230702 Sermon on Matthew 10:34-42 (Pentecost 5) July 2, 2023

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In the Name of Jesus

The words that Jesus said in our Gospel reading sound strange: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace to the earth, but rather a sword. I have come to set a son against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” These words sound strange. How can we understand them?

The context is important. Matthew chapter 10, which is where our reading came from, is when Jesus sent out his apostles to preach. He told them what they should preach. They should say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.” In last week’s sermon I talked about what that message meant. “Repent,” means that you should change your ways. “The kingdom of heaven drawing near” means that God is coming. He comes to reign and rule. There will be judgement. Let the sinner sin no more, for we shall all be accountable to God for what we have done.

Already you can maybe see how this message would be opposed so as to cause division. People don’t like to be criticized. If you had done something that you wanted to do, and if I were to say to you, “You shouldn’t have done that!” You’d resent it. Maybe you’d say within yourself, “Who are you to judge? What, are you one of those ‘holier than thou’ people? Mind your own business!”

It’s amazing how deeply seated this attitude is. You can see it in three year olds. You see it in twelve year olds. You see it in eighty year olds. Our sinful flesh has this proud trait in it, which hates to be humbled and put to shame. No matter how sanctified a Christian might be, this trait is always there, ready to lash out against anyone who might suggest that you’ve done anything wrong.

So already you can see how division could happen with the apostles’ message. We don’t want to change. But there is another way that Jesus’s message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” can cause even profounder divisions. It has to do with the way that we all construct meaning for our lives. Everybody has his or her own understanding of what life is all about. One might believe that life is for the purpose of accumulating wealth. Too much is never enough. Never give. Always only take.

Another might believe that what is most important about life is family. Family comes first. Often a certain look for the family is what is really meant. You have to have the perfect wedding. You have to have the perfect childhood. You have to be the perfect grandparents. Make the perfect memories, and make sure that you have the perfect pictures to prove it.

Another might believe that life is for the purpose of advancing mankind towards greatness. With continued investment in our sciences and technologies we can interface our brains with computers. Then, when our bodies wear out we can upload our consciousness to the cloud. We can live forever in some electronic form. This is but one of many such dreams that very talented people are working on.

Everybody has his or her own version of what life is for. Each seems to be tailored to what the person likes best, or is best at. These visions of what life is for are very serious. One’s view of what life is all about takes up that person’s money, labor, devotion, dreams of grandeur.

But then Christ the King comes. The kingdom of heaven draws near. And this kingdom of God claims absolute supremacy for itself. Every other view of life must bow before it. There is only one God, and there is only one Lord. The meaning of life is what you know from the Creed. God has made you and all creatures. God has redeemed you. The Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

When the kingdom of God comes, when Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead, then it won’t matter how advanced technology has become. It won’t matter if photo albums are filled with precious memories. It won’t matter how much wealth or how many computers and how many robots and how many gallons of oil we have managed to burn. Vastly more impressive things like the sun and the moon will even go wonky. There is no ruler, power, authority, or principality that will not be put under Jesus’s feet. Paul says every high and exalted thing must be torn down and be brought into submission to Christ. At the Name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Does this vision of what life is all about sound ruthless? It doesn’t just sound ruthless, it is ruthless. God is unbelievably serious about the 1^st commandment: “You shall have no other gods.” How often do you think about that commandment? Not too often? And yet nobody escapes this commandment. God made you. He won’t share you with others. He says, “Behold, I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” That means that he won’t share you with any other meaning that might get constructed about life.

The Lord your God is a jealous God, but let us rightly understand that jealousy. This is not the jealousy of some petty tyrant. God’s jealousy is the jealousy of a lover. The book of the Bible called Song of Songs talks about God’s love for his church. Isaiah and Paul talk about God as a great lover too. God is a lover who ruthlessly seeks out his beloved. God woos, and courts, and loves his beloved. He’s downright obsessed. You are his, and he wants you.

And to have you, he sends his only begotten Son into the flesh. His perfect Son, whom he loves, who’s perfectly loveable, this perfect treasure who is worth more 10,000 worlds all heaped together, this Son comes in such a way where he becomes sin for us. He becomes a worm and no man, scorned by mankind and despised by all the people. God gives him into death, so that by his blood you may be presented before him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

God, this great adventurer, is not some apathetic bean-counter in the skies. God is the profoundest and activest lover there ever was. If we sold all we had so as to buy this pearl of great price, we would by no means be disappointed with what we ended up with.

But despite everything I have said to you about the greatness of God’s kingdom, there will still be those who reject this kingdom of heaven. The reasons for rejecting the kingdom of heaven vary and are as numerous as there are people. One will reject the kingdom of heaven because he wants to hold on to all of his money and property. You perhaps remember Jesus’s story of the rich man and Lazarus?

Another will reject the kingdom of heaven because she can’t stand the thought that a son or daughter is condemned through unbelief. Jesus really means it when he says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” To love the created thing or the creature more than you love the One who did the creating is not allowed.

And yet, when I say this, I am not speaking as though this is just somebody else’s problem. The first commandment is our greatest problem too. We love the created thing rather than the Creator. What pulls us away from our devotion to him? What pulls us away from church? Isn’t it either the fun that we might attain for ourselves elsewhere? Or maybe there’s a school event, a sporting event, or work. And these are very important for the meaning we want to construct for our lives.

We have our Creator’s commandments, but we don’t want to change. We’re not so sure that we have to, first of all. Maybe we can get by without needing to. Plus we’re not so sure that God is always right with what he says. He’s maybe a little old fashioned? So we, the creature, will believe and act according to our own lights. It’s plain to see that we know how to despise the kingdom of God as well as anybody?

So when we hear from Jesus that he has come, not to bring peace but a sword, we should not think that he is just talking about horrible villains in far away places who hunt down Christians. The villains are much closer to home. “Your enemies,” Jesus says, “will be those under your own roof.” Maybe you can recognize the villain that is in your own heart. We shouldn’t talk about the kingdom of God only needing to come for other people, because, you see, we’re fine. We need it for ourselves. So, as we pray so often, “Thy kingdom come.”

The kingdom of God is such that he does not set out to exclude people. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” God wants all people to repent, come to a knowledge of the truth, and be saved.

