The 18th Sunday after Pentecost (September 30, 2007)
“Making a Name” (Luke 16:19-31)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rich people usually have made a name for themselves. You hear the name Microsoft, and who do you think of? Bill Gates, founder of the world’s largest computer software company. You hear the name Seattle Seahawks, and who do you think of? Paul Allen, owner of the Seahawks, Portland Trail-Blazers, and along with Gates, co-founder of Microsoft. You hear the words “You’re fired!” and who do think of? Donald Trump, flamboyant real estate mogul and Rosie O’Donnell’s worst enemy.
According to Forbes magazine, Bill Gates is the richest man in America, with a net worth of $59 billion. But did you know that Paul Allen is only #11 on the list, at a mere net worth of $16.8 billion? Trump comes in at #117, believe it or not...tied with movie director Steven Spielberg. Each of these names are ones pretty much everyone knows. They have made a name for themselves.
Here’s a name for you: Williston Bibb Barrett. Never heard of him? He’s a character in Walker Percy’s novel The Last Gentleman. Here’s how he is described there. He’s one of those people who made a name for themselves in high school or college. Everyone knows who they are. But later on, everyone asks, “Hey, whatever happened to him?”
Trying to Make a Name for Yourself
We would love to make a name for ourselves. Maybe it’s asking too much to be rich and famous...or infamous, as the case may be. At the very least, we would all like to be well-known and respected among our peers.
We want people to talk about us after we die. “What a great guy he was!” ... “What a super gal she was!” ... a long obituary in the paper, extolling your virtues, telling about all the social work you did, giving money to charity, volunteering for this and that at church, etc.
How, in the end, though, do you want to be remembered? When your life ends, will it really matter what people here think of you? And did they know the “real” you...all the secret thoughts and attitudes of your heart, in spite of what you were on the outside? What will really matter is what God thinks of you. After all, the Bible says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5:10)
The rich man in Jesus’ story in today’s Gospel reading was probably someone who thought he had made a name for himself. He wore purple, the color which symbolized a person’s high standing in society. He feasted every day, indulging in food and drink reserved for special occasions. He was what we would call today a “party animal.” When he died, it’s safe to assume that he received a funeral fit for a king, with a long procession, a large reception, and a lengthy obituary in the Jerusalem Herald. But where do we find him after he has died? In Hades, the Greek word for the place of the dead, which here is obviously used as a name for hell. The rich man was in torment. He was in anguish in the flames. He saw Abraham from a distance, while he himself was far from God’s presence and joy. All he wanted was one little drop of water from the tip of a finger to cool his tongue. But there was no help for him. It was too late. The gulf between heaven and hell is too great. By the time you find you are in hell, it will be too late to decide, “Hey, I’m not so crazy about this place. Can I change my mind about my eternal destiny?” By the time you are in hell, it will be too late to say, “Jeepers, I wish I had paid more attention to Moses and the Prophets.” And like the rich man, don’t think that you will be able to request that someone from the dead should visit your family so that they will repent of their wasteful, unfaithful life before it’s too late.
In the story that Jesus told, Abraham tells the rich man, “Your brothers have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” In other words, “Let them listen to the Word of God. All that they need to know for their faith and life and eternal welfare is written there. Besides, even if someone should rise from the dead they still won’t believe.” That describes a lot of people in our world today. Our Savior Jesus DID rise from the dead. We have the eyewitness testimony of the Apostles to the resurrection of Christ in the New Testament. Yet, like the Pharisees and so many others in Jesus’ day, people still refuse to believe.
God in Christ Makes a Name for You
The rich man wanted to make a name for himself. But what is his name? It’s not mentioned. Whose name IS mentioned? The poor man, Lazarus. The rich man who wanted to make a name for himself has no name in our story. The poor man who was more than likely ignored on the steps of the rich man’s home is given a name by Jesus...Lazarus.
The nameless rich man was once clothed with purple and fine linen. The nameless rich man once lived in luxury and feasted daily. Now, he was clothed in flames. Now, his tongue was parched. He tried to make a name for himself apart from listening to the Word of God and trusting in his promises.
Lazarus, on the other hand, was once clothed in sores. He once was placed outside the rich man’s gates, hoping just for a crumb from his table. He once was probably called, “That disgusting beggar, who even lets the dogs lick his sores.” Now, he is given a name ... Lazarus ... which means “the one whom God helps.” God was gracious to him, gave him faith to trust in God’s promises, and wrote the name Lazarus in the Book of Life. Now, Lazarus was clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Now, Lazarus was comforted and filled at the heavenly feast, reclining at Abraham’s side. And you can imagine who else was at that table...Isaac, Jacob, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and the rest of the saints in heaven, including ones whose names we have never heard, but whose names are surely written in the Book of Life.
In Holy Baptism, God made a name for you. He marked you with his own Name...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through water and the Word, the Holy Spirit created faith in your heart to trust in Christ, who died for your sins and rose to life again. You were forgiven and given the name Christian.
You might also say that you are a “little Lazarus.” As God’s beloved, forgiven child, you are “one whom God helps.” And hearing that name Lazarus, you can’t help but think about another Lazarus in the Bible. Jesus had a friend named Lazarus whom he raised to life again. Beforehand, he spoke to Lazarus’ sister Martha and said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26) Jesus makes us into little Lazaruses as he raises us to new life. We have new life now, as St. Paul says in Romans 6, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” And we also are looking forward to eternal life in heaven, as Paul says in Romans 8, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
Most of us will never be as destitute as Lazarus was in today’s Gospel. But at one time or another we have all received bad things in our life. We may not be covered in sores. We may not be starving and begging outside the home of Bill Gates. But we are beggars nonetheless. We deserve nothing because of our sinfulness. But God in his grace and mercy “executes justice for the oppressed...gives food to the hungry...sets the prisoners free...opens the eyes of the blind...lifts up those who are bowed down...watches over the sojourners...upholds the widow and the fatherless.” (Psalm 146) All of this is fulfilled in the promise of forgiveness through Christ Jesus who became sin for us “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21) All of this is fulfilled as he welcomes us to his table, where we are fed with much more than crumbs. Our hungry hearts receive the very body and blood of our Savior. And there is a place reserved for us at Abraham’s side, at that eternal feast in heaven where we will be comforted just like Lazarus.
When that day comes, most of us will not be remembered here, except among our family and few friends. Earlier, I said that it won’t matter what people think of you when you die. But that’s not entirely true. What people think of you won’t get you into heaven. But I would hope that we all want to leave some sort of lasting legacy behind. I would hope that the most important thing we all want to leave our children is not an estate, but a life that testified to a belief in the Crucified and Risen Savior. Your name may never be spoken of in the same breath as Bill Gates, Paul Allen, or Donald Trump. Your name may never be spoken of in the same breath as Paul, Augustine, or Luther. But when your name is remembered, may it be remembered as one who gave all glory to God for giving you the name “Christian,” and one who, through the love of Christ, was able to serve all the Lazaruses laid outside your gate.
Amen.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Two New Resources
Thanks to Paul McCain for highlighting Word and Sacrament on his blog. Word and Sacrament is a helpful site with lots of great information about what it means to be a Lutheran, including conversion stories of people who came to Lutheranism from a variety of backgrounds. Check it out by clicking here.
