Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“The Eternal Gospel of Judgment”

Text: Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28; Matthew 11:12-19; Psalm 46

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

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

At the time of the Reformation, and since, there have been those who believed this angel was a prophecy of Martin Luther. Part of the reason they did so at the time of the Reformation was because they believed they were living in the end times; that Jesus was going to return imminently and take home His Bride, the Church. Because there was plague and pestilence, there was war, and the threat of greater war as the Turkish army was on the doorstep of Europe. Things didn’t look good. It seemed like the end was upon them.

Now, it turns out, the world didn’t end - here we are some 500 years later. But their attitude was right. They were living in the end times. As are we. As is everyone who has lived since Jesus ascended into heaven and could return at any time. According to Jesus, we are to live our lives always ready for His return. We shouldn’t think we have plenty of time - you might not. Don’t put off repenting. Don’t put off receiving the gifts of the Lord. Always be ready.

Especially since in our time, too, there is plague and pestilence, wars and culture wars, and a lot of false teaching out there. 

But if Luther was this end times angel, proclaiming the eternal gospel, he was just one of many. From the apostles who preached this eternal gospel at Pentecost to the pastors of today. Which is important, because that is to confess that the who really isn’t as important as the what. The person not as important as the message. Which Luther would have wholeheartedly agreed with. For who was he? Just a monk. Just a university professor. Just an unworthy sinner. He would die, and did die. Preachers come and go. But the gospel is eternal.

Or as the prophet Isaiah put it: All people are like grass . . . Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, - that is, the people come and go - but the word of our God endures forever (Isaiah 40:6b-8).

So it’s not the who, but the what, that Luther would really want us to consider today. And the what is what the next verse in Revelation goes on to say: And he [this angel] said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, - why? - because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Which doesn’t really sound like the gospel, does it? For eternal gospel and judgment and not two things a lot of people put together! For gospel is good and judgment is bad, right? Especially in our “Don’t judge me” world today. And the gospel . . . well, that frees us from judgment, doesn’t it? Well, no, actually. We confess in the Creed that Jesus is going to judge both the living and the dead. And Peter tells us that judgment [will] begin [with] the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). In fact, it may surprise you to hear that the gospel is all about judgment. But judgment that is no longer on you - your judgment that has been taken by Jesus.

That’s the eternal gospel Luther preached and wanted all the world to know. That’s why you’re sitting in a Lutheran Church today - because here that message is preached. That the gospel doesn’t mean there is no judgment, so go do whatever you want. That’s not right, though a lot of people live that way today. And it’s not that your judgment is on you, so you better be good and do certain things. That’s not it either, though many people believe that, too. The gospel is that there is a judgment, and it looks like that [point to Jesus on the cross]! Your judgment on another. And not just any other. On God Himself.

For as the psalmist said, in one of Luther’s favorite psalms: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand (Psalm 130:3)? No one, is the answer. No one can stand before God’s judgment. But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared (v. 4). So we have hope. Or as Paul put it today (as we heard in the Epistle), for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All fall short of God’s judgment. But, Paul goes on, all are also justified by his grace - by His forgiveness - as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So we have hope, because of the one who took our judgment. A very costly gift, therefore, this forgiveness. Costing the life of God’s own Son.

So as we heard in Revelation: worship him - who did this! - who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. And who loved His creation so much that He died for it.

Perhaps that’s what makes the gospel so hard to believe for many. This incredible love of God for people like us. Who sin against God. Who sin against one another. Who sin by how we treat one another and how we treat God. Who sin by our sordid and wicked thoughts and desires. Who sin with words that stab and pierce, or with silence that fails to help and heal. Who confess our sin one moment and then go fall into the same sin again. Who sin because that’s what comes naturally to us - not because God made us that way, He didn’t. He made us perfect and without sin. But we are infected with sin from the moment of our conception. Sin passed down from parent to child, from generation to generation, from Adam down to us today. And If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, - that is, count and tally up our sins - O Lord, who could stand? Not me.