But God also isn’t going to be embarrassed if people reject him because they love other inferior things more than they love him. Nobody is going to hurt God’s feelings by rejecting him. He has better things to do than to feel sorry for people who for whatever reason hate him and his love. He is the great lover. How could any great lover be derailed from pursuing his beloved by the bitter, sour faces of onlookers?

So we have this wonderful apostolic message before us today, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” My advice to you is that you join in on this glorious romp of our Lord Jesus’s. There’s no greater adventure in the cosmos than living under him in his kingdom and serving him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. Lots of people can’t see this adventure. It is thoroughly hidden now, only to be more fully revealed in the last times. But it is as real and true as Jesus’s resurrection from the dead.

But if you don’t want to join in, then there’s only sad news for you. There’s no stopping this kingdom of God, even if you rage and fume like the devil so as to kill Christians left and right. It won’t do you any good! As Luther says in 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.” God wins. Amen.

We stand to sing the offertory.

230625 Sermon on Matthew 10:21-33 (Pentecost 4) June 25, 2023

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“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Our Gospel reading last week, our Gospel reading this week, and the reading that you will hear next week, is all from the same section. It is from when Jesus sent out his 12 apostles. He told them what they were supposed to do. They should tell people that the kingdom of heaven had drawn near. The kingdom of heaven has at its core the word kingdom. With kingdoms there is reigning and ruling. So with the kingdom of heaven drawing near that is another way of saying that the reigning and ruling of God is near.

That could be good news or bad news depending on what you think of the reigning and ruling of God. If you want God to come and rule over everything, then that message is good news. If you don’t want God and his ways to be uppermost, then this would be like hearing that a very powerful enemy was coming to get you.

This message that the apostles were given to preach was not unprecedented. It is very similar to the message that Jesus himself preached and John the Baptist preached. Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” John the Baptist preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” They all said, “Repent,” which means, “Change your ways.” All people everywhere must change their ways. You must change your ways because you are not holy and perfect. God is coming.

But not everybody wants to change their ways. That’s an understatement, actually. The truth is that nobody wants to change their ways. The very reason why we have the ways that we have is because we like our ways. Nobody has to hold us down with our arms tied behind our backs so that we forget to pray. Nobody has to force us to roll our eyes at our parents. Nobody has to punish us and whip us so that we are forced to look at dirty things or gladly hear and learn dirty things with the latest dirty gossip. We do these things precisely because we want to do them. Nobody forces us. We even usually know what’s right and wrong, but that doesn’t always stop us, especially if no one is looking or if nobody will ever find out. We do what’s wrong because that is exactly what we want to do.

True Christian and apostolic preaching fights against what we want to do. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is a declaration of war. The kingdom of heaven is opposed to all evil, no matter where it might be found. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” is the most serious declaration of war that has ever been spoken, cosmic in its proportions.

The declaration of war is so serious that Jesus even says outrageous stuff like: “Go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor, then come, and follow me.” Or, on another occasion he says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

The extremeness of statements like these (and there are more I could give you, by the way), the extremeness of statements like these shows how dire the situation is. Take what Jesus says about money. What good can millions or billions do you if all is coming to an end? Or take what he says about your body. What good can your eye or your other members do you if you should be cast into hell? From hell you might wish from the bottom of your heart that you had torn your eye out, that you had cut your hand off. God is coming. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

There were some more extreme statements that you heard in our Gospel reading. I’m sure you noticed them. “Brother will hand over brother. A father will hand over his child. Children will rise up against their parents so that they are killed.” Jesus says that this kind of thing is going to happen as a side effect of preaching the good news that Our Father who art in heaven’s kingdom is coming. Households will be divided. The closest social bonds will be broken.

Jesus says it. It’s all there black on white. But if we are being honest, I think this all sounds quite strange to us. Really? Families divided? People handed over to be killed? Isn’t this all too overheated? Isn’t the situation much more mundane?

I can understand folks thinking that way. It’s quite common. People don’t think that religion is very important. A myriad of things seems more important. Plus, even in churches—those places where you’d expect Christianity to be taken seriously—it isn’t too hard to find churches and preachers that promote an unserious Christianity. Don’t get to upset about anything.

And I’m not talking just about other church bodies. I’m also talking about our own circles. It’s not hard to find promoters of Christianity as a kind of side light to one’s life, as a hobby, as fundamentally optional. Their preaching can sound pretty good too. It might be a little boring, but it does at least have this saving grace: It sounds a lot more reasonable than Jesus’s teaching. No extreme statements. They don’t see preaching as a declaration of war against evil no matter where the evil might be found. For them, the customer is always right. You won’t have to quit doing what you want. You should do whatever would make you happy. After all, doesn’t the good book say God wants you to be happy? Sounds plausible enough.

But misleading people in spiritual things is the worst possible breaking of all of God’s commandments. It’s the worst because misleading people with spiritual things not only affects them in this life, but eternally. Any preacher can say easily enough that this or that is not a sin to make people happy. A church can just mimic whatever their chosen audience might want to hear, whether they might be targeting a liberal audience or a conservative audience. But let’s not forget what this is all about. Neither liberalism nor conservatism will do anything for you when you stand before God in the judgement. If a pastor says that this is that is not a sin, that you can do what you want, even though it is against God’s Law, that pastor’s reassurance won’t do anything to stave off God’s righteous judgement. You are responsible.

What’s helpful is Jesus’s preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” What’s helpful is Jesus’s preaching even if his preaching sounds to you unreasonable or implausible. With Jesus’s preaching of the Gospel comes the Holy Spirit—and that’s no small matter. The Holy Spirit convinces us to believe that God is well pleased with us for Jesus’s sake. The Holy Spirit fights against our sinful flesh so that we do not always helplessly do whatever our sinful desires dictate, but we begin to live a life of righteousness. God is the one who takes hold of our will instead of being helplessly ridden by the devil from one evil to another until he rides us all the way down to his intended destination in hell.

When Jesus declares war against evil—including, especially, the evil in ourselves—this is God’s reigning and ruling. What is amazing about God’s reigning and ruling is that he doesn’t simply destroy us or obliterate us—evil though we are. He redeems us so that we may live and not die. God’s reigning and ruling is for our benefit, even as he crucifies us together with Christ. The more God takes over the better. The more that what we want is set aside, and what God wants is worked within us, the better.

