Monday, October 29, 2018

Festival of the Reformation Sermon

Jesu Juva

“Jesus, Here, For You”
Text: Matthew 11:12-19 (Romans 3:19-28)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Some would say that we should not have a Festival of the Reformation. We should not celebrate this day, but, in fact, mourn. For the Reformation, they would say, divided the church. A wound from which she still has not recovered. So you should sing a dirge today, not A Mighty Fortress. The color should be purple, not red. There should be repentance, not rejoicing. Luther is no hero, but a villain. Not a reformer, but a revolutionary. Not a faithful son of the church, but a traitor. Benedict Arnold, so some would say.

What shall we say to this?

Well, the church had been divided long before Luther ever came along. The apostle Paul already speaks of divisions in the church in the first century. In fact, he says, there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized (1 Corinthians 11:19). After Paul, various heresies and false teachings in the early church caused splits, and there was what was called “the great schism” at the turn of the millenium - some 500 years before the Reformation - when the Eastern and Western Churches excommunicated each other. It seems that if the church was ever united, it wasn’t for long.

Which, honestly, is what we should expect. We heard a couple of weeks ago, when we celebrated St. Michael and All Angels, that satan had been cast down to the earth, and with that, the war in heaven ended, but the war on earth had just begun. The kingdom of God would suffer violence. The church would be not a church at peace and rest, but the church militant. Satan will attack Christians, trying to lure us away from our Saviour. He will attack the church, dividing her with false doctrine and sometimes even petty squabbles. And he will seek to infiltrate, too. That false doctrine find a home in the church and eat her away from the inside out, so that she is nothing but a empty shell with nothing of substance inside.

But though some sing a dirge on this day, it is not a time to mourn. For one very simple reason. Not because of Luther. We thank God for him, as we do for all the church fathers who came before us, who fought for the truth, who often gave their lives, and on whose shoulders we stand. 

Nor do we celebrate the start of a new church, a Lutheran one, for that would be a grave misunderstanding of what our church really is. For we are no new church, but a very old one. For there is, in fact, only one church. One true one. The church which is the Body of Christ. The church which is made up of those who belong to Christ. Those baptized by Him, fed by Him, absolved by Him, who believe in Him. The Christians of the Old Testament who believed in the promise of His coming, and the Christians of the New Testament who believe that He came, fulfilling all the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. One church, hidden in this world of violence and division and sin.

No, we will not mourn for this reason: because Jesus is here. And as Jesus said: can the wedding guests mourn when the Bridegroom is with them (Matthew 9:15)?

Yes, we mourn our sins and repent of them. And there is no shortage of sin to confess in our lives. But our mourning is not for long, for then we hear the Word of Absolution, that our sin is forgiven, taken away, not counted against us. You are free. And then we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus, His pledge to us of the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life. That He who places His Body and Blood into our bodies, will come and raise these bodies to eternal life. So a foretaste of the feast to come, we call the Lord’s Supper. This is just the appetizer of the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom. One feast, though on many altars now. 

So how can we mourn when such great forgiveness is ours? This, for Luther, made all the difference in the world. 

Often times, the Reformation is boiled down to the three solas: salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, revealed in Scripture alone. Or that it was all about justification by grace through faith, aparts from works of the law, as we heard from Romans today. And those are certainly true and hallmarks of the Reformation.

But maybe what the Reformation really boiled down to was this: Jesus is here for you

You see, at the time of the Reformation, if you really wanted to get close to God and find Jesus, if you really wanted to be spiritual, you were told to enter a monastery. And there, through poverty, chastity, and obedience, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, through climbing the ladder up to God in meditation and contemplation, you could find Him, get close to Him, making yourself holy. And Luther tried. He really tried. But the more he climbed, the farther away he got. And maybe you’ve tried that, too. Praying more, reading more, obeying more, trying more, trying to climb, trying to get to God . . . and it all seems for naught. Life comes crashing down, problems pile up, old sins return, and you find yourself no closer to God than when you started.

