Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Rightly Ordered Loves”

Text: Matthew 10:34-42; Jeremiah 28:5-9

 

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

It’s a good thing the Holy Gospel for today wasn’t read last Sunday - Father’s Day! To hear that Jesus had come to set a man against his father - that would have been awkward! But, of course, it still is. Quite awkward. No matter which week we hear it. Jesus the home wrecker.

Today’s Gospel is the last of three where Jesus is instructing His disciples before sending them out. As you may remember, it started out so well! He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. . . . He told them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. That’s cool. But then it was all downhill from there . . . Things go from bad to worse.

They’re going to face rejection. They’re going out as sheep in the midst of wolves. They will be handed over to the authorities. They’re going to be hated and called demons. And now this we heard today! So maybe they’re having second thoughts? Couldn’t blame them!

And that happens to Christians today . . . maybe even you. Second thoughts, when you hear God’s Word and what it says. 

I mean, Christmas and baby Jesus is cool. O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, candles, Joy to the World. Like that! And Easter - the flowers and alleluias. Good stuff. Love and joy and peace - who doesn’t want that?

But stick around, and then you begin to hear more . . . Things like: your enemies? Love them! Those who persecute you and make your life tough, pray for them! Turn the other cheek. Lay down your life for others. Forgive without limit. Don’t repay evil for evil, but repay evil with good. Be sexually pure, honor the authorities, no matter who they are . . . and then things like we heard today. That as a Christian, you may have to give up some things; change some things about your life. Not to win God’s favor - you already have that! But because they’re not good for you, even if you think they are. 

Hmmm. This Christian thing, this Jesus thing . . . I didn’t know it was going to be so hard! 

But this is how it has been, the pattern of things, from the beginning. When because of the sin of Adam and Eve, things plummeted from great to worse. From perfection to death and hell on earth. 

So what kept them going . . . all the saints of old, living in such a world? From Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, the prophets - what kept them going in the midst of the opposition and pain and struggle? One thing only, really - the promise of a Saviour, who would raise them and this world to life and love, peace and joy, again. And so the book of Hebrews says that all those saints of old, they could have gone back; they could have just thrown up their hands and given up . . . like maybe some are tempted to today. But instead, they looked forward to what was coming. To the greater, the more glorious, the restoration. So going back, giving up, really wasn’t an option. There wasn’t any guarantee that would be easier or better anyway. The good ol’ days usually aren’t as good as we remember or imagine. 

Which brings us back to the words Jesus spoke to His disciples today . . . these tough words!

The thing to know about those words, to help us understand them, is that Jesus wasn’t the first to say them. They were first said by the prophet Micah, describing the evil and wickedness in the world. This was their reality. This was happening in Israel. They were turning against one another - even families! They weren’t living as God’s people. There were false prophets in those days, too - one we heard of today in the Old Testament reading, named Hananiah - false prophets who were saying in the midst of all the wickedness and evil: Don’t worry! Be happy! All is well. Even though they had been conquered by the Babylonians and many people had been taken there from Israel, it won’t last long! Hananiah said. God’s going to bring you back. And soon. We are His people, after all!

But that wasn’t true, the prophet Jeremiah said. I wish it were! he said. We’re His people, yes. But God was disciplining His people, and it was going to last the full 70 years, as God had said. 

So you had these two prophets - and more - saying different things. Not unlike today, where you have lots of different people saying lots of different things, about God, about life, about truth . . . sometimes making it hard to know what to believe.

So what did Micah say, living in that situation? After being the first to say these words about families divided? He said this, in the very next verse: But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. That’s exactly what the saints of old did. Looking forward, not back; looking to the Lord, and no other; and waiting for His salvation, not taking matters into their own hands. No matter how great the evil or how bad the wickedness in them and in the world, they looked to the Lord for forgiveness and waited for the Lord to come and fulfill His promises. For He always does.

So by Jesus taking up these words of the prophet Micah and quoting  these shocking words - by doing so He wants you to think about four things: 

First, the condition of the world, how steeped in sin and rebellion and division it is, as it was in Micah’s day.  

Second, to think about the condition of your heart, and the sin that has maybe snuck its way in and that maybe you are a little too comfortable with, as the people’s in Micah’s day. 

Third, that He is proclaiming that He is the one Micah and the saints of old looked forward to, the save from this mess. 

And then fourth, He wants you to do the same; to look forward as well, to Him and His salvation. His salvation coming not only on the Last Day, but already here, already now, in His Word and Sacraments.

