Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter Day. Mathew 28:1-10. April 24, 2011
Liturgical Occasion: Easter Festival
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Date: April 24, 2011
Rev Paul Schlueter
He is Risen! He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!
Dear friends in Christ, Grace, mercy and peace be to you from our risen Lord and Savior Jesus.
Our text for today is the Gospel from Matthew 28.
“Greetings! Do not be afraid” said Jesus. “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.”
Do not be afraid. The angel had only minutes before delivered that identical message to those women. Do not be afraid. And a natural message that would have been to deliver. After all, they were witness to a terrifying site. An angel, whose appearance was like lightening. His face shining like the son and his clothes as white as snow. He was shining with all the glory of heaven. Beautiful, yet terrible. How could they not be afraid?
And then they saw Jesus. The risen and resurrected Lord. Formerly his glory was masked and hidden by his humanity. But now he was victorious over sin and victorious over death. Now he stood before them glorified. And the man who had been dead, the man they had seen taken down from the cross, stood before them very much alive. And he said, “Greetings do not be afraid.”
There is something to notice here. That message, “do not be afraid” is repeated two times. Both times heavenly beings speak those words to the earthly. But, both times the message is spoken only to the women. The women are not the only representatives of the human race present in this story. There are the men, the guards, stationed there at the tomb to keep Jesus in. Hard hearted, unbelieving men. They saw the angel and they too were terrified. So Terrified in fact that they became like corpses. The living became as those who are dead, while the dead became as those who are alive. The angel commanded the women to lay aside their fear. No such command for the men, for the soldiers. They remain struck by fear and unable to move.
And thus we see the response of the unbelievers to the risen Christ. They should see, they should hear, they should believe. They should turn in repentance and faith to fall down and worship at the feet of the Lord of heaven and earth. But they do not. They are struck with fear. They behave like they are dead. No better than a corpse.
But for those who believe. Those who have faith, they receive a gift, a message of hope and salvation. But also a command. The angel said to them:
“I Know you are here seeking Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he is going before you to Galilee, there you will see him. See I have told you.”
Matthew tells us that the women received this message with great joy. But also with fear. And they went and they did as the angel commanded them.
Now this Easter text gives us three messages. Three messages that I want to leave with you today. The first is this:
“Don’t be afraid.”
That was the message the angel gave to the women at the tomb. That was the message the risen Christ gave when he met them along the way. That same message has been written down and recorded for you.
The women were afraid for their lives. They came to the tomb that morning with fear in their hearts. After all, they had just seen Jesus arrested, falsely accused, and murdered by the temple rulers. The temple rulers. They were supposed to be the ones who upheld the law and did what was right. They were the authorities. The standard that set the standard of right and wrong for everyone else to follow. And they were the chief murderers. They were the very ones who perpetrated this great offense, this greatest of offenses.
Imagine how you would feel, how your view of your place in the world would shake if the government you trusted suddenly turned and instead of defending righteousness and truth became the ones working against it.
This was the case with the women and so they were afraid. They carried that fear with them to the tomb.
Until they saw the angel. The messenger of heaven. All of a sudden the initial fear left, the fear of men left, the fear of those who had the power to perpetrate unrighteousness in the world left and instead they feared God. They feared the angel as the messenger of God. They feared judgment and righteous punishment because they were suddenly jarringly reminded of the Holy. And in this reminder they were reduced to fear.
The same thing happens with us. We come to fear sinful men, people who dishonor God and therefore they dishonor His Church with their schemes and their sin. We see what they have done to others and we fear what they could do to us. We come to God with this fear.
God tells us not to be afraid. Such fear is idolatry. Such fear is sin. “I tell you,” says Jesus,” do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.1 Yes, I tell you, fear him!” Luke 12:4-5
Remember those unbelieving soldiers. Remember their response when they were confronted with the author of life. They fell in fear and were like those who were dead. Unbelief denies the Lord. But there comes a day when the unbelievers must acknowledge the truth of that thing he spent his life denying. That day is terrible and terrifying. It reduces the living to the dead.
But for believers, for those who have faith, the message of the resurrection and the recognition of our Living Savior, is a message of joy! It is a message of rejoicing and great gladness.
Remember the women. They heard the message with fear and trembling, but also with great joy. They came to the tomb fearing the world, and sinful men. They soon discovered that Jesus had defeated the world, Indeed greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has overcome the devil. Fear of the world can melt away.
There is a second message. A second truth revealed to us in our text. That message is the call to obey. The angel, the messenger of God gave the women a task: go tell the disciples and then meet Jesus in Galilee. Jesus repeated that command. You also have been given a command.
This text is Matthew 28. At the end of this chapter Jesus will command his disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the /Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching those nations to obey all things he has commanded. You are included in that text. You are the nations. It is your duty to obey all things that Christ has commanded. It is your duty to open your bible, turn back to the sermon on the mount, hear the commands of Jesus regarding marital faithfulness, love of your brother, generosity in your gifts, praying, worship, laying up your treasures in heaven, judgments of others. These teachings come with a warning. Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only him who does the will of my father.
Have you obeyed these commands? Have you fulfilled this word of Jesus. The women in our text did what Christ commanded. The disciples did what Christ commanded. Have you done what Christ has commanded you?
In all honesty we have not. You are guilty and likewise I am guilty. But Christ is risen. And just as Christ has overcome the world, so has he overcome the world in you. He has overcome sin. He has overcome death. He has overcome the unbelief that would turn you to a corpse like one of those soldiers. He has sent to you his Spirit. He has enlightened you with faith. He has strengthened you so that you might live in that life of faith.
The Lord is Risen. He is risen indeed. The truth that your Lord is alive means so much for you. It is such a great blessing for you.
When the women recognized Jesus they fell at his feet and they worshipped him. They grabbed hold of him by his feet and did not want to let go. In the same way, our Lord grabs hold of you. This day, he reaches out to you with his own body and blood. He places his flesh, he pours his blood, the blood of sacrifice and the blood of the covenant into you so that he holds you and you are his and he does not, he will not let you go.