Also, while surfing around this evening, I ran across another resource, Theology of the Cross. here's how this site describes itself:
Also, while surfing around this evening, I ran across another resource, Theology of the Cross. here's how this site describes itself:
Following Luther's observation that "the cross alone is our theology," Theology of the Cross links to sermons, essays, and research articles on confessional Christology. Categories are denominated by the chapter titles of Francis Pieper's Christian Dogmatics to facilitate classification and further reading. Difficulty levels: Youth (still to come, e.g., Higher Things), Adult (e.g., LCMS web site), Seminary (e.g., Concordia Theological Quarterly). Titles appear more or less in chronological order within each level of difficulty.I've placed both of these websites in the "Resources" section in the bar to the right.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Out of the Mouths of Babes #2
At preschool chapel last Thursday, I explained to the children what an "altar" is. We sat in front of the small wooden altar in the preschool room, and I said, "This is the place where we come to think about God and his love for us, and we say back to him how much we love him"...and so forth, trying to put it on their level. I had them repeat the word a few times so they could get used to saying it and hearing it..."Altar." Next, we sang a few songs and said a prayer. Finally, I asked the children, "Okay, now, what was this piece of furniture called again?" From the back row, a little boy said, "Walter!"
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost
The 16th Sunday after Pentecost (September 16, 2007)
“Lost and Found in the Crowd” (Ezekiel 34:11-24)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s Old Testament lesson is the words of the Lord God to the people of Israel as they languished in captivity in Babylon. Their leaders—their shepherds—had failed them (Ez. 34:1-10). The priests had not preached God’s Word faithfully. The kings led the people to disobey God’s commandments. Therefore, the sheep—God’s people—were scattered (Ez. 34:6). They were lost in the wilderness of a foreign land. But Yahweh promised that he would not forget them. He himself would seek them in their lost condition and rescue them and bring them back to their own land ... a place of good pasture, a place of true nourishment. And in a very real way, the Lord God was not merely speaking of restoring the people to the land of Israel. As we will see, he was speaking of the way in which he rescued all of us from our lost condition by sending his Son. This Son is called “my servant David,” because he is a descendant of David...and not just any descendant, but the one whom God the Father had promised would be the Savior of the world. (2 Sam. 7:12-17)
Now, I’ve never tended sheep. But I am now in the business of herding a two-year old. It’s easy to do inside the house. Not so easy at the park. She’s a fast one. Before you know it, she’s spotted another piece of playground equipment that interests her, and she’s off and running. She bobs and weaves between metal poles and plastic slides. Next, she darts underneath a low-hanging bridge, one which is too low for dad to run under, and I’ve lost sight of her. I have to quickly dash around the equipment so I can zero in on her on the other side. But for a moment, there’s a second or two of panic until she comes back into my line of sight.
Just the other day, we were at Jennings Park. A mom was trying to keep track of several children amidst the 20 or so other kids. Some were climbing around like a mob of monkeys. The rest were running around like a bunch of banshees. After a while, the woman began running frantically around the playground, crying out, “Has anyone seen my little guy? I can’t find my little guy!” She soon found him crouched beneath the playground equipment in a space where only a “little guy” could fit. Her panic probably lasted no more than 30 seconds. But to that mother—and to all of the other parents who sympathized with her—I’m sure it felt like an eternity. Tears welled up in her eyes. She snatched her son up in her arms, hugged him, and said, “Oh, honey, I was so scared. Mommy couldn’t see you.”
Lost in the Crowd
It’s easy for little ones to get lost in the crowd. In fact, it’s easy for any of us to get lost in the crowd. Sometimes, even while we are in a crowd, we are alone. The people of Israel were surrounded by other people in their captivity. They lived in Babylon, after all. It was one of the greatest cities in the world of that time and the capital of the powerful Babylonian empire. Yet at the same time, the former inhabitants of Judea had heard the news that Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was demolished. They must have felt as if God had abandoned them. They were lost and alone, even in the midst of the crowd.
Moreover, not only had God said he would judge Israel’s unfaithful leaders for their role in causing the captivity. He also promised that he would judge those among the people who were domineering and bullying. For example, when they were still in Israel, the rich used to oppress the poor. And so Yahweh compares them to sheep and goats who “push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns.” (Ez. 34:21)
Like the Israelites in captivity, it is easy for us to get lost in the crowd. At work or school, you feel like you are just a number. At church you feel like they only want your money. “Nobody cares about me. Nobody understands me. I’m lost. I’m fearful. I have no direction.”
On the other hand, some of us can be like domineering sheep and goats. We may feel the need to push and shove, if not with muscle, then with words, putting others down, manipulating them, just to try to get ahead or to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. Domineering sheep and goats will end up lost in the crowd, too. They will end up alienating themselves from those they have hurt.
Lost in the crowd, we are tempted to give up. We are tempted to walk away from the place where we have been fed and nourished, the rich pastureland of Word and Sacrament. We are tempted to give up on Christ. If we do, then we will be “scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” In God’s final judgment when he separates the sheep from the goats, we will find out that we are on the wrong side, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Found and Placed in the Crowd
But there has already been “a day of clouds and thick darkness” on which the Son of God was judged in your place. “The sun’s light failed” (Luke 23:44-45) for three hours on Good Friday as Christ hung on the cross, dying for your sins. Even in the midst of the crowd around the cross, Jesus was all alone...lost in the crowd.
And because Jesus died and rose for you, you can be sure that God will never give up on you. Jesus will never walk away from you, because he walked all the way to the cross to save you. He will relentlessly pursue you until your dying day. Notice what Yahweh says in today’s text: “I myself will search for my sheep” ... “I will seek out my sheep” ... “I will rescue them” ... “I will bring them out.” It is God alone who does the rescuing and saving. You and I have nothing to do with it in our lost condition apart from Christ. God searches for us. He is the one who finds us. He is the shepherd who searches for the one lost sheep out of 100. He is the woman who turns her house upside down just to find one measly coin out of ten. And when they find what they were looking for, they invite their friends and neighbors over for a party. (Luke 15:1-10)
God cares about you as an individual. You are not lost in the crowd. His Word of Law confronts us with our sins. His Word of Gospel leads us to repent of our sins, and there is rejoicing in heaven.
In our text, the Lord God says, “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land.” God brought the captives home from their captivity, but he had so much more in store for them than simply restoring them to the land. His will was to restore a new people to himself, both Jews and Gentiles alike. St. Paul calls this “the mystery of Christ” in Ephesians 3. He says, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” (Eph. 3:6)
God finds you and then puts you back in the “crowd.” In Holy Baptism, he incorporates you into his new Israel, the Holy Christian Church. And in this “crowd,” you have brothers and sisters in Christ who care about you. You need to remember, though, that we’re still sinners. There are times when we will fail you. Please forgive me for the times I have failed you. Forgive each one of us here for the times that we have failed you. We are each lost sheep, too, who need a shepherd to come find us.
Out text concludes, “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.” King David did not come back from the dead after some 500 years to rule over Israel after their captivity. Rather, David was the king to whom God had given the promise of an everlasting kingdom through one of his descendants. That king was Jesus, the greatest Son of David, who really did come back from the dead. Jesus is the “David” of whom our text speaks. He is our one shepherd. Crowds followed him and he sat down on the mountainside and taught them. (Matt. 4:25-5:2) He sat the crowd down “on the green grass” and fed them. (Mark 6:39) Crowds followed him and he healed their diseases. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36)
No longer are we lost in the crowd. God has found us and placed us back in this crowd called the Church, where Jesus is still compassionately working among the crowds today. Through his Word, he teaches us. In the rich pastureland of Holy Communion, he feeds us. Here at the altar, we are nourished on Christ’s own body and blood, and he binds up the injured and strengthens the weak with his mercy and grace.
