansed and purified her. In Him, by Him, she is blameless and chaste. She is immaculate. Her heart and eyes overflow at the goodness that is the God whose feet catch her tears.
Simon the Pharisee doesn’t like it. It doesn’t fit with the kind of God Simon wants. It is too much, too extreme, too radical. He would rather have a more conventional, convenient, and comfortable god. He is embarrassed by Jesus and her. He becomes defensive and judgmental. What kind of prophet is this! He is so shocked, so afraid it might be the kind of Prophet that he needs.
And what of us? How often have we tried to apologize for God to modern Simons because God did not behave in ways that pleased them? How often have we been ashamed that God is so uncompromising, so unbending when it comes to “modern” issues: transgender bathrooms, abortion, marriage between one man and one woman? How have the Simons of our day chided us with their damning remarks that always seem to follow the line: “What kind of a god would allow. . . ” and then fill in your tragedy or injustice: the Holocaust, ISIS, police officers being randomly killed, the floods in Paris and Texas?
Repent. This is no game. And we are not in control. God does not answer to us. He is God. We are not. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. But He is good. His mercy does endure forever. He does seek and save, cleanse and restore, forgive and love. He does all things well. Ours is not to reason why. Ours is just to believe, to throw ourselves upon His mercy, to suffer the scolding and shame of Simon and the Pharisees that we would gain the love of Christ. For, mysterious and unexpected as it is, He cleanses and purifies sinners. He heals them by the power of His atoning, sacrificial, life-giving, life-preserving death and resurrection. He feeds and nourishes them with the fruit of that holy death: His Body and Blood. He names them with His Name. He welcomes and comforts them. He has freely forgiven.
What manner of God is this? It is the God of Mercy, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who satisfied His own wrath to rescue us from Hell. His Name is Jesus, for He saves His people. God be praised for Mary and all who kneel at the Lord’s feet asking forgiveness. God give us the strength and charity, the courage and conviction, to follow Mary’s example. But most of all, God be praised that He has even forgiven us. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
God Has Visited His People
McConnellsburg Lutheran Parish
Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 5, 2016
Gospel Text: Luke 7: 11-17
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Saint Luke writes that the people said, "God has visited His people." They said this after Christ raised the young man at Nain.
The Scriptures speak of visiting as drawing near to someone, especially in the sense of doing works of mercy on their behalf. Scripture never describes visiting as stopping by for a chat to make someone feel good. That is an entirely modern concept.
When God visits, He brings His presence near to do His mighty work among people. This is not necessarily to bring them gifts of grace. God can also visit with His wrath and punishment. For instance, in our Catechism we should be familiar with the phrase, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me." Here the word "visiting" is just about as opposite from a nice little social chat as you can get.
On occasions when we would expect the Scriptures to use the word "visit", they do not. Although we call Mary's stay with Elizabeth the Visitation, the text does not use any form of the word "visit" at all. When Jesus went to the house of Mary and Martha, the narrative never calls His stay a visit.
Also, the word "visit" is never used when pastors are given the duties of the holy ministry, nor did Jesus ever use the word "visit" when He instructed His disciples what they were to do. Yet visiting can be a beneficial thing. The Word calls visiting the sick and widows and orphans a good work. Again, we need to remember that our English use of the word is not the same as the Scriptural use. When a pastor visits, he is bringing the presence of God near in Word and Sacrament. That is the mighty work of God's visitation. We should magnify and yearn for this grace of God above all else.
With these things in mind, let us see what the text says about the Visitation of God to His people.
Christ came to the city of Nain and interrupted a funeral procession. He disrupted the proceedings by making them unnecessary. He robbed the people of the one thing they need for a funeral: a dead body.
Our Lord is the Reverser of death. The usual order as we see it is that we live, and then we die. But Christ says, "No, you were conceived and born dead, but I have made you alive," in other words, death first, then life.
At Nain, Christ revealed this new order. He did not comfort the widow who lost her only son by saying, "He is in a better place." No, Christ is not satisfied with providing sanctuary for disembodied spirits while bodies lay in the ground. So He has become the Resurrection and the Life for us. He raises bodies, as this sneak preview at Nain shows us.
Only resurrection fully reverses the curse of death. Only God can provide resurrection. He does it through His mighty Word. He declares, "I say to you, arise!" and even a dead body must obey His voice.
So the people of Nain rightly said, "God has visited His people." God in human flesh had brought the resurrection Word to His beloved people.
Today, Christ visits you. His words of Gospel are no less powerful. He raises you also by every Gospel syllable in His temple.
Your old Adam was born dead, and continues to be a stinking corpse of sin today. You need resurrection out of the grave that your sins have earned.
So God in the flesh visits you today and tells you, "Arise!" and His Word raises you. This is no mere spiritual resurrection. Christ is not satisfied with making your soul alive. No, He has planted the seed of immortality in you - spirit and body. Thus you shall be raised, even as He was raised.
This is true because He has conquered sin on the Cross. The death He died paid for all deaths. The Blood He shed has destroyed guilt for you. So the grave is not your rightful resting place. In God's eyes, you are immaculately holy, and deserve no death. The tomb cannot hold you any more than it could hold your dear Lord Jesus.
Resurrection is yours now in this holy Word. You only wait to see it revealed in its fullness on the Last Day.
This is the visitation of God to you. When He speaks His Word to you, remember that this is not the weak platitudes of a weak man. Pay no attention to the earthen vessel who speaks in the place of Christ. As some in Christ's day took offense at the form of a servant that He took, so many will take offense at the feeble under-shepherds who preach the Word. If you fixate upon me, then you will miss the incredible wonder of the treasure that God speaks. Every syllable of this Gospel is an outpouring of life out of death.
When the pastor sits in your house or next to your hospital bed, pay no attention to how sociable he seems or whether his mannerisms are pleasing to you. Instead, listen eagerly for the Visitation of God. When He speaks, all else pales in comparison.
This same God keep you in faith until His final visitation, when you will hear His voice: "I say to you, arise!"
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.