241225 Sermon on Jesus, the light, scattering the darkness (Christmas Day) December 25, 2024

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Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome. In our reading John puts it this way: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Again, Jesus is spoken of this way: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Here comes Jesus. Here comes the light.

One of the simple statements that the apostles use to describe a Christian is that a Christian has moved from darkness to the light. Peter encourages us to “proclaim the excellencies of God who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Paul says, “You formerly were of the darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.”

If the fruit of light is in everything that is good and right and true, then the deeds of darkness must be bad and wrong and false. An example of that was when Jesus was betrayed and arrested. One of the 12 did it. Judas had already been operating in the dark for some time. He kept the money for their little group, and he had been helping himself. He struck a deal with the chief priests and elders. He would lead them to Jesus so that they could arrest him, nice and quiet-like, when there was no one else around. Judas used an amazing sign. He would kiss Jesus when he greeted him. Then the soldier would know who to arrest.

Judas, with a band of soldiers and Jewish officials, came to Jesus either very late on Maundy Thursday, or, more likely, in the very early morning hours of Good Friday. He said, “Greetings teacher!” and he kissed Jesus, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” Then Jesus asked the officials and soldiers: “Why do you come out against me with clubs and swords? I have always been public with my teaching, and yet you didn’t seize me when I was out in the open.” Then Jesus said, “But this is your hour, and the power or authority of darkness.”

What happened there was bad and wrong and false. Jesus was betrayed by his friend. Jesus was rounded up in the middle of the night, when the multitudes of people who loved him were asleep. Jesus’s enemies didn’t care whether what they were doing was honorable or not. They just wanted to win.

Darkness has its advantages. If you want to impose your will without anyone getting in the way, then operating in secrecy and darkness is the way to go. Jesus was arrested when most people were still sleeping, and already by nine o’clock in the morning he was nailed to the cross. The powers that be engineered the whole thing so that it would be over before it even began. Everyone, including the disciples, thought that it was a done deal. The authorities had used darkness, yet again, and carried the day.

Paul characterizes the time that we live in as being a time of darkness. The story of history has largely been a story of darkness. One fellow gets the better of another fellow. Now he’s king. But today kings don’t hold the power anymore. The people who hold the power today are in business. By and large, the story of business is darkness too. Somebody figures out some clever way to get more from his employees or more from his customers or he sabotages his competitors. Then he uses his ill-gotten gains to buy off politicians who will pass laws that will further his empire. The rule he follows is always the same: He wants more for himself and less for others.

We are largely powerless against these powers and authorities. Never before have human beings had such ready access to information with the Internet and all, but who can know what is true and not true? There is information, disinformation, misinformation. The darkness is bad enough already, but it is only made worse when false lights and false christs come along and say, “Trust us. We’ll fix everything for you.”

Jesus Christ is the light of the world; the light no darkness can overcome. Jesus has come for judgement. Jesus says, “This is the judgement: The light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, otherwise he would be convicted of his evil deeds. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been worked in God.”

Here is the choice: The light or the darkness. Do you want God to prevail in Jesus Christ or do you want to do what you want to do under the cover of darkness? It seems like it should be an easy choice, but doing whatever we want is awfully enticing. It’s how we first learned to lie and operate in the darkness. If you good enough at that kind of thing, nobody else needs to know the truth. When the light comes, you can’t hide anymore. You’ll be convicted. You’ll lose the shiny, white façade and be revealed as a sinner.

That’s how it is, strangely enough, for those who have been converted. Those who believe in Christ, who believe in the light, are exposed by that very same light as being evil. Christians should not hide their sins. That’s the old strategy of fig leaves and bushes from the Garden of Eden that won’t get you very far with God. Instead we should plead guilty before God like we do when we confess our sins:

I am a poor, miserable sinner. I have sinned with my mind, by the words I have spoken, and by the deeds that I have done. I deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment. That is what the light reveals about me.

But the light is not merely like a searchlight or an interrogation light. It does not solely expose what is hidden or evil and to do nothing more about it. The light of Christ exposes, but it also heals and forgives. It obliterates the darkness so that it is no more. We are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

Jesus says as much in the same section that I quoted from earlier. He says: “God loved the world in this way, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.”

God has sent his Son. He is the light. This light will save those who are in darkness, but we cannot remain in darkness. If we prefer the darkness to the light, then we are on the wrong side. Jesus heals. He’s also coming to judge. The powers that be in this present age of darkness believe that they are on top of the world. They believe that they can do anything they want whether their actions be honorable or dishonorable. But their time is limited. They better hope that they can live long lives, because that is all the good times they will have.

What is much more prudent is to embrace Jesus, the light and life of men, who has come into the world. As Paul encourages us, we should cast away the works of darkness. Whatever is bad, wrong, and false will not help us in the long run. Grace, mercy, and truth come from Christ. They radiate out from him like light from its source. You have something better with Jesus. Jesus will win. The light will scatter the darkness. 

241222 Sermon on why Elizabeth and Mary are happy (Advent 4) December 22, 2024

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Our Gospel reading is appropriate as we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Our Gospel reading describes something that happened not long before Jesus was born. Mary, Jesus’s mother, visited her relative, Elizabeth. Both Mary and Elizabeth were pregnant with very special babies. Mary had been visited by the angel Gabriel who told her that she would conceive and bear a son. She was to name him Jesus because he would be the Savior.

Elizabeth’s pregnancy was also unusual. Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah were old and had not been given any children. Zechariah had also been visited by Gabriel who told him that he and his wife would conceive in their old age. The child was to be named John. Zechariah and Elizabeth did conceive about six months before Gabriel went to Mary.

So in our reading today Mary was pregnant with Jesus and Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist. Luke says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She is filled with joy, and she speaks several blessings. She blesses Mary:  “Blessed are you among women.” She blesses Jesus: “Blessed is the fruit of Mary’s womb.” She blesses herself. She rhetorically asks: “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Her thoughts turn to her son. She comments on how her baby leaped for joy at Mary’s greeting.

Finally, Elizabeth blesses Mary for her faith. Perhaps Elizabeth’s thoughts turned to what it might have been like when Mary heard Gabriel’s message. Elizabeth said, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” Not every woman would believe that she could conceive while remaining a virgin simply because the Lord said so. Mary did. She said to God: “Let it be done to me according to your Word.”

Elizabeth moves from one blessing to the next. Everyone is blessed. All are exceedingly happy. What I’d like to consider today is why they are so happy. I’d also like to pay attention to our own happiness. Happiness is important to us. We all would like to be happy. So, in fact, before we consider what makes these women happy, I think it would be beneficial first to consider what makes us happy. We can then be on the lookout for what might be different with these women.

There are a lot of things that can make us happy. Hunger being satisfied with food makes us happy; thirst, with drink. We have many desires and needs. We want and need affection, comfort, entertainment. We like to be right. We like to be the best. We like making progress. Getting richer is better than getting poorer. Getting stronger is better than getting weaker. There are so many ways to be happy, and we like them all. The more, the better; the more, the happier.

Now let’s consider these women’s happiness. What makes them happy doesn’t exactly fit the pattern we’ve sketched out. They aren’t getting stronger, richer, better. Elizabeth’s life didn’t get easier with her pregnancy in old age. Mary’s life was thrown into turmoil to a much greater degree. Mary became pregnant when she wasn’t married. Everyone would have assumed that the pregnancy was the result of fornication. Joseph, her fiancé, had no other choice but to assume that she had been unfaithful. An angel had to intervene to tell him otherwise. Mary would have had a hard time of it because most would not believe what sounds like a far-fetched story—that Mary was pregnant with the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Consider, additionally, the several clues about Mary and Joseph’s poverty and powerlessness. When they came to Bethlehem they couldn’t get a room. If they had more money, they could have compelled someone to provide for them. Later, when the sacrifices were made in the Temple, the cheaper option of two pigeons was offered instead of the more expensive lamb. These clues indicate that Mary and Joseph were poor. The baby was born into poverty: “No crib for a bed” to lay down his sweet head.

If we place ourselves into Mary’s shoes, we can see how she lacked things that we regard as essential for happiness. So how can she be happy? How can Elizabeth be happy for her when trouble is on every side? She even makes the audacious claim that Mary is blessed over and above all others. The only explanation is that they were focused on things that aren’t often looked to for happiness. We might sum up all that they were feeling by saying: They were happy because the kingdom of God was coming upon the earth.