Amen.
“Lost and Found in the Crowd” (Ezekiel 34:11-24)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s Old Testament lesson is the words of the Lord God to the people of Israel as they languished in captivity in Babylon. Their leaders—their shepherds—had failed them (Ez. 34:1-10). The priests had not preached God’s Word faithfully. The kings led the people to disobey God’s commandments. Therefore, the sheep—God’s people—were scattered (Ez. 34:6). They were lost in the wilderness of a foreign land. But Yahweh promised that he would not forget them. He himself would seek them in their lost condition and rescue them and bring them back to their own land ... a place of good pasture, a place of true nourishment. And in a very real way, the Lord God was not merely speaking of restoring the people to the land of Israel. As we will see, he was speaking of the way in which he rescued all of us from our lost condition by sending his Son. This Son is called “my servant David,” because he is a descendant of David...and not just any descendant, but the one whom God the Father had promised would be the Savior of the world. (2 Sam. 7:12-17)
Now, I’ve never tended sheep. But I am now in the business of herding a two-year old. It’s easy to do inside the house. Not so easy at the park. She’s a fast one. Before you know it, she’s spotted another piece of playground equipment that interests her, and she’s off and running. She bobs and weaves between metal poles and plastic slides. Next, she darts underneath a low-hanging bridge, one which is too low for dad to run under, and I’ve lost sight of her. I have to quickly dash around the equipment so I can zero in on her on the other side. But for a moment, there’s a second or two of panic until she comes back into my line of sight.
Just the other day, we were at Jennings Park. A mom was trying to keep track of several children amidst the 20 or so other kids. Some were climbing around like a mob of monkeys. The rest were running around like a bunch of banshees. After a while, the woman began running frantically around the playground, crying out, “Has anyone seen my little guy? I can’t find my little guy!” She soon found him crouched beneath the playground equipment in a space where only a “little guy” could fit. Her panic probably lasted no more than 30 seconds. But to that mother—and to all of the other parents who sympathized with her—I’m sure it felt like an eternity. Tears welled up in her eyes. She snatched her son up in her arms, hugged him, and said, “Oh, honey, I was so scared. Mommy couldn’t see you.”
Lost in the Crowd
It’s easy for little ones to get lost in the crowd. In fact, it’s easy for any of us to get lost in the crowd. Sometimes, even while we are in a crowd, we are alone. The people of Israel were surrounded by other people in their captivity. They lived in Babylon, after all. It was one of the greatest cities in the world of that time and the capital of the powerful Babylonian empire. Yet at the same time, the former inhabitants of Judea had heard the news that Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was demolished. They must have felt as if God had abandoned them. They were lost and alone, even in the midst of the crowd.
Moreover, not only had God said he would judge Israel’s unfaithful leaders for their role in causing the captivity. He also promised that he would judge those among the people who were domineering and bullying. For example, when they were still in Israel, the rich used to oppress the poor. And so Yahweh compares them to sheep and goats who “push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns.” (Ez. 34:21)
Like the Israelites in captivity, it is easy for us to get lost in the crowd. At work or school, you feel like you are just a number. At church you feel like they only want your money. “Nobody cares about me. Nobody understands me. I’m lost. I’m fearful. I have no direction.”
On the other hand, some of us can be like domineering sheep and goats. We may feel the need to push and shove, if not with muscle, then with words, putting others down, manipulating them, just to try to get ahead or to make ourselves feel better about ourselves. Domineering sheep and goats will end up lost in the crowd, too. They will end up alienating themselves from those they have hurt.
Lost in the crowd, we are tempted to give up. We are tempted to walk away from the place where we have been fed and nourished, the rich pastureland of Word and Sacrament. We are tempted to give up on Christ. If we do, then we will be “scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” In God’s final judgment when he separates the sheep from the goats, we will find out that we are on the wrong side, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Found and Placed in the Crowd
But there has already been “a day of clouds and thick darkness” on which the Son of God was judged in your place. “The sun’s light failed” (Luke 23:44-45) for three hours on Good Friday as Christ hung on the cross, dying for your sins. Even in the midst of the crowd around the cross, Jesus was all alone...lost in the crowd.
And because Jesus died and rose for you, you can be sure that God will never give up on you. Jesus will never walk away from you, because he walked all the way to the cross to save you. He will relentlessly pursue you until your dying day. Notice what Yahweh says in today’s text: “I myself will search for my sheep” ... “I will seek out my sheep” ... “I will rescue them” ... “I will bring them out.” It is God alone who does the rescuing and saving. You and I have nothing to do with it in our lost condition apart from Christ. God searches for us. He is the one who finds us. He is the shepherd who searches for the one lost sheep out of 100. He is the woman who turns her house upside down just to find one measly coin out of ten. And when they find what they were looking for, they invite their friends and neighbors over for a party. (Luke 15:1-10)
God cares about you as an individual. You are not lost in the crowd. His Word of Law confronts us with our sins. His Word of Gospel leads us to repent of our sins, and there is rejoicing in heaven.
In our text, the Lord God says, “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land.” God brought the captives home from their captivity, but he had so much more in store for them than simply restoring them to the land. His will was to restore a new people to himself, both Jews and Gentiles alike. St. Paul calls this “the mystery of Christ” in Ephesians 3. He says, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” (Eph. 3:6)
God finds you and then puts you back in the “crowd.” In Holy Baptism, he incorporates you into his new Israel, the Holy Christian Church. And in this “crowd,” you have brothers and sisters in Christ who care about you. You need to remember, though, that we’re still sinners. There are times when we will fail you. Please forgive me for the times I have failed you. Forgive each one of us here for the times that we have failed you. We are each lost sheep, too, who need a shepherd to come find us.
Out text concludes, “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.” King David did not come back from the dead after some 500 years to rule over Israel after their captivity. Rather, David was the king to whom God had given the promise of an everlasting kingdom through one of his descendants. That king was Jesus, the greatest Son of David, who really did come back from the dead. Jesus is the “David” of whom our text speaks. He is our one shepherd. Crowds followed him and he sat down on the mountainside and taught them. (Matt. 4:25-5:2) He sat the crowd down “on the green grass” and fed them. (Mark 6:39) Crowds followed him and he healed their diseases. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36)
No longer are we lost in the crowd. God has found us and placed us back in this crowd called the Church, where Jesus is still compassionately working among the crowds today. Through his Word, he teaches us. In the rich pastureland of Holy Communion, he feeds us. Here at the altar, we are nourished on Christ’s own body and blood, and he binds up the injured and strengthens the weak with his mercy and grace.
Amen.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Online Tests for Confirmation
This year, I will post some quizzes for you online. Below are the instructions how to access these quizzes.
- In the sidebar at the right, under the title "Confirmation," click "Online Tests."
- On the page that appears, enter your login information that was provided to you either by email or in class.
- If you are already logged in, you will have to click on "My Class" at the top of the page.
- Find the tests that are assigned to you to take and click on "Start Test."
