Monuments are not made of paper or wood. Monuments cannot be
made with things that quickly rot, otherwise the whole purpose of the monument
is nullified. Monuments are supposed to be long standing reminders so that we
do not forget something or someone who is important. They are not made with
perishable things, but with relatively imperishable things. They are made with
metal or stone so that they are not so quickly destroyed. When a monument is
put in place, it is hoped that the monument will last an indefinitely long
period of time and that the people of the coming generations will continue to
remember and appreciate the thing that is commemorated.
Making monuments is a way to try to overcome death and
decay. We are not made of stone or metal. We live seventy years, or by reason
of strength, eighty; but they are toil and trouble. We soon pass away and are
gone. We’d like to go on being remembered. Our family isn’t good enough,
either. Surely our children and grandchildren will remember us, but what about
our great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren? We’ll be lucky if they
even remember our names. Monuments are a way to try to conquer the
forgetfulness and apathy of people. It is a way to try to make a lasting mark.
All attempts at immortality, all attempts at cheating death
and decay, must necessarily end in failure. People forget us. Monuments
eventually become illegible or are thrown into the garbage or get covered over
by dirt. Archaeologists have only found a tiny fraction of monuments that the
people who made them thought would last forever. We do not last forever. Even
if we are only talking about some kind of ghostly, insubstantial immortality—where
we are remembered by the people who live on after we die. That, too, must end
in failure.
King David has quite a different perspective about the
nature of our life and death. He prays to God in Psalm 39:
Teach me to know my end and the
number of my days so that I may know how frail I am. You have made my days just
a few handbreadths long. My age is nothing before you. Truly, every man, even
when he is in his best and strongest state, is altogether vanity, is altogether
nothing. Truly, every man walks about and is no more substantial than a shadow.
We busy ourselves, but to no purpose. We heap up riches, but do not know who
will gather them.
It wouldn’t be hard to find people who would say that these
kinds of thoughts are defeatist, unwholesome, and a danger to society. “We
should be thinking about how we can make the world a better place. This depressing
talk takes away people’s ambition for making monuments of themselves. It’s a
good thing only a very small minority allows themselves to be subjected to this
abuse, otherwise the world would fall apart!” This is typical.
I think I’ve learned a little something about the way that
the devil, the god of this world, operates. His primary strategy is that we
should not have serious thoughts about our mortality even come up. It is to his
advantage that people are content to die, believing that all is well with
themselves and with the world and that their life was very special and will be
remembered. He wants everyone to believe that everybody goes to a better place.
What’s really important is that the world is making giant strides in the right
direction. This is the world’s standard, orthodox teaching that suppresses the
very different thoughts that are given to us in the Bible. The first strategy
of the devil is to keep us ignorant of what the Bible says in preference to an
eternal world that will always remember and value everyone. But, of course, we
know that this is a lie.
If this first strategy fails, and somehow the Bible’s
thoughts about the impermanence of this world comes out, then he turns to fear.
It is best for him if we never think these thoughts, but if we do, then he is
going to say that it is weird and kooky and dangerous to society. And in a way,
the devil has some truth on his side when he says this. The Christian message
most certainly is not that everybody should just go on making monuments for
themselves. As Paul says, every high and exalted thing is to be torn down and
brought into subjection to Christ. All the things that people are proud of, all
the things that people believe in, are to be exposed for the impotent idols
that they really are, so that we can believe in the truth of Jesus, which will
not disappoint us.
The devil is our enemy, and so we do well to know his
tactics and strategies. He prefers to keep us in the dark. He prefers to keep
us blind to our sin, to the true nature of our death, to God’s judgment, and
the possibility of going to hell. He wants all these things kept off the table,
for otherwise we might start to prepare to fight against these things. He’s got
us licked as we are in and of ourselves, and so he’d like to keep it that way.
If he doesn’t succeed in keeping us blind, if he doesn’t succeed in keeping us
living for this world only, then he will rage and fume. And he’s got plenty of
allies in the world (and even in our own flesh) who will join in. The
Christians who have been martyred in the past were killed because the society
was against them. They were seen as evildoers. The Christians were fighting
against things that people loved and believed in. That made people angry. They
preferred the darkness to the light, and so they tried to snuff out the light.
This is all bluff and bluster, though. We shouldn’t allow it
to make us turn tail and run. The devil cannot actually do anything to us that
is eternal so long as we do not believe his lies. Remember the last verse of “A
Mighty Fortress”: And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife—though
these all be gone, our victory has been won. The kingdom ours remaineth. Might
it hurt to lose your money? Might it hurt to lose your reputation? Might it
hurt to lose your child and spouse? Of course! But even if the devil should
take our earthly life, our victory has been won. The kingdom ours remaineth.
When we die as Christians we lose nothing. Rather, we gain everything. We
achieve victory over our flesh, the world, and the devil. We lose our mortality
and put on immortality. We join in communion with God and with Jesus whom he
has sent as our Savior.