What is the kingdom of God, and why is it a good thing? We can’t hardly talk about a kingdom without talking about the king. Something you might keep an ear open for the next couple days is how often Christmas carols will sing about Jesus being the king, or the Lord: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come.” Or: “Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn king.” The good news of great joy that is for all people is, as the angel declared on Christmas night, that unto us a Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord.

The work of Christ the King in his kingdom is made plain in the Gospels. Jesus did several things. He taught the Word of God that has always been calling people away from evil, away from the devil, towards that which is good and true—life giving and life protecting. Jesus taught people to believe in the only true God instead of the various false gods. Jesus acted with power, performing miracles. His many cleansings, healings, and restorations to life were a foreshadowing of the greater work he will do when he resurrects the dead.

Over and above all these things, but also at the very root of them, Jesus suffered and died. As our epistle reading mentions, he offered his body once for all. My favorite line of all the Christmas carols is the one where it says: “Nails, spear shall piece him through. The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the Son of Mary.” The king sacrificed himself. The result is forgiveness, righteousness, and life for everyone.

So if we return to the happiness and joy of Elizabeth and Mary, we can see that it is outside of them. The kingdom of God is coming. Happiness depends on the king, not on themselves. So long as their faith in this king doesn’t fail, nothing can take their happiness away. Whatever sadnesses might come, they cannot undo the march of progress the kingdom of God will make.

You can see this in both their lives. Both Elizabeth’s and Mary’s unborn baby boys would eventually be killed at the hands of evil men. Simeon prophesied to Mary in the temple: “A sword will pass through your heart.” Mary mourned at the death of her Son, but God will turn all mourning into gladness. Jesus died, but then he rose. Then his kingdom only entered a new phase, the song swelled to an even higher pitch. Joy will grow, even if, in the meantime, we pass through the valley of the shadow of death.

This joy is available to each and every one of you. All that is needed is to be like Elizabeth and Mary: Believe in Jesus’s kingdom. To believe is not some great challenge or a puzzle you have to figure out. It is only a matter of believing the testimony that is given about Jesus, and testimonies abound! Elizabeth gave her testimony in our reading. The angel gave his testimony on Christmas night. The apostles, evangelists, prophets, prophetesses, deacons, and deaconesses all gave their testimony, and they all say the same thing: Jesus Christ is Lord. He does all things well. He sets all things right.

This is good news, which comes to us from the outside. It does not place any demands upon us. It does not require any preparation. Think of all those people in the Gospels whom Jesus helped. Did the blind man have to start improving himself before Jesus would give him sight? No. The blind man remained as blind as a bat. The deaf man remained as deaf as a stone, until Jesus made them otherwise. The only thing that happened to them prior to their healings was that they were given hope in Jesus the king by the good news that was told them.

The same thing is true for us today. We have problems. We might have a bad reputation. We might be poor. We might be blind, deaf, lame, demon possessed. Believe in Jesus.

And let’s apply this to sin. One of the most frustrating parts about being a Christian is that we end up falling into sin, even though we really don’t want to—or at least a part of us doesn’t want to. What do we do with that? We almost can’t help thinking that we must clean ourselves up in order to become acceptable before God. That seems right. To do otherwise can make it seem as though sin doesn’t matter. We have to take our sin very seriously.

These are not altogether bad thoughts, but they can make us lose sight of the one thing that makes all the difference—the one thing that makes us happy with a happiness that no one can take away: Jesus is the king. He saves sinners. He baptizes you, you don’t baptize yourself. He forgives you, you don’t forgive yourself. The kingdom of God is on a roll with the preaching of the Word that Jesus is the Savior. What is asked of us is not a great burden: Stick with the king. Listen to his Word. Jesus will do everything he has promised. Jesus is going to win.

So you, like Elizabeth and Mary, may fully embrace the goodness of the kingdom of God that made them so happy that blessings were flying all over the place. The kingdom of God is the best, because Jesus is the best. No matter what is going on, no matter how disappointed you might be in yourself or in others, Jesus Christ is Lord.

“Come Thou long-expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free.” Amen.

241215 Sermon on our reluctance to hate sin (Advent 3) December 15, 2024

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I remember being very distressed by splinters when I was a kid. Splinters are not terribly serious. You won’t die from having a splinter. They do cause a bit of discomfort, but what’s far worse, is that the splinter has to come out. To get the splinter out, the finger must be turned over to an adult. What might the adult do? Armed with a needle or tweezers, the adult must dig around in there until the splinter comes out. I remember asking, “Can’t we just leave the splinter in there?” I didn’t like how the splinter ached, but I more disliked the much sharper pain involved with getting it out.

I think this is helpful for what can happen to us spiritually. Just as it is by no means unusual that a kid gets a splinter while playing, it is very common to fall into sin. Just as a kid regrets doing what he was doing whereby he got the splinter, so also a person can regret having sinned. The advantage or the pleasure of the sin soon passes, and we are left with a dull ache. We’ve disappointed ourselves. We thought that we were better than that. Maybe we’d promised ourselves, “Never again!” and now look at what we’ve done. What a shame.

But besides that dull ache of disappointment, the splinter of sin doesn’t hurt too badly. It’s nothing compared to the much sharper pain of being caught. That is very embarrassing. So our natural reaction is to try to manage sin on our own. We’ll cover it up. We’ll lie about it if we have to. Eventually, with the passage of enough time, we’ll forget about it—and that’s a relief. If we manage to pass though this experience without too much pain, we might draw the conclusion that our sins didn’t harm us. We got a splinter, but—like we so hoped for when we were children—it didn’t need to come out. It seemed to have gone away on its own.

With splinters we can easily see the childishness of believing that it will just go away on its own. The splinter will cause infection. The poison of infection will spread. The more time passes, the worse it will get. The splinter must come out.

We are not as good at seeing how childish it is to believe that sins won’t harm us. Just as a splinter inevitably has an effect on the health of a finger, so also sins have an effect on the soul. Think back to the sins that you committed even when you were a little kid—3, 4, 5 years old. Sins darken the mind. They create a habit of lying. Already at a young age we can easily draw the conclusion that sins will not harm us so long as we do not get caught.

But sins are nasty and ugly, full of puss and consequences. Unlike splinters, which only affect the person who has them, sins affect others. One person’s nastiness draws out the nastiness of another. The bible shows that sin affects the whole community. The entire people of Israel needed to be cleansed when only a portion had sinned. Therefore we should not be so nonchalant to think that sins cannot affect a congregation, a classroom, a workplace, a family, or a couple. Sins are no child’s play.

However, a very powerful spiritual force fights against this understanding of sin. It is far worse enemy of Christianity than evolution or wokeism or whatever other boogeymen Christians might fear. This spiritual force does everything within its power to lull people to sleep with gentle phrases about the harmlessness of sin. It says, for example, “All this fuss and bother about sin is counterproductive. If we want the church to grow we must focus on other things! What’s the use of sticking with old fashioned morals when even the old fashioned couldn’t keep them? Or Jesus’s commands: aren’t they unreasonable? Show me one person who forgives, who gives, who is without anger or lust.”

And maybe I haven’t quite caught the tune that would make you shut your eyes to the seriousness of sins, but I know that tune is out there, because we human beings all have the same basic hope. Somewhere in all of us is the hope that our sins won’t matter. Our sins aren’t deadly. We can manage them without any great change. There is no need to go through the sharp pain of repenting them. Just leave them be and hope for the best.

When people believe that sins do not matter, that they do not cause much harm, then the devil has won. This is exactly how the devil wants us to deal with our sins. He wants us to believe that sins are fine or natural or funny or unimportant. Everybody does them, so what’s the harm? He’ll blabber on and on until he finds something that sticks. And he’ll find it too, because, as I’ve said, there is a part of all of us that wants to believe the splinter does not need to be taken out.

The devil starts to lose his grip on people when they move from not caring to caring. This happens when people start to hate the splinter, start to hate sin. So long as people believe that they can peacefully coexist with sin, they remain in the devil’s grip. But sometimes people get sick of the muck and guck and puss and stench of sin. People hate the lovelessness, the chaos, the shame, the hatred, the broken relationships. They get sick of that splinter that has caused them so much grief. They want the splinter out!

This is when tax collectors, prostitutes, drug addicts, liars, porn addicts, alcoholics, scrooges—losers of all kinds—might turn to Christ. They hate their life which has been ruined by sin. They want something else. They long for healing, and they are willing to humble themselves in order to get it.