This Easter day, remember your lord. He has overcome the world so do not be afraid. He has given to you his word, obey that word. He is with you to the end of the age. Rejoice and be glad. You Lord is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Amen. Now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
Date: April 24, 2011
Rev Paul Schlueter
He is Risen! He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!
Dear friends in Christ, Grace, mercy and peace be to you from our risen Lord and Savior Jesus.
Our text for today is the Gospel from Matthew 28.
“Greetings! Do not be afraid” said Jesus. “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.”
Do not be afraid. The angel had only minutes before delivered that identical message to those women. Do not be afraid. And a natural message that would have been to deliver. After all, they were witness to a terrifying site. An angel, whose appearance was like lightening. His face shining like the son and his clothes as white as snow. He was shining with all the glory of heaven. Beautiful, yet terrible. How could they not be afraid?
And then they saw Jesus. The risen and resurrected Lord. Formerly his glory was masked and hidden by his humanity. But now he was victorious over sin and victorious over death. Now he stood before them glorified. And the man who had been dead, the man they had seen taken down from the cross, stood before them very much alive. And he said, “Greetings do not be afraid.”
There is something to notice here. That message, “do not be afraid” is repeated two times. Both times heavenly beings speak those words to the earthly. But, both times the message is spoken only to the women. The women are not the only representatives of the human race present in this story. There are the men, the guards, stationed there at the tomb to keep Jesus in. Hard hearted, unbelieving men. They saw the angel and they too were terrified. So Terrified in fact that they became like corpses. The living became as those who are dead, while the dead became as those who are alive. The angel commanded the women to lay aside their fear. No such command for the men, for the soldiers. They remain struck by fear and unable to move.
And thus we see the response of the unbelievers to the risen Christ. They should see, they should hear, they should believe. They should turn in repentance and faith to fall down and worship at the feet of the Lord of heaven and earth. But they do not. They are struck with fear. They behave like they are dead. No better than a corpse.
But for those who believe. Those who have faith, they receive a gift, a message of hope and salvation. But also a command. The angel said to them:
“I Know you are here seeking Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he is going before you to Galilee, there you will see him. See I have told you.”
Matthew tells us that the women received this message with great joy. But also with fear. And they went and they did as the angel commanded them.
Now this Easter text gives us three messages. Three messages that I want to leave with you today. The first is this:
“Don’t be afraid.”
That was the message the angel gave to the women at the tomb. That was the message the risen Christ gave when he met them along the way. That same message has been written down and recorded for you.
The women were afraid for their lives. They came to the tomb that morning with fear in their hearts. After all, they had just seen Jesus arrested, falsely accused, and murdered by the temple rulers. The temple rulers. They were supposed to be the ones who upheld the law and did what was right. They were the authorities. The standard that set the standard of right and wrong for everyone else to follow. And they were the chief murderers. They were the very ones who perpetrated this great offense, this greatest of offenses.
Imagine how you would feel, how your view of your place in the world would shake if the government you trusted suddenly turned and instead of defending righteousness and truth became the ones working against it.
This was the case with the women and so they were afraid. They carried that fear with them to the tomb.
Until they saw the angel. The messenger of heaven. All of a sudden the initial fear left, the fear of men left, the fear of those who had the power to perpetrate unrighteousness in the world left and instead they feared God. They feared the angel as the messenger of God. They feared judgment and righteous punishment because they were suddenly jarringly reminded of the Holy. And in this reminder they were reduced to fear.
The same thing happens with us. We come to fear sinful men, people who dishonor God and therefore they dishonor His Church with their schemes and their sin. We see what they have done to others and we fear what they could do to us. We come to God with this fear.
God tells us not to be afraid. Such fear is idolatry. Such fear is sin. “I tell you,” says Jesus,” do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.1 Yes, I tell you, fear him!” Luke 12:4-5
Remember those unbelieving soldiers. Remember their response when they were confronted with the author of life. They fell in fear and were like those who were dead. Unbelief denies the Lord. But there comes a day when the unbelievers must acknowledge the truth of that thing he spent his life denying. That day is terrible and terrifying. It reduces the living to the dead.
But for believers, for those who have faith, the message of the resurrection and the recognition of our Living Savior, is a message of joy! It is a message of rejoicing and great gladness.
Remember the women. They heard the message with fear and trembling, but also with great joy. They came to the tomb fearing the world, and sinful men. They soon discovered that Jesus had defeated the world, Indeed greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has overcome the devil. Fear of the world can melt away.
There is a second message. A second truth revealed to us in our text. That message is the call to obey. The angel, the messenger of God gave the women a task: go tell the disciples and then meet Jesus in Galilee. Jesus repeated that command. You also have been given a command.
This text is Matthew 28. At the end of this chapter Jesus will command his disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the /Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching those nations to obey all things he has commanded. You are included in that text. You are the nations. It is your duty to obey all things that Christ has commanded. It is your duty to open your bible, turn back to the sermon on the mount, hear the commands of Jesus regarding marital faithfulness, love of your brother, generosity in your gifts, praying, worship, laying up your treasures in heaven, judgments of others. These teachings come with a warning. Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only him who does the will of my father.
Have you obeyed these commands? Have you fulfilled this word of Jesus. The women in our text did what Christ commanded. The disciples did what Christ commanded. Have you done what Christ has commanded you?
In all honesty we have not. You are guilty and likewise I am guilty. But Christ is risen. And just as Christ has overcome the world, so has he overcome the world in you. He has overcome sin. He has overcome death. He has overcome the unbelief that would turn you to a corpse like one of those soldiers. He has sent to you his Spirit. He has enlightened you with faith. He has strengthened you so that you might live in that life of faith.
The Lord is Risen. He is risen indeed. The truth that your Lord is alive means so much for you. It is such a great blessing for you.
When the women recognized Jesus they fell at his feet and they worshipped him. They grabbed hold of him by his feet and did not want to let go. In the same way, our Lord grabs hold of you. This day, he reaches out to you with his own body and blood. He places his flesh, he pours his blood, the blood of sacrifice and the blood of the covenant into you so that he holds you and you are his and he does not, he will not let you go.