Which is why the angel of Revelation speaks with a loud voice! To cut through all the other voices and noise we hear in our world today, that we might hear this: that the hour of God’s judgment came when Jesus hung on the cross. That’s what Jesus Himself said. When some Greeks come and want to see Him, He says: the hour has come (John 12:23). When faced with the cross, He asks: Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. . . . Now is the judgment of this world (John 12:27, 31). When He’s in the Garden praying, He says: Father, the hour has come (John 17:1). The hour, the time, the moment, of God’s judgment against the sin of the world had come - not on you, but there, on Him. And so the angel proclaims this eternal gospel to [all] who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. For it is for every nation and tribe and language and people. None excluded. 

So fear God and give him glory, the angel says. Fear the God who judges sin and confess your sins - all of them, great and small. And then give Him glory by receiving the forgiveness He won for you and provided for you on the cross. For that is how we glorify God, by receiving His gifts. By showing Him to be, as Paul said today, both just and the justifier - the forgiver - of the one who has faith in Jesus. Faith that says: yes I am a sinner, and a bigger one than I will ever know. And there is my sin, on Jesus! He bore it, so I wouldn’t have to. He took my guilt so that I could have His innocence. To speak and live that way proclaims to the world the glorious love of God.

And to not speak and live that way is, therefore, to do violence to the kingdom of heaven. The violence we heard of today in Matthew’s Gospel. Violence to this message of forgiveness and grace that says: No! There is something I do. There is something I must do. There is something I must be. These are the people, the generation, as Jesus says, for whom God just doesn’t do it right. We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. That is: God, you’re not being God right! His Word is wrong, His actions are wrong, His judgments are wrong, His ways are wrong, what He says is right is wrong, and what He says is wrong is right. And no to forgiveness for all. For some, maybe. Those who do and say and believe what we think, what we want. According to the world and its moment in time.

At the time of the Reformation, there were those who fell into that trap and did violence to the kingdom of heaven and its message of forgiveness, that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. But not only then. So it was in the time of the apostles, and today, too. The Church always needs reforming, it is said. To hear always the eternal gospel. To focus on Christ and Him crucified. To repent and believe. To remember that we are baptized, when this incredible love of God came to us through water and the Word. To hear time and time again the incredible words of Absolution, the full and free forgiveness of our sins, and to hear the angel’s message of our Saviour who made it so; whose blood is powerful enough to wash away to the sin of the world. And then to drink that blood and eat the body that did so on the cross, to feed and strengthen you in this life and faith. 

For sin is a sweet melody that makes you think it good and something that you want. But once you do it, its sweetness turns bitter and its song becomes a condemning shout that crushes all.

But the gospel is that melody whose sweetness increases with time, like a well-aged wine. That the more we know our sins and shortcomings and failures, the more we know our condemnation, the more precious it becomes to hear: I forgive you all your sins. You are My child. Take and eat. And you glorify God when you receive these gifts and say: Amen! Gift received.

And then those words of Revelation . . . ? Maybe you, then, become that angel, flying into someone’s life, proclaiming the eternal gospel that has been given to you but is for them as well. Pointing them to their judgment on the cross, and speaking of that forgiveness that is a gift from Him, the crucified, to you, the sinner. That you be sinner no more, but child of God in His eyes.

For Thy Strong Word that cleaved the darkness 

and created the heavens and the earth and all things, 

Is the same Strong Word that bespeaks us righteous, 

And the same Strong Word that hung on the cross 

and conquered in His resurrection from the dead, 

And the Strong Word that now gives us lips to sing His glory, 

throats that shout the hope that fills us, 

and mouths that speak His holy name (LSB #578).

That’s what the Reformation was all about, and what the Church must always be all about. To bring this good news to all people. To hear it ourselves. Especially in these gray and latter days, when there is plague and pestilence, wars and culture wars, false teaching and changing truth, and all manner of troubles and fears. We need to hear and know, now as much as ever, of the truth, of forgiveness and life, of hope and a future. We need to hear and know, now as much as ever this eternal gospel, that the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. That A Mighty Fortress IS Our God (LSB #656). A fortress of love and forgiveness.