The fundamental posture of all disciples is always the same. It’s the posture we see in people in the Gospels. People came to Jesus who were blind, deaf, lame, mute, demon-possessed—absolutely wretched. They said, “Jesus, help me!” It is the same posture of those who hate their lives, hate themselves, hate their sins, hate the splinters with all their puss and filth. “Jesus, heal me!”

When such people come to believe that Jesus forgives them, that Jesus died for them, that Jesus will make them better, they then hate all the more the devil with his practically infinite lies, all of which minimize the importance of sin. On the other hand, they begin to like what God has commanded and taught—stuff that they formerly might have rejected and fought against. They’ve been converted. They renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways, and they have embraced a new Lord and God from whom they want help. They no longer want to be on the side of sin and lies and false hope. They want to be on the side that fights sin, that’s true, that embraces the light, even though it means that they have fallen into the strong and terrifying hands of God. If suffer they must, then suffer they will! Suffering is by no means the worst thing. Health, life, truth—that is to say, God’s kingdom—this is what they want.

What I’ve spoken about today—a kind of insanely long introduction—is an attempt to get at something that otherwise might be difficult to understand about our Gospel reading. Our Gospel reading talks about how John the Baptist’s preaching was successful, particularly among those whom you’d think would be the most resistant. John was successful among the unwashed masses. Why did John the Baptist come to be loved by the tax collectors and sinners? Was it because John the Baptist told them that they were fine just as they were? That their sins didn’t matter? No. Just the opposite.  

John hated sin. He wasn’t scared of it either. He didn’t believe that it was inevitable or invincible or any other garbage that the devil likes to say about sin. John himself couldn’t really do anything about sin, but he was an ambassador for Jesus, who was coming after him, whose sandal strap he was unworthy to untie. The Christ is the only one who forgives sins. He promises to wash away all the stains and puss and filth for the life to come.

So, to use the analogy we’ve been working with today, John was someone who would speak the truth. He would say, “That’s a splinter. That needs to come out. You’ll be sorry if it doesn’t.” Since we all know the pain of getting a splinter out, we can understand why some people hated John. They preferred their false belief to the truth of God’s Word that—even though painful—would have helped them.

But some people loved the possibilities that opened up by the Word of God that John spoke. They were so full of splinters, they were so sick of the consequences of their sins, that they embraced John’s baptism for the forgiveness of their sins. They didn’t want to go on with the misery of loneliness, helplessness, and hopelessness. They wanted health, life, and light. They wanted Jesus to be their king instead of the devil. Disciples of Jesus show up in the most unexpected of places.

All of us, including me, have our splinters. They are not cute. They are not harmless. Even if we manage to forget them, they don’t stop silently pumping out their poison. They have to come out. How? We can’t do it ourselves. We can’t get deep enough. We have to turn ourselves over to the adult, so to speak. We have to turn ourselves over to Jesus. That requires courage. What will he do? Is that a needle or a tweezers I see?

But don’t be too afraid. Jesus is good at what he does. He is the good physician who has come to heal those who are sick, who have need of him as a physician.

241208 Sermon on whether John the Baptist's preaching was "good news" (Advent 2) December 8, 2024

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Our Gospel reading today gives us a description of what John the Baptist preached. John preached repentance, which means, “Change your ways,” or “Change your mind.” John told people that God’s wrath, God’s anger and punishment of sinners, was coming. That’s why they should change their ways. If they have not been good, they will be judged accordingly. “The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Some who heard John were persuaded. They repented. They wanted help for how to change their ways. John taught them what is in the Bible: “If you have two tunics, then give to him who has none.” Some people, who were pretty nasty and rough, wanted to their ways. Tax collectors, who were more like the mafia than our modern day IRS, wanted to know what they should do. John said: “Don’t collect more than what you are authorized to do.” Same thing with some soldiers. “Don’t extort money by threats and false accusations. Be content with your wages.”

At the end of our reading John the Baptist talked about Jesus. Jesus would be like John, only greater. John baptized with water. Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. John warned about the coming judgment. Jesus will do the judgment. The winnowing fork is in his hand. He will thresh out the grain. The wheat will be gathered into the barn, but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.

This was John’s preaching. Luke speaks of it as being “good news.” At the end of the reading Luke says, “So with many other exhortations John preached good news to the people.” Does what John preached sound like “good news” to you?

It might not. It is easy to be troubled by what John says. He says that God is wrathful and that he punishes. People will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Jesus is characterized along the same lines. The winnowing fork is in his hand. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. The chaff will burn. Is all this wrath and all this fire really necessary? Isn’t there a more civilized way?

Questions like these are unavoidable for modern day Christians. Most Christians refuse to speak as plainly as John the Baptist, because it seems like a very poor strategy. It can be scary for people to hear about God being spoken of like that. What’s more to the point is that it can sound unreasonable to talk about God like that. It doesn’t sound right that God, who is described as being loving, should punish anybody. Hell is described as a place of torment with an unquenchable fire. How can God be like that?

It is much easier to imagine a god (whom many people believe to be the true one) that doesn’t have wrath, who won’t torture or torment. Having a god like that sounds like a much better deal. A god that basically says, “Live however you want,” sounds nice. He sounds like he would be easy to get along with. And if God isn’t someone I can get along with, then why bother? I can live just as well without him.

Hearing rhetoric like this is quite common. Many people assume that it is because we have become more sophisticated in our modern times. We’ve discovered things, supposedly, that discredit the God of the Bible, making him much less believable. However, it is easy to show you that this is not modern or sophisticated. It is the way human beings have been since the beginning, which you can see in the Bible itself. We’ll briefly consider the story of Adam and Eve. You will see the very same impulses in them that we have in the twenty-first century.

This story should be familiar to you. God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did, they would surely die. But along came the serpent who introduced doubt. Why should they be forbidden to eat just from this tree? That’s kind of random and arbitrary. If they were God, they probably wouldn’t make a law like that. They’d let people eat from whatever tree they wanted.

Then the serpent explained that God wouldn’t punish them as he had said he would. They’d be fine. In fact, they’d be greatly improved! They’d be like God, knowing good and evil. So, having been convinced, Eve ate, and Adam ate too.

What comes after this is what I’d like you especially to think about: that time between their eating and before God came. Adam and Eve knew that something had changed. They were ashamed of their nakedness. But what had to be foremost in their minds was the hope that the serpent had been right. The serpent had said that no wrath and no punishment would come. If the serpent was right, then they could go on living like they had.

Notice what was “good news” for Adam and Eve during this time. It is the same “good news” that modern people believe in—but not just modern people, all unrepentant people of all times have this hope. They hoped that the God who had threatened to punish them for their sins didn’t exist. That God was completely intolerable to them. Maybe they could get on board with the idea of some other god that would be altogether different from this wrathful, punishing God, but they couldn’t tolerate a God who might intervene. But their hopes were dashed.

God showed up. God did care. God would punish. Adam and Eve showed the great sophistication of the human race, including modern humans, by acting the same way we all do when we have gotten caught. They acted like three-year-olds. They hid in the bushes. They stammered excuses. They tried to pass the buck. They did not care about anything except saving their own skin.

God—amazingly—did not give Adam and Eve what they deserved. He didn’t kill them that day, although he did pronounce curses against them. God’s anger was especially directed against the serpent, the devil. God spoke of the great violence that would happen between the serpent and his Son. The serpent would injure his Son’s heel, but the Christ would crush the serpent’s head.

Already with this first telling of the story of Jesus, there is wrath and punishment for sin. The serpent’s head would be crushed, ground into the dirt. God doesn’t just say, “Oh well, never mind.” The Law of God is not annulled as though it were unimportant. As Jesus says, “Not one jot, not one tittle of the Law will pass away until everything is fulfilled.” Everything was fulfilled when the wrath of God for sin was poured out on his beloved Son. The wrath was so severe that Jesus cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As Paul says about Jesus, “He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Is this violent retribution good news? It depends on whose side you’re on. If you don’t want to change your ways or change your mind, if you don’t want to believe that God cares about what you do, if you want to just be left alone to live how you see fit, then this is not good news. “Good news” for you would be that God will ignore you and leave you to your own thoughts and actions. Then you can go on being your own god, so to speak, making up for yourself what is good and what is evil. The rules for wat is good and evil are quite simple. What is good is whatever is good for me. What is evil is whatever you don’t like. There is no reference to what is just or right. The refrain that is sung in every possible key is: “My will be done.”