Then there were other reformers, radical ones, who said, yes, God is far away. That’s quite right. He was here, but He ascended into heaven, to the right hand of God, and is as far away from us as heaven is from earth. But you can’t get to Him by climbing earthly ladders! Or doing earthly things. Oh no! You must ascend spiritually. In your heart. Or ask God into your heart. Oh yes, that’s where God is.  . . . But Luther looked into his heart and didn’t find God there. He found sin. He found doubts, fears, mistrust, pride, envy, unholy desires, anger, bitterness - everything but God! And, if your like me, that’s true for you, too.

And then there were those who say not to worry, for God is everywhere. But if God is everywhere, is He anywhere? And while that may be true, is it comforting? Comforting when we see the sin in the world? Comforting when we see the sin in us? Comforting when sin comes crashing down on us? Comforting when sin comes erupting out of us? Because why isn’t He doing something? A small child having a nightmare might know her parents are in the house, but that is not the comfort she needs! She wants them there, right there, for her! Holding her in their arms, speaking to her, reassuring her, loving her. Us too. 

And so Luther’s question: I can’t climb up to God, there’s only sin in my heart, and yes, God is everywhere . . . but where is He for me?

And so the Reformation really came down to this: Jesus is God, here, for me. I don’t climb up to Him, He climbed down to me. He’s not in my heart; I’m in His. And yes, He is the God who is big, but who became small, and here, for me. To do something. And this isn’t just history; something that happened a long time ago. It is still true today. And here.

For where is God? He is curled up in His mother’s arms. He is laid in a manger. He is touching lepers. He is consoling widows. He is giving sight to the blind. He is giving hearing to the deaf. He is loving the outcasts. He is being arrested. He is being whipped and mocked. He is nailed to a cross. He is laid in a tomb. But then He is risen from the dead! The three days of mourning are over, and now is the time of rejoicing. And yes, He ascended into heaven, but not to leave, not to be far away, but to be with us more than He was before! For when He ascended, He also promised this: “Lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20)

And so He is. With us. For as He descended from heaven and was made man, so He does not now make us climb up to Him with what we do or ascend to Him in our hearts - He is still coming to us, still here with us, for us. His hands still washing us, His voice still absolving us and teaching us, His Body and Blood still feeding us. Here is my Mighty Fortress when the devil attacks. Here is my refuge when my sins weigh heavy on me. Here is my comfort when the world crashes down on me, when things don’t make any sense. Here is the Jesus who has overcome the world for me, and so I know that I too will overcome. Though it come through a cross, though it come through death and the grave. He is Lord even of these. And He is my Lord, here, for me.

From this reality, really, sprung the Reformation. That the righteousness of God isn’t something to achieve, but given to us in Christ. That Jesus isn’t far away, but here. That we don’t have to find Him somehow, but He finds us. From that sprung the three solas. From that sprung the teaching of justification. From Jesus, not far away; but here, for me

And so for us. What we celebrate today is not a man or a church, but Jesus, here, for me. The almighty God weak for me. The all-present God here for me. The living God crucified for me. The holy God made sin for me. The God of all creation here loving me and forgiving me. 

And this too: a church where the violent come and still take Jesus by force. For when Jesus was born of Mary, violent men came and took Him by force and put Him on a cross. Because He wanted them to. He allowed them to. For us. And now He bids us do the same! For us men and women, violent in our sin, to come and take Him. Because He wants us to. To come and take Him. To grab hold of His forgiveness! To take His Body and Blood! To seize His promises and not let them go! And to rejoice, that Jesus is here for you exactly for this. To be a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Of the outcasts, the not-good-enoughs, the broken, the hurting. 

And any church that does not teach this, needs to be reformed.

And so this really is a day to rejoice. As it says in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is a time to mourn, and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:4b). And this is the time to dance and rejoice in the forgiveness and life of Jesus, here, for you.