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

Sermon for the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Hearing the Voice of Your Saviour”

Text: Mark 10:46-52

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

When you look at something, you don’t only see what you’re looking at, you see what’s around it as well, in your peripheral vision. So when I look at you, I don’t just see you, I also see chairs and windows, fans hanging from the ceiling, the people sitting around you, and maybe also something flying by. This is good. We need our peripheral vision, especially when you’re doing something like driving, to see things coming your way, dangers. But it can also be distracting. Things, maybe many things, drawing your attention away from the one thing you want to look at.

So it is, I read recently, with a man who once could see but lost his sight, who claimed that he could see now more clearly - without peripheral visual distractions - than when he still had his physical sight. Like bats and other animals who rely on hearing over seeing, his mind became trained to see with his ears; to visualize what he heard. And without distractions, to focus on the person or thing before him. 

So it was, as we heard today, by the side of the road outside Jericho. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus saw with his ears. He heard the great crowd passing by. Many people. If you looked at the scene, surely would have seen all sorts of people and all sorts of things. Your eyes would have been drawn to this and that, people old and young, rich and poor, maybe some walking and some being carried. Like walking through DC when a crowd is gathered to protest, or through a crowded shopping district at Christmas. There are all kinds of things are going on. It’s hard to spot one person in that crowd.

But Bartimaeus could, because he heard. He heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. Mark doesn’t say that someone told him it was Jesus of Nazareth - but simply that he heard it was him. Or in other words, the one who could see with his ears heard the voice of the one he knew to be Jesus of Nazareth. He didn’t need anyone to tell him. He could “see” Him with his ears.

And so Bartimaeus cries out: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Not Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus’ historical name. But Jesus, Son of David, Jesus’ Messianic name. The name of the one who not only could help him, but who the prophets like Jeremiah prophesied, would. Bartimaeus saw Him coming with his ears and cried out to His ears to mercy him.

Those who could only see with their eyes rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he had heard the prophecies, he had heard the promises, and now he had heard the voice of the one they were talking about. Sheep know the voice of their shepherd, and so he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep, stops for him, calls to him, speaks to him, and heals him - with His Word. “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” Not just any faith, but faith in Jesus, the Son of David. Faith that hears and sees with the ears. Faith that believes and clings to the Word of God.

Which is something we very much need in our world and life today. 

For as you look around, what do you see? Both in your main line of vision and in your peripheral vision? There is undoubtedly a great many things. Some good, some not good at all. Things that give us joy, but dangers lurking as well. And maybe not just lurking, but right in front of you, threatening you or attacking you. Political upheaval, the troubles in our schools, nations around the world with more and more powerful weapons, uncontrollable viruses, havoc in your personal life, people seeking to take advantage of you and scam you, crime and selfishness rising, unemployment, disruptions of our supply lines and empty shelves in our stores, the continuing sexual revolution, rainbow flags, protest signs, and what else? What would you add to that list? All these things grabbing your attention, maybe even making it harder for you to see Jesus. For where is He? Where is He in all this? He is crowded out in a world so crowded with sin and evil.

But He speaks. He’s not the only one. Just like the crowd leaving Jericho that day, surely there were many speaking and much noise. But Bartimaeus’ ears were attuned to the voice of his Shepherd. He knew that voice. That voice that cut through all the noise. Like a mother who can hear the cry of her baby even if there are a hundred babies crying! He knew. He could see Him. He knew He was there because His voice was there.

So it is for you today. Our eyes, our sight, see a great many things, things often confusing and frightening and contradictory. And you can’t see Jesus. But in the midst of it all, our Good Shepherd, who came to us in the midst of this world of sin and evil, is speaking. To you. To comfort you. To reassure you. To forgive you. To strengthen you. That you know that He is with you still. That you hear that it is Him and cry out, with blind Bartimaeus, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! And He will, and does, for it is the very thing He has come to do and wants to do. Have mercy on you.

A voice that cuts through all the noise of this world, all the confusion and chaos, all the deception and falsehood, all the lies and blame and boasts, all the threats and demands . . . a voice to cut through all that . . . sounds good, doesn’t it? That we know the truth. That we know that Jesus is with us. That we can live in confidence and peace.