God’s reigning and ruling is what is most important. It’s at the heart of the Gospel. God’s reigning and ruling is why Jesus says two times in our reading, “Do not be afraid,” even though he says stuff that probably was frightening to you if you were paying attention and believing what Jesus was saying. After all, Jesus says that divisions will take place all the way down to those who live under our own roof—and that these divisions can even be deadly. And yet Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” The only reason why a person is able not to be afraid in otherwise very frightening situations is because God is in control.

This is of great comfort if you have the courage to accept it. When the apostles went out to preach God’s declaration of war against evil, God was in control. And when they were unjustly punished and denounced as evildoers, God was in control.

This is applicable to the preaching of the Gospel that has been given to us to do in our times too. It is enough for a disciple to be like his master. So we must simply speak the things Jesus has given us to speak. What he has given us to speak might not always sound nice. What he has given us to speak might not always appear as though it is going to work. It will work, though, because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. What Jesus speaks truly is helpful. If we believe him, take up our cross and follow him, then we will find that we can stand in God’s judgement. The reigning and ruling of God will make it so.

Of all possible things that could ever possibly happen, there is nothing more profound or good than this reigning and ruling of God in the souls of those who hear Jesus speak. Eternal life breaks in to this sin-sick, loveless world with the preaching of the Gospel. If it meets opposition, so what? If it is opposed even within ourselves, by our flesh, should we really be surprised? We, who are evil, are blessed by Jesus, who is good. Do you really think that this is something that should be easy?

Jesus tells us beforehand in our reading that it won’t be, but that’s alright. God will prevail.

Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

230611 Sermon on Matthew 9:9-13 (Pentecost 2 Proper 5A) June 11, 2023

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Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

Are you sick? It’s not easy to say “Yes, I am sick.”

Let me illustrate. Sometimes pastors get asked to visit non-members who are terminally ill. I’ve made more than a few visits like that. I usually ask someone who is dying, regardless of membership, whether he or she believes that he or she is a poor, miserable sinner. You’re familiar with that language because we say that in church: “I, a poor, miserable sinner confess unto you…” When someone has never heard those words, or been absent for a long time, those words seem to strike them as being overly harsh. More than one such person has responded to my question by saying, “Yes, okay, I’m a sinner, but I’m not so sure about that poor and miserable part.” I appreciate these folks’ honesty. They are only saying what we all would probably say if we weren’t trained to say something different.

People usually aren’t afraid to admit that they are sinners in general. I’ve never met anyone who says that he or she is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. But everybody wants to believe the best about themselves too. “Ok, fine, I screwed up, but now I’m on the right track.”

Maybe sometimes we feel very strongly that we are poor, miserable sinners. That can happen when sin is hot and fresh and stinks to high heaven. But with the passage of time we can kind of forget about what we’ve done. Moss grows over the sin so that we can’t see it anymore.

Plus we can usually find some other poor schmucks who are worse off than we are. I haven’t murdered anyone. I haven’t smoked crack. I drag my butt out of bed so that I keep my job. Not everybody does that good. Plus, you might think, I go to church. That’s getting rarer and rarer these days. And not only have I gone to church, I go to the right church, thank you very much. My church is in the right synod. My church doesn’t do bad stuff like those other churches. So, come to think of it, I’m doing alright! I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect. But I can find a whole bunch of other people who are a lot poorer and more miserable than me!

This kind of reasoning doesn’t sound too bad. It doesn’t sound too bad, if, for no other reason, it is quite common. Nevertheless it reveals that we are much worse off than any mere murderer or drug addict. Justifying yourself by always being on the lookout for others whom you suppose to be worse than you is a very serious sin. It is a sin against the first commandment. You are your own justifier. You are your own God. Thus your sin is worse than the sins of those who might just be breaking the fifth, sixth, or seventh commandment. You believing in your own goodness and righteousness means you are spiritually sicker than those whom you might be judging.

You probably have a hard time believing that, and I can sympathize because I have my common sense and reasoning just like you. If I were to put one of you fine, upstanding citizens next to troubled soul and asked people to judge which is better, they would probably pick you every time.

So it was at Jesus’s time too though. One time Jesus told a group of fine, upstanding pharisees that tax collectors and prostitutes were going to enter the kingdom of God before they ever would. The pharisees were quite diligent, lawful people. If you put one of those fine upstanding church goers next to a thug or a lady of the night, which one would appear to be godlier? Common sense gives you the answer.

But Jesus means what he says when he says that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom of heaven before the pharisees. The outside might look as good and respectable as can be, but inwardly there can be the most devilish things—spiritual sins that common sense and reason are not so good at understanding. And there is nothing more devilish than pride. There is nothing more devilish than pointing, sneering, accusing, judging.

Something that we can see from our Gospel reading today is that Jesus is very different than us. Jesus is good and kind. He doesn’t point and sneer at the sinners. He doesn’t say, “Look how sick he is! Ack! How disgusting!”

Imagine if there were a doctor doing that—going from one room to the next in a hospital, pointing at the poor sick people and laughing at them. “Oh, how sick you are! Look how sick you are compared to me! How can you sit there and be so sick when I’m so well?” We would rightly wonder if such a physician were more profoundly sick than the patients whom he is supposed to be treating.

But Jesus is a good physician. He helps people who are sick. He isn’t disgusted by them or avoid them. He goes to Matthew and says, “Follow me,” even though Matthew was a notorious sinner. Jesus stays with some tax collectors and sinners at his house. He eats with them.

When we consider Jesus’s kind actions towards these folks it is important to know why Jesus did what he did. Jesus did not associate with these notorious sinners because he loved how tax collectors abused, manipulated, and cheated people. Jesus also doesn’t love how the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, or any of the other commandments are broken. Jesus doesn’t like any destructive and sinful things. Jesus is the enemy of these things and wants to set them free from them. So he forgave their sin. They were sick to death with unrighteousness. They were poor and miserable. Jesus made them well, giving them his own perfect righteousness.

The pharisees were concerned that Jesus was being too nice to these people who weren’t doing right and living right. That’s understandable from a certain perspective. The pharisees were concerned about the example that Jesus seemed to be setting. It might appear to some that Jesus didn’t seem care about sins. It was like Jesus was saying that sins didn’t matter. So, the Pharisees thought, Jesus should shun them and not have anything to do with them. Otherwise everybody is going to think that sinning doesn’t matter.