For Jesus doesn’t hate families! There’s a commandment, in fact, about honoring your father and mother - remember that? And it’s importance is shown by its being the first commandment in the second table of the Law, about loving your neighbor. That placement is important, and the commandment is important. And Jesus isn’t contradicting that Word of God. But important also are the commandments that come before it, regarding God; the first table of the Law. And we can never pit them against one another. But living in a world steeped with sin - sin without, sin within, sin all around! . . . what if there comes a time when honoring God and honoring my father go against one another and I can’t do both? What then? Which do I do? And what of other situations - impossible situations - when it seems like of the choices I have, both are wrong? That no matter which I do I’m sinning? 

And you begin to realize . . . I’m the one Jesus was taking about. I am not worthy. And I can’t be. And if it were up to me, I never will be! Hard as I might try. Full stop. Because these situations come up. And I have crosses I don’t carry and won’t carry. I have divided loves. I do try to save my life, what I have, what I’ve done. The world may be a mess, but so am I.

It’s good to know that. Hard! But good. Not so that we’ll throw our hands up, give up, and stop trying. But so that we look for help in the right place. Not within ourselves and what we can do - but that we look forward and look to Jesus. The only one who ever was and is worthy, and who came to make you worthy.

Because the truth is that Jesus didn’t come to wreck families, He came to wreck you! You who are wrecked with sin, divided loves, and doubts - He came to finish you off! To kill you, so that He could raise you to a new life. The sword of His Word slaying you in repentance, so that His healing Word of Absolution raise you again in forgiveness to a new life. That you find your hope in Him and turn to Him alone.

But to do that, to save you like that, Jesus had to be slain Himself. He had to take your place under the sword of God’s wrath Himself. Take your sin, take your guilt, take your shame, take your divided loves, take your doubts, take your unworthiness, take it all away from you and lose His life to give you life. That in His resurrection, you rise, too. That joined to Him in Baptism and made His child, you find your life in Him. So that knowing the depth and enormity of our sin, we also know the greatness and glory of our Saviour.

And then, baby steps. Receiving a prophet, to listen to him speak God’s Word. A cup of cold water to a little one. And a reward . . . for that? Yeah! 

And maybe a Father’s Day example here - a week late! When children are little, the gifts they give are small, usually homemade, but precious. When they get bigger, the gifts might get bigger and more expensive. But isn’t it those little gifts that are remembered and kept? The drawing, the little plaster handprints, the homemade card. What we do is like that. What you do - so little and rudimentary - when done in love, when done as His child, is precious to your Father in heaven. 

That’s what makes you and what you do worthy. Not that what you do is perfect or even close to it, but that you’re His dearly loved child, adopted into His family, by Baptism, washed clean in the blood of the Son, and with a seat at His Table. When you’re not here, He misses you. When you rebel, He grieves. When you repent, He rejoices, and He lavishes His love and forgiveness on you. And when you do those little, rudimentary, imperfect things, trying to be like Him, He loves it. 

So Jesus is no home wrecker. He is, in fact, a home builder. It is the sin in our world that has wrecked our homes and lives and disordered our loves. It is only His forgiveness and life and love that can restore them, and His forgiveness and life and love that also gives us a new home, and a new family - a family of faith and a heavenly home. If you want to save your life in this messed up, disordered, wicked world, you can. You can do that . . . But why? You have another life, one without the sin and death and evil, that will last forever. Maybe that’s the one worth saving?

So love those God has given you to love, as Jesus did His earthly family. But even more, love Him who gave them to you, and gave Himself for you. And then, in Him, you’ll find not one pitted against the other, but your loves ordered rightly.

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

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“The Transforming Gospel”

Text: Matthew 10:5a, 21-33; Romans 6:12-23; Jeremiah 20:7-13

 

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

In the Holy Gospel last week, we heard Jesus instruct His disciples as He sent them out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That instruction continues in the Holy Gospel today. 

And Jesus sent them with His authority, but not ease. They will be met with opposition. They will be as sheep in the midst of wolves. They will be dragged before the authorities. And why? For proclaiming the good news of Jesus, that He is the promised Messiah, and for healing and casting out unclean spirits. That good news and good work, Jesus says, will be hated.

Which seems odd, doesn’t it? That’s like hating the doctor who heals you!