The alternative is to say to God, “Thy will be done!” That is a scary prayer if you think about it! Adam and Eve couldn’t bring themselves to pray that prayer as they heard God’s footsteps in the garden. God’s will being done was the last thing they wanted. So it can be for us too! Maybe we have lots of tunics and we don’t want to give any of them away. Maybe we’ve been making our livelihood by cheating and fraud. Maybe we’ve created the life for ourselves that has no reference to God, his commandments, his promises, or the cross that Jesus gives to all of his disciples. That can be a pleasant life, and we might not want to change.

“Thy will be done!” turns our lives over to God. It is a prayer of repentance. It is a prayer for change. My life is clay. You, God, are the potter. Make of me the vessel that you see fit to make! This is the intensity of faith. We can’t foresee exactly what God will do. We can only believe that it will be good.

Believing that it will be good is the only way we can make any sense of the wrath that is to be revealed when Christ comes again in glory. None of us want to be burned as chaff. None of us want those we love to be cut down and thrown into the fire. But we are obviously dealing with righteousness, justice, and goodness that is far above us. Probably no amount of skilled argumentation will ever make us perfectly comfortable with John’s preaching, but maybe that’s in the nature of repentance and faith.

Despite whatever misgivings we might have, the preaching is actually remarkably clear. We are presented with two fundamentally different alternatives. Either we can repent and believe in Jesus, or we can hope that things will stay the same. Either you must cast in your lot with Jesus, or you must cast in your lot with the serpent who said that no wrath or punishment will come. They cannot both be true. Either Jesus is the king who will set things right or what the serpent was basically correct: “You surely will not be punished. When you die, that will be it.”

Hopefully you have heard enough about Jesus to know that you are much better off changing your ways, and casting your lot with Jesus, than remaining as you are and hoping God isn’t who has said he is.

241201 Sermon on Jesus's Advent as King on Palm Sunday (Advent 1) December 1, 2024

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“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The Gospel reading today is when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. There are some unusual aspects to this story. Jesus told his disciples how they would find a donkey’s colt when they entered the village. They didn’t need to buy the colt. They would only say, “The Lord has need of it,” and the colt would be sent along.

The animal upon which Jesus sat is also unusual. Donkeys are already somewhat small animals to ride. A colt would have presumably been even smaller. Matthew, in his Gospel, tells us that the colt’s mother might have also been involved. I’m not sure what that would have looked like. In addition, this colt had never been ridden. That means he wasn’t broke. Nevertheless, Jesus was placed upon him and it seems to go fine as he rode into Jerusalem.

All these strange details are not just strange for the sake of being strange. They have Old Testament connections. Zechariah, a prophet who lived about 500 years before this, wrote: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; … humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” What was happening with Jesus was not accidental. Jesus is the king that Zechariah wrote about. The rejoicing of Palm Sunday was the rejoicing that Zechariah wrote about.

And these last two elements are really the key features. What is most important about Palm Sunday is that Jesus is the king, and that his disciples are recognizing him as such. That Jesus is the king is not always recognized by everyone. It is an article of faith. It is either believed or not believed. Presumably there were a lot of people in Jerusalem that day who did not believe that Jesus is the king. His disciples did. They were convinced by the signs that Jesus had done.

You are familiar with the signs Jesus did. These, also, were prophesied in the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah lived over 700 years before Jesus, and he said that when the great king would come he would “open the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf would be unstopped, the lame would leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute would sing for joy.” Jesus had done these things and more. In fact, just before Palm Sunday he had raised Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. He was doing all things well. They loved it, and they were praising God with a loud voice. I would imagine that they were wondering to themselves: “What is he going to do next?”

Especially, “What is he going to do next as he enters Jerusalem?” Thus far Jesus seems to have spent most of his time in the north, in Galilee, far from Jerusalem, which was the center of power. The temple was in Jerusalem. The leaders of the Jews were in Jerusalem. Pontius Pilate, the Roman leader, was in Jerusalem. What was going to happen when Jesus, “The King of the Jews,” would come into contact with the powers that be?

I’m pretty sure that the disciples on Palm Sunday were thinking, “He’s going to keep on doing all things well! He’s going to be a good king!” Good kings set things right. They get rid of corruption. They help those who need help. They put down those who oppress. No more lying, cheating, and getting away with it.

Jeremiah, another Old Testament prophet, speaks of Jesus this way in our Old Testament reading. He says, “In those days and at that time a righteous Branch will spring up from David.” Jesus is that righteous branch. And what will he do? Jeremiah goes on: “He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

This is exactly what Jesus went on to do during Holy Week. You can read about that for yourselves. The first thing that Jesus did was he went to the Temple. He pushed out all the buyers and sellers and money changers. He caused pandemonium. He flipped over tables. He let loose their animals. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”

On the days following this the powers that be tried to entrap and ensnare Jesus. They needed Jesus to slip up with something he might say so that they could nail him. So they sent their sneakiest and best. They tried every which way to trick him, but it didn’t work. Just as the disciples had been hoping on Palm Sunday, Jesus continued to do all things well.

I think by the time of Maundy Thursday the disciples were almost drunk with excitement. Luke tells us a stunning detail about what happened when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. Not long after Jesus had said, “This is my body which is given for you,” and “This is my blood which is shed for you,” Luke tells us that the disciples were arguing with one another over who was the greatest. They were in high spirits. They were already filling Jesus’s cabinet. Who would be secretary of state? Who would be attorney general?

Given the disciples’ eager expectation, you can perhaps see how the crucifixion, which would happen less than a day later, would crush them. It was cruel—even in the way it got carried out. It wasn’t a fair fight. Those in power never want a fair fight. They arrested Jesus in the middle of the night. They rigged their kangaroo courts in the middle of the night. Already by 9 o’clock that morning Jesus was nailed through his hands and his feet to the cross.

Those in power know how to get things done for their own advantage. They know how to do things in such a way where they come out on top and none’s the wiser to their evil deeds done in secret. History—but often an unwritten history—is filled with power crushing reformers. Those who speak the truth and fight for what is right are marginalized and eliminated. The winners have their perspectives written into the history books that glorify their deeds and ignore whatever evil they have done. Thereby they appear to have won, but appearances can be deceiving.

They better enjoy whatever they have gained for themselves by all their sneaking around because a time is coming when, as Jesus said, “Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the rooftops.” This will happen because the king is coming to judge. Again, as Jesus said, “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” It will be as Jeremiah prophesied: “The king shall execute righteousness and justice in the land.”

The disciples were not wrong with their thoughts about Jesus being the king. The disciples also were not wrong about this king doing all things well, setting things right, rooting out lies, and establishing justice and peace. Their only mistake was that they weren’t thinking quite deeply enough. They were thinking that Jesus would be merely an earthly king. Jesus is the king to which all powers must bow—even the powers of sin, death, and the devil. Jesus continued to do well on Holy Week. By his death and resurrection he set things right in such a profound and fundamental way that it is beyond our understanding.

If we lived at the time of these disciples we would rejoice—and rightly so—at Jesus’s opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, making the lame leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. These are very fine miracles. Often Christians wish that they could see some miracles like that to bolster their faith. But the truth is that the miracles that Jesus works now and in the future are greater.

Jesus works now by the Holy Spirit to turn the hearts of sinners so that they believe in the mercy of their Creator and Judge. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in the hearts of believers so that they have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Instead of joining in with the powers of evil that seem to offer so much advantage for earthly power and for the indulging of our desires, Jesus’s disciples resist the ways and means of devil, the prince of this world. They work at not lying, not manipulating, not intimidating, not coercing, and so on. They work on following Jesus’s commands that promise blessings to those who have the guts to keep them. These are not small things!

And the miracles of the future will be even greater. They are beyond my ability to communicate them. Jesus, the king, helped so many people as we hear about in the Gospels. That same king will help us. He will give us new bodies that will be like his glorious, resurrected body—better, even, than the restored body of Lazarus. He will purify and strengthen our minds and souls with love and light. He will set all things right like a good king is supposed to. Great wonders are in store for us!

Therefore, we are not all that different from the multitude of disciples who rejoiced as Jesus entered Jerusalem. We, like they, might wonder, “What is he going to do next?” We, like they, might wonder, “What is going to happen when Jesus comes into conflict with the powers and principalities?” It looks like we’re in for show! They’ll kick up a fuss, no doubt, wanting to hold on to their wicked ways, but their days are numbered. The king is coming.