We’re not going to satisfy the world and its desires. As we heard in the Holy Gospel today, they’re going to want us to dance to their tune. But when Jesus is proclaimed, when Jesus is given, when jesus is played, then there is joy and we dance to that tune. For this is the truth, the reality, that gives hope in the midst of whatever life throws at you. That doesn’t mean life will be easy! It wasn’t for Jesus or Luther, for Paul or the apostles. But as Paul would write - even from prison - Rejoice in the Lord always. Why? For, he says, the Lord is at hand (Philippians 4:4-5). Literally! Bow your head, open your mouth, reach out your hand, and you have Him. Jesus, and His life and His forgiveness, is here, for you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Pentecost 22 Sermon

Jesu Juva

“Children of the One Who Loves to Give”
Text: Mark 10:23-31 (Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Hebrews 4:1-13)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

I wonder how far the rich young man had gotten? You know, the one we heard about last week. Who wouldn’t - couldn’t - give up his wealth to follow Jesus. He wanted eternal life, but not at that price. It would cost him too much. And so he went away sorrowful and disheartened. He turned around and walked away from Jesus.

How far had he gotten? A couple of paces, a hundred yards? Before Jesus, maybe still looking at him, still gazing at him walking away, maybe still hoping he would turn around . . . for, we heard last week, Jesus loved him . . . How far had he gotten before Jesus said the words we hear today: How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

The disciples are amazed at His words. Not just these words, but everything that Jesus had said to this rich young man. It is a high price for eternal life. It costs everything you have. Sell all you have. Not just a tithe, not even half - all of it. You can understand why the disciples were so amazed.

And then Jesus doubles down. He seems to do that a lot. Once He says something that causes amazement, He ups the ante - makes it even more amazing. Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! Not just for those who have wealth anymore, now a general statement. But for those who have wealth, this too: 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.

Some people in recent years have tried to soften up that saying a bit; make it a little less impossible; a bit more palatable. Saying that “the eye of a needle” was the name of one of the narrow gates into Jerusalem, and so a rich person with a camel loaded with stuff would have to unload the riches off his camel in order to get through that gate. But the disciples knew what Jesus was saying. And it wasn’t that. Because now they are not just astonished but exceedingly astonished, and so ask: Then who can be saved? We can’t even get a lousy piece of thread through the eye of a needle most of the time! And notice, too - they don’t just ask how the rich can be saved, but anyone. Sell all you have? A camel through the eye of a needle? How can anyone be saved?

It’s the right question. Although not one many today are asking. For today, in our STEM world - our Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math world - we’ll figure it out. If we can put a man on the moon, a computer in every pocket, and an internet that takes information around the world in milliseconds, then we’ll engineer a camel small enough, or manufacture a needle big enough, or do whatever else we need to do! Because we’re smart. We’re able. To meet any challenge. Overcome any obstacle. Defeat any foe. Nothing is impossible for us.

But do you see? That’s walking away from Jesus too, isn’t it? That’s not following Him, but turning to what we can do. But what Jesus said then is just as true today: With man it is impossible. We can do a great many things, but one thing we cannot do and will not ever be able to do: the kingdom of God. On our own we cannot find it. On our own we cannot achieve it. On our own we cannot enter it. It might as well be at the other end of the universe, of space, of all there is. We’ll never get there on our own. No amount of good works, no amount of ingenuity, no amount of time, will ever be enough. With man it is impossible

Oh, I’m preaching to the choir, aren’t I? You know this, right? Like Peter knew it. And yet on hearing these words says to Jesus: See, we have left everything and followed you. He sounds just like the rich young man last week, doesn’t he? Who said: All these I have done from my youth! Today, it’s Peter: We’ve left everything and followed you! And we hear the words, we know they’re true, and yet still our hearts want there to be something in us, too! Or something not in us, so that we can say: I’m not like that. I’m not like them. Glad I’m not rich! Glad I’m not proud. Glad I’m in church every week, and give and pray and do good and . . . oh, wait. 

Now, some of that is true for you, though you are rich. Maybe not compared to some, but compared to most. And you’re generous. You give to this church, you give to charities, you give to those in need, you give to students - and God loves it. He loves it so much that He promises that you cannot possibly out-give Him. The more you give, the more you leave, the more He is going to give. Even a hundredfold, He says - a hundred times what you give.