This Easter day, remember your lord. He has overcome the world so do not be afraid. He has given to you his word, obey that word. He is with you to the end of the age. Rejoice and be glad. You Lord is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Amen. Now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
Good Friday
- Peter Paul Rubens, The Entombment, ca. 1612.
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Grace mercy and peace be to you from our lord and savior Jesus. Our text this evening is the Gospel Text from John 19:31-42
Behold dear Christians. Here is your God. Dead and lifeless, down from his cross, bleeding, not breathing. A corpse in a tomb. What fools we must be to worship a god who can die.
Peter Paul Reubens here depicts the entombment of our God, the burial of our Lord, the dead corpse of the man who hears our prayers. And look at him. Blood from his hands and his side. His flesh is the color of death. Those who love him the most weep; his mother holds his head in her arms. His beloved disciple supports his weight and he is laid on the cold stone slab. Is this a god who hears prayer? Is this a god who is worthy of worship and praise? Is this a god who is strong and mighty to save? It doesn’t look it.
But this is Jesus. The crucified one. A stumbling block;, a scandal to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to us who are perishing this is Christ the wisdom of God and the power of God given for us, dead for us, so that we might live.
Look at your God. He is here what you should be. He is dead. Life has departed from his body. He has been through hell, literally through hell, on the cross. His body was broken and destroyed by the hatred of sinful men. His soul was scorned by the hatred of a just and righteous God. Everyone turned their backs on him and this is how Friday ended for him.
In the portrait, the artist paints what we feel. Mary, his mother, looking up to heaven. Looking to heaven as if to say, “Why? You could have put a stop to this. It did not have to end this way.” Mary, after all, had seen the angels. Gabriel had stood before her 33 years before and told Mary that this her son, would be the Messiah. Mary knew who Jesus was and she must have wondered at God’s plan.
There are times when we wonder at God’s plan. Why have things turned out this way? Why did God allow this to occur? Why didn’t God put a stop to this thing that was clearly evil? How can God allow these things, this world to keep going the way it does? How many times have we cast our eyes up to heaven or down to the earth wondering those exact things. Mourning with those exact same thoughts.
And as we do, the devil is close beside. He reads us like a book and he inserts answers to our questions between the lines as we are unaware. “God doesn’t care” he says. “God is angry with you” he says. “God wasn’t strong enough to help you” he says.
Satan is a liar. He twists and turns the events of your life and distorts the image so that the world seems to be an evil place with an inept god or perhaps with an angry God or worse with no god at all. He puts you in the middle of it, defenseless and frightened and helpless. No one to watch. No one to help. And especially no ear to bend in the heavens. The devil is a liar.
While you and I might experience suffering and loss the way John did, the way Mary did, the suffering of Jesus was not without purpose. It was not without plan. It was exactly what the Father had determined would occur, determined before the foundation of the world, the Jesus would suffer. That Jesus would die, that he would be killed on a cross to carry your sin and suffer your punishment so that you could have life.
See here the result of your sin. The author of life lies dead on a slab, just another corpse in a tomb. Just another funeral for just another man. But this man is far from just another man. This man is the Son of Man. The Messiah the Son of God.
Mary and John and Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of James and Joseph did not understand why Jesus lay dead before them. They did not understand the plan of salvation that had been laid out by God since the beginning of the World. That Jesus had to die. That he had to suffer mercilessly at the hands of evil men and at the hands of God. His blood is on us and our children and that blood is a redeeming blood.
Mary looks up to heaven to pray her prayer. Mary Magdalene looks at her savior to cry her tears. John looks with dignity and respect at the one he spent his life to follow. And here their God lays dead. We pray those same prayers and we cry those same tears.
But for your sake and for mine, those prayers are heard and those tears do not fall un-noticed. For the sake of this one here who lies dead, your prayers are heard. Your cries are answered. Your Lord listens to your cries for help, for mercy, for understanding, and for faith.
Jesus died for you. He died in your place on the cross to suffer the eternity of punishment that you have earned with your self-interested life. He has paid the cost for sin. And his life was given as ransom for yours.
As you have gathered here tonight in worship to your God, your suffering and dying Lord, the artist ties this death to tonight’s gathering. The burial slab on which our lord is laid resembles an altar. A table. The body of our Lord is laid on wheat, reminiscent of the bread that we break in remembrance of him. His blood pours from his side, reminiscent of the cup that we drink in remembrance of him. Whenever we eat that bread and drink that cup, we proclaim that man’s death until he returns. And return he will.
Jesus was saved from his death by the power of the Holy Spirit who honored his sacrifice, marking it as sufficient and giving back to him his life three days later. Jesus was raised from the dead. You too will be raised.
Amen.
Now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your heart and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Maundy Thursday
Holy (Maundy) Thursday
April 21, 2011
Hendrik ter Brugghen, The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John, ca. 1612.
Sermon Title: A Remembrance of the Passion of Jesus.
Preached Text: John 19:16-27 // Matt 26:17-30
[How does the painting inform us of the reality of Christ’s crucifixion and death? What does it mean for us?]
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest” (Matt 21:9). The cries of the crowds singing praises to the Son of God echo throughout Holy Week. The Son of David has entered Jerusalem upon a humble donkey. The red carpet of the day is rolled out for Him, with palm branches and the clothing of those who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah. In Jerusalem the week that leads up to Jesus’ crucifixion and death is a busy one. It would be filled with events that find their reflection in the the Crucifixion. In righteous anger and rage with a whip of cords He cleanses the Temple of those who bought and sold and had defiled the House of God. In unrighteous sinfulness and rage would the sacred body of Jesus be scourged and whipped with the cat of nine tails. In judgement He would curse a barren fig tree, which would wither and die. In sin Jesus would be falsely accused and judged and sent to the Tree of the Cross to wither and die. During this Holy Week, Jesus would sit in the Temple teaching and infuriate the religious leaders of the day who were unable to give answer to His challenge to their practice and authority. In the darkness of sin these same religious leaders would pour out their fury and scorn by plotting the death of Jesus. Knowing the work of the Father that He was to accomplish, Jesus comes to the end of the week and this night gives His last will and testament to His disciples and to all believers through the institution of the Lord’s Supper.