The Scriptures are that voice for us today. And the liturgy is the Scriptures spoken and embodied for us today. That our ears be attuned, tuned in, to the voice of our Shepherd, and know it. And also therefore know those voices that aren’t. Those voices that claim to be speaking the Word of God, but aren’t. Those other voices in the crowd. Through all the noise, Bartimaeus heard the voice of Jesus. Jesus would have the same for you.

That in a world where people don’t know who they are anymore, don’t know their identity and so think they have to make one or choose one for themselves, we hear who we are: baptized children of God. An identity that trumps all others because it is who you are here and now, and who you will be forever.

That in a world where people don’t know right and wrong anymore, where what is right and what is wrong are constantly changing, creating a world very uncertain and unstable, and creating people plagued with guilt and shame because of who they are and what they have done, we hear words that cut through all that noise: I forgive you. Those words do what rewriting history and restitution and trying to make things right ourselves could never do: calm the guilt and shame and fears of our past and give us hope for the future.

That in a world where death, or the threat of death, is always present, be it from the weapons and threats of our enemies, random acts of crime and violence, mutating viruses, or the old age that neither diet nor exercise nor medical technology nor surgery can hold off forever, we hear the words of the one who has overcome death and promises life. The one who feed us with the Body and Blood that actually did that! The Body and Blood of the one who died and rose and cannot die again. So that we who die will also rise to a life that will not end. To give us courage and confidence to face whatever comes our way.

Bartimaeus was sitting by the side of the road in just such a world. They weren’t any better than us, and we aren’t any better than them. Just different. But then and now, we need the same things: identity, hope, and life. The world will tell you all that comes from you - which is quite a burden. And ultimately, an impossible one, and so often driving people to think all kinds of crazy things, believe all kinds of crazy things, do all kinds of crazy things, and in the end, despair. But Jesus speaks a different word, a better word, and says: it’s all from Him. Gift. He who created you, redeemed you, and sanctifies you. He who went to the cross for you in your place and died your death, so that rising from the dead, you would too, rise with Him, and live His life. Life as a forgiven child of God.

Jesus would have you hear that word as well, wherever you happen to be sitting, standing, living, breathing, working, learning, or dying. That you hear Him in the Scriptures at home. That you hear Him in the Scriptures here. That your ears be attuned, tuned in, to hear Him. To hear Him and know the voice of your Shepherd, the voice of truth, the voice that spoke all things for you. That what you need, you have. Like Bartimaeus. That you know who you are. That you have hope. And that you have life.

And then, what do you do with that life? Once-blind-but-now-seeing-Bartimaeus can be a guide here for us, too. For after Jesus said to him, Go your way; your faith has made you well, we heard that immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Jesus said: Go your way. Bartimaeus followed Him on His way. He didn’t disobey. It’s that now Jesus’ way was now His way. 

And now your way. When the resurrection and life of Jesus are yours, His gift to you, the old way just doesn’t cut it anymore. When you hear of selfishness is drowned in love, that the treasures of this world pale in comparison to the treasures of the next, of revenge and hate swept away by forgiveness, of guilt and shame covered and clothed with holiness, of when acceptance given not earned, of when the threat of judgment replaced with the joy of freedom . . . that’s a life worth living. That’s a life worth dying to the old way, and rising to the new way. Jesus’ way.

Don’t be afraid to do so! To be different in a good way. To hear the voice of your Shepherd and follow where He leads. The world may not like it. May not want to hear of it. So be it. 

But once you’ve heard that voice, once your ears know that voice, once you’ve heard those promises and received those gifts, once you begin to see with your ears, then a whole new world and life await. And like Bartimaeus, one day you will see Jesus with your eyes. And your peripheral vision will see the crowd . . . a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9). Bartimaeus will be there. And many more. All those who heard the voice of their Shepherd. Who saw with their ears, and now live and rejoice forever.