Oh, Jesus says, and there will be persecutions, too. It’s not going to be easy. For the evil one will not like your generosity, your good, your prayers, and so tries to stop it. Turn you in on yourself. Make you resentful, suspicious, and reluctant to give. Turn you away from your Father in heaven. Though maybe the persecution will be sent by your Father, to test you. See if you’ll keep giving, see if you’ll keep gooding, even when times are tough. Or see if you’re just a fair weather friend, a giving-as-long-as-there-is-plenty friend, or one who gives no matter what.

And then this too, Jesus says: You will not only receive in this life, but also will be given to you in the age to come, eternal life. That, too, is a promise, part of that same you-can’t-out-give God fact. For even if you give your life, He will out-give you, and give you eternal life. That, too, like everything else you have in this world and life, a gift for you. A gift you cannot earn by your generosity, your good, your prayers, or anything you do or give up. It is a gift you can only receive. From the most gracious and generous Giver of all. 

For when it comes to you and God, when it comes to your relationship with Him, there’s one very important word Jesus used today that says it all: children. He calls His disciples children. He calls you children. And that is not a word Jesus uses lightly. It is a term of endearment. It is a term of commitment. Not like today in our world of baby mamas and deadbeat dads. When God calls you His child, when Jesus calls you His child, you are. With all that goes with that. And you are for He baptized you into His family, gave you the family name, and promised you the family inheritance. So He will care for you and feed you, just as He did for His children for 40 years in the wilderness when, as we heard from Hebrews today, He did when leading them to their rest. They got manna every day, water from a rock, and their clothes never wore out. He led them day and night, protected them from their foes, and even from themselves, when they rebelled and were disobedient. 

And with all that they learned. The Promised Land wasn’t something they were going to do; all their STEM wasn’t going to get them in, get it done, or give them rest. Impossible for man. But their Father would give it to them. As He promised.

And as He has done ever since the beginning of creation. Because the truth is that God loves to give. He loves it when you give because you’re being like Him. A child imitating their Father. And how much does God love to give? Look at Jesus and you’ll see it. He loves to heal, He loves to feed, He loves to touch, He loves to teach, He loves to forgive, He loves to pay your debt, He loves to raise you from the dead, He even loves to die for you. 

Wait - what? Yes, He loves to die for you. Because that’s what love is. Not an ooey-gooey gushy feeling in your heart, but giving yourself for the other. I’m sure Jesus didn’t feel like going to the cross, enduring the agony and pain and nails and spear and humiliation and suffering and death that meant. But that’s what love does. And He gave everything He had for you. 

It may be impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, but what Jesus did was even harder - when He went through death and the grave. He went to the cross with all your life-crushing sin and let death swallow Him up for it, so that He could swallow up death in His resurrection. That for you and I, death no longer be that impossible barrier, that eye of a needle that we cannot pass through. On our own, yes, it is impossible. But not with God. And so because Jesus went through what we cannot, dying but rising to life again, now too for you, as for Jesus, death is in the rear-view mirror. You will die, but death and the grave is now - because of Jesus - just the passageway, the gate, to eternal life. His doing, His gift, for you.

Riches, wealth, is one of the most alluring false gods. Ask what people would give to win the Mega Millions lottery jackpot next week - now up to $1.6 billion - you might be surprised at the answers you get; what people are willing to sacrifice for a pot of gold like that. And how many have sacrificed family and friends for the sake of money? How many fights have broken out over how to divide lottery winnings or inheritances? And how many have ship wrecked their faith because of this, too? 

But you are a child of the one who loves to give. And while you may be last in the eyes of many in this world, you are first in His eyes - the only eyes that really matter. 