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

241110 Sermon on the extraordinary nature of faith (Pentecost 25) November 10, 2024

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In our Gospel reading we meet a woman with whom we might think we have little in common. She’s old. She’s a widow. She’s extremely poor. The most unusual thing mentioned about her is that even though she is poor, she made a contribution for the poor. Which aspect of this woman’s life would you like to emulate? Probably nothing. We want spouses who are living and helpful. We want money and power. However much we have, we are not interested in giving it away.

But whereas Jesus might not be all that impressed with us, he definitely was impressed with this woman. He called over his disciples and pointed her out. “She’s put in more than all the rest, even though other people put in much larger amounts.” Whereas we might be impressed by donations in the millions, Jesus was impressed by a donation that would be about $2 in today’s money.

We might not want to be like her, at least not at first, but Jesus admires her. That gives us reason enough to consider her. We should learn from this woman. She might teach us something we need quite badly.

The first thing we must consider is why this woman gave what she did. She herself was poor, and yet she contributed to the poor. How can this be explained? A person might simply say that she was insane, or perhaps even wrong to have done what she did. She shouldn’t have given that money. She should have kept it for herself. But Jesus doesn’t seem to think that she’s insane or that what she did was wrong, so there must be some other explanation.

It seems to me that the only reason why she could give what she did was because she didn’t think she needed it. We might think she needed it, but she didn’t. We aren’t given her exact thoughts, but maybe she believed that two more dollars would come to her in some other way. We are prone to think in terms of luck or karma, but I don’t think this woman believed in those false gods. She believed in the Lord God of Israel. She believed that he would give her that day her daily bread. She was free to give what she did, because she knew God would still take care of her.

This faith caused her to be like another creature whom God has made. She was like the birds of the air. Have you ever thought about what kind of life birds live? They’ve got their little nests, but that’s about it. Every morning they wake up not knowing where their food is going to come from. They do not have pantries or storehouses. You might think that they would be very worried about this, but they are not. The first thing they do when they wake up is offer up a cheerful song of praise to their Creator. A new day of grace awaits them. This woman must have been as cheerful and free as the birds.

Now you might ask: “How?” From a certain perspective it looks as though everything is going wrong with her life. She’s old. She’s poor. She’s powerless. She lost her husband. What more is there to live for? No great change in her fortunes appear to be forthcoming, especially if she keeps giving her money away. But these are ugly thoughts, prompted by our reason and common sense.

Faith has little to do with reason and common sense. The examples of faith that we read about in the Scriptures strike us very often as being close to insanity. This poor woman giving all she had to the poor can seem insane. The similar actions of the woman in the Old Testament reading can strike us the same way. She took the flour and oil that should have fed her son and gave them to Elijah. A classic expression of faith that defies not only reason but even morality was Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. Reason and common sense fight against faith because they operate according to different rules.

We are given this rule regarding faith: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” Those who believe are grasping and holding on to God, whom they can’t see. They don’t know where the path will go that God puts them on. They don’t know the quantity or the quality of the daily bread they will receive, but what is important is they know that the one who is in charge of their lives is their heavenly Father. They know that he loves them. He sent his Son to die as the sacrifice for them. If God has given his Son, his dearest treasure, how can he not give them whatever else they need?

Therefore, whether a Christian is rich or poor, healthy or sick, young or old, powerful or powerless, it is all the same. God is unchanging with his will and his promises. God will take care of them even though their circumstances might change.

Paul says in Philippians chapter four: “I have learned whatever the situation I am in to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Oftentimes that last part, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” is taken from its context and used for decorations or for sports teams. I’m afraid that when it is read apart from its context that our reason and common sense might interfere so that it is not understood correctly. “I can do all things” sounds as though I can do anything. If I can do anything, then I would like to be some kind of superhuman. I can have a fabulous life. I can win at all athletic contests. I will have a charmed life because “I can do all things though him who strengthens me.”

But as you heard the context of that passage, it is clear that Paul is not telling us that we can be some kind of superhero. Our reason might chime in here and say, “Here we go with all the hedging and managing expectations. Of course it sounded too good to be true.” But believe it or not, he is actually talking about something greater. A superhero is only happy when he or she is winning. What happens when the superhero gets old? What happens when the charmed life is no longer charmed? What happens when your spouse dies? What happens when your kid dies? What happens when you become poor? Included in the “all things” that I can do is to lose, to suffer, to have my life turned upside down.

Consider, again, the old woman. We know that she has suffered. We know that her husband has died. We know that she is poor. Being poor carries along with it all kinds of annoyances and irritations. Nevertheless, she cheerfully put in her last two dollars. God, who had taken care of her thus far, would continue to do so. Through faith in him she was doing “all things through him who was strengthening her.” And it was marvelous. Even Jesus was impressed.

This power to do all things, even to suffer negative things, through Jesus, is an important corrective for today’s world. We live at the end of a period of time when reason and common sense have been used to great effect. Technology has been developed through reason and common sense that enables us to do things that previous generations would have regarded as magic. We have accomplished so much. All of us are extremely rich compared to this woman who only had two dollars to her name.

Given all these abilities and all these accomplishments, you would think that we would be happy. But instead it seems that we should be swamped with sadness. There is so much hopelessness. There is so much despair. People wonder what the point of living is. Our birthrates are plummeting. Our liveliness seems to be withering on the vine.

Isn’t it strange that at the very time when we have reached the pinnacle of what human being have been able to accomplish thus far, that we are swamped with sadness? For what ails us, I do not think that more technology, more reason, and more common sense will help us. I have reason to believe that that would only make a bad situation even worse.

We have a spiritual problem. Spiritual problems need spiritual solutions. We need what human beings have always needed, which is God’s love. We need faith in this God who loves us, to set us free from our fears of suffering, our fears of loss, our fears of the paths that God might set us on, the outcome of which we cannot see. Faith in God’s love enables us to be cheerful, and sing like birds, not only when we are winning, but also while we suffer. Paul says “I can do all things.” He means that. Included in those “all things” are loss and sadness, while knowing that we will have the ultimately victory because of our God.

Jesus gives us great spiritual abilities. Jesus gives us the ability to say, “Even though I am a sinner, yet I am forgiven and holy.” “Even though I am poor, yet I am rich.” “Even though I die, yet shall I live.” Jesus makes the future bright!

Therefore, do not be afraid. Be bold and very courageous like this woman in our Gospel reading. The God who has taken care of you thus far, will take care of you until the supreme adventure begins in heaven.

241103 Sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 (Observation of All Saints' Day) November 3, 2024

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When we think about being blessed or being happy we usually think about wealth, abundance, security, contentment, and so on. Happiness goes together with strength, ability, and freedom. If we have the wherewithal and if we have the opportunity, then we can do what we want. If we should be constrained with our resources or freedom, then we might not be able to do what we want. We most easily and naturally believe that blessedness or happiness comes from being able to do whatever we want. We usually associate not being able to do whatever we want with sadness.

Did you notice how Jesus’s teaching was strange along these lines? What we usually associate with sadness, Jesus declares as blessedness or happiness. Let’s look at a few of the things Jesus said.

He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Is being poor ever good? It’s always better to be rich. Even if Jesus is not talking about money, doesn’t it sound better to be rich in spirit? Someone being rich in spirit sounds a lot more interesting than someone being poor in spirit.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn.” If someone is mourning, then things haven’t gone their way. Someone has died whom they would prefer were still alive. Something has gone wrong that they wish wouldn’t have happened.

“Blessed are the meek.” The meek are humbled. They can’t be impressed with their own importance. We enjoy the feeling of being impressed with ourselves.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” If I had to choose between being hungry and thirsty for righteousness and being full of righteousness, I would much rather be full of righteousness. Then I could feel good about myself.

From these examples, you can see how Jesus teaches strange things. If we would turn Jesus’s statements into their opposites, then they would make much more sense: Blessed are the rich. Blessed are those who are having a great time. Blessed are powerful. If the world would have its own set of beatitudes, or blessings, they would sound like this: “Blessed are the rich, because they can buy whatever they want.” “Blessed are those who are having a great time, because they are making the most of this life.” “Blessed are the powerful, because nobody is pushing them around.”

Don’t these worldly beatitudes make more sense? We more easily and naturally live our lives when we don’t have to rely on God. If we can see to things ourselves, then God doesn’t matter as much. What does matter is having the necessary resources and freedom. You better make sure you’ve got enough of that. And what must be feared above all else is lack and loss. Lack and loss are surefire recipes for misery and sadness.