As I said, the pharisees’ line of reasoning would be valid from a certain perspective. If there were no cure for what ailed these people, then Jesus should probably stay away. Imagine a doctor who can’t help. It’s impossible to help. And yet he goes and pokes and prods, slices and dices—nothing good can come from that. In like manner, if there was nothing that Jesus could do for these spiritually sick people, then all that Jesus probably would accomplish is to desensitize folks to the seriousness of sin.

But Jesus is able to help these people who are sick. Jesus can help people who are very, very sick. They can be downright poor and miserable. In fact, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, your spiritual condition is so bad that you were “dead in your trespasses and sins…” Then he goes on, “But God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses.” Death is not an obstacle too great for our great physician.

If that is so, if Jesus is such a great physician that he gives life to sinners who are so bad that they are dead, then in the midst of sinners is exactly where this physician must be. The Christian Church is a spiritual hospital. Sick sinners belong here. If you don’t want to be a sinner, then you are in the wrong place, and have no business being with Jesus.

If there is one thing that I hope you take away from our Gospel reading today it is that your spiritual sickness is not an impediment to you being saved. In a way it’s true that sin doesn’t matter. Sin or the lack of sin isn’t why a single sinner will be saved. God is the justifier of the ungodly. You are not the justifier of yourself.

We can see this in our Gospel reading: Jesus called notorious Matthew, a veritable tax collector, to be his disciple. Jesus says very plainly, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Your salvation does not depend on you making yourself well. Your salvation depends on the skill and power of the physician. He simply says, “Follow me.” That is, “Listen to me. Believe my words.” The first task, and almost only task, that the Christian Church has is to speak Jesus’s words of forgiveness to poor, miserable sinners.

So let me conclude with the question with which I began: Are you sick? Usually we like to cheer people up. Politeness almost demands that we say, “You’re doing just fine. You’re getting better and stronger.” But we all know that being polite and being truthful are often not the same thing.

Although it might not be altogether polite, I hope that you feel worse about yourself than when you came in here today. I hope you see that your are poorer and more miserable. On the other hand, I hope that you see how good of a physician Jesus is. He is so skillful and mighty that he can even raise someone who is so sick that they are even dead. Maybe you weren’t thinking you were all the poor and miserable when you came here today, but maybe you also weren’t thinking how skillful and mighty Jesus is.

Following Jesus, clinging to him, is how we will receive eternal life. Jesus is how we will stand in the judgement and be welcomed into heaven instead of going to hell, which is what we all deserve. Jesus makes us well.

Now the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will surely do it.

230528 Sermon on Pentecost being a great Christian festival

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Today I would like to speak with you about why Pentecost is a great Christian festival. Pentecost is one of the three great Christian festivals. Christmas and Easter are the other two. Among these three, there is a tendency for Pentecost to be overshadowed. Every Christian knows the meaning and importance of Christmas. It’s when the Son of God was born as a baby boy. Every Christian knows the meaning and importance of Easter. It’s when the Son of God defeated death. Because he lives, those who believe in him will live also. Folks are probably not as aware of the meaning and importance of Pentecost.

So what is the meaning and importance of Pentecost? You heard about the events of Pentecost in our second reading. There was a mighty rushing wind. Something like tongues of flame appeared above the heads of the disciples. They were able to speak in such a way that people could understand them even though they spoke a different language. What they spoke about were the “mighty works of God.”

Then the Apostle Peter stood up before the crowd of Jews, many of whom were hostile to him and to Christ. At least some of those in the crowd had been involved in crucifying Jesus. Prior to Pentecost the disciples had been so afraid of these Jews that they had been hiding behind locked doors, and Peter had denied that he knew the Lord three times. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter and the other disciples speak plainly and courageously. They no longer fear what man can do to them, because they know that God is for them. Many of these disciples are going to keep on preaching that Jesus is Christ and Lord until they are eventually put to death for it.

You can see, therefore, that the Holy Spirit changes the disciples. He gives them faith that Jesus Christ is their Lord. He gives them love, joy, peace, and his other fruits. He gives them courage to say things that are true, good, and right, even though the powers of darkness gnash their teeth and start plotting their revenge.

So the meaning of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit is given to the disciples; he is given to the Christian Church. The importance of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit causes people to believe in Jesus as the almighty king who saves sinners. The Holy Spirit additionally gives Christians spiritual gifts.

Without Pentecost, and without the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’s work of salvation would lie in the dust. It would not be known. It would not be believed in. It would not spring forth into life and growth. The Holy Spirit causes life by applying what Jesus has done. The Holy Spirit brings to completion Jesus’s work of making us holy.

Because of its great importance, Pentecost deserves its place as one of the three great Christian festivals. It is just as important for our salvation as Christmas or Easter. And yet, despite my best efforts, I wouldn’t be surprised if I have failed to create any great love for this festival in you. There’s something about this festival that doesn’t capture the imagination like Christmas or Easter. Maybe it’s the stories and the customs. Maybe Pentecost just isn’t grand enough, impressive enough. After all, the main thing that Pentecost seems to accomplish is talking. Talking can be awfully boring.

So maybe if we were God we would do things differently. What if instead of causing the disciples to speak about Jesus as the Christ, as the great King, the Holy Spirit would make lightning come out of our fingertips? Or maybe he could make our eyes be like lasers, cutting through steel and stone. Then everyone in the world would be terribly impressed with us.

Or what if we could just have some of those miracles that we read about in the Bible? What if we could heal people? What if we could raise the dead? Or if all of this is too much trouble, what if we could just speak in tongues like they did on Pentecost? That sounds like it would be a lot more interesting than listening to a sermon like the one I am speaking to you today. It seems like these unusual things would make the church grow too. People might come from far and wide if we could drum up a little razzle dazzle instead of all this talking.

But all of this “I would do it differently if I were God” talk sounds familiar. I’d like to compare it to the complaining that the Israelites did in the wilderness. When God led them out of Egypt they eventually ran out of food so that they grew hungry. So each day God gave them their daily bread with the manna that would come with the morning dew. At first, they were happy enough with it. Eating manna was a lot better than starving to death. It didn’t taste too bad either. It was sweet and nutty. Each morning it came like clockwork. Eventually, though, they got sick of it. They actually say, “We loathe this worthless bread. If only we could go back to Egypt. Sure, we were slaves in Egypt, but at least we’d get a cucumber or some garlic every once in a while instead of always having this miserable manna.”