For you are a child of the one who loves to give. Who does the providing. Who does the saving. So better to cling to Him who can repay a hundredfold - or more! - what we give, than to cling to what we have and not give. For as we heard from Ecclesiastes today: what’s the point of that - clinging to what you have? Loving your money? You can’t take it with you. And if that’s all there is to life, and there’s no life after this one, what a sad lot we have.

But as Jesus’ resurrection proved, this life is not all there is. There is a rest still to come. An eternal one. A Promised Land for us, that our Lord will provide. He’ll lead us there by day and by night, through good times and bad times, by His Word. We’ll pass through the waters - not of the Red Sea - but of baptism, where our sins will be drowned, never to come back and accuse us. He’ll give us the living water of His Spirit to refresh our faith and strengthen us when weary. And He’ll feed us with His manna, His own Body and Blood, on the way. And with these riches - and they are riches, no matter what the world or our eyes may tell us - we truly have all that we need. 

And we do because Jesus is the one who left everything for you. He was the first who became last, so that you may be first; so that you be a child of God. And there is nothing higher than that. 

So rest in Him, even now. In His promises and goodness. And look forward to the rest still to come. And when you do, when you know that, when you have Jesus . . . the things of this world and life aren’t so important any more. They become not things to love, but things to give in love. Not things to cling to, but things to let go of. Because you have the one who won’t let go of you. The one who can put camels through eyes of needles, the one who can overcome death and the grave, and the one who has and will continue to give all He has for you

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Pentecost 21 Sermon

Jesu Juva

“Follow Jesus, to the Cross, to Life”
Text: Mark 10:17-22; Hebrews 3:12-19; Amos 5:6-7, 10-15

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

I wonder what caused this young man to ask this question of Jesus. Maybe something happened, shook him up, that caused him to think about life and what it’s really all about. Maybe one of his parents died. Or maybe suddenly and unexpectedly, a good friend. Times like that make you think. He had a good life. He was wealthy. And it seems like, by all appearances, he was a good person; an upstanding citizen. He didn’t kill or steal or lie. He takes care of his family. But then death! What then? What will happen to me when I die? Here, I’ve got everything under control. Things are good. But when you die, you lose all control. Then it’s out of your control. So what must I do, here, now, to make sure that when I die, I will have eternal life?

Or maybe, even though he seemed to have it all in this life . . . still, maybe there was something missing. We see people like that today: celebrities, the rich, the powerful, the popular, the successful, the A-listers, those climbing the ladder of success and of society - they seem to have it all. Yet many are not happy. They turn to drugs or sex to dull a pain or emptiness they cannot make go away. Or sometimes their stories end in suicide - and the world is shocked. Why? They had it all! Except they didn’t. And what they lacked was enough to make them so sorrowful, so empty, so desperate, that by comparison even death looked good. They craved something they didn’t know how to get.

Maybe you know the feeling. Maybe you’ve asked some of these same questions.

So this young man goes to Jesus. A good place to go for answers. I wonder if he had already gone to the Pharisees and asked them. That would make sense. They were the religioso, the teachers, the ones with the answers in those days. If he had, they would have told him to do good, to keep the Law. But maybe that answer was not cutting it. This young man seemed to be doing that . . . or, at least, he thought so. And yet still . . . nagging doubts, questions, emptiness . . .

So he goes to Jesus. For Jesus has gained a reputation. He teaches like no one ever has before. He teaches with authority. He gives answers that leave people speechless. He knows the Word of God like He wrote it or something! So this young man goes to Jesus. Maybe here he will get an answer . . .

Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Well, he gets the same answer that the Pharisees did or would have given him: do the commandments. Do the Law. Be good. Was he disappointed? Or, maybe, hopeful? That that was the answer after all! That he was good! Good to go! So all he needed was approval from Jesus. Confirmation. A slap on the back. An “atta boy!” But no. There’s one thing you lack; one more thing you must do, Jesus says.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. I know the answer you’re thinking of in your head right now: he has to sell all he has and give to the poor.