Well, physical ailments and problems are easier to diagnose than spiritual ones. And easier to acknowledge, too. And just as we can ignore physical symptoms because we don’t want to acknowledge we may be sick or have something wrong with us, so too with our spiritual signs of sickness. And while physical healing may be welcomed, spiritual healing may not be. For implicit in the news of a Saviour is that we have need of saving. And as in Jesus’ day, not saving from the Romans or any other earthly power or authority, but from ourselves; from our sin. Which means with the good news of a Saviour comes also the not-so-welcomed call to repentance.

A call that is often met with denial and opposition. Don’t tell me I have an unclean spirit. Don’t tell me I’m wrong. Don’t tell me I have to change. Don’t bother me. I’m fine just the way I am. Even more, I’m GOOD just the way I am. God created me this way. Jesus loves me just the way I am. Except . . . He didn’t, and He doesn’t. He didn’t create you with sin, and He doesn’t love your sin. That’s why He came. Not to accept you in it, but to save you from it.

And so St. Paul said today in the Epistle, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies. Now note what Paul didn’t say! He didn’t say be without sin, for that is impossible this side of eternity. He said not to let it reign in you; rule you. Now, that can happen in two ways; two errors when it comes to repentance. First, and probably more obvious, is when sin reigns in us because of our resistance to repentance. I don’t want to repent and so I won’t - I’ll let sin reign in my body and claim I’m fine and right and good, and don’t you dare say otherwise! 

But the second, while maybe not as obvious, is more problematic. The attitude that I’ll repent to be forgiven . . . but with no intention to change or resist the sin in my body or even try to. Because I like it. I need this sin. This sin is necessary. It’s too hard to try to stop. And it’s okay - I’m forgiven anyway! I’ll let this sin reign in my body because I can get away with it.

Now you know that’s not right - either of those things. Both of those is being, as Paul says today, a slave to sin. A slave to that old, sinful Adam in you. 

But Jesus has better for you than that. That’s why He baptized you - to set you free from the old Adam and his clutches. Which, again, doesn’t mean you’re not going to sin, or that temptation isn’t going to be hard - it most certainly will be! The devil is going to press you hard and exactly where you’re weakest. But though you were born with sin and succumb to temptation, your sin isn’t who you are - not anymore. You are a baptized child of God. That’s your identity; that’s who you are. You are not defined by your sin, labeled by your sin, marked by your sin, or enslaved to your sin - you belong now to Jesus. To lead not a sinful life but a holy life. A sanctified life - that’s the fancy word for that. Jesus working in you by His Spirit to give you better.

That’s what Jesus came to do and what His baptism does in you. He came to die and rise with your sin on Him, to take it away from you. And then in baptism to take you through His death and resurrection to a new life in Him. If you were fine, if you were good, He wouldn’t have done that; He wouldn’t have needed to. But He DID because you WEREN’T. He DID so you WOULD BE. So you would be forgiven. Free from sin, not free for sin. 

Which is much needed. For, as Jesus continues in His instructions to His disciples today, the evil in our world is great. A world where (to paraphrase what Jesus said today) parents kill their children with abortion, children kill their parents with euthanasia, and siblings kill each other over the inheritance. A world where we see others as inconveniences rather than gifts and blessings. A me-first, pleasure-first, power-first world. In such a world, the message of the Gospel isn’t going to be welcomed with open arms or received with thanks. They didn’t thank Jesus; they called Him Beelzebul. They didn’t thank Him; they crucified Him. 

So why bother? Why go through the trial and trouble and tribulation? 

That was the prophet Jeremiah’s question (or more like his complaint!). They don’t want to hear the Word of God. I just get grief for it . . . and worse. So why bother? Why put myself through that?

Well here’s why: because that Gospel can transform just such a world. Because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). It transformed the disciples, it transformed you, and it can do so for others - even the most hard-boiled of sinners. We hear stories of that sometimes - of people caught up in the hardest, nastiest sins who have been rescued by Christ Jesus. Pornographers, murderers, internet scammers, abortionists, atheists, adulterers, traffickers, drug addicts and dealers. No sin too deep, no sinners too great for Jesus and His forgiveness. 

That’s the world Jesus sends His disciples out into, and the world the Church has been planted into. It’s going to tough, Jesus tells them. There’s more than you can do; you’ll never be done before the Son of Man comes. Many will hate you for it just as they hated Me. They’ll call you demon-possessed just as they did Me. But in the midst of all that, there will be those who hear, who repent, and who receive the life-changing forgiveness of Jesus. The world needs the Church.