That’s one way of thinking, and it’s pretty persuasive. It’s what comes most easily and naturally. But one of the ways that Jesus is spoken of in the Gospels is that he has come to “proclaim good news to the poor.” The poor don’t have anything. The good news is that they are going to get stuff. Where there was lack and loss there will be abundance and life. Jesus will bring this about. Or, at least, that’s the claim.

Is there a way that I can prove it? No, I’m sorry, I can’t. The promises of abundance and life in Jesus can be only either believed or disbelieved. Either Jesus is God and Lord and he will bring about what he has promised, or he is wrong. The poor aren’t blessed. Those who mourn aren’t blessed. The powerless aren’t blessed. Either the rules of life that are laid down by Jesus are how things are, or how things are is governed by the rules that we much more easily and naturally believe. Either a person will put his or her trust in Jesus or a person will put his or her trust in those worldly recipes for happiness.

Today as we observe All Saints’ Day we must consider this faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is how a person is a saint, which means a “holy one.” Only those who become holy are in heaven. Saints receive their holiness through faith in Jesus. They believe that he will keep the promises that he has made—promises like you find in the beatitudes. All of the beatitudes, or blessings, that Jesus spoke of contain promises. They are really glorious promises, if you will challenge yourself to think about what they mean and believe that they can actually come to pass.

He says, “Yours is the kingdom of heaven.” God’s kingdom in heaven can’t be described. The Scriptures say that it is beyond us, no matter how hard we try.

Jesus says, “God will comfort you.” How good do you think God is at comforting someone? You perhaps remember the comfort that comes from being in the arms of your dad or your mom or your husband or your wife. God will comfort those who mourn.

Jesus says, “You will inherit the earth.” World history is full of vain and ambitious men and women who have strained every fiber of their being to attain mastery over the earth. Jesus says you will inherit it.

 “You will be filled with righteousness.” Instead of temptations being victorious over you, you will be victorious over temptations.

Jesus says, “You will receive mercy.” We hear about God’s mercy all the time, but now we only know his mercy by faith. What will it be like to have our empty sack filled up with the undeserved good things of God?

Jesus says, “You will see God.” The Scriptures emphatically state that no one has seen God. “No one can see God and live,” it says over and over again. What will it be like to see God?

Jesus says, “You will be called sons of God.” This is not a slight or an insult to you female saints. Jesus is the only Son of God. By being called “sons of God” Jesus is saying that you will be like him.

These are good promises. But then Jesus makes a different kind of promise. He promises us that we will be persecuted. He says that we will be reviled. That means that people will say that you are a fanatic. You are impractical. You are a fool about money. You are a fool to love your enemy. They will pronounce curses upon you that you will be poor and miserable and abused because you don’t follow the rules of this old world. That is what you will get for following Jesus.

It can be scary to be reviled and persecuted and to have all kinds of evil spoken against you. And this will not be done just by strangers. Elsewhere Jesus says that this will come from our nearest and dearest. Households will be divided. Families will be divided. This last promise is so bad, that we might think that we should just leave off with all this. It’s not nice. It’s disturbing. It’s divisive. Religion is supposed to be peaceful and serene.

Except it’s not. Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus is on the warpath as king against the devil and against all his falseness. Whenever Jesus drove out demons, they convulsed their victims and cried out and put up a mighty fuss. They didn’t want to lose control of their victims, and so it is with all the false rules and false gods that possess people today. They don’t want to lose their grip. They want to hold us captive. They don’t want us to believe in this who has come who proclaims good news to the poor.

But these false rules and false gods are bad. They don’t keep their promises. They couldn’t, even if they wanted to, because their power is limited. They only pretend to be almighty.

No matter how rich you are, no matter how powerful you are, no matter how many memories you make, no matter how good of a life you believe that you can make for yourself, none of these things can forgive your sins. None of these things can defeat death. None of these things can fill you with God’s love. None of these things can prepare you for seeing God. Only Jesus can do these things.

Believe in him! Are you poor? Will you become poor? Are you poor in spirit—kind of dumpy and something of a nobody? Believe in Jesus! He has good news for you even though you lack so much: “Yours is the kingdom of heaven.” Are you mourning? Are things not going your way? Did you imagine that your life would be altogether different? “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Thus and so you can do with all these statements of Jesus. There are promises in there for those who will believe.

Faith, therefore, makes all the difference. John says in his epistle: “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” The saints who have gone before us all have this one thing in common: They believed in Jesus. You believe in him too. Believe, and then just wait and see how all the promises he has made will come true. Jesus keeps his promises.

241020 Sermon on Growing Up in the Love Christ Commands (Pentecost 22) October 20, 2024

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On my day off last week I was at my dad’s farm near Albert Lea. I was there to help with the harvest, but in a different way. My sister and her family were visiting from Florida. She has a son in the sixth grade who loves running machinery. So my help was not so much me doing stuff. I was more riding along, supervising, and coaching my nephew who isn’t quite experienced enough to run the tractor all by himself.

As I was sitting next to my nephew I couldn’t help but remember when I was his age. That was when I was learning how to run machinery. I was seeing the tasks we were doing through his eyes. Some of those tasks are intimidating: Backing up to wagons. Pulling full wagons. Gears could grind. Stuff could break. There is an element of fear. Stuff could go wrong.

Not all fear is bad. Fear goes together with learning new things. Fear happens when you leave the safety of what is familiar to master the unknown. Life without fear would be a life without challenge. That would be pretty boring.

It is not uncommon for people to think that being a Christian is pretty boring. When was the last time you were afraid to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus? Maybe never! But if that is your experience, then your experience would be different from the disciples we heard about in our Gospel reading. They were frightened by what Jesus said.

First of all, Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” It says that the disciples were amazed. Maybe another way to say what was going on is that they were saying to themselves, “What are you talking about Jesus?”

But Jesus did not back down. He went on: “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” It says that the disciples were “exceedingly astonished.” “What in the world are you talking about? How could you say something like that?”

The third time the disciples are spoken of as being astonished or afraid is at the end of the reading. As I read that, try to picture the scene in your mind’s eye. It says, “And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.” Jesus is up ahead. Nobody’s walking with him. The disciples slink along behind. They’re afraid. They’re afraid to be Jesus’s disciples. New experiences are in store for them based on what Jesus said.

The challenge that Jesus says down for his disciples is not to cling to wealth. How does a person not cling to wealth? There’s really only one way: You have to be willing to give it away. You have to be willing to give more and take less, or maybe even to give it out freely for no services rendered. That is a new experience. No one has to teach us to snatch and grab and horde. We’ve been doing that since we were toddlers. As we get older we are often trained by teachers and authorities that what’s ours is ours, and we don’t have to give anything to anybody, and the more that we can accumulate for ourselves the better. Therefore, in the pursuit of ever-increasing wealth, you should give as little as you possibly can, and take as much as you possibly can, and that is how the game is played. I suspect that none of you have been frightened by this philosophy that I have just laid out. It is utterly familiar.

What might be frightening—if you are willing to take Jesus seriously—is his statement: “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God.” And again, he says: “How hard it is for anyone to enter the kingdom of God.” This is new. I thought it was easy to enter the kingdom of God. I thought no change was necessary to enter the kingdom of God—the church word for that is “repent.” I didn’t know I had to change. I didn’t know that I had to repent to enter the kingdom of God.

Now, one way that you could take Jesus’s words is that he is slamming the door on all who have wealth: “Get out and stay out!” But there is another way that you can take Jesus’s words. You can see them as a challenge to grow up. We can’t stay babies forever. We can’t remain in our merely natural state where we are grabbing, snatching, and hording. If you want to remain like that you are basically saying that you would like to go to hell, because hell is the place where people go who practiced their whole lives to be masters of snatching, grabbing, and hording. The only problem is that you, also,  would be snatched and grabbed, and you probably won’t like that.

If we are going to enter the kingdom of God we have to become different. We have to learn from our teacher and master, Jesus, the ways of love. This will be something new. We have to learn about giving, suffering and bearing the cross. We are all naturally afraid of suffering and pain, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit can teach us that the fear of suffering doesn’t have to control our lives. If we suffer, we know that we will be comforted. Even if we die in our pursuit of love, we know that we will be resurrected.