But no again. That’s not the answer. Not really. Jesus says: one thing you lack . . . you must come and follow me. You see, the wealth, the treasures, they’re not the thing. It’s not wrong to be rich. But they were holding him back. They were holding him down. They were his anchor holding him fast to this world and life, and preventing him from following Jesus. So because of that they had to go. It wasn’t really about the wealth - it’s about following Jesus.

Because even if you don’t have great wealth like this rich young man, you can still have anchors that are holding you down and holding you back and preventing you from following Jesus. Wealth is a popular one, but it’s not the only one. For all the things we have in this world and life, they’re good gifts from God; but they make lousy gods.

In the Epistle we heard today from Hebrews, we heard an example of that - about the people of Israel after they left Egypt and were in the wilderness. I hope you remember that story, about the Exodus. But what you might not remember is that when Israel left Egypt, they left fabulously wealthy. The Egyptians had given them all kinds of riches to get them to leave! They’d had enough of all the plagues that were ruining them. (Though it wasn’t really the Egyptians - it was God who had put this in their hearts.)

So Israel was rich. God had made them rich. But what did they do with their riches? They made a golden calf. Their riches made them poorer. The things we have in this world and life are good gifts from God; but they make lousy gods

This young man had his own golden calf, didn’t he? He had great possessions, and he not was willing to let them go. He thought they were giving him life, but they really were robbing him of the life he wanted, he craved. They were riches that were making him poorer. They were a lousy god.

What is it for you? What good gift from God do you find getting in the way of Jesus? Do you find yourself clinging to instead of Jesus? That you look to for happiness instead of Jesus? A good gift that is a lousy god.

So either go away today sorrowful and keep your good gifts and lousy gods, or repent and follow Jesus. 

Notice I did not say that you had to sell everything and give to the poor. Remember, this story isn’t about the riches, but about following Jesus. Maybe you will decide that there is a lousy god in your life that has to go - whatever or whoever that is - that you have to get rid of so that it won’t keep dragging you down and holding you back. Maybe so. But what Jesus really wants is for you to follow Him. That His good gifts remain what they are: His good gifts to you; and that He remain for you what He is: your good and gracious God, the source of your life and all good things. That whether God blesses you with a wealth of riches or friends or power or popularity or success . . . or whether He doesn’t - that it make no difference in your life. That with it all or without it all, you have Him. You follow Him. For with Him and in Him you have eternal life.

For when you follow Jesus . . . well, what does that mean? Many people will immediately think that it means to obey. To be good. But this young man already thought he did that; was that. But still Jesus told him to follow. So it must mean something more than that. And indeed, it does. For when you follow Jesus, you follow Him all the way to where He wanted to go, the reason He came, and where He wants you to see Him in all of His loving, merciful, serving glory - you follow Him to the cross. For there, in His death, is your life. There is not a lousy god, but a good God, who lays down His life for you.

So, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Answer: you must come and see Jesus on the cross. There, and no place else, is your eternal life. For there is the forgiveness of your sins. There is the defeat of your death. There is God Himself, taking your hell for you, so that His resurrection provide the way out of death and hell for you. That when you die, you have eternal life. Nothing you do in this world and life can do that, provide that, for you. If you think so, you will find that in the list of lousy gods, you top the list and make the lousiest god of all! 

But there is a good God, and He doesn’t just want to be a good God, He wants to be YOUR good God! And so He tells this rich young man, and He tells you, and He tells me, follow me. Follow me to the cross. For there is where you inherit eternal life. And the proof? That would come three days later . . . that the one thing we lack for eternal life - resurrection! - we lack no more.

Seek the Lord and live, the prophet Amos said today. Seek good . . . that you may live, he also said. The rich young man in the Gospel today was seeking. For assurance? For answers? For peace? For life. But if you look to yourself, you won’t find it. If you look to what you can do or accomplish, you won’t find it. If you look to things in this world, you won’t find it. There’s only one place where all of that is: Jesus. Follow Him, not to earn it, but to receive it.