- Read the instructions carefully and follow the instructions online to go to each new question or to finish the exam. Review the correct answers once the test is finished. Wrong answers are marked with a red X and correct answers are marked with a green check mark.
- Questions? Drop me an email or give me a call.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost
15th Sunday after Pentecost (September 9, 2007)
“Discipleship Shaped by the Cross” (Luke 14:25-35)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text this morning is today’s Gospel reading from Luke 14, in which Jesus describes the conditions of being one of his disciples, one of his followers, a lifelong learner of Jesus and his will and his ways.
Difficult Discipleship
First, let me ask you a question. Is it hip nowadays to love Jesus? Ballplayers make the sign of the cross before going up to bat and point to heaven after every homerun or touchdown. Rap stars thank Jesus for letting them win a Grammy award, even though their lyrics are laced with profanity and are degrading to women. Best-selling self-help books quote him, but they neglect to call him the only Savior of the world.
In some ways, it is hip to love Jesus. It’s hip to quote him. It’s hip to think he was a cool guy. It’s hip to think he’s somehow going to make your life better than it is, that he will solve all your problems and make you healthier, wealthier, and wiser.
But the type of discipleship that Jesus calls us to is not hip. It’s not popular. Today’s Gospel lesson begins by describing the “great crowds” that were following Jesus. He turned to them and confronted them with a challenge. He wanted to see why they were following him. Did they even know why they were following him in the first place? You know how mobs can be sometimes...people just get caught up in the moment, and don’t even know the real reason why they are gathered together. Were they following him because they thought it was the popular thing to do...because everyone else was doing it? Were they following him because they were waiting for another one of his miracles, like feeding great crowds with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish? Were they following him to see when he would give them their marching orders and rise up against the Romans? Was he going to be the type of Messiah that they were expecting?
True Discipleship involves a cross. Listen again to how Jesus challenges the assumptions of the crowds about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus:
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 14:25-35)
True discipleship involves suffering and sacrifice. Jesus calls each disciple to “bear his own cross” and to “hate...his own life.” The cross is an instrument of suffering and death. For followers of Jesus, this isn’t just any type of suffering, from pesky toothaches to pernicious cancers. For followers of Jesus, bearing the cross means enduring all consequences of confessing of faith in Christ. It may be something as pesky as being snubbed at work or school. It may be something as pernicious as death at the hands of those who believe different than you, if you happen to live or travel in a land where Christianity is not tolerated.
True discipleship also involves undivided loyalty. Jesus calls each disciple to “hate” his family. We need to understand here that Jesus is using a figure of speech that was common in the Middle East in those days. He is exaggerating to the extreme to make a point. Jesus is not truly teaching us to hate...that would contradict other parts of Scripture that teaches us to love others ... “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex 20:12) ... “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church” (Eph 5:25) ... or even as Paul instructs Philemon in today’s Epistle to receive his runaway slave back as a “beloved brother.” (Phm 16) When we are taught to “hate” our family, we should understand it to mean that we are not to love anyone more than Jesus.
Undivided loyalty also extends to our material possessions. Jesus calls us to “renounce all that you have.” Followers of Jesus are to have a willingness, if need be, to leave their possessions behind. Disciples of Jesus are to have a willingness to part with all that is near and dear to them in order to follow him with singleness of mind and heart.
True discipleship also involves counting the cost. In any serious venture, you must always plan carefully. Before you begin any project, you have to decide whether you have the necessary resources to complete the task. And being a disciple of Jesus is serious stuff. It has to do with eternal matters. No wimps allowed. It calls for manly work (with all due respect to you ladies out there). It takes guts, strength, courage, fortitude. Being manly work, you’d think the church would be full of men ... to lead, to guide, to be examples, the way God ordained it in the Garden. But like Adam, many men have abdicated their responsibilities of being leaders in both their families and the church, and so Christian wives and mothers have had to take up the slack and be strong and courageous for their families.
Having said that, all of us—both men and women alike—share a common fallen nature. We are wimpy, weak, and cowardly when it comes to matters of faith. We have failed to be the salty, seasoning influence upon the world that we are supposed to be ... not even fit for the manure pile. We deserve to be thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Discipleship Shaped by the Cross
That’s why Jesus had to “bear his own cross” for you. Jesus was strong for us, courageous for us, victorious for us. He counted the cost in order to save us and knew what that cost would be ... undivided loyalty to his Heavenly Father’s will ... suffering the rejection of his own people, not to mention those disciples of his who were closest to him for three years ... and the sacrifice of his own life.
Like the builder in the parable, Jesus laid the foundation and was able to finish. In Ephesians 2, St. Pauls says that all believers in Christ become “members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” (Eph 2:20) We sing about this in the hymn: “The Church’s one foundation / Is Jesus Christ, her Lord; / She is His new creation / By water and the Word. / From heav’n He came and sought her / To be His holy bride; / With His own blood He bought her, / And for her life He died.” (LSB 644.1) And we also sing this one: “Christ is our cornerstone, / On Him alone we build; / With His true saints alone / The courts of heav’n are filled. / On His great love / Our hopes we place / Of present grace / And joys above.” (LSB 912.1)
And like the king in the parable, Jesus went off to war, not with ten thousand, but alone ... doing battle with our enemy Satan and all his angelic terrorists ... and won. He faced every temptation thrown at him and fought them off, using God’s Word, the sword of the Spirit, to fight off Satan’s attacks. He died as the innocent Son of God and marched in victory right into enemy territory when he descended into hell. And on the third day, he proclaimed his victory to the rest of the world as he marched forth from the tomb and showed himself alive.
With his own life, Jesus negotiated the “terms of peace” because our sins put us at odds with God. In Colossians 1, St. Paul describes how Jesus reconciled “to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” (Col 1:20-22)
Our discipleship is shaped by the cross ... Christ’s cross. We are crucified with Christ in Baptism. This means the death of our old self and putting on the new self ... the new creation that we are in Christ. Now we can willingly and joyfully carry our own cross ... facing suffering and sacrifice because we are disciples of Jesus.
We are baptized into a new family ... the Church. Now we can love Jesus more than our earthly families, while still serving them in love as he calls us to do.
We are given treasure in heaven. Now we can willingly part with all that is near and dear to us in this life, especially when we see that the things we possess can help others in their need.
And in this way, we can be the salty, seasoning influence that God intends his Church to be. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Amen.
“Discipleship Shaped by the Cross” (Luke 14:25-35)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text this morning is today’s Gospel reading from Luke 14, in which Jesus describes the conditions of being one of his disciples, one of his followers, a lifelong learner of Jesus and his will and his ways.
Difficult Discipleship
First, let me ask you a question. Is it hip nowadays to love Jesus? Ballplayers make the sign of the cross before going up to bat and point to heaven after every homerun or touchdown. Rap stars thank Jesus for letting them win a Grammy award, even though their lyrics are laced with profanity and are degrading to women. Best-selling self-help books quote him, but they neglect to call him the only Savior of the world.
In some ways, it is hip to love Jesus. It’s hip to quote him. It’s hip to think he was a cool guy. It’s hip to think he’s somehow going to make your life better than it is, that he will solve all your problems and make you healthier, wealthier, and wiser.