So have no fear of them, Jesus says. Don’t be afraid. Easier said than done! Look at the cross - that’s what the world does: crucify, death, hatred, opposition. So don’t be surprised when that happens. But don’t just look at the cross! Look also at the empty tomb - that’s what God does! Resurrection, life, love, good, victory! So don’t be surprised at that either. When the Word does its work. The one with you is greater than the one in the world. He knows every sparrow that falls to the ground - nothing escapes His notice. And He knows every hair on your head - everything about you. And you are of far more value that many sparrows. In fact, you are worth the life of God’s own Son!

So no matter how bad things gets - and they might get real bad . . . in the early church Christians were fed to wild beasts and burned at the stake. In more modern days, there have been beheadings and imprisonment. But no matter how bad things get, Jesus says, they can only kill the body, not the soul. And Jesus will raise your body to life again, to an eternal reward in heaven, when it will be HIS turn to confess YOU who confessed Him here. For in Jesus, you have a life that death cannot end. You have a life that cannot be overcome by any earthly persecution and sorrow. You have a life purchased and won and nourished by the Body and Blood of God’s Son.

You have that. That’s your in Christ. So do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of the world and its raging - that’s what the world does. But also do not be afraid to repent - that what Christians do. Don’t be afraid to humble yourself. Even if others take advantage of you, God will forgive you and raise you up. And do not be afraid to live the new life you’ve been given; to let go of those sins that beset you. You may think you’re better off with them, but you’re not. You may think that you need them, but you don’t. They’re really holding you back, holding you down, holding you in their grip. That sexual sin, that anger sin, that selfish sin, that power sin, that greed sin, that slothful sin, holding you back from loving your spouse, loving your family, loving life, loving God, and keeping you from the life that Christ has for you. The life Christ is here to give you in word and water and bread and wine. To break that grip so you can live - free from sin, free from fear - even in a world of sin and sorrow. So that forgiven and raised by by Jesus, you can lay down your life for others, as Jesus did for you.

It won’t be easy. Jesus is abundantly clear in His words to His disciples today about that! It won’t be easy, but what’s good often isn’t. And heaven in filled not with the high and mighty, but the poor and lowly. The poor in spirit and the lowly in heart. That’s who Jesus was, and it is enough for the disciple to be like His master. So don’t be afraid to be so now. It won’t be easy, but in the end, you will be like Him, too. In glory.

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

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“He Had Compassion”

Text: Matthew 9:36-10:20; Exodus 19:2-8; Romans 5:6-15

 

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

In the Holy Gospel today, we heard that Jesus had compassion.

If there’s one sentence that summarizes Jesus, all that He is and all that He does, that just might be it. He had compassion. Pity. Sympathy. He sees what has become of us, men and women created in His image but now wracked with sin, and He has compassion. He sees what has become of His perfect creation, and the havoc sin has wreaked in it through and through and He has compassion. It wrenches His gut. He has so much better. 

So He has compassion. And He acts in compassion.

First, Matthew tells us, in compassion Jesus teaches, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. That is teaching by word and deed. Teaching of a God who is good in the midst of a world that is evil, and then giving that good by healing. Teaching that is needed, because the people had been and were being misled. Taught wrongly. Maybe by their own teachers. Certainly by the culture around them - the people around them and their false gods and false beliefs. That happens to us, too. The culture influences us. We are catechized by the world through all the information we receive - and not for the better. We maybe don’t even realize how it has seeped into our thinking and effected us, and effected how we act and how we live, what we desire, and how we prioritize our lives. As funny as it may sound, we need to be taught what good is again. Oh, we think we know. But sin pulls us away from good, and if we read something in the Bible and then think, Oh, that doesn’t sound good! Or right! . . . But others are saying; others think . . . then we don’t know. We’ve been misled. 

So Jesus has compassion.

Because when Jesus saw the crowds, he saw that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. What do sheep without a shepherd do? They don’t know what to do! They need to be told. They need to be led. They need to be shepherded. Now think: Have you ever thought, or felt, or said, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to turn. I don’t know which way to go . . . Then you are harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. We don’t want to be that. We don’t want to admit it. We want to be smart and able and independent. And the devil convinces us that we are! Playing on our pride. That you can do it. Follow your gut. Trust yourself. If it feels good, do it. If it feels good, it can’t be bad. You’re smart, educated. Others might need a shepherd, but not you! You’re okay! Strong. Able. But the one telling us that is the devil in shepherd’s clothing, leading us astray, leading us to destruction, leading us into his jaws. 

But you are only like sheep without a shepherd. Because you have a Shepherd, a Good one, who has come to you and come for you. So Jesus sees that, and has compassion.