So for us today, we follow to Jesus on the cross where He has put Himself and His cross for us. For we can’t time travel back 2,000 years to Jerusalem and Golgotha, and you don’t have to. He who created time and transcends time puts Himself and His cross here for you. He puts Himself and His cross in baptism, where you die and rise with Jesus. He puts Himself and His cross in His Supper, where you eat and drink the Body and Blood that hung on the cross and rose from the dead. He puts Himself and His cross in His words of Gospel and Absolution, where you hear those same words that He spoke from the cross: Father, forgive them. And you are. And in letting go of the things of this world and clinging to Jesus here, in these places, where He has put Himself for you and promised to be for you, you have Him and His cross. You have Him and His resurrection. You have Him and His life. 

So, Good Teacher, what must we do to inherit eternal life?

Answer: come and get it! For here is your Saviour, here is your Jesus, and here is His life. For you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Pentecost 20 Sermon

Jesu Juva

“The Good Life”
Text: Mark 10:2-16; Hebrews 2:1-18; Genesis 2:18-25
(Introit Antiphon: Psalm 127:1a)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

That’s what we heard in the Epistle today from Hebrews. And what we have heard is the Word of God. The Word spoken to us by God through His prophets, apostles, and evangelists. We must pay closer attention to it. For if we do not, if we are not tethered to it, if the Word of God is not in our minds and in our hearts, if the Word of God is not our anchor holding us fast . . . then we will drift away from it. Little by little, slowly but surely.

‘Cuz that’s the way it happens, isn’t it? We’re not believers one day and unbelievers the next. We usually don’t go from right to wrong in one great leap, but usually an inch at a time. Doubting what God has said. Listening to what we have heard from the world, not God. Giving in to our desires. Maybe it seems harmless at first. Drifting always does. You don’t notice. But before you know it, hearts once tender and open to the Word of God have grown hard in sin and unbelief. And the people and world God created good is so no longer.

So when the Pharisees approach Jesus one day, as we hard in the Holy Gospel today, notice what they ask - their question is not about what is good, but what is lawful. Or in other words, what do we have to do? What can we get away with? What loopholes are there? They’re really not interested in marriage, but with testing Jesus, tripping Him up, finding that ‘gotcha!’ question that will finally give them the victory over Him. They did it before and they’d do it again. All kinds of questions they asked Jesus. Marriage was just the topic of the day. So, is it lawful, Jesus? What do you say?

But Jesus isn’t about the law; Jesus is about the good. What’s good. What He made good. Because that’s who Jesus is, though the Pharisees don’t know it, or won’t know it. He is the God of all creation standing before them. The God who created them. The God who gives good gifts, like life and marriage. Gifts that are to be received with thanksgiving. But how far the Pharisees had drifted. 

But still, surely, they know divorce is not good! Right? Surely, they know that! But is it lawful, Jesus? Can we do it anyway?

But did they know? How about us? Look at our world today. Look at marriage today. Do we know? What are we hearing from the world? Well, lots of things, right? But many are saying not that marriage is good, but that it is not good. Not the way God designed it, anyway. One man, one woman, one flesh, no one else allowed in, for a lifetime. I can marry whoever I want. I don’t need a piece of paper to have sex or children. Go digital. Now, even, use life-like robots, so there are no messy emotions or strings attached. And divorce? Divorce is good. When I fall out of love. When I get tired of the other person. When someone better comes along. Marriage is not good, but the ol’ ball and chain. Have your fun now, before you get married, because once you do . . . 

How far we’ve drifted from the good God created. When God created someone who had never been before - a woman - and walked her down the aisle of Eden, and gave her to Adam and Adam to her. And they rejoiced in one another. Were one with one another. And from their oneness came more good - children. Though many don’t consider them good anymore either. But accidents, inconveniences, that rather than effect my life can be put away with surgery, or now with a pill. And you know what? It’s lawful.

So what’s a God to do? With such hardness of heart? With people like us? ‘Cuz its not just marriage, right? How far we’ve drifted from God’s good in so many ways . . . and yet find ways to justify ourselves. Not asking whether what we’re doing is good or not, but is it lawful? Or, can I get away with it?