Whenever I read about the Israelites in the wilderness I am always struck by how we are just like them. If anything, though, we Christians are worse than them. The manna that we have as Christians is a much higher and better thing than what the Israelites ever had. Our manna is Jesus. Pentecost gives us Jesus.

Jesus speaks about how our bread as Christians is better than any manna that the Israelites ever ate. Jesus says to the Jews, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. I am the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.” Jesus then says, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Some of the Jews who were listening to Jesus grumbled at his teaching. Some of you might be inwardly grumbling too: “What is this mumbo jumbo? How can Jesus give his flesh for the life of the world? How does that even work?” But it is not hard to understand what Jesus is claiming. You might not agree with what Jesus is claiming or see how it is possible, but the words are clear. Jesus is greater, better, more life giving than the manna. Whoever eats of him has eternal life.

What Jesus is speaking about is the Gospel, the good news. This is what is extraordinary about Pentecost. These words about Jesus are what was spread abroad by the power of the Holy Spirit beginning at Pentecost. The Gospel is greater than any sign or miracle we might read about in the Bible. As Jesus says, he gives eternal life. This Gospel is among us.

And let me briefly mention the Sacraments which are also among us with the power of the Holy Spirit. We are given baptism. The Scriptures tell us that this baptism unites us with Christ. By this baptism we die with Christ and we rise with Christ. By this baptism we are born again by the water and the Spirit so that we may see the kingdom of God. Again, you might grumble inwardly and say, “What is this mumbo jumbo? How can water do such great things?” But that’s your problem. You aren’t believing his words. You aren’t appreciating what he says.

And on the night when Jesus was betrayed he gave us disciples his body and blood. He says, “This is my body which is given for you.” He says, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” I didn’t say those words. Jesus says them. Again you might inwardly groan and say, “I hate this worthless bread. Church is so boring. Communion only makes it longer. Where’s the razzle dazzle?” Such a reaction doesn’t surprise me because we are just like the Israelites. They, too, grumbled. They, too, failed to understand what God was doing. They, too, would have done things differently if they were God instead of the Lord.

Despite their faithlessness, though, God was faithful. Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I think we could apply those words to ourselves if we are at all lackluster about what is given to us at Pentecost. We know not what we do if we think Pentecost and the works of the Holy Spirit’s church are just words—just a bunch of talking. Sure, there is talking, but what magnificent talking it is if you will only believe it!

For example, Jesus says in our Gospel reading, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink! Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Wow. Again, in the portion of Scripture we were referencing earlier, Jesus says: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I abide in him.” Magnificent.

The only way that anyone can fail to appreciate these words or to regard them as worthless is through unbelief. Unfortunately, there is nothing that comes easier or more naturally to us than unbelief, just as it came so easily and naturally to the Israelites too. If I were God I’d have given up a long time ago and moved on, but God is long-suffering, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

God doesn’t change either. The manna that he kept sending down upon the Israelites day after day was just as sweet and nutty as it ever was regardless of whether the Israelites loved it or loathed it. So it is also with the work of the Holy Spirit, the greatness of Pentecost. It is just as forgiving, cleansing, healing, sanctifying, and eternal-life-giving as ever. It is not God or his promises that need to change. What needs to change is our faith in the stupendous things that God says and does through his Holy Spirit in his church with the Gospel.

There will always be those who will say, “We loathe this worthless food.” Not everybody was converted even on Pentecost as you heard. There were some there who said, “These disciples have had a little too much grape juice.” So it is also among us. It is not hard to find people who have so many other things that they would rather be doing than listening to a talk about Pentecost. They are so preoccupied with the cares, concerns and pleasures of life that the work of the Holy Spirit in his church is about the furthest thing from their minds.

May it not be so with you. Even if heaven and earth were to pass away, Jesus’s words will never pass away. They will always do what they promise. They will always bless those who believe in him.

230514 Sermon on better understanding how spiritual things work (Easter 6) May 14, 2023

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Sermon manuscript:

Being able to understand how things work is one of the special privileges of being a human being. We have been created differently. We have been created in the image of God. We understand lots of things.

And it is not just we who are living who have understood how things work. Generations before us have understood how things work too. For hundreds of years people have been writing down what they have learned about how things work. Each generation teaches the next. We’ve built up a vast amount of knowledge about how things work.

Understanding the truth about how things work has always proven to be a great blessing. If you have a job, no matter what job that might be, you’ve probably been taught how best to do things, and that is usually based on how things work. Farmers have learned how plants and animals work. Doctors have been taught how the body works. Mechanics have been taught how engines work. It is very beneficial to know how things work, and then to act accordingly.

But it is not just for our work-a-day lives that we learn how things work. We are taught how things work in every area of life, although these kinds of things might not be talked about as seriously or as carefully. So, for example, we’ve been taught how we can be happy. We’ve been taught what is acceptable behavior and what is unacceptable. We’ve been taught what life is for and what we should strive after.

These are, in fact, very religious topics. Let’s match up these things we’ve mentioned with the way that the Bible talks. We talk of being happy. The Bible talks about being blessed. We talk about what’s right and wrong, the Bible talks about being justified or being condemned. We talk about what life is for and what we should strive after. The Bible talks about the holiness of God.

The way that the Bible talks is often dismissed in our times as being unimportant or unknowable. Even Christians can’t agree about everything. How to be happy, what’s right and wrong, and so on—there’s a lot of debate about all that, and maybe it’s not true, and so on and so forth. There’s a tendency to throw up one’s hands.

Instead, what is really important is understanding how things work in those topics with which I began. It is our understanding of stuff like chemistry, hydraulics, electronics, etc., that has made our civilization as advanced as it is. Plus, if you understand how this so-called practical stuff works, then somebody will pay you for that. And that should make you happy, right?

So it’s assumed that this blessedness business just isn’t very practical. Therefore, we are prone to politely ignore anything that we don’t already know. Life is hard enough the way it is as we are trying to do our job, be entertained, and feel good about ourselves.