So He tells His disciples to pray. First thing they should do. Whatever the problem or issue is, first thing: pray. In this case, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Good advice for us, too. Sometimes we belittle prayer. We put that word only before it. I can only pray. We should never say that. I can always pray. That’s better. No matter how young or old you are, whether the problem be close at hand or far away, you can always pray. Not everyone can. Not everyone believes. But you can. You can lift up people and problems and issues to your Father in heaven and know that He hears you. He promised. For you are His child. So that’s not the only thing you can do, but the best thing you can do, to bring others before your Father in heaven who can do all things. You may not be able to do anything, but you can bring whoever, whatever, to the one who can do everything.

And chances are pretty good - like, 100%! - that He already knows how He will answer. 

For right after telling His disciples to pray for laborers for the harvest, Jesus sends them out to be those laborers! And while the crowds He had compassion on were like sheep without a shepherd, the disciples will be as sheep in the midst of wolves! That must have been hard, to send His friends out like that. Like a soldier going off to battle, or a child going off to college. Hostile forces all around. But in compassion, Jesus does. 

But as He does, as He sends them, He arms them. With His authority. The authority of His Word. And by His Word they will cast out unclean spirits, and heal every disease and sickness. They weren’t just to tell people to get better or do better, but give them better. Give them Jesus and His gifts of forgiveness and life. Have compassion on them, as Jesus does. And they were to take nothing else - acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff. Don’t worry about that stuff! The God who created all things can supply all those things. Just take the Word. Be armed with the Word. Have compassion with the Word.

Which is also the case for the Church today. The Word is our only authority. It’s really all we have. But it’s all we need. It is enough. For this Word gives life. The Word teaching us, showing us, and giving us what is good. The Word casting out unclean spirits in the waters of Baptism, giving life in the forgiveness of sins, leading us to the green pasture of Jesus and feeding us with His Body and Blood. And this is true even when that Table is set in the midst of our enemies and we’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:5, 4) in the midst of wolves. It is true even when it doesn’t seem like it, when it looks like the Church is losing. When it seems we’re losing the battle against a hostile and evil world, hell bent on sin and rebellion against God and His Word. 

The Word is enough. For the Church is not about self-improvement, or fund-raising, or pumping ourselves up with a spiritual workout. It’s not about bigness or power. It’s not about us at all. It’s all about Jesus. Jesus having compassion on us, and then we having compassion on others. And a Church that has compassion will always have compassion. The gifts of the compassionate one, and with them the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

Peace in a world where peace, where contentment, is hard to come by. Where compassion is dwarfed by criticism and competition. A world which has bought into evolution and the survival of the fittest. Every man, every woman out for himself or herself. Weed out the weak. Keep up or get run over. Achieve or get left behind. 

How different the compassion of Jesus. Who didn’t demand we keep up, but came to lift up those the world runs over and rescue those the world tosses aside. To die for those who deserve death - us. That we rise with Him to life. Good life. Compassionate life. Real life. Eternal life.

And for those who don’t want that, there is a judgment coming. And it will be more bearable on that day, Jesus said, for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them. Which if you remember that story, is saying a lot! But that day is not yet. It may seem far away; it may seem like it will never come. The people of Israel may have thought that - living in Egypt as slaves for a very long time. But that day came for them. And the people of Israel waiting for the Messiah may have thought that day would never come. But that day came for them. And it will come for us, too. At the proper time. Which is maybe not soon enough for us! When life is hard, with battles from without and within, battles against foes and even against friends! When we’re tired and weary. When the wolves seem to be winning . . .

And so still today, Jesus has compassion, because we are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Still today He is sending workers into the harvest. Still today He is casting out unclean spirits, forgiving our sins, and giving life. Still today His Word is proclaimed and calling sinners to His gifts. Still today His gifts abound to give peace to troubled hearts, fearful consciences, and worried souls. For as Paul said in the Epistle we heard today, while we were still weak - harassed, helpless, cast down, frightened - Christ died for the ungodly. God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners, - not after we cleaned ourselves up, or achieved enough, but while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And having been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. . . . Wrath against our sins. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

Not that word: abounded. Not just a little grace; abounding grace! Grace greater than you can imagine. Grace without which we would be lost. But with such grace we are raised up, abounding in the love, forgiveness, and life of God, who has compassion on us.

Be cause that’s who God is and what He does. He has compassion. That one sentence summarizes Father, Son, and Holy Spirit pretty well. He has compassion. Compassion for you. Compassion for all.

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