The only truly fatal weapon that the devil has in his
arsenal is his lying. He actually does not possess any real hold on anybody.
Jesus redeemed us from him with his holy precious blood and his innocent
suffering and death. The truth is not on the devil’s side and he knows it. That
is why he fights against the truth ever being brought to light. If it should
ever be brought to light, he calls it names. He tries to make the lives of
those who believe in the truth miserable. This is childish and silly, but
that’s what the devil does. He works with what he has, and since he has no
claim on us, this is all he is left with.
Now let’s briefly take up our readings today in more detail.
In our epistle reading from 2 Peter we hear about the end of the world. The
world that once perished through water in the flood is being stored up for
fire. Not only will all the money and property of this world be destroyed in
the end, but even the elements will melt as they burn. No monuments will
remain. The only things left of this world will be God and the resurrected
bodies of all people who will be judged.
Both our Old Testament reading from Daniel as well as our
Gospel reading from Matthew deal with this judgment. Daniel receives a vision
of the end. All people are gathered. The books are opened. There is nothing
that can remain hidden anymore on that day. This is why this day will be awful
and the beginning of the fullness of hell for those who do not have a good
conscience towards God. All the things that we might think we get away with on
this earth, are not actually gotten away with.
Our only hope is to believe in the one whom Daniel tells us
about who is given dominion and a kingdom by the Ancient of Days. Ask ye, Who
is this? Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord, and there’s none other God.
Jesus’s dominion and kingdom is of grace and the forgiveness of sins. He does
not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. The only
way that anyone can be accounted as righteous before God is through the
sacrifice for sin that Jesus made for us on Good Friday. Jesus’s dominion and kingdom
is the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world that has the power to save
sinners from hell.
The Gospel reading is also about the judgment. The sheep go
to the right. The goats go to the left. The sheep inherit the kingdom that God
prepared for them from before time began. The goats depart into the eternal
fire that was prepared for the devil and all his angels. One facet of the final
judgment is given great prominence in Jesus’s teaching here. The determining
factor for whether someone is recognized as a sheep or a goat is the way that
the least of Jesus’s brothers are treated. Those who are Jesus’s brothers are
the ones who hear the word of God and believe and do it. That is to say, Jesus
is speaking here about Christians—not just Christians in name, but Christians
by conviction and public confession.
These are different than the silent masses. They open their
mouth. They speak uncomfortable truths. This marks them as enemies to the devil
and the world, his princedom. This means that Christians end up being badly
treated. They end up being rejected by family and friends. They might also lose
the food and drink and clothing. They might even be put in prison.
A question is then posed to each of us. This is the question
that will be asked at the final judgment, according to Jesus’s words: “What are
you going to do about it?” Are you going to sit idly by while those who speak
and promote the truth are being called names? Are you going to help them when
they lose their jobs or are rejected by their families? Are you going to
comfort them and visit them? Jesus says that insofar as you did it to the least
of Jesus’s disciples, you did it unto him. This is actually a high privilege.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do something for Jesus? Do it to those whom
the world rejects as foolish or dangerous or unsuccessful.
We have an overly romantic view of St. Paul and the other
apostles. We think that they went from triumph to triumph, converting the whole
world by the power of their preaching. When you actually read the book of Acts
and the epistles you get a very different picture. They only converted a small
number when you compare it to those who remained unconverted. The world most
certainly thought that they were foolish, dangerous, unsuccessful—and so they
had no problem putting them to death. Think of the intensity that is required
to put someone to death. That is what the apostles worked in these unbelievers
with their provocative preaching. But at the same time, there were sinners who
came to believe in Jesus rather than the greatness of this world. These are
children of God who will live in happiness and be honored forever. The
apostles’ preaching was certainly not vain.
As it was at the time of the apostles, so it is now. If
Christians just box the air and make a show of their Christianity, then nobody
is going to get upset. But if they start landing punches with their testimony,
then there is going to be a reaction. When that reaction comes, whose side will
you be on? The proof is in the pudding. It is quite easy to say that you are a
Christian. It is altogether different when your Christianity requires you to do
things that are not popular. The most important thing that happens in this old
world, that is so very ripe for judgment, is the preaching of the saving
Gospel. When people defy the devil and all his threats and courageously stand
together in preaching the Gospel, unbelievable good is done. On the other hand,
when we, like St. Peter, say: “I do not know the man,” we do irreparable, and
even eternal, harm.
It is hard, even impossible, to fight the devil and his
world on our own. “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss
effected.” If it were just up to us we all would do our part in fighting
against the kingdom of God either by our actions or by our inaction—trying to
save our own skin. But God does not leave us orphans. He gives us the Holy
Spirit so that we believe in Jesus and do not give way to fear. The devil has
no power, except for lying. The Holy Spirit teaches us the truth.
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