Before you tonight is a painting by the Dutch painter Hendrick Ter Brugghen. Born in 1588, Ter Brugghen painted this scene in 1612 at the age of 24. Ter Brugghen was heavily influenced by the work of Caravaggio, of whom we’ve featured several paintings during this Lenten preaching series. Ter Brugghen and his followers became known as the Caravaggisti, due largely because they adopted and emulated Caravaggio’s style of painting, which emphasized light, contrast, and focus on emotionally charged subjects. Before you tonight is the painting entitled The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John. Indeed, it’s an emotionally powerful work that teaches us much on this night we celebrate the Institution of the Lord’s Supper.
The painting takes its inspiration from John 19: So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two there, on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ...[B]ut standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. One of the final acts of Jesus is an act of adoption. Mary is adopted by John as mother, and John is adopted by Mary as son. This act of love shows the depth of Jesus’ love. Even while on the Cross, bloodied and suffocating, Jesus thinks not of Himself but only of the care and mercy of others.
There are several things about this painting that stand out. First, the central focus of the painting is Christ crucified. Notice the body of Jesus. It’s twisted, gnarled and gangrenous. His arms are stretched thin and gaunt, strung outward from His emaciated rib cage and stomach, His skin yellow with death. It’s difficult to look at Jesus, because this is what sin, our sin, has done to Him. He becomes the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah: He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not (Is 53:2-3). This is the body that becomes death so that death may be swallowed up forever and have no power over you. Jesus is the death of death, with death itself being symbolized by the skull and crossbones at the base of the cross. He is made sin, who knew no sin, to die the death that you deserve. This is the body that is broken for you.
Second, notice how the blood flows from the hands and feet of Jesus. It’s bright red, and it falls on John, the beloved disciple, and Mary His mother. Ter Brugghen paints this to remind us that this is the blood that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. It now covers Mary and John, and it covers death and the world. The blood of Jesus is the forgiveness of sins, and as it baptizes Mary and John we are asked by Ter Brugghen to take our own place under the blood that flows from the body of Jesus. In it and by it we are bathed with mercy, forgiven by the blood of the King of the Jews that we might have life and salvation. This is the true blood of Christ, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
Finally, notice how Mary and John stand and look at Christ Our Lord. They behold the crucified Jesus with worshipful gazes. With awe and fearful wonder they look to Jesus, their hands are folded in prayerful reverence. They behold their Lord as the one whom has given His life as a ransom for the many, indeed for them. They worship and adore Him for the sacrifice and work that He is and has accomplished. Ter Brugghen invites us to take the places of Mary and John. In their place the truth of the painting is made clear: to worship God is to worship Christ crucified. On the cross, in bloodied form, is the revealed God through whom mercy and forgiveness has come. Behold your Savior. Behold your King. Behold your God.
Which brings us to the reason why we gather this night. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. (Matt 26:26-29) The painting before you tonight reminds us that Christ has fulfilled the promise He gave to the disciples. Before you on the altar is the evidence of that fulfilled promise expressed in this painting. The broken body of Christ is found here, for you. The blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of sins is found here, for you. Tonight you come and partake in the celebration of that fulfilled promise of Jesus your Lord. With repentant hearts, let us now come to taste the fulfilled promises of the crucified Jesus. Come! Taste and see that the Lord is good!
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Palm Sunday - April 17, 2011
Today is confirmation Sunday. Our three students have been studying these past few months under the watchful tutelage of Vicar Sprague, and prior to that I took full advantage of the opportunity to teach them and train them in the Catechism and the Christian faith. They have been preparing, by way of this studying, for their confession of faith and promise that they will make in a few moments.
Gentlemen, have spoken at length about this promise. We have gone over in detail the pledges and vows that you will make before God and his church. You are about to promise that you will suffer all even death rather than fall away from this faith.
You are about to promise that you will make regular use of God’s Word and Sacraments as you attend the Divine Service and as you take time throughout your day for personal prayer and study of the Bible.
You are about to promise that you will be faithful even to this Lutheran confession of faith and to this specific congregation.
These are all very significant promises, but each of you, as we have discussed them, have been very resolute and determined in makings just such a promise. I commend you for that. These days, most kids your age are most interested in entertainment and self indulgence, as are many adults for that matter. And here you are, still in your youth and making choices that are very mature. I commend you for that.
In light of your promises, and the pledges and vows that you are about to take, it is important to put these vows and these promises in their proper context. It is helpful to look at our Gospel text for today. For there in the Gospel of Matthew we see before us a good many promises. Promises that are made, promises very similar to yours in fact, and promises that are kept. Vows that are taken and vows that are fulfilled. And what is important to note is that the promise that is most sure and most certain and most valuable is the promise that Jesus made and kept as he gave up his life as a ransom for you.
This is important because the devil, who is out in this world prowling around is seeking to devour you. He is seeking to drive you to despair. He hopes to harm you and ultimately he hopes to destroy you. And he knows that he has no hope of accomplishing this unless he can separate you from these promises. And so he tries his hardest and does his best to do just that. One of your first promises is to renounce the devil, and all his works and all his ways. Take this promise very seriously.
But you will make others. Other promises and other vows. Let’s take a moment and review those promises. Everyone get out your hymnal and open to page 205.
You will begin with the creed.
Do you believe in God the Father Almighty?
Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only Son?
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
You will have the opportunity then to confess the Apostles Creed, the exact creed that was confessed on the day you were baptized. The church has been doing this since the earliest days of the church, as far back as the time of the Apostles, who knows, perhaps John or Peter or Paul might have even spoken this creed. It was spoken for you when you were baptized. Today you will speak it for yourself.
Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? I do so intend with the help of God.
Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and confess the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church drawn from them as you have learned to know it from the Small Catechism to be faithful and true? I do.
Do you desire to be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and of this congregation? I do.
Do you intend to faithfully conform all your life to the divine Word, to be faithful in the use of God’s Word and Sacraments, which are his means of grace, and in faith, word and action to remain true to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit even to death? I do so intend by the grace of God.
Dear people of St Paul, do you remember making those promises? Do you remember the day that you were confirmed and joined the Lutheran Church? Do you remember these same promises that you made? Have you kept them? Have you been faithful to these vows that you made so many years ago?