But the type of discipleship that Jesus calls us to is not hip. It’s not popular. Today’s Gospel lesson begins by describing the “great crowds” that were following Jesus. He turned to them and confronted them with a challenge. He wanted to see why they were following him. Did they even know why they were following him in the first place? You know how mobs can be sometimes...people just get caught up in the moment, and don’t even know the real reason why they are gathered together. Were they following him because they thought it was the popular thing to do...because everyone else was doing it? Were they following him because they were waiting for another one of his miracles, like feeding great crowds with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish? Were they following him to see when he would give them their marching orders and rise up against the Romans? Was he going to be the type of Messiah that they were expecting?
True Discipleship involves a cross. Listen again to how Jesus challenges the assumptions of the crowds about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus:
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 14:25-35)
True discipleship involves suffering and sacrifice. Jesus calls each disciple to “bear his own cross” and to “hate...his own life.” The cross is an instrument of suffering and death. For followers of Jesus, this isn’t just any type of suffering, from pesky toothaches to pernicious cancers. For followers of Jesus, bearing the cross means enduring all consequences of confessing of faith in Christ. It may be something as pesky as being snubbed at work or school. It may be something as pernicious as death at the hands of those who believe different than you, if you happen to live or travel in a land where Christianity is not tolerated.
True discipleship also involves undivided loyalty. Jesus calls each disciple to “hate” his family. We need to understand here that Jesus is using a figure of speech that was common in the Middle East in those days. He is exaggerating to the extreme to make a point. Jesus is not truly teaching us to hate...that would contradict other parts of Scripture that teaches us to love others ... “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex 20:12) ... “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church” (Eph 5:25) ... or even as Paul instructs Philemon in today’s Epistle to receive his runaway slave back as a “beloved brother.” (Phm 16) When we are taught to “hate” our family, we should understand it to mean that we are not to love anyone more than Jesus.
Undivided loyalty also extends to our material possessions. Jesus calls us to “renounce all that you have.” Followers of Jesus are to have a willingness, if need be, to leave their possessions behind. Disciples of Jesus are to have a willingness to part with all that is near and dear to them in order to follow him with singleness of mind and heart.
True discipleship also involves counting the cost. In any serious venture, you must always plan carefully. Before you begin any project, you have to decide whether you have the necessary resources to complete the task. And being a disciple of Jesus is serious stuff. It has to do with eternal matters. No wimps allowed. It calls for manly work (with all due respect to you ladies out there). It takes guts, strength, courage, fortitude. Being manly work, you’d think the church would be full of men ... to lead, to guide, to be examples, the way God ordained it in the Garden. But like Adam, many men have abdicated their responsibilities of being leaders in both their families and the church, and so Christian wives and mothers have had to take up the slack and be strong and courageous for their families.
Having said that, all of us—both men and women alike—share a common fallen nature. We are wimpy, weak, and cowardly when it comes to matters of faith. We have failed to be the salty, seasoning influence upon the world that we are supposed to be ... not even fit for the manure pile. We deserve to be thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Discipleship Shaped by the Cross
That’s why Jesus had to “bear his own cross” for you. Jesus was strong for us, courageous for us, victorious for us. He counted the cost in order to save us and knew what that cost would be ... undivided loyalty to his Heavenly Father’s will ... suffering the rejection of his own people, not to mention those disciples of his who were closest to him for three years ... and the sacrifice of his own life.
Like the builder in the parable, Jesus laid the foundation and was able to finish. In Ephesians 2, St. Pauls says that all believers in Christ become “members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” (Eph 2:20) We sing about this in the hymn: “The Church’s one foundation / Is Jesus Christ, her Lord; / She is His new creation / By water and the Word. / From heav’n He came and sought her / To be His holy bride; / With His own blood He bought her, / And for her life He died.” (LSB 644.1) And we also sing this one: “Christ is our cornerstone, / On Him alone we build; / With His true saints alone / The courts of heav’n are filled. / On His great love / Our hopes we place / Of present grace / And joys above.” (LSB 912.1)
And like the king in the parable, Jesus went off to war, not with ten thousand, but alone ... doing battle with our enemy Satan and all his angelic terrorists ... and won. He faced every temptation thrown at him and fought them off, using God’s Word, the sword of the Spirit, to fight off Satan’s attacks. He died as the innocent Son of God and marched in victory right into enemy territory when he descended into hell. And on the third day, he proclaimed his victory to the rest of the world as he marched forth from the tomb and showed himself alive.
With his own life, Jesus negotiated the “terms of peace” because our sins put us at odds with God. In Colossians 1, St. Paul describes how Jesus reconciled “to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” (Col 1:20-22)
Our discipleship is shaped by the cross ... Christ’s cross. We are crucified with Christ in Baptism. This means the death of our old self and putting on the new self ... the new creation that we are in Christ. Now we can willingly and joyfully carry our own cross ... facing suffering and sacrifice because we are disciples of Jesus.
We are baptized into a new family ... the Church. Now we can love Jesus more than our earthly families, while still serving them in love as he calls us to do.
We are given treasure in heaven. Now we can willingly part with all that is near and dear to us in this life, especially when we see that the things we possess can help others in their need.
And in this way, we can be the salty, seasoning influence that God intends his Church to be. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Amen.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Slacking
Yes, I know, I know...I've been slacking off posting. Here are the last two sermons that I preached at Messiah. Glad to know that some of you are certainly reading this blog and keeping me on my toes.
Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
14th Sunday after Pentecost (September 2, 2007)
“Invited to the Feast” (Luke 14:1-14)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text this morning is today’s Gospel lesson, from Luke 14. Please listen to God’s Holy Word as I read it one more time:
One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Thus far the Word of the Lord.
By the time most people reach Stewart’s age, they’ve been to a wedding or two...or three. But, believe it or not, Stewart had never been to a wedding. Not even his own, being single and a confirmed bachelor. Relationships just weren’t on his agenda. And he was quite particular. No woman ever quite measured up to his high standards.
Most of Stewart’s friends were married with children by now. They always remembered to invite Stewart to their nuptials. But it always seemed as though he had other plans that, for one reason or another, couldn’t be changed.
Finally, the day arrived when one of Stewart’s co-workers was to be married. She worked in the office right next to his, and they shared a laugh or two now and then during their coffee break. This time, he was able to attend the festivities. After the ceremony at the church, everyone drove to the reception at the local community hall. Stewart was famished, so he looked for the best seat in the house. He figured if he could snake his way up to the head table, he would be sure to be one of the first in line at the buffet. “Besides,” he thought to himself, “I’m good friends with the bride. She won’t mind me sitting here.”
Stewart hadn’t been seated more than 10 minutes when one of the catering crew approached him.
“Sir,” she said, “you’ll have to find another seat. This table is reserved for the wedding party.”
“But I’m good friends with the bride,” Stewart insisted.
“That may be so, sir, but you can’t sit at this table. It’s only for the wedding party.”
Feeling put out, Stewart begrudgingly got up from his seat, cursed under his breath, and looked around for another seat. By this time, all the guests had arrived and were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bride and groom. The only seat available was a rickety folding chair right next to the door to the men’s room. Gingerly, he sat down, his stomach rumbling, his nose irritated by the smell of bathroom cleanser wafting from the men’s room, and his face red with embarrassment.
You could almost forgive the guy. After all, he had never been to a wedding reception before. He didn’t know the proper protocol. But don’t most people know that you’re not supposed to sit at the head table of any gathering unless you are the guest of honor? Our protagonist had also never heard Christ’s words from our Gospel lesson today about not sitting in a place of honor and being asked to vacate your seat and move down a notch or two...or seven.