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

Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Life on the Other Side of the Needle”

Text: Mark 10:23-31; Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Hebrews 4:1-16

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

“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.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”

I have trouble even getting a little piece of thread through the eye of a needle its supposed to go through! So a camel . . .

I googled it though. The average weight of a camel is around 1,000 pounds, it’s average height is seven feet, and the ones I’ve seen are about four foot wide. And the eye of your typical sewing needle is measured in millimeters. 

So obviously, a camel isn’t getting through there. 

But I say to you: it can.

But not the way some so-called scholars have tried to remake and re-interpret these words of Jesus. Maybe you’ve heard their argument: that there was a gate into Jerusalem called “The Eye of the Needle” and a camel heavy laden with goods wouldn’t be able to fit through it. One would have to unload the camel, take off all its cargo, before it could fit through. That’s what Jesus meant. 

Uh, no. 

If it was, the disciples would not have been so astonished at what Jesus said. And not just astonished, but exceedingly astonished! No, they would have nodded their heads in agreement. Of course! But they knew what Jesus was saying here. Just as we know what Jesus is saying here. It is impossible. Jesus even says that in response to the disciples’ question, Then who can be saved? He says, With man it is impossible . . .

But I still say to you: it can. A camel can get through the eye of a needle. It is possible.

Curious? I know, it’s dangerous to contradict Jesus. I’m on shaky ground here. But I think I know how to do it . . .

Of course, it’s not by pulling really hard. It’s not by using grease to make the camel slip through. It’s not finding a pygmy camel and a really large needle - see? No, it’s by putting that camel through one piece at a time. Hair by hair, piece by piece. Skin, organs, hooves all cut up small enough to pass through. It would take a while. It would be pretty messy, pretty bloody, pretty gross. But I could do it. 

There’s only one problem: would I have a camel left after all that? Not really. Just a bunch a dead camel parts. Actually, not even that. Shredded camel. What would wind up on the other side of the needle is nothing like what started. Because the only way that camel is getting through that needle is to die.

Well, if that’s easier . . . Then who can be saved? the disciples asked. Because Jesus said the same kind of thing about us, when He said: Strive to enter through the narrow door (Matthew 7:13). The eye of a needle qualifies. And you’ll have just as much trouble as a camel. So to get you through, you’ll have to die, too?

But that’s not much good. What good is being saved if you’re just a saved corpse? Then you’re just like that dismembered camel - what winds up on the other side is nothing like what started.

Oh, but Jesus said that only about the rich! Well, you are. Compared to most of the rest of the world. So no out for you there.

So we’re back to the question: to get you through, to enter the kingdom of God, you’ll have to die, too?

Yes.

But we don’t want to die. Death isn’t natural. Death isn’t what we were designed to do. Death is because of sin. God created us to live. So we try to live. We look for life. We look for life in all kinds of things in this world. And money, wealth, is one of those things. A very popular one. Money can get me what I want. Money will improve my life. Money will buy the best doctors. Money will fund the latest medical research. Money can get the best treatments. Money can make me live longer. And certainly happier, right? Happier than those who don’t have it; than those panhandlers we see on all the street medians.

Well, Solomon thought so. Solomon who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, which we heard from today. King Solomon, who was far more wealthy than we will ever be. Solomon had it made . . . until he didn’t. Until he realized that his wealth didn’t give him, couldn’t give him, what he wanted. He wasn’t happy. The richer he got, the more miserable he got, the more people became fake friends just to get his money. He lost sleep. He worked hard, but for all that, he didn’t have the life he wanted. He was staring death in the face, and his wealth couldn’t help him. He realized that as he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 

He realized: money, or wealth, makes a really lousy god. He called it a grievous evil.

Good choice of words. When your wealth becomes your god, that is anti-God, so it has become evil. And a grievous evil if it keeps you out of the kingdom of God.

But just like with the rich man last week, so too for us, the wealth of this world, the things of this world, are so hard to let go of. Whether that wealth is a wealth of the riches of the world, the admiration of the world, the popularity of the world, the power of the world, the acceptance of the world. Life is easier when you have those things, with the world on your side, and much harder if you don’t. We see that happening today, when the world turns against people and what they believe.

Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! Jesus said. Difficult at the time of Jesus. Difficult for those early Christians who were persecuted and martyred. And difficult today. Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle!

So that brings us back to the question again: to get you through, to enter the kingdom of God, you’ll have to die, too?

Yes.

And then your wealth can’t help you, your friends can’t help you, your power or whatever else you have can’t help you. As Solomon said, that all gets left behind. When you die, there’s only one who can help you: the one who came and died with you. The one who came and died for you. That He be that one on the other side of the needle’s eye who could bring to life again. Who could raise that camel back to life. Who could raise you to life again. That you enter the kingdom of God alive. That you have hope.

So that’s what Jesus came to do, and did. He wanted that rich man to follow Him to the cross and witness His death and resurrection, how he would inherit eternal life. And He wants you to do the same. To find your life not in anything in this world, not in anything that cannot give you life, but to find your life only in Him. In Him who died and rose to life again. In Him who promised the same for you. 

So for you who must die, Jesus baptized you into His death and resurrection. To get your eye-threading death and other-side-of-the-needle resurrection over with. To give you life already here and now in the kingdom of God. That’s how great baptism is. It gives you everything you need - the forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, the kingdom of God - everything! Promise after promise after promise. Gift after gift after gift. 

But you realize what we keep doing? In baptism, Jesus has brought us through the eye of the needle with Himself, through His death and into a new life in the kingdom of God . . . but what do we keep doing? Reaching back through the needle for the things of this world! Thank you Jesus, but I really need this. I really want that. I know what you said, but . . . Can’t I just have this too? And maybe it’s just one part of us that squeezes back through first, but then another, and another, until we’ve squeezed back through the needle to death in this world? That doesn’t make any sense! And yet . . . do you see yourself reaching back, grasping, coveting . . . ?

So Jesus calls us to repent. That is, to drop whatever it is we’ve reached back through the needle for this week. To drop it here, to drop it at the altar, to drop it at the foot of the cross, and confess. Why did I do that? My life’s here, not there. Forgive me. And Jesus pulls us back through the needle again. I forgive you, He says. 

And then He holds out His Body and Blood and says: here. Reach for this instead. Reach for what gives you life, and strengthens you in this life. The food and drink of eternal life. Don’t reach back, reach forward. Take and eat. 

Live in this world but don’t find your life in this world. Enjoy the things of this world but don’t find your life or hope in them. I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). And I’ll provide all you need, Jesus promises. 

And that’s what Jesus tells Peter. For Peter says: See, we have left everything, we dropped everything, and followed you. And they did. They really did. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all left their fishing business. Matthew left his tax collecting career. We’re not told what the others left, but surely they did, too. They left family and friends - Peter had a mother-in-law that Jesus healed so we know he at least had a wife. Maybe a family. Maybe the others, too. And Jesus says in response: whatever you’ve left, I’ll give you more. But it won’t be easy. You’ll have persecutions, too, here and now. From an evil one who hates you and a world that disagrees with you, trying to pull you back through the needle to their side, the side of death. They’ll make it feel like, and they’ll try to get you to think that I’m the one taking life away from you! But it is exactly the opposite. That’s what they’re doing. I’m giving you life. A life that will never end. Life that only comes on the other side of the needle. So don’t listen to them. Don’t follow them. Follow ME. To the cross, through the cross, to life again.

So as we heard in the Epistle from Hebrews: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. That is, hold fast to Him, the one we confess, the one who made it through death, through the eye of the needle and rose to life again. Hold fast to Him and don’t reach back through the needle! For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, tempted to stay on this side of the needle, or tempted to reach back through the needle, yet without sin. Yet He didn’t. He made it. For you. Let us then with confidence - in Him and what He has done - Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, the grace offered here, drawing near in repentance, dropping all that we’ve reached for this week, that we may receive that we may grab hold of mercy that is, Jesus, and find grace to help in time of need. Grabbing hold of Jesus who has grabbed hold of you and pulled you through the needle to eternal life.

Impossible for you, but not only possible for Jesus, God made flesh, our great High Priest, but done. Accomplished. For you. It is finished. So you have life on the other side of the needle. 