Have you waivered in your Confession of Christ and in the face of suffering have you doubted this confession?
You pledged and promised that you would be faithful to the Lutheran Church, yet have you flirted with churches and congregations that have a different confession of faith?
Have you been faithful in going to church? That is to say, have you been faithful in your promise to make faithful use of God’s Word and Sacraments which are his means of Grace? Have you conformed all of your life to the Word of God? Have you been true to God, Father, Son and Spirit?
Take a moment to reconsider these promises. Have you kept them? Have you been faithful to the promise that you made on the day that you were confirmed? Which have you broken? Are there any that you haven’t broken?
No. Not a one. To a person, each one of us who has stood up on the day of our confirmation and taken these vows, we have broken them. We are not men and women of our word. We are promise breakers.
I would like to take just a moment to back up. I want to go back and reconsider that promise that you will make that we mentioned briefly just a moment ago. That promise to renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways. That is an important promise.
Now we know that the devil is bad. That he is evil and that we should want nothing to do with him. But I want to help you to understand why this promise is just so important.
Of all the things that the devil does, of all the tricks that he plays and temptations that he conjurs, the worst temptation the one that is the most damaging and destructive is the temptation to doubt, and particularly the temptation to doubt God.
Satan has been playing this trick since the beginning. When he was tempting Even in the Garden, do you remember his strategy? He said to her, “Did God really say you shall not eat of the fruit.” He was trying to get Eve to doubt the Word of God.
And then when Jesus was being tempted, we get to look in on the temptation from the other side. Usually we can’t see the spiritual realm but in these two places we get that rare glimpse, and we see that Satan is using that same trick, and this time, with Jesus in the wilderness, he is trying to get Jesus to doubt God’s Word and God’s promise that he gave to Jesus at his baptism. When Jesus was baptized, the Lord said from heaven, “This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And so what does Satan do? When he is tempting Jesus he attacks that Word. “If you are the Son of God.”
Satan will do the same with you. He will try to undermine the promise that God gave to you on the day that you were baptized. Because he knows if he can do that, he knows if he can separate you from that Word of God, then he can destroy you; just like he destroyed Judas in our Gospel text. We are promise breakers. Judas was a promise breaker. When Judas saw what he had done he despaired. He doubted God’s promise to him, God’s word of faithfulness to him and he went out and he hanged himself. Where Judas was concerned the Devil won.
But this Gospel text is hardly about the devil’s victory. The Lord permits us to see that the Devil does win from time to time, that he successfully draws Christians away from His Word. We receive this as a warning. When you make your promise today, make sure you keep it.
And for the rest of you, when the Confirmation class makes these promises, recommit yourself to your promise. Your promise to cling to Jesus even if it cost you your life. Your promise to take advantage of the gifts of Jesus, his means of grace. Your promise to go to church, where you can receive those gifts. Recommit yourself to that promise. And keep it. Hear the warning in our text and keep it.
Let’s return to our text. Follow along as I read Matthew 26, beginning at verse 30.
[30] And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. [31] Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ [32] But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” [33] Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” [34] Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” [35] Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.(Matthew 26:30-35 ESV)
Confirmation class you will take a vow to be faithful even to death. Peter, the disciple of Jesus and the Bishop of the first Christian church took that same promise. “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” How long before he broke that promise?
Jesus had it right. He said, “Before the rooster crows three times Peter, you will deny me.” Peter would hear nothing of it. But then, after the events of that night unfolded, it was just as Jesus said. When Peter heard the rooster he was reduced to tears. To weeping. To sorrow. What do you suppose Satan was whispering in his ear? Probably the same thing whispered in ours.
And so we repent. In tears we come here to church, where Jesus has promised to be, and we repent. We look to Jesus and we recall, not our promises, but His. Because this text isn’t about us or our promises, it is about Jesus and His promises. His promise first of all, to His Father, our Heavenly Father, the promise that Jesus made to keep the will of his father. Jesus promised to obey his father even unto death. “Even if I should have to suffer all even death. Yet not my will but thine be done.” said Jesus.
And Jesus kept that promise. It was the will of the Father that Jesus should suffer all, even and especially death. It was the will of the Father that Jesus suffer that thing that we vow to do, that he suffer everything; torture, pain, mockery, ridicule, death – even death on a cross. He kept that promise for you. Where you have broken the promise, Jesus has kept it. Where you have been faithless in your Word he is faithful to His. Where you have succumbed under the pressure to given in, he has stood firm and resolute so that you could be forgiven.
Dear friends. Dear Christians, Dear confirmands, past and present. There are 3 messages that I want to leave with you today.
The first is this. Remember your promises. On this your confirmation Sunday, you will make, or perhaps you will make again promises to God; Father, Son and Spirit, that you will be faithful to him. Keep this promise. Commit yourself to this promise. You will live the remainder of your life in this world in the midst of a world that will do everything it can to separate you from that promise. It will tell you that the thing you promised yourself to, that God and his forgiveness earned at the cross and delivered in your baptism are worthless, unnecessary, that they get in the way. You know better so don’t listen. Hold to that promise. That’s the first. Here’s the second.
The Devil wants nothing more than for you to let go of that promise. And here’s why. The devil is no fool. He knows that you are weak and he can dislodge you from your Word easily. He’s not worried about that. What scares him is God’s promise. And so he knows that if he can weasel his way in between you and the promise given at your baptism, the promise given in the supper, the promise given here in Holy Absolution, then he can do to you what he did to Judas. Don’t let him. Don’t be fooled. Be faithful.
And finally. The third thing. These promises are not about you. They are not about your promises and your faithfulness. They are about God. You, I everyone. We are promise breakers. We are faithless. We are here today because Jesus is faithful. Because he made a promise and he kept it. I will close with the Epistle text.
[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:5-11 ESV)
Amen.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Lent 5 - April 10 2011
Dear friends in Christ,
The disciples objected. In our Gospel from St John for today Jesus decided to go the Bethany to see his friend Lazarus, and when he shared this plan with his disciples, they objected. And John tells us why. The Jews in Judea hated Jesus and they were planning to murder him. The disciples didn’t want Jesus to die. He was a great man. He healed people. He was a great leader of men. They had plans for him, good things they were intending for him to accomplish, so when Jesus told them he was placing himself in harm’s way, they objected.