However, I don’t believe that Jesus is acting as Emily Post here. His words are not meant to teach us the proper etiquette about how to arrange guests at a wedding reception, how to choose your seat when you arrive, how to arrange and invite the guests at your own dinner parties. No, Jesus is teaching us something much more significant, much deeper. He is teaching us about his grace and mercy. Christ is teaching us that our place at his “Feast” has been earned for us because he humbled himself for us and for all sinners at the cross. He graciously invites us to the “Feast.” This “Feast” is the eternal wedding banquet described in Revelation 19: “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” The bliss and joy of heaven is described as a wedding feast. In the meantime, you and I are invited to a very real “Feast” here on this side of heaven. Every time you and I come to the “Feast” we call the Lord’s Supper, we get a foretaste of the feast to come as we dine on Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith.
Our sinful nature leads us to believe that we deserve a place at the Feast. We measure ourselves against others and think we are better. We expect to be repaid when we help others. We exalt ourselves, even if it’s only in our minds. But God’s Word says that when we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled. We will be shamed into taking the lowest place. In eternity, that will mean hell...the place of utter shame and contempt. You and I are like the ones who are poor, crippled, lame, and blind. Our sins spiritually impoverish us. Because of sin, we are emotionally and spiritually crippled and lame. We are spiritually blind and cannot see the truth unless it is revealed to us. And you and I are like the son or the ox who has fallen into a well...helpless, in the dark, with no way out. Our best efforts at attempting to rescue ourselves will fail, as we try to climb the slippery, slimy walls. We are as good as dead.
But our Lord Jesus has prepared a magnificent Feast for us. We have nothing to offer him in return. We have no way of repaying him for what he has done for us. After all, you and I are poor, crippled, lame, and blind...a pretty sorry lot, if you ask me. Not a very attractive dinner crowd. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, “I wouldn’t want to attend a dinner party with me as one of the guests.” In spite of our miserable condition, Jesus graciously invites us nonetheless. Although we have fallen into the well, Jesus does not overlook us, saying, “Sorry, it’s the Sabbath Day. Can’t exert myself, you know. That would be working. Can’t help you.” Instead, Jesus immediately pulls us out of our sinful condition and heals us with his forgiveness. He blesses us with his love and presence. He humbled himself when he became Incarnate in the Virgin’s womb. He humbled himself all the way to the cross and the tomb. He went and sat in the lowest place for us. When Jesus broke the bonds of death on Easter morning, and when he took his rightful place as King of the Universe at the right hand of the Father, it was as if God the Father said, “Friend, move up higher.” Or here’s how St. Paul puts it in Philippians 2: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus is honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with him...yet he is the one who still continues to humble himself and serve us, stooping down to our level to give us his very own body and blood in our hands and mouths. Now, we come before him in all humility and repentance, acknowledging our unworthiness, sitting in the lowest place, and Christ is the one who exalts us. “Friend, move up higher,” he says to us. “Come, eat and drink in my presence. Receive from me life and salvation. You are honored in the presence of angels and archangels and the whole company of the apostles and prophets and saints and martyrs who are in my very presence even now.”
Exalted by God at his Feast, we can continue to humble ourselves. We can act in all humility in our relationships. We can place the needs of others before our own. We can invite sinners like ourselves...poor, crippled, lame, and blind...to the Feast. We can reach out to others without expecting to be paid in return. Jesus has promised that we will be repaid in the resurrection of the just. Baptized into Christ, we have a share in that resurrection. We are just because we are justified...declared not guilty through the shed blood of Christ Jesus for our sins. We will be repaid...not because we have done things that deserve payment...but because we will then see the results of our labors for Christ. We will see how our loving actions for Christ’s sake affected others. All those simple acts of kindness and love that you thought were insignificant really weren’t. They meant something. They helped to open hearts to hear the Good News that Jesus is the Savior. What greater payment could you get, than to see someone you once helped on earth be in heaven forever? So never think that what you do doesn’t matter. And never stop inviting people to the Feast.
Amen.
“Invited to the Feast” (Luke 14:1-14)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text this morning is today’s Gospel lesson, from Luke 14. Please listen to God’s Holy Word as I read it one more time:
One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Thus far the Word of the Lord.
By the time most people reach Stewart’s age, they’ve been to a wedding or two...or three. But, believe it or not, Stewart had never been to a wedding. Not even his own, being single and a confirmed bachelor. Relationships just weren’t on his agenda. And he was quite particular. No woman ever quite measured up to his high standards.
Most of Stewart’s friends were married with children by now. They always remembered to invite Stewart to their nuptials. But it always seemed as though he had other plans that, for one reason or another, couldn’t be changed.
Finally, the day arrived when one of Stewart’s co-workers was to be married. She worked in the office right next to his, and they shared a laugh or two now and then during their coffee break. This time, he was able to attend the festivities. After the ceremony at the church, everyone drove to the reception at the local community hall. Stewart was famished, so he looked for the best seat in the house. He figured if he could snake his way up to the head table, he would be sure to be one of the first in line at the buffet. “Besides,” he thought to himself, “I’m good friends with the bride. She won’t mind me sitting here.”
Stewart hadn’t been seated more than 10 minutes when one of the catering crew approached him.
“Sir,” she said, “you’ll have to find another seat. This table is reserved for the wedding party.”
“But I’m good friends with the bride,” Stewart insisted.
“That may be so, sir, but you can’t sit at this table. It’s only for the wedding party.”
Feeling put out, Stewart begrudgingly got up from his seat, cursed under his breath, and looked around for another seat. By this time, all the guests had arrived and were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bride and groom. The only seat available was a rickety folding chair right next to the door to the men’s room. Gingerly, he sat down, his stomach rumbling, his nose irritated by the smell of bathroom cleanser wafting from the men’s room, and his face red with embarrassment.
You could almost forgive the guy. After all, he had never been to a wedding reception before. He didn’t know the proper protocol. But don’t most people know that you’re not supposed to sit at the head table of any gathering unless you are the guest of honor? Our protagonist had also never heard Christ’s words from our Gospel lesson today about not sitting in a place of honor and being asked to vacate your seat and move down a notch or two...or seven.
However, I don’t believe that Jesus is acting as Emily Post here. His words are not meant to teach us the proper etiquette about how to arrange guests at a wedding reception, how to choose your seat when you arrive, how to arrange and invite the guests at your own dinner parties. No, Jesus is teaching us something much more significant, much deeper. He is teaching us about his grace and mercy. Christ is teaching us that our place at his “Feast” has been earned for us because he humbled himself for us and for all sinners at the cross. He graciously invites us to the “Feast.” This “Feast” is the eternal wedding banquet described in Revelation 19: “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” The bliss and joy of heaven is described as a wedding feast. In the meantime, you and I are invited to a very real “Feast” here on this side of heaven. Every time you and I come to the “Feast” we call the Lord’s Supper, we get a foretaste of the feast to come as we dine on Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith.