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

Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Come and Get It!”

Text: Mark 10:17-22

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

Let’s assume for the moment that this man who came up to Jesus that day and asked about eternal life really did keep all the commandments from his youth, as he said. 

He really did not only not hurt or harm his neighbor in his body, but also helped and supported all his neighbors in every physical need.

He really did live a sexually pure and decent life in all he said and did.

He really did not only not take his neighbor’s money or possessions, but also always helped his neighbor improve and protect his possessions and income.

He really did not only not tell lies about his neighbor, did not ever betray or slander her or hurt her reputation, but also always defended her, always spoke well of her, and always explained everything in the kindest way. 

He really didn’t defraud anyone, but was honest in all his dealings.

He really did honor his father and mother, served and obeyed them, loved and cherished them, without fail.

Let’s assume he was this exemplary human being that he claimed to be. And that he really did all these things out of pure love for others and not for himself - for that would ruin his good works, doing them for himself, to get something for himself (like eternal life) and not really concerned for others. Jesus doesn’t deny it; doesn’t argue with him. So let’s assume he is so. Certainly a rare human being.

What does Jesus say to him then? Basically this: well, that’s a good start. But it’s only a start. And a small one at that. So perhaps you’re ready for the next step. If you really want to know what you must do to inherit eternal life, sell all that you have and give to the poor. If you are as good as you think, that shouldn’t be a problem. Using your wealth to help your neighbor is just an extension of what you’ve already been doing. Surely, you know that your treasure isn’t here on earth. Surely, you know of heavenly treasure. Surely you know that you’re going to die and that you can’t take it with you. So don’t wait until you die; do it now. And then come, follow me.

Oh. Um . . . Hmmm . . . [Sigh.] He couldn’t do that. Is that what it means to be good? Is that really what one must do to inherit eternal life? And he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

You see, the Law has two tables, or two parts. The second are those commandments Jesus listed today, dealing with your neighbor, loving your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). And maybe this man was a really good person, someone everyone admired and looked up. And maybe you know someone like that. Maybe you’re that way - someone people look at and say: There’s a good person. You don’t lie or cheat or steal. You don’t kick the dog. You’re faithful to your spouse and family and friends. You help others and don’t hurt others. And to the world, that’s not only good but enough to get you to heaven, to eternal life. 

But God’s Law, you see, has two parts, two tables. And it’s the first part that this man had a problem with. And it’s the first part that the world has a problem with. To fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Or, as it is also put: to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37). Or, to put it the way Jesus did today: that you are willing to give up anything and everything but God. Your riches, your honor . . . your life.

The world doesn’t really care about that. As long as you’re a good person it doesn’t matter what god you believe in and worship, even no god at all. Or as the atheist society billboards and advertisements that shows up at Christmas say: you don’t need god to be good.

Well . . . one problem with that is that the world’s definition of good is constantly changing! What was once good is no longer good, and what was once not good is now considered good. And so people the world once thought good . . . they find out something they did or find a writing or a recording of something they said 20, 30, 40, 100 years ago and suddenly they aren’t good anymore! Not according to the current definition of good. So they have to be fired, they have to be canceled, they have to be de-platformed. It could happen to you. Maybe it has. It’s hard to live up to standards that are constantly changing!

So this man who came up to Jesus that day . . . let’s assume he really was good. And what if Jesus said to him: By jove, keep it up. You’ve got it! But tomorrow, archaeologists dig up an artifact that shows something this man did then that is no longer considered good today. He owned slaves, or he used a racial slur when talking about the Gentiles or Samaritans, or he didn’t pay his fair share of taxes . . . so was he good then and not good today? So, he had eternal life then but he wouldn’t today? So does he or doesn’t he? Is he or isn’t he? Could someone live all their life thinking they are good and therefore have eternal life, when all along they weren’t? Surprise! 