These are not childish teachings. These are very grow-up, Christian teachings that require courage. These are the teachings of the Kingdom of God that will prepare us for heaven instead of hell. Heaven is a place of love. God dwells there, and God is love. The love of heaven is so pure and rich that we can’t even begin to grasp it. Maybe we could try by saying that everyone in heaven loves so purely and richly that they would do anything for you. They would suffer the loss of everything for you. But they won’t have to. Because heaven is the place where all things have been made new. It is the place where, as Revelation 21 puts it: “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

To arrive at the place where God dwells, where love dwells—what might a person give for that? Let’s say you have 100 million dollars. Is that what you are going to hold on to? It’s just a bunch of zeros in some Edward Jones account somewhere. You can’t even lie on it like the dragons of old who liked to sleep on their heaps of gold. You would rather have those zeros on a piece of paper than to be kind, to be generous, to be merciful? It’s a no-brainer which is better! That is not to say it isn’t a challenge—a change—which brings fear, but the challenge is worth it.

Suppose I said to my nephew: I know that you want to run the tractor, but just think of all the stuff that could go wrong! The steering could fail. You accidentally drive into the ditch. You could fall out the window and be crushed to death when the tractor rolls on top of you. Those are foul, ugly thoughts. They falsely inflate fears, which might cause someone to remain in immaturity, to remain in safety.

Jesus does not want his disciples to remain immature and without fruit. We all have to grow up. We all have to change. We all have to repent. We might be afraid, but let’s all agree that a boy learning how to run a tractor is a good thing. How much more, then, is a disciple of Jesus growing up in the love that Jesus teaches a good thing? Jesus’s teachings and Jesus’s commands set us on an adventure, but that adventure is totally worth it.

And you do not go on that adventure alone. If you get rejected, Jesus accepts you. If you suffer, Jesus will comfort you. If you die, Jesus will resurrect you. Therefore, there is no reason why you should ever give in to your fears. You, understandably, might be afraid to give away wealth. The voice of fear might say: “What if I end up being miserable?” Your wealth enables you to do a lot of nice stuff for yourself.

Or take another command of Jesus’s: You might be afraid to love your enemy. Enemies have been known to do some hurtful things. Don’t be afraid. Jesus, your teacher and master, teaches good things, not bad things. You can’t go wrong if you will take the risk of being obedient to him. But you can’t know that goodness until you take the plunge.

But suppose you try to carry out Jesus’s commands and you fail. What then? Should you wish that you had never tried in the first place? That’s a loser’s mentality. If you fail, then ask Jesus to forgive you. Then get right back up on that horse. It’s inevitable that a person will get bucked off while learning to tame a horse. How can we expect that it should be easy to tame ourselves? Or what kind of ride might we have if we make up our mind to love our enemy? Who knows what might happen!

On these adventures it's almost certain that mistakes will be made. Gears will accidentally be grinded. My nephew, by the way, didn’t grind the gears even once this past week. I was the one who accidentally grinded the gears—but don’t tell dad. On second thought, maybe you can tell him. I think he would forgive me.

Right next to the forgiveness of sins, growing up in love as Christ’s disciple and student is the best of things. It sets us on adventures already in this life, and those adventures will continue on into the next. Don’t be ruled by your fears. Put your trust in Jesus. He will protect you. He will pick you up when you have fallen. He is your Lord and Savior.

241006 Sermon on Jesus's commands requiring faith (Pentecost 20) October 6, 2024

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Sermon manuscript:

Jesus’s commands can seem unreasonable and unrealistic. Let me give you an example. In Luke chapter 6 Jesus commands that we give to those who ask of us, and if our goods should be taken away that we should not demand them back. Upon hearing that we are to give to anyone who asks, and that we should not demand back what has been taken, there is a part of every one of us that rebels against this command. It doesn’t seem like it will work out very well for us. All our stuff will be taken away. So we don’t do it. We set Jesus’s command aside.

But there is another way of looking at it. A person could believe that Jesus’s commands are good. A person could believe that things will go better if we follow Jesus’s command, if we give to those who ask, and not demand back from those who take. God must be the biggest factor in this scenario. God would have to protect you. God would have to repay what was taken from you. Can you trust him? In order to accept Jesus’s command about giving and not demanding back we have to believe that God loves us and will take care of us. Jesus’s commands require faith. Hearing his commands with faith changes our perception of them.

We heard Jesus’s commands concerning the irrevocability of marriage and the unsuitability of divorce in our Gospel reading. Divorce is very emotional, painful, and complicated. Nobody gets married with the hopes of getting divorced. I won’t be covering all aspects of this topic in this sermon. Pastor Bertram and I would be happy to speak with you more about any questions or thoughts you might have one on one. For the purposes of our time together today, though, I’d like to look at Jesus’s commands regarding marriage and divorce as requiring faith.

When Jesus was asked about the permissibility of divorce I think his answer surprised both his opponents and his disciples. His opponents, the Pharisees, knew that Moses allowed for divorce. I think Jesus surprised them when he told them that that was an accommodation for their hardness of heart. A hard heart is an unbelieving heart. Husband and wife are not supposed to separate. From the beginning man and woman have been joined in marriage so that they become one flesh. What God has joined together, let not man separate.

It seems that the disciples were surprised by this command also. They asked Jesus about it afterwards. Jesus did not soften his stance on the irrevocability of marriage. If a husband divorces his wife and marries another, he is committing adultery against his first wife. If a wife divorces her husband and marries another, she is committing adultery against her first husband. Marriage, in God’s sight, is not ended by a certificate of divorce. It is ended by God when he brings about the death of one or the other of the spouses. If God ends the marriage, then the surviving spouse is free to marry another.

Upon hearing Jesus’s teaching our immediate reaction might be that all of this is way too black and white. What about this circumstance and that circumstance? And there might be validity to those circumstances. Not every divorce is sinful. Some divorces are justified. Jesus himself, in a parallel passage, says that divorce may be granted when adultery has been committed by the other spouse.

But we all know that not all divorces are because of adultery or abuse or abandonment. Many divorces happen because husband and wife do not get along. That is not unusual or surprising. We all have our sinful flesh that is as wicked as can be. We also have the devil who is always ready to blow any sparks he can find into a raging, consuming fire. Divorce is not irrational. It seems like it is a good solution to an all too common problem. Why should two people be chained together when they no longer want to be together?

Although this seems reasonable, it doesn’t seem to play out this way in actual experience. Becoming one flesh with someone is not merely biological or social or economic. As Jesus shows in our reading, God is involved in this union. God joins together. Divorce pulls apart. Those who divorce often feel lingering pains. Maybe some problems have been solved by the divorce, but new ones arise. The happiness that was hoped for doesn’t always come or doesn’t always last.

When Jesus teaches about the irrevocability of marriage and the unsuitability of divorce, he is actually showing us a way for happiness, for blessedness. If you have experienced difficulties in your marriage, or if you are currently experiencing difficulties in your marriage, then Jesus’s commands might seem to be offering the opposite of happiness or blessedness. It might seem as though Jesus is only making the situation worse. Now not only can you not have the hope of happiness from getting divorced, if you do get divorced, then you’ll have to feel guilty about it.

Although this might be a common way of hearing Jesus’s commands, it isn’t the only way. Consider again the commands that I began with. Jesus commands us to give to those who ask, and not to demand back from those who take. One could interpret those commands in such a way that Jesus intends to make us miserable. Jesus wants us to lose all our money. Jesus wants us to be abused by evildoers and have no recourse so as to defend ourselves.

But is this what Jesus really wants? Does he want us to be miserable? He wants just the opposite. He wants us to be happy and blessed. He promises that if we follow his commands that we will be blessed. Strangely enough, if we were to follow his commands we might end up with less money, but we will nevertheless end up with more. Undertaking Jesus’s commands with faith makes the scenario appear altogether different.

So it is also with Jesus’s commands about the irrevocability of marriage and the unsuitability of divorce. If you leave God out of the picture it can seem like the gloomiest of commands. It can sound like God is cruel and wants to take away all joy and happiness by keeping people stuck in miserable marriages. But that is not the only way it can be looked at. We can look at these commands with faith.

Looking at your marriage with faith is to realize that God has been and is completely involved. God has joined you together with your spouse. We know that because you have not just been dating or going steady. You have made your promises before God, to one another, and to society. You have promised that you will love and cherish this person for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and in sickness and in health until death parts you. Because God has put you together with this person, you know that that is where you belong. Because God has put you together with this person, you know that God will care for you even if you are going through some troubles.