So Jesus doesn’t answer with the Law, but with the good. He takes them back to the beginning, before sin, to the good God created and gave. Yes, creation is fallen, and marriage with it. Marriage bonds are broken today, and not just by divorce, but by all kinds of abuse, disertion, adultery, and unfaithfulness. And remember, adultery doesn’t just happen in the body, but in the mind, and in the heart . . . as do all sins (Matthew 5). The world’s a mess. We are a mess. Fallen. 

And just because we call something good doesn’t mean it is. What’s good is what God calls good. Things are what He says they are. And even in a fallen and sinful world, God still gives good. And marriage is still a good gift from God - not when we take it and do whatever we want with it and what we think is good! - but when it is received as God gives it. For remember when Adam and Eve took what was not given to them? . . . Yeah. And when we take what is not given to us - whether that’s worship, honor, sex, money, power, control, whatever - it is also not good. And results in not good.

So, back to my question: What’s a God to do? I know what He should have done - He should have written us a certificate of divorce and sent us away. Let us have what we think is good and destroy ourselves, now and forever. But He didn’t. Instead, He caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man - His Son made man, the second Adam - a three day sleep in death, that from His rising again, we might have life again. Good life. Born again, born from above, life. Children of God life. New creations from His side life; from the water and blood that flowed from His side life. That we might be good and holy brides, washed clean from our sin and ungoodness, and be one flesh with Him. Good again.

In this world and life, death usually separates the wife from her husband. But this death, Jesus’ death, unites us to Him. For He joined us in our death, to unite us to himself in His resurrection. To leave the ungood from cold, hard hearts in the cold, hard grave, and raise us from our fallness to good again. That we have what is really good, that we have life - not because of a loophole in the Law, but in the forgiveness of our sins. Or as we sang: His Strong Word bespeaks us righteous (LSB #578). The washing away of our sins, of our not good, by Word and water and blood. The water of Baptism, the Word of Absolution, and the Blood of His Supper. 

And this for every sin - none excepted. For every sin and failure in marriage. For every sin in thought, word, and deed. For every doubt and failure to listen to God’s Word. For sins of our bodies and sins of our souls. For sins done in weakness and sins done deliberately. Jesus died for all of them, for all that is not good in us, no matter how ugly it is. He took it to the cross. He took it, that it be on Him and not on us. That infected and corrupted by our sin, He be made perfect through His suffering and death, that we be made perfect through His rising to life again. And you are! Because God says you are. His Strong Word makes it so. And the gift of good He gives to you now, His gift, that we can’t do, only receive.

Which doesn’t mean (as you sometimes wrongfully hear) that we can sin all we want because we know we’ll be forgiven! If that’s in your mind or in your heart, then you’ve drifted a long way from God and His Word; from God and His good. Rather, as we heard again in the reading from Hebrews, because He was made like us in every way, and because He suffered when tempted - by the very same temptations that beset us - He is able to help us who are being tempted. That we not give in. That we not lose the good. He anchors us to God and His Word, that we not drift away, but remain firm in Him. 

And so rather than sin all we want because we know we’ll be forgiven, He is able to help us keep the Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery. Which means to lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other. And every other commandment, too. Not because it’s the Law, because we have to, but to live the good life again. Not the good life of self-indulgence, but the good life that is His gift to us. Not a life of self-indulgence, but a life of love; of laying down our lives for others, and helping them not to sin, but remain anchored to God and His Word. It’s the life Adam and Eve had before they took what was not given to them. The godly life. The life of Christ. The life we live here, now, in Him, and which we will live in Him and with Him forever.

For as we sang in the Introit earlier: unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain

And He has built our houses - the houses of our bodies, the houses of our families, the house of our church, and the house of His kingdom - all His gifts to us. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). And when there is evening and morning, the setting of the seventh day and the rising of the eighth day, the new day of resurrection and eternity, when all that is old and not good will pass away, and all that is new and good will rise, then we will see the good that has been here all along. And you will live the good life, finally, fully, and forever.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.