Our sinful nature leads us to believe that we deserve a place at the Feast. We measure ourselves against others and think we are better. We expect to be repaid when we help others. We exalt ourselves, even if it’s only in our minds. But God’s Word says that when we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled. We will be shamed into taking the lowest place. In eternity, that will mean hell...the place of utter shame and contempt. You and I are like the ones who are poor, crippled, lame, and blind. Our sins spiritually impoverish us. Because of sin, we are emotionally and spiritually crippled and lame. We are spiritually blind and cannot see the truth unless it is revealed to us. And you and I are like the son or the ox who has fallen into a well...helpless, in the dark, with no way out. Our best efforts at attempting to rescue ourselves will fail, as we try to climb the slippery, slimy walls. We are as good as dead.
But our Lord Jesus has prepared a magnificent Feast for us. We have nothing to offer him in return. We have no way of repaying him for what he has done for us. After all, you and I are poor, crippled, lame, and blind...a pretty sorry lot, if you ask me. Not a very attractive dinner crowd. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, “I wouldn’t want to attend a dinner party with me as one of the guests.” In spite of our miserable condition, Jesus graciously invites us nonetheless. Although we have fallen into the well, Jesus does not overlook us, saying, “Sorry, it’s the Sabbath Day. Can’t exert myself, you know. That would be working. Can’t help you.” Instead, Jesus immediately pulls us out of our sinful condition and heals us with his forgiveness. He blesses us with his love and presence. He humbled himself when he became Incarnate in the Virgin’s womb. He humbled himself all the way to the cross and the tomb. He went and sat in the lowest place for us. When Jesus broke the bonds of death on Easter morning, and when he took his rightful place as King of the Universe at the right hand of the Father, it was as if God the Father said, “Friend, move up higher.” Or here’s how St. Paul puts it in Philippians 2: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus is honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with him...yet he is the one who still continues to humble himself and serve us, stooping down to our level to give us his very own body and blood in our hands and mouths. Now, we come before him in all humility and repentance, acknowledging our unworthiness, sitting in the lowest place, and Christ is the one who exalts us. “Friend, move up higher,” he says to us. “Come, eat and drink in my presence. Receive from me life and salvation. You are honored in the presence of angels and archangels and the whole company of the apostles and prophets and saints and martyrs who are in my very presence even now.”
Exalted by God at his Feast, we can continue to humble ourselves. We can act in all humility in our relationships. We can place the needs of others before our own. We can invite sinners like ourselves...poor, crippled, lame, and blind...to the Feast. We can reach out to others without expecting to be paid in return. Jesus has promised that we will be repaid in the resurrection of the just. Baptized into Christ, we have a share in that resurrection. We are just because we are justified...declared not guilty through the shed blood of Christ Jesus for our sins. We will be repaid...not because we have done things that deserve payment...but because we will then see the results of our labors for Christ. We will see how our loving actions for Christ’s sake affected others. All those simple acts of kindness and love that you thought were insignificant really weren’t. They meant something. They helped to open hearts to hear the Good News that Jesus is the Savior. What greater payment could you get, than to see someone you once helped on earth be in heaven forever? So never think that what you do doesn’t matter. And never stop inviting people to the Feast.
Amen.
Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
You are on a journey. It doesn't matter whether you are Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free, infant or aged, pastor or parishioner, rich or poor. All are on this same journey. You join every other human being on this planet in the pilgrimage that extends from here to eternity. There are two, and only two, destinations, either one or the other: everlasting destruction or eternal paradise ... condemnation or salvation ... the wide way to hell or the narrow Door to heaven. So will there be many who are saved? Listen once again to the Gospel Reading for today and hear that "Jesus is the Narrow Door."
[Jesus] went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." (Luk 13:22-30 ESV)
From our Lord's words here we learn that, in order to be saved, there is one narrow door through which we are to pass. If we are to live forever with the Lord, there is only one way which we are to go. Jesus is that "Way." Jesus is the Narrow Door. Why are so few saved, then? Scripture says that God "desires all to be saved." (1 Tim 2:4) It also says that "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself." (2 Cor 5:19) If God desires all to be saved ... if God has accomplished salvation for all ... why, then are so few saved? The reason has to do with the baggage that people carry on their journey.
This baggage is not the material possessions that we accumulate in this life. Both those who are saved and those who are lost must leave all these things behind. And this is fairly obvious to everyone nowadays. After all, many will confess "You can't take it with you." Or you've probably heard this one: "There are no U-Hauls following a hearse." So then, what is the baggage that prevents people from entering the Narrow Door? What must be left behind in order to get through the Door?
Imagine for a moment that you are approaching the Narrow Door. You discover that there are three bags that must be left behind ... three burdens that might very well prevent you from entering into the Kingdom of God. And there stands Jesus. He stands as the Narrow Door. Entry is not permitted to anyone who approaches Him with even one of following three bags.
The first bag is the one carrying your inventory of good works. If you attempt to gain entry into heaven on the basis of what you have done, on account of what you have accomplished, how good you did this or that, you are lost on the wide way that leads to destruction. Were your good works done in service to your neighbors? Were they accomplished in the service of the church? Were they done in the mission field? None of this will help you enter the Narrow Door. If you try to squeeze by carrying these bags, you will not be permitted to enter. Recall St. Paul's words from Romans 3, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Rom 3:20) Those who seek to impress God with their personal deeds are the ones he describes standing outside the door and knocking, saying, "Lord, open to us." Jesus will reply, "I do not know where you come from." Then they will begin to say, "We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." But Jesus will rebuke them, saying, "I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!"
The second bag is that small one you've got right there very close to your heart, the tiny bag carrying your earthly pedigree...that is, who you are, where you come from, how you define yourself. Using this as a passport in order to gain entry into heaven just won't work. But, you say, "look at my lineage!" You claim the name Lutheran, even though that in itself, especially in these doctrinally mixed-up days, doesn't necessarily mean anything. Your name is on the membership roster of this congregation, as was your mother and father, and your grandparents were members of a Lutheran church in North Dakota...or Illinois...or Nebraska...or wherever it was. Well, that bag with your pedigree in it must be dropped at the Door. It certainly is no passport to get you in and through the Narrow Door. If you try to squeeze through carrying all that baggage, then you will be like those of whom Jesus has said they must depart from Him, for He never knew them. If your hopes are on the earthly pedigree of who you are and you die in such a state, your eternal abode will be in hell. "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God." (Luk 13:28-29 ESV)
The third bag is one that you are not even carrying. Now that may sound strange, but it is true, nevertheless. It is that huge bag of all your sins ... all your transgressions of God's holy, perfect, righteous Law ... all your sins of thought, work and deed ... every sin of omission and commission, each pet sin and sin of ignorance ... sins of the past, ones of the present, sins of the future. That huge bag is yours. Now look at that Narrow Door one more time, the Door before which we have been imagining ourselves standing. He is Jesus. He is the one who bore your burden 2,000 years ago. That huge bag of your sins was placed on him. They became his and he was charged with the divine penalty. Jesus paid the complete price for your bag of sins, and not for your bag only but also for the sins of the whole world.
It's easy for us to forget that Jesus is the one now carrying this bag. But still, we come to Jesus, thinking we are the ones who are supposed to carry it. But coming to Jesus in order to carry the burden of your bag of sins is an insult to him. He has already removed your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. It is blasphemy to think that you can do only what God is capable of doing. It is a rejection of both the person and the work of that Narrow Door who died for all your sins and rose again that you might be with him in Paradise. Why would anyone want to walk up to Jesus and seek to remind him of their sins? Why would we try to take them back from him, when he has declared: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. 31:34) That would be like provoking Him into saying ..."I do not know where you come from. Depart from Me, all you workers of evil!"