So then, Jesus told them, “Lazarus has fallen asleep.” Well that was good news. In their minds, if he was sleeping he was healing so he would get better and he wouldn’t need Jesus, all the more reason to stay. But then Jesus let the other shoe drop. “He’s dead.” Do you suppose that changed their minds at all? If the man is dead what is the point of going to heal him. He’s dead. There’s nothing you can do. Why would you even think about going now.
But Jesus went. And we know what happened from there. Lazarus was raised from the dead with a word, a command from Jesus. And Jesus spoke those famous words. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he die.”
But the disciples objected. The disciples always seem to play our role in the Gospels. They say what we would say, they think what we would think, they do what we would do. Just like them we get caught up in thinking the things of the world. Just like them we are prone to thoughts and actions and decisions that seem to be more informed by unbelief than by faith. We are no different from the disciples.
But Jesus is not a god of the dead. He is Lord of the living. He isn’t held back by weakness or illness, not even death can stand in his way. Because Jesus has come to save the weak. He has come to save the lost. He has come to call us out of sin and to call us away from the death of sin. And so, dear friends, Jesus has come for you and for me.
The way of unbelief is always the way of objections. Objections to the Lord and His will, the Lord and his commands.
Consider our writing from God’s the Old Testament, from the Prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was writing and delivering the Word of the Lord to a group of Jewish exiles who were away from home and enslaved in the land of Babylon. Their objections to the Lord and his commands had become so severe and so complete that the Lord had given them into the hands of their enemies. They suffered defeat, their homes were destroyed, their land had been laid waste, the walls of their city had been pulled down. Their families were separated. They were strangers in a strange land.
But this was no surprise. At least it should not have been. They should have seen it coming. After all, the Lord sent prophets. The Lord warned them that their objections to his word and command would prove ominous for them. The Jews had been a faithless people. They were faithless in their worship. They were faithless in their love for God and their love for each other. And so the Lord warned them. “Behold I will send for all the tribes of the North declares the Lord and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting desolation. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:9-11) Israel and Judah should have seen this coming.
But they did not. The continued in their objections. They continued in their unbelief. They continued in their sin. And the Lord did what he said he would do. They were attacked. Over come, enslaved and exiled. They received the fruit of the labor and the result of their unbelief.
But, we are not the one objectors. We are not the only ones who stand in the way of someone’s will. It happens that God is the great objector. If we are opposed to the Lord’s will, how much more is the Lord opposed to ours.
Our will is sin. Our will is unbelief. Our will is the self, sin, and even death and damnation. No thank you Lord, I don’t think I want you to be me God. You don’t do things my way, the way I think they should be done. You have rules and commands. You don’t give me the respect I deserve. You call me a sinner and quite frankly Lord I don’t like the sound of that. You say I need a savior. I am not so sure I agree.
And the Lord objects. He doesn’t take our objections to him and his commands lying down. No he meets them head on. He stands in their way and he opposes us in our pride and our unbelief.
He doesn’t settle for our sin and he doesn’t settle for our death. Instead he calls us to life. He sends out his word and He sends out his spirit and he undoes our unbelief, he undoes our objecting, and he undoes our death.
Hear the words of the prophet.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. [2] And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. [3] And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” [4] Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. [5] Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. [6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
The Lord sent Ezekiel to go to that valley of bones. That valley of the spiritually dead and destitute. The valley of the damned. And the Lord told him to prophesy to those bones.
Now remember the disciples. Jesus the healer went to bedside of a dead man. The disciples thought it was a waste of time and an unmitigated risk. Jesus if you go you will be arrested and murdered. Jesus if you go, you are not going to be doing anybody any good. Jesus it’s too late, the guy is already dead. Don’t waste your time.
What other things do we object to that the Lord has given? Love? Mercy? Forgiveness? Fellowship? We want those things on our terms as they suit our purpose. We want God’s mercy distributed only to the one we find to be worthy and so we object.
Be happy that Jesus isn’t one of us. Be happy that he does not hear our objections. Because the Lord is fair and just and our objections would inevitably turn back on our own head and our objections would inevitably condemn us.
And so Jesus does those things that we would never do. He ignores the objections of his disciples and he goes to the side of the dead man. Jesus sends prophets to prophesy to a valley of bones. Jesus speaks his word where we think it has no usefulness and calls life to invade the territories of death. And he does that with you, oh valley of bones. Valley of bones that we call Chuckery. Jesus calls you to repentance. Jesus calls you to faith. Jesus comes to fill you with the breath of his Spirit and he comes to fill you with life that will last forever.
Amen.
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The disciples objected. In our Gospel from St John for today Jesus decided to go the Bethany to see his friend Lazarus, and when he shared this plan with his disciples, they objected. And John tells us why. The Jews in Judea hated Jesus and they were planning to murder him. The disciples didn’t want Jesus to die. He was a great man. He healed people. He was a great leader of men. They had plans for him, good things they were intending for him to accomplish, so when Jesus told them he was placing himself in harm’s way, they objected.
So then, Jesus told them, “Lazarus has fallen asleep.” Well that was good news. In their minds, if he was sleeping he was healing so he would get better and he wouldn’t need Jesus, all the more reason to stay. But then Jesus let the other shoe drop. “He’s dead.” Do you suppose that changed their minds at all? If the man is dead what is the point of going to heal him. He’s dead. There’s nothing you can do. Why would you even think about going now.
But Jesus went. And we know what happened from there. Lazarus was raised from the dead with a word, a command from Jesus. And Jesus spoke those famous words. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even if he die.”
But the disciples objected. The disciples always seem to play our role in the Gospels. They say what we would say, they think what we would think, they do what we would do. Just like them we get caught up in thinking the things of the world. Just like them we are prone to thoughts and actions and decisions that seem to be more informed by unbelief than by faith. We are no different from the disciples.