I suspect, therefore, that at least many of you might have run out of patience when you heard our Gospel reading being read. Jesus’s words won’t teach you how to have more money. They won’t teach you how to make technological advancements. “What’s the point then?” our flesh can’t help but ask. “If this talk won’t advance my bottom line or create more labor-saving devices for society, then it must be just a bunch of gobbledy-gook.”

I can understand why people might react that way if they don’t know how things work in this realm. I would probably have a similar reaction if I were to crack open a physics textbook: “What are all these letters and numbers doing? I can’t make heads or tails of this stuff.” But a physicist, who knows how physics works, is going to understand something of it.

In like manner we Christians should approach Jesus’s words. Jesus himself says in our reading, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If you don’t want to hear what Jesus teaches, if you think you know everything that you need to know already, if you think it’s all just a bunch of gobbledy-gook, guess what that’s saying about your supposed love of Jesus! You love Jesus, but you can’t be bothered to learn? You don’t like it when he talks unless he only talks in a way that you want him to talk? That’s quite the love that you’ve got there. Imagine if there were a physicist who never wanted to study physics. Or he only wanted to understand the physics according to what he already knew and understood. He probably wouldn’t be much of a physicist.

We Christians are called disciples. Another word for “disciple” is “student.” We are students—students of Jesus. Why? Because we believe that what he will teach us will make us happy. Some of what Jesus teaches us is easy; some of it, less so. The Bible even makes this distinction. The apostles speak about milk and about solid food. There’s a time for drinking milk. There’s a time for eating solid food. You can’t give solid food to a baby. On the other hand, you can’t forever keep feeding milk to people either. They would be weak and malnourished.

There has been a tendency among us to do just that, however. It is very common for people to refuse to see spiritual solid food as being necessary. That’s another way of saying that it is not necessary to grow. It is not necessary to study. But you should perceive that there’s something wrong here if you compare it to who we act with the other things in life. With other things in life we learn how they work, and we adjust our actions accordingly. Shouldn’t that also be true in this spiritual realm as well? When was the last time you learned something from Jesus and adjusted your actions accordingly?

And we pastors and teachers have been at fault too. We do not always love Jesus enough to treasure what he commands or to believe what he has promised. There is an occupational hazard for us pastors and teachers to rattle off the same old tired phrases. Nobody gets upset at old tired phrases. Nobody tends to repent or change their ways with tired old phrases either.

This is not good. It’s not good for anyone. Those who refuse to learn anything more than what they’ve always known and always assumed to be true are never going to feel at home with Jesus’s commandments. Many of the things that Jesus commands don’t sound too good or very advantageous when we first hear them. How does “Love your enemies,” sound to you? How does “Take the lowest spot,” sound to you? A recipe for success? Jesus gives a grand summation at one point: “If you wish to be my disciple, then deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” There’s nothing easier than ignoring or dismissing what we don’t want to understand. There’s also nothing more common.

But refusing to understand how things work, refusing to learn from Jesus, doesn’t do anybody any good. On the other hand, if we do learn from him, it will do us good and it will do good to other people. What Jesus teaches is good and true. It works! And we are in such need of it!

Despite what seems to be agreed upon as the most important and the sure-fire way for society to succeed, it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s working very well. Perhaps never before in this history of the world has there ever been so many riches accumulated as we now enjoy with all our advancements, but where’s the happiness? Jesus can teach you how to be happy, but it takes guts. Try following his commandments if you dare. You will be happy. Try them out!

But before you try them out, you probably first just need to learn what they are. I’m sure you’ve heard them before, but I’m not sure that we’ve actually listened to him. Which of you were listening intently to what Jesus said in our Gospel reading? I wouldn’t be surprised if, after a couple sentences, you kind of checked out. He went from one topic to another. He talked about asking the Father for the helper, the Spirit of truth. He said, “You know him, and he is with you and in you” and I wouldn’t be surprised if you just figured that this was all too difficult for you or too much work for you, and what good would it likely do you anyway?

We have been tricked. We have been tricked into thinking that what is really good, really beneficial, is to understand how things work so that we can make a living. This is deemed to be all-important. One’s relationship with God, one’s happiness, one’s sense of self, the meaning of life—these and similar things have been deemed unimportant. That means the vast majority of what the Bible teaches is unimportant. The Bible then just gets mined for inspirational sayings that fit in with how we already think about being happy.

So here is my recommendation for the next time you come across some Scripture that you don’t immediately understand. Don’t ignore it. Don’t let it pass through one ear and out the other.

If anything, you should have the opposite reaction. Instead of lazily dismissing it, you should perk up your ears. Here you might be learning something about how things work when it comes to happiness, to the meaning of life, to your relationship with God and so on. These topics are not the sidelight of your life. They are the main thing. They are the eternal thing. Be patient and attentive. Be a student of Jesus. Pray for the Holy Spirit himself to teach you, which Jesus has promised to give those who ask him.

So, in closing, I’d like to do something we don’t usually do. Let’s ask for the Holy Spirit, and listen again to Jesus’s words. Pay attention to his many promises. Listen to what he says about the Holy Spirit. At the end of the reading he says something very important about you, the Father, and him. These are practical teachings about what is most important in life.

[Jesus said:] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

You might not have understood everything. That’s okay. The Holy Spirit will keep teaching you if you keep listening to Jesus’s words.

230430 What is an abundant life? (Easter 4) April 30, 2023

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Sermon manuscript:

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

What is an abundant life? This is a big question. What is an abundant life immediately brings up other questions: What is life for? How should we live our lives? Big questions like these have been asked and answered in countless ways. Philosophy and religion are two enormous fields of study that work with questions like these. Countless lifetimes could be spent reading the books that have been written to answer the questions of what life is for, how we should live it, what is an abundant life?

Jesus, though, seems to be quite certain despite all the books. You heard what he said: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus knows what life is. He knows how it is to be had abundantly. He is talking about these things when he says, for example, in our reading: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep… if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Jesus says similar things elsewhere. He says, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst.” In that same place he also says, “My flesh is true food. My blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Eating and drinking and living—this is to be had in Jesus. He says that he is the bread of life, he is the light of the world, he is the door, he is the resurrection and the life. Jesus doesn’t mumble when he says these things. He says them very plainly and with authority.