Sadly that happens. But Jesus doesn’t want that to happen to this man - or to anyone - He loves him, it says. So Jesus exposes him, his heart, his idol, his false god, that thing he is not willing to let go of, that he cannot live without. For this man it was his great wealth. But what is it for you? That makes you go: Oh. Um . . . Hmmm . . . [Sigh.] Something you know God wants you to do, God wants you to be, but you just can’t. Maybe because you love it more than God, or trust it more than God, or fear it more than God. Maybe because you can’t imagine living without it. Maybe because that’s where you find your meaning or value, or it’s a hurt you can’t let go of, or a desire you just have to fulfill. And just when you think you overcome one, another comes along and takes its place.

So this man went away sorrowful, because he knows he cannot do what Jesus tells him; what he must do to inherit eternal life. And it’s how we must leave this place today if that’s all we hear.

But you didn’t come here today to kneel before Jesus and ask the question: Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? You came here today to kneel before Jesus and say: Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord, I am not, can not be who you want me to be. Lord, I have not, can not do what you want me to do. As hard as I might try. As good as the world might think me to be (or not!), my heart is like this man’s. And so you do not leave sorrowful, because you hear something more. Begging for mercy, mercy is what you get. So Jesus tells you not more that you must do; you instead hear Jesus say this: I forgive you all your sin. 

For that is the one thing you need for eternal life. That is the good that does not change. Because it is the good that comes after all that is not good - in us and in the world - is nailed with Jesus to the cross and then laid in the tomb. And all that comes out of that tomb is life. Life that Jesus is, and has, and now gives to you. The good that Jesus is, and has, and now gives to you.

And that’s what Jesus wanted this man to see. So He didn’t just tell this man to sell all that [he] has and give to the poor . . . but then this: come, follow me. But follow Him where? To where Jesus came to go - to the cross. He wants this man to see that what he needs to do for eternal life - but can’t - Jesus can, and is doing for him. For Jesus is the one who kept all the commandments perfectly from His youth, and who did give all that He had - even His life on the cross - so that this man, and you, could have treasure in heaven. You see, follow me isn’t a command to obey, but an invitation to see and receive.

So you’ve come here today because here is where Jesus’ cross is for you. For you can’t follow Jesus to a cross that happened some two thousands years ago in a land far, far away from here. But you can follow Him to where He puts His cross today for you. 

His cross in the Font, for in baptism you die and rise with Jesus to a new life. And the first thing you hear in the Divine Service reminds you of that - that you are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And that new and good life you need, you have received. Gift.

But that new and good life you haven’t lived this week. So you have come to hear the words Jesus spoke from His cross: words of forgiveness. And you are not disappointed. He speaks them to you - I forgive you all your sins - and then that same Name put upon you in baptism is spoken on you again: in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And that new and good life you need, you again receive. Gift.

And you followed Jesus here to hear that love enacted. That love spoken of and promised in the prophets, that love lived in all that Jesus said and did, and that love attested by the apostles, the eyewitnesses of Jesus dead but now living. Those words through which the Spirit of Jesus works in your heart to uproot and cast out those idols that live there; to pry them from your cold, dead hearts and give you that new and good heart you need. Gift.

And now you will follow Jesus to His Supper. Follow, for it is not we who do this Supper, but Jesus who does it, who is here in it and invites you to it; to eat and drink His Body and Blood - the same Body and Blood that hung upon the cross, was laid in the tomb, and then rose to life again. And so it is not dead food like the food of this world, but living food. Food for life. Food that gives you life and sustains you in the life He accomplished for you and now gives to you. Gift.

Gifts. Forgiveness. That’s what Jesus is all about. So that you leave this place not sorrowful but joyful! For this man’s question - and yours - has been answered by the cross. What you must do Jesus did, and what you must have Jesus gives. What must you do to inherit eternal life? Just this: Come and get it!

And then leave this place and live it. Live like your life is more than just of this world, for it is. Live like you really do have treasure in heaven, for you do. Live like you’re going to live forever, for you are. For you have a good life, a good Lord, a good and gracious Saviour. Who doesn’t change.

So what must I do? Jesus answered that questions from the cross: It is finished (John 19:30). It is completed. I did it. For you. Follow Me. Come and see. Come and get it!

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