But Jesus is not a god of the dead. He is Lord of the living. He isn’t held back by weakness or illness, not even death can stand in his way. Because Jesus has come to save the weak. He has come to save the lost. He has come to call us out of sin and to call us away from the death of sin. And so, dear friends, Jesus has come for you and for me.
The way of unbelief is always the way of objections. Objections to the Lord and His will, the Lord and his commands.
Consider our writing from God’s the Old Testament, from the Prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was writing and delivering the Word of the Lord to a group of Jewish exiles who were away from home and enslaved in the land of Babylon. Their objections to the Lord and his commands had become so severe and so complete that the Lord had given them into the hands of their enemies. They suffered defeat, their homes were destroyed, their land had been laid waste, the walls of their city had been pulled down. Their families were separated. They were strangers in a strange land.
But this was no surprise. At least it should not have been. They should have seen it coming. After all, the Lord sent prophets. The Lord warned them that their objections to his word and command would prove ominous for them. The Jews had been a faithless people. They were faithless in their worship. They were faithless in their love for God and their love for each other. And so the Lord warned them. “Behold I will send for all the tribes of the North declares the Lord and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting desolation. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:9-11) Israel and Judah should have seen this coming.
But they did not. The continued in their objections. They continued in their unbelief. They continued in their sin. And the Lord did what he said he would do. They were attacked. Over come, enslaved and exiled. They received the fruit of the labor and the result of their unbelief.
But, we are not the one objectors. We are not the only ones who stand in the way of someone’s will. It happens that God is the great objector. If we are opposed to the Lord’s will, how much more is the Lord opposed to ours.
Our will is sin. Our will is unbelief. Our will is the self, sin, and even death and damnation. No thank you Lord, I don’t think I want you to be me God. You don’t do things my way, the way I think they should be done. You have rules and commands. You don’t give me the respect I deserve. You call me a sinner and quite frankly Lord I don’t like the sound of that. You say I need a savior. I am not so sure I agree.
And the Lord objects. He doesn’t take our objections to him and his commands lying down. No he meets them head on. He stands in their way and he opposes us in our pride and our unbelief.
He doesn’t settle for our sin and he doesn’t settle for our death. Instead he calls us to life. He sends out his word and He sends out his spirit and he undoes our unbelief, he undoes our objecting, and he undoes our death.
Hear the words of the prophet.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. [2] And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. [3] And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” [4] Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. [5] Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. [6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
The Lord sent Ezekiel to go to that valley of bones. That valley of the spiritually dead and destitute. The valley of the damned. And the Lord told him to prophesy to those bones.
Now remember the disciples. Jesus the healer went to bedside of a dead man. The disciples thought it was a waste of time and an unmitigated risk. Jesus if you go you will be arrested and murdered. Jesus if you go, you are not going to be doing anybody any good. Jesus it’s too late, the guy is already dead. Don’t waste your time.
What other things do we object to that the Lord has given? Love? Mercy? Forgiveness? Fellowship? We want those things on our terms as they suit our purpose. We want God’s mercy distributed only to the one we find to be worthy and so we object.
Be happy that Jesus isn’t one of us. Be happy that he does not hear our objections. Because the Lord is fair and just and our objections would inevitably turn back on our own head and our objections would inevitably condemn us.
And so Jesus does those things that we would never do. He ignores the objections of his disciples and he goes to the side of the dead man. Jesus sends prophets to prophesy to a valley of bones. Jesus speaks his word where we think it has no usefulness and calls life to invade the territories of death. And he does that with you, oh valley of bones. Valley of bones that we call Chuckery. Jesus calls you to repentance. Jesus calls you to faith. Jesus comes to fill you with the breath of his Spirit and he comes to fill you with life that will last forever.
Amen.
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Preached Text: John 9:1-7, 34 - 41
Sermon Title: Awake, O Sleeper, For Christ Will Shine On You.
Sermon Outline
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BAPTIZES THE BLIND INTO THE LIGHT OF FORGIVENESS
1. Our sinful flesh is blind to the works of God in Christ.
2. Christ Jesus works the works of God by baptizing us and bringing us into the light of forgiveness.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Introduction
The loss of any one of our sensory or motor functions is a reality that reminds us of the fallen natures that we abide with. As we age our eyesight worsens, we’re a little stiff in the joints getting out of bed, and the aches and pains of life are constantly there. Some people are born with the loss of certain functions that we take for granted. Some are born into the world with holes in their heart and need to have emergency surgery to repair it. Others are born with developmental disabilities. For some, they are born into a world without sound, being deaf and mute. Still others are born into a world of darkness, having been made blind and unable to see. Many people are not born with these infirmities, but accidents and disease rob them of their health and natural born abilities. The frailties of humanity remind us, especially in this season of Lent, that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.
Maybe you don’t suffer with any of the these physical ailments right now, and maybe you never will. If so, then all praise, glory and thanks be to God. If you do suffer with physical infirmities, we are reminded by Scripture to thank God in all things, and we learn to pray with Paul: For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13). It’s difficult though to be content when we suffer and we wonder if God has abandoned us because of our afflictions.
Though we don’t suffer with the same sufferings of the body, we do all share in a common spiritual ailment: blindness. This is a spiritual blindness that has been brought about by the infection of sin in our souls. Because you are human, you cannot escape this spiritual blindness, for behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Ps 51:5). Today, the Gospel text before us speaks to our spiritual blindness, in which a physically blind man is used by Jesus to reveal the truth that:
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BAPTIZES THE BLIND INTO THE LIGHT OF FORGIVENESS
Sermon Body
(I. Our sinful flesh is blind to the works of God in Christ.)
As he passed by, he say a man, blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he wen and washed and came back seeing. (John 9:1-7) His whole life this unnamed man had lived in the darkness of his blindness. He didn’t live in our modern world with its convenience’s and technologies that are available for the sight impaired. Being unable to contribute to society, he would’ve been considered a burden and outcast. What’s more, physical disabilities were seen to be enfleshed punishments for his sin, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Has the mindset changed so much from then to now? Don’t we look at the weak, the disabled, the blind and the lame and pity them, wondering what they must’ve done that God would have created them to suffer in that way?