Although Jesus is very confident that he brings life, and even an abundant life, that doesn’t mean that everybody is going to believe him. We know this, if nothing else, just by reading the Gospels. That time that I just mentioned—where Jesus talked about his flesh as true food and his blood as true drink—that didn’t go over very well. Many thousands had been following him because he had fed 5,000 of them with bread, but when they heard Jesus say that he himself is the bread, that they should eat his flesh and drink his blood—all of a sudden they weren’t so interested anymore. “This is a hard saying,” they said, “who can accept it?” The falling away was so bad that Jesus even asked his disciples, “Are you going to go away too?” To which Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” We sing those words in the Alleluia before the Gospel reading.

So Jesus is clear and assertive. In him is life and abundant life. There’s your answer for what is the abundant life—it’s in Jesus. But you should not expect that Jesus’s words are going to be persuasive to everyone who hears them. Some are going to believe that Jesus is their Lord and the Christ—that in him is abundant life; some are not. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.” 

But even for those of us who hear his voice and want to follow him his words can be a little puzzling: “I am the door; I am the bread; I am the light”—what does stuff like that mean exactly? And when he says “I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly,” what does that mean? It’s hard because we already have our own ideas about what an abundant life should look like. Maybe all I need to do to find out what you believe is an abundant life is to ask you: “What do you want?”

I want to be popular. I want prestige. I want money. I want looks. I want never to get sick, never to grow old, never to die. I want to have the most and be the best—aren’t these and similar thoughts what we can’t help but think when we hear about abundant life?

If that’s what we think an abundant life is (and we probably do), then we can’t help but wonder how we can use Jesus to accomplish these plans of ours. But then, what Jesus says, doesn’t seem like it’s going to work at all for getting what we want (“I am the door. I am the bread of life,”—how can these things help?) so our mental cogs kind of get jammed up.

But there is an assumption here that we know what is good. We know what life is. We know how to have it abundantly. It’s not very profound or subtle. We can easily sum it up by saying that whatever is good for me must be the abundant life. What Jesus has in mind is something different. We can see that in Jesus’s cross.

In a way the cross looks like it is the very opposite of life. Suffering. Death. Who wants that? Think of Jesus even. He doesn’t seem to want it even. In his prayer in the garden he prayed that if it were possible that this cup would pass from him. Think about what actually happened though. By Jesus’s death and resurrection a new life dawned. Death and decay were defeated—something utterly unheard of. More life than we have ever known or ever can know—an abundance of life—arose. Jesus fell into the earth like a grain of wheat and died, but then he sprang up and bears much fruit.

Jesus’s words, “I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly,” are true, but we must learn almost a new vocabulary to understand what he means. He doesn’t mean that we should have everything and that everybody else should have nothing. He doesn’t mean that we should be the greatest and everybody else should be the least. Jesus turns these things on their heads.

One time the disciples were arguing with one another over which of them was the greatest. Jesus said to them: “In this world the kings and great men lord it over other people. It is not to be so among you. Those who are to be great among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a slave. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? It’s the one who sits at the table, not the one who is serving. But look at me! I am among you as one who serves.”

Or take another saying of Jesus. He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Whenever you see or hear that word “blessed” in the Scriptures, you should think of the word “happy.” Everybody wants to be happy right? So how can you be happy? Jesus says you will be happier when you give than when you receive. This is not just money. It’s also forgiveness, care, effort, and so on. You will be happier when you give than when you receive. Don’t we all have a lot to learn with just that one simple statement? Jesus says this so it must be true. You’ll be happier if you give than if you receive. That’s a promise that Jesus give us. “Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief!”

And that’s how it must go as we learn from the voice of the Good Shepherd what life and an abundant life is. It requires faith. Faith is required to believe that him being the bread of life, the door, the resurrection and the life, and so on is what we need the most. If we don’t feel like we need him to be the bread, the door, and so on, that’s because our feelings are wrong. Our desires are not directed towards life. What comes naturally to us is to live for ourselves and for what is best for us. We don’t care too much about others so long as we have as much as we can get for ourselves.

Christ and the way of life that Jesus brings about is very different from this. You can see this from our first two readings that we heard this morning.

In our reading from Acts you heard about the Christian congregation that came about right after Pentecost. The members sold their property, held it in common, and gave to whomever was in need. They did this, not because they were forced to, but because they were free. They were set free from the compulsion to always get more and be the best. They learned that it made them happier to give than to receive.

And notice how they received their food. It says they received simply their food “with glad and generous hearts.” They didn’t need Cadillacs and Ferraris to give them a bump. They had joy at the humble dinner table. The Lord opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing.

And notice the advice that Peter gives in our second reading. He says, “This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” It is good when you suffer unjustly, when you suffer patiently and with kindness. Whenever someone else is suffering unjustly we must immediately come to their aid. Love requires that we look out for our neighbor. But when it comes to us, it is a gracious thing if we endure sorrows even though we don’t deserve it. This means that you don’t have to get back at everyone who does you wrong. You can forgive them. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

So when Jesus talks the way that he does about life, and an abundant life, we should not have the expectation that we will immediately understand him perfectly. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and our ways are not his ways. What we think is good, especially what we think is good for ourselves, may very well not be good, because none of us are as loving as we should be.

Jesus’s understanding of an abundant life is full of love. It is full of God’s love toward us. We, as a consequence of God’s love toward us, are also to have love for one another.

It can be scary, it can be painful, it can be hard for us to love, to forgive, to suffer unjustly. Therefore it is good for us to listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd. Jesus always speaks the truth. So if he says we will be happier if we give than if we receive, we should believe that. We should believe that even if our feelings tell us something totally different.

I challenge you: Try it out. Try it out, with faith in our Good Shepherd’s words. It is the way to have life, and to have it abundantly.

230416 Sermon on John 20:19-23 (Easter 2) April 16, 2023

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Sermon manuscript:

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

These words were spoken on the evening of Easter day. In the morning the women had found the tomb empty. The angels told them that Jesus was not there because he had risen from the dead. Our reading tells us what happened the evening of Easter day. The disciples were gathered together in an upper room with the doors locked. Jesus appeared before them and spoke with them as you have heard.