Now, I wish that there weren’t any troubles. I wish that everyone always got along splendidly. I wish that everyone always had more than enough money so that they would never have to ask another person for money. I could wish for a lot of things along these lines, but my wishing wouldn’t make it so. We live in a broken world with much suffering. How should we respond to this brokenness? Jesus’s commands direct us in the way that we should go. His commands help to undo brokenness. We don’t have to sit idly by with brokenness, believing with the rest of the world that nothing can be done. We can demonstrate our faith by cheerfully giving when called upon to do so. We can demonstrate our faith by cheerfully looking to the future with the one to whom we have been joined by God to be one flesh.

I understand how what I have said could be painful for those of you who have difficulties in your marriage. To be cheerful about your marriage seems like something you gave up on a long time ago. You haven’t been looking forward with cheerfulness. You’ve only been trying to survive. But this is where Jesus’s commands can be the most helpful. Although you might not be able to see any light at the end of the tunnel or anywhere else for that matter, God is the creator of light. What might God do if you were to believe? What might God do if you joined yourself wholeheartedly to his teaching? There’s no telling what might happen—what adventures God might put you on—but I’m sure that it would be good!

There is no way for me to prove to you that obeying Jesus’s commands, being his disciple, will be good for you. The only way you can know that is by taking the plunge yourself. You have to believe that giving to the one who asks will do you good. You have to believe that not demanding back what was taken from you will bring you happiness and blessedness. You have to believe that Jesus will protect you and lead you in the way that you should go, even if that path might be filled with painful sacrifices and frightening challenges.

What is good for you to know, though, is that you are not stuck. Jesus’s commands and promises open up possibilities that are so often deemed to be impossible. Jesus is Lord. All things have been put under his feet. Therefore, there is always hope. Nothing that we do in faith will be in vain. Listening to Jesus brings us on the right paths that bring about love and healing.

Hopefully today you have seen that none of us believe as we ought. None of us are as convinced as we should be that Jesus’s ways. Therefore we can all change our ways. We can all repent and believe the good news that Jesus is Lord. Jesus forgives and will set right all that has gone wrong. In the mean time be led by Jesus’s good commands and promises.

240922 Sermon on being the greatest (Pentecost 18) September 22, 2024

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Jesus said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Being recognized is a deep human need. Being recognized is when a person is accepted and appreciated for who they are. People can be recognized for all kinds of different things: “You are talented.” “You are hard working.” “You are funny.” It feels good to be recognized. Usually people cultivate their lives in such a way that they can continue to be recognized. Funny people enjoy being recognized as funny, and so they are always coming up with new bits. What do you want to be known as? Smart, successful, caring, hard-nosed, charming? You’ll do what’s necessary to continue to be known and recognized as such.

This is simply how we are. There would be no sense in trying to get rid of this impulse. We need to be accepted and appreciated. To try to do away with this would be as silly as trying to do away with sleeping, eating, or drinking. That said, the desire to be recognized can go awry.

For example, what often happens is that a person not only wants to be recognized, he or she doesn’t want others to be recognized. Let’s say a woman is pretty. Maybe she’d like to be the prettiest. That means she’d like it if nobody was even close to being as pretty as her. Or let’s say there are many children in the family. Which of them is the favorite? There can only be one favorite. To be the child that mom or dad loves most feels good. I think you can see where problems arise. Being the prettiest can bring about meanness and conceit. With favorites in families there can be lifelong resentment. It’s not hard to see how these things can be bad.

What is to be done? I think a lot of people believe nothing can be done. We have no other choice than to accept things as they are. The best will be the best and the worst will be the worst. Since that is the way things are, you should try your hardest to be the best. Then you’ll get that recognition you crave. If someone is not getting recognition, then it’s because they aren’t trying hard enough. If they tried harder, then they’d be recognized too.

This is a very powerful philosophy. It makes sense. It’s assumed to be correct. It’s everywhere. To learn something different, therefore, will require effort. You’ll have to learn new and different rules. Take Jesus’s statement in our Gospel reading. He said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” To be first be last. It almost sounds non-sensical. Those are opposites of one another. If the first are last, then they can’t be first. The first are first and the last are last.

But Jesus helps us with what he says after that. “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Being the servant of all throws a different light on things. It shows us a different way that we might use what has been given to us. What comes naturally to us is to use whatever we have to promote ourselves. We try to make the case that we are the greatest. But if we would serve, then we would use what we have for others—to lift them up, to do them good.

Consider something I’ve already mentioned—prettiness. It can seem to be something that is only good for the girl who has it, but it doesn’t have to be used that way. A pretty girl can give her prettiness to her man. She wants him to enjoy her prettiness instead enjoying her prettiness for herself or using her prettiness to distinguish herself from others. Or a pretty girl can love the girls who have not been given what she has been given. She can forget about her prettiness and associate with the lowly—not in some ostentatious, obnoxious, ugly way, but in a genuine, friendly way. Thereby she gives away her prettiness to those who are less so, and who might be somewhat shunned because of it.

Boys can do this too. Boys often value different things than girls. Athletic boys can hang out with non-athletic boys—bearing with them, not ridiculing them and demeaning them. Boys who know how to use guns or tools or other desirable things can take in those who don’t. In this way a boy gives cover to another.

You know how it usually goes, though, don’t you? A hierarchy is what comes naturally. The best are at the top. The worst are at the bottom. Those at the top differentiate themselves from the rest with their greatness. They are not like them. They are best. The rest are not. Those at the bottom should know their place and burn with envy. That’s the way it is—so so many say.

That’s not correct if Jesus is correct. Maybe Jesus is a fool. Lots of people don’t believe him. But he says that greatness is not when you use what you have for yourself. Greatness is when you are the last of all and the servant of all. Greatness is when you lift up others, when you help and improve others. The lowlier the people you can help, the better, because when you are helping really lowly people you are being like Jesus.

Think of the way that Jesus is. If ever there was anyone who is the best, then that would be Jesus. But how does Jesus use his greatness? Does he point at disappointing people and say, “Look at how much better I am than you!” “Look how sinful you are and how righteous I am!”

No. Jesus doesn’t do this. He could if he wanted. He truly is so much better and so much more righteous than we are. But he doesn’t use what is his to stare at himself in the mirror, admiring himself, comparing himself to those who do not have what he has. He uses what is his to help those who are without. He makes others better.

And there’s no one who’s too low for him. There’s no one about whom he says, “Ach! That one is too disgusting!” He rejects no one. The rejection is always on the other end. The sinner says he doesn’t want to associate with him. The proud one says, “I won’t have your condescension and charity!” But as far as Jesus is concerned, he is willing to be last of all. He is the servant of all. The word “all” means without exception. He will help you.

You can see how Jesus’s friendliness, Jesus’s reaching out, Jesus’s free acknowledgement, acceptance, and approval of people is beautiful, helpful, and good. Another word that we could use to describe all this activity of Jesus is “love.” Jesus loves us, therefore we should love others. The apostle John has written, “We love, because he first loved us.”

There are a lot of people who want to be recognized. They are aching for it. You can give them that. Now I’m sure you could come up with excuses for why you shouldn’t. I’m sure that if you used your eagle-eye glasses for fault-finding, you could find faults in anyone. Thank God Jesus didn’t do that to you. If Jesus were looking for faults in you, so as to excuse himself from help you, I’m sure he could have. But he didn’t. He loves you, so you should love others.

And, as I mentioned before, the lowlier the person, the better. The more like Christ you will be. So love that person whom you have found to be distasteful. Love that person from whom you will get no benefit in return. Jesus says that we should love even our enemies.

Jesus’s saying is a strange recipe for greatness: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” You might be saying to yourself, “That won’t make me happy. That will make me miserable.” Don’t be so sure. Loving and being loved are the highest things in life. The more you love the more you’re loved. There’s no limit to how much you can love. Jesus says that he can become the water of life in us so that we become like a spring. A spring of water just keeps going and going. Life and love bubble up even unto eternal life.

To do the opposite of this cannot turn out well. This is an important warning. People think it is neither here nor there if they are as vain and conceited as peacocks. Not so! James warned us in our Epistle reading that jealousy and selfish ambition are demonic. Demons hate and hamper and destroy life. So do the proud and cruel self-promoters. Hell, because it is the opposite of heaven, would seem to me to be the place where there is no love—a truly terrifying possibility. No love!

You know how good love is, so don’t shut yourself up away from it. Do not strive to be the greatest by comparing yourself. Greatness is when you use what has been given to you to make other people better. Greatness is being like Jesus. Love like him. Be the last of all and the servant of all.