Let's summarize. The three bags that must be left at the Door are the bag of good works, the bag containing your earthly pedigree, and the bag of sins, which is no longer yours. These must be left behind in order to get through the Door. So then, what prevents people from entering the Narrow Door? Certainly what we have just talked about. But there is also one more condition which prevents a person from entering Paradise at the end of this life.
There are many people who do not know Jesus. They have never heard what he has done for them. These people are walking the face of the earth ... always journeying in the direction of eternity for a date with destruction. They bear a burden of guilt for sins that have already found satisfaction in Jesus' sacrifice of himself on the cross. These people have not heard the Good News. Some of them think that God is going to let them into heaven because of their bag of good works. Others of them are expecting to be in Paradise because of their pedigree. You and I are called to speak both the Law which accuses the impenitent and the Gospel which comforts those who are repentant and looking for hope and peace.
This is the invitation that the Lord extends through you with the Word of Good News that you carry about with you as you travel here and go there. This Gospel is intended for each one, whether or not that person is Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free, infant or aged, pastor or parishioner, rich or poor. In order for that person to be "at table in the kingdom of God," that person needs to know Jesus, the Narrow Door. That person needs to be able to hear with the ears of his or her soul, exactly what you hear every time you enter into the presence of God in the Divine Service ... that you are forgiven in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Based on a sermon by the Rev. Michael McCoy)
You are on a journey. It doesn't matter whether you are Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free, infant or aged, pastor or parishioner, rich or poor. All are on this same journey. You join every other human being on this planet in the pilgrimage that extends from here to eternity. There are two, and only two, destinations, either one or the other: everlasting destruction or eternal paradise ... condemnation or salvation ... the wide way to hell or the narrow Door to heaven. So will there be many who are saved? Listen once again to the Gospel Reading for today and hear that "Jesus is the Narrow Door."
[Jesus] went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." (Luk 13:22-30 ESV)
From our Lord's words here we learn that, in order to be saved, there is one narrow door through which we are to pass. If we are to live forever with the Lord, there is only one way which we are to go. Jesus is that "Way." Jesus is the Narrow Door. Why are so few saved, then? Scripture says that God "desires all to be saved." (1 Tim 2:4) It also says that "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself." (2 Cor 5:19) If God desires all to be saved ... if God has accomplished salvation for all ... why, then are so few saved? The reason has to do with the baggage that people carry on their journey.
This baggage is not the material possessions that we accumulate in this life. Both those who are saved and those who are lost must leave all these things behind. And this is fairly obvious to everyone nowadays. After all, many will confess "You can't take it with you." Or you've probably heard this one: "There are no U-Hauls following a hearse." So then, what is the baggage that prevents people from entering the Narrow Door? What must be left behind in order to get through the Door?
Imagine for a moment that you are approaching the Narrow Door. You discover that there are three bags that must be left behind ... three burdens that might very well prevent you from entering into the Kingdom of God. And there stands Jesus. He stands as the Narrow Door. Entry is not permitted to anyone who approaches Him with even one of following three bags.
The first bag is the one carrying your inventory of good works. If you attempt to gain entry into heaven on the basis of what you have done, on account of what you have accomplished, how good you did this or that, you are lost on the wide way that leads to destruction. Were your good works done in service to your neighbors? Were they accomplished in the service of the church? Were they done in the mission field? None of this will help you enter the Narrow Door. If you try to squeeze by carrying these bags, you will not be permitted to enter. Recall St. Paul's words from Romans 3, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Rom 3:20) Those who seek to impress God with their personal deeds are the ones he describes standing outside the door and knocking, saying, "Lord, open to us." Jesus will reply, "I do not know where you come from." Then they will begin to say, "We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." But Jesus will rebuke them, saying, "I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!"
The second bag is that small one you've got right there very close to your heart, the tiny bag carrying your earthly pedigree...that is, who you are, where you come from, how you define yourself. Using this as a passport in order to gain entry into heaven just won't work. But, you say, "look at my lineage!" You claim the name Lutheran, even though that in itself, especially in these doctrinally mixed-up days, doesn't necessarily mean anything. Your name is on the membership roster of this congregation, as was your mother and father, and your grandparents were members of a Lutheran church in North Dakota...or Illinois...or Nebraska...or wherever it was. Well, that bag with your pedigree in it must be dropped at the Door. It certainly is no passport to get you in and through the Narrow Door. If you try to squeeze through carrying all that baggage, then you will be like those of whom Jesus has said they must depart from Him, for He never knew them. If your hopes are on the earthly pedigree of who you are and you die in such a state, your eternal abode will be in hell. "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God." (Luk 13:28-29 ESV)
The third bag is one that you are not even carrying. Now that may sound strange, but it is true, nevertheless. It is that huge bag of all your sins ... all your transgressions of God's holy, perfect, righteous Law ... all your sins of thought, work and deed ... every sin of omission and commission, each pet sin and sin of ignorance ... sins of the past, ones of the present, sins of the future. That huge bag is yours. Now look at that Narrow Door one more time, the Door before which we have been imagining ourselves standing. He is Jesus. He is the one who bore your burden 2,000 years ago. That huge bag of your sins was placed on him. They became his and he was charged with the divine penalty. Jesus paid the complete price for your bag of sins, and not for your bag only but also for the sins of the whole world.
It's easy for us to forget that Jesus is the one now carrying this bag. But still, we come to Jesus, thinking we are the ones who are supposed to carry it. But coming to Jesus in order to carry the burden of your bag of sins is an insult to him. He has already removed your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. It is blasphemy to think that you can do only what God is capable of doing. It is a rejection of both the person and the work of that Narrow Door who died for all your sins and rose again that you might be with him in Paradise. Why would anyone want to walk up to Jesus and seek to remind him of their sins? Why would we try to take them back from him, when he has declared: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. 31:34) That would be like provoking Him into saying ..."I do not know where you come from. Depart from Me, all you workers of evil!"
Let's summarize. The three bags that must be left at the Door are the bag of good works, the bag containing your earthly pedigree, and the bag of sins, which is no longer yours. These must be left behind in order to get through the Door. So then, what prevents people from entering the Narrow Door? Certainly what we have just talked about. But there is also one more condition which prevents a person from entering Paradise at the end of this life.
There are many people who do not know Jesus. They have never heard what he has done for them. These people are walking the face of the earth ... always journeying in the direction of eternity for a date with destruction. They bear a burden of guilt for sins that have already found satisfaction in Jesus' sacrifice of himself on the cross. These people have not heard the Good News. Some of them think that God is going to let them into heaven because of their bag of good works. Others of them are expecting to be in Paradise because of their pedigree. You and I are called to speak both the Law which accuses the impenitent and the Gospel which comforts those who are repentant and looking for hope and peace.
This is the invitation that the Lord extends through you with the Word of Good News that you carry about with you as you travel here and go there. This Gospel is intended for each one, whether or not that person is Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free, infant or aged, pastor or parishioner, rich or poor. In order for that person to be "at table in the kingdom of God," that person needs to know Jesus, the Narrow Door. That person needs to be able to hear with the ears of his or her soul, exactly what you hear every time you enter into the presence of God in the Divine Service ... that you are forgiven in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Based on a sermon by the Rev. Michael McCoy)
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