The words that Jesus speaks are extremely important for us Christians. There are two things that are shown to us by his words. First, his words show us the meaning of what Jesus has accomplished during Holy Week. Second, his words show us what the Christian Church is for, and what it is to be engaged in. These are very important and practical things that every Christian should have a firm grasp of: What is the meaning of what Jesus accomplished during Holy Week, and what is the Christian Church supposed to be doing?

The meaning of what Jesus accomplished is shown by Jesus’s words: “Peace to you.” Maybe a more modern way of saying what Jesus said is, “Everything’s going to be alright.” When there is chaos, when there is danger, when there is pain and uncertainty, it is a very good thing to hear: “Everything’s going to be alright.”

It matters who says this, though. If somebody doesn’t understand what is going on, then them saying this isn’t very reassuring. But if Dad says, “Everything’s going to be alright,” or the policeman says, “everything’s going to be alright,” or the doctor says, “everything’s going to be alright”—someone with knowledge and authority—all of a sudden the troubles and fears look more manageable. Everything’s going to be alright.

In the case of Easter evening, the one who is speaking is Jesus. He is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. As he says in the last chapter of Matthew: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.” So if he says, “Peace to you,” or “Everything’s going to be alright,” you would do well to believe that. God is speaking.

So what is troubling you today? Has money been tight? Have relationships been strained? Are you depressed? Are you dying? Everything’s going to be alright. Maybe it’s not much comfort to hear just a pastor say that. What does a pastor know? I’ve known some pretty foolish pastors. But you should not take these words as though any mere human being is saying them, but that Jesus, the Son of God, is saying them—and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him.

And it’s clear that if I or any other Christian should say to you, “Peace to you,” or “Everything is going to be alright,” this is not just the Christian who is saying this. Jesus is saying this because he sent out his disciples to say this.

Listen again to what Jesus said: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” That means that a pastor’s or a Christian’s forgiveness is not just Joe Schmo’s forgiveness. They are doing what they’ve been told. They are but the instrument through whom Jesus speaks. A pastor’s forgiveness or a Christian’s forgiveness is not just their forgiveness. It’s God’s forgiveness.

Perhaps you noticed, though, that Jesus does not just speak about forgiving sins, he also speaks about not forgiving sins. He says: “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.” Who, then, should be told that they are forgiven, and who should be told that they are not forgiven?

Those who must be told that they are forgiven are those who repent of their sins, who want to change their ways and do better. On the other hand, those who are unrepentant, who do not want to change, must be told that they are not forgiven until they do repent.

This requires a good, sturdy backbone. I’ve never come across anyone who has gotten upset by being told that his or her sins are forgiven. I’ve experienced several people who have gotten very upset at being told they must repent and change their ways. This is not surprising, because we are all like that. Not a single one of us likes to be told that we are wrong, that we must change our ways.

If the goal of being a Christian was merely to have everyone like you and always to say nice things about you, then there’d be no sense in ever telling anyone to repent. But I think I can show you the necessity of speaking both words that Jesus gives us to speak by using an analogy.

Suppose that someone had a very bad fall and ended up with a very badly broken leg. The break is so bad that the bone is sticking out of the skin—really nasty. Where do you go when something like that happens? You go to the hospital.

But let’s say at this hospital they had all made it a rule that they should never, ever cause anybody any pain. You shouldn’t even hurt anyone’s feelings. So this guy comes into the hospital and the doctors and nurses take a look at him and they all say there’s nothing wrong! The patient says, “Look! My bone is sticking out of my leg.” These doctors and nurses say, “No, that’s just how some bones are. You have perfect health! Go, be happy and healthy!”

A person could die from medical treatment like that. The wound could become infected and so on. Those doctors and nurses are horrible at what they are supposed to be doing. They don’t know what they are doing. They’re completely confused about the mission that has been given to them.

But let’s make the analogy a little less dramatic. There’s a break again, but not as bad. The bone isn’t sticking out, but the broken bones aren’t lined up anymore, and they need to be set. Have you ever had to get a bone set? If the bones don’t match up they can never heal, or at least they can never heal very well. But to set the bone can be very difficult and painful. Tremendous force needs to be applied to the limb to bring the bone back into alignment. I’ve heard stories about people howling in pain as the doctors and nurses tug and pry at them to straighten out that which is crooked.

The Christian Church is meant to be a hospital for souls. Our goal is spiritual health, that is, a good relationship with God. The tools we have been given for this are plainly laid out for us in our Gospel reading. The newly resurrected Jesus tells his disciples that they have the Holy Spirit. Whosoever’s sins they forgive, they are forgiven; whosoever’s sins they retain, they are retained. It is by the preaching of God’s Law, of what is right and wrong, that sinners come to an awareness of their condition. Sometimes this takes some harsh speaking and unpleasant discipline. Maybe an unrepentant member of the congregation will no longer be able to take communion. Maybe a member could be removed from membership or excommunicated.

Actions like these are not done very often or very energetically these days because most people don’t believe that spiritual health or spiritual illness is real, or maybe such things are not seen as unimportant. Plus it takes a lot of faith in Jesus’s words. Jesus tells us how we should be Christians and act as the Christian Church, but our own ways seem like they would work better for making the church grow. Telling someone that his or her sins are withheld does not seem like it will grow a congregation.

But I’m afraid that we Christians have become like those silly doctors and nurses that I talked about. We are not clear about our mission, about what we should be doing. Our mission is to help people get to heaven. What good is a Christian congregation that doesn’t believe that sins are serious, that sinners, without repentance, will go to hell? What help can a congregation like that provide?

We must be a congregation that actually helps sinners instead of a congregation that tells lies to sinners. And here’s the amazing thing: the truth is actually on the side of us sinners. It is not our sins that bar us from heaven. Jesus has died and completely atoned for all sin. It is unrepentance and unbelief that bar us from heaven and leave us in our sins. The only way unrepentance and unbelief can be overcome is by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God with its retaining and forgiving of our sins. No project, no activity, no popularity, so special music—nothing that a congregation might try to do can substitute what Jesus gave us Christians to do on Easter evening.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

If we have the courage to follow Jesus’s words—if we forgive the sins of repentant sinners and withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent—if we have the courage to do this as a congregation then good must come to us. It has to come to us because we will be following Jesus’s words. We will be a true spiritual hospital, helping sinners to leave their sins behind and to find peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Stand to receive a blessing:

There is a peace that the world cannot give. This peace is yours in our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is going to be alright.