But this isn’t the way of thinking in the kingdom of God. Jesus addresses this false belief and thinking, saying: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in Him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of world” (vv. 3- 5). Don’t mistake what Jesus is saying here. He isn’t saying that the blind man or his parents were without sin. They weren’t. The cause of the blindness was not because of personal sin. The weakness of blindness has been given so that the works of God might be displayed in Him. This is the way of the kingdom, the way Jesus turns the world upside down, because God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:27-29).
The blind man is humanity reduced to one. He is a physical and spiritual representation of all humanity. In his physical blindness, he represents the frailty of mankind in the weakness of their flesh. This blindness also reveals the spiritual blindness of mankind. We share in the same infirmity of the soul: we’re blinded by the darkness of sin. The sin has infected our spiritual eyesight, causing us to be blind to God. We can’t accept this spiritual blindness as we’re caught in the throes of self-justifying lifestyles. So we lash out in our blindness against those around us. We lash out at each other through the swords and clubs of our words, speaking and thinking ill thoughts against our neighbor. We lash out at God through not accepting that we can be blind, so we try to make our own self-made path to salvation, eventually falling even further into the ravines of sin. We lash out in our blindness and the isolation that comes from the darkness by seeking out the seductive comforts of the world. In our blindness we are dead and being dead we are blind. Thus, we become the deaf and blind spoken of by Isaiah, in our OT reading: Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind by my servant or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious (Isaiah 42:18-21).
(II. Christ Jesus works the works of God by baptizing us and bringing us into the light of forgiveness.)
Yet out of the darkness there comes a Light. This Light is the very Son of God, and in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4-5). The Son of God, as the light that pierces through our blindness comes and declares: I will lead the blind in the way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them (Isaiah 42:16-17). So Jesus takes the blind man and works in him the works of the Father, declaring: I am the light of the world. This light breaks into the darkness of the blind man and frees him the physical blindness that had plagued him his whole life. He covers his eyes with mud and spit and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. In the washing away of the balm of spit and mud in the pool of Siloam, the man rises to new sight. In other words, Jesus works the works of God by baptizing the blind man and bringing him into the light of forgiveness. The miraculous restoration of his eyesight leads him to be questioned by the spiritually blind leaders of Israel, who in their own spiritual blindness reject the works of God and so endure in the blindness of their sin. They refuse to see the Light of God, all the while the formerly blind man is led to confess His belief in Christ. Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The one who had been blind answered, “And who is he, sire, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9:35-39).
Our Lord Jesus baptizes the blind into the light of forgiveness. So it is that you’ve had your spiritual eyes covered with the saliva and mud of Jesus and have been washed in the waters of baptism. You’re blindness is no more and you clearly see the light and truth of Jesus as he guides you on paths you had not known. He does this as one who having been baptized with the darkness of the sins of the world in the Jordan, goes to Golgotha to die upon the cross as the perfect sacrifice on your behalf. He baptizes you into the light of forgiveness, a light that eternally shines forth from the face of Jesus Christ forever and ever, as one who has overcome death and hell. The light of forgiveness surrounds us and purifies us by the wounds of our Lord. Now we are forgiven for speaking and thinking ill thoughts against our neighbor. We are forgiven for lashing out at God and for attempting to save ourselves. We are forgiven for taking refuge in the seductive comforts of the world instead of the grace He so freely gives. You are forgiven and now see the light of life in your Lord. You are freed from bondage to your spiritual blindness to live in the light of forgiveness.
But what does this now mean for us? How does one live in the light of forgiveness? The Apostle Paul speaks to this when we declares in our Epistle reading this morning: For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:8-14).
Conclusion
Awake, O sleepers, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. As we awake from the dead we confess our Lord and live as forgiven sinners in the midst of the dark world that we live in. We awake and see that that it is the Lord who is our lamp, that the Lord our God lightens our darkness (Psalm 18:28). Though once blinded, God has revealed to us the light of salvation through His Son. In this light we shine forth with good works towards our neighbors, always forgiving one another as Christ has forgiven us. Awake, O sleepers and live as baptized children of God, who’ve been raised from death into the light and life of Christ. In our daily remembrance of our baptism into the light of forgiveness, we remember the burning candle given to us at our baptisms and the words spoken by our pastor: “Receive this burning light to show that you have received Christ who is the Light of the world. Live always in the light of Christ, and be ever watchful for His coming, that you may meet Him with joy and enter with Him into the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which shall have no end (LSB, 271, Rite of Baptism).
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
Vicar Duncan Sprague
Sermon Title: Awake, O Sleeper, For Christ Will Shine On You.
Sermon Outline
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BAPTIZES THE BLIND INTO THE LIGHT OF FORGIVENESS
1. Our sinful flesh is blind to the works of God in Christ.
2. Christ Jesus works the works of God by baptizing us and bringing us into the light of forgiveness.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Introduction
The loss of any one of our sensory or motor functions is a reality that reminds us of the fallen natures that we abide with. As we age our eyesight worsens, we’re a little stiff in the joints getting out of bed, and the aches and pains of life are constantly there. Some people are born with the loss of certain functions that we take for granted. Some are born into the world with holes in their heart and need to have emergency surgery to repair it. Others are born with developmental disabilities. For some, they are born into a world without sound, being deaf and mute. Still others are born into a world of darkness, having been made blind and unable to see. Many people are not born with these infirmities, but accidents and disease rob them of their health and natural born abilities. The frailties of humanity remind us, especially in this season of Lent, that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.
Maybe you don’t suffer with any of the these physical ailments right now, and maybe you never will. If so, then all praise, glory and thanks be to God. If you do suffer with physical infirmities, we are reminded by Scripture to thank God in all things, and we learn to pray with Paul: For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13). It’s difficult though to be content when we suffer and we wonder if God has abandoned us because of our afflictions.
Though we don’t suffer with the same sufferings of the body, we do all share in a common spiritual ailment: blindness. This is a spiritual blindness that has been brought about by the infection of sin in our souls. Because you are human, you cannot escape this spiritual blindness, for behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Ps 51:5). Today, the Gospel text before us speaks to our spiritual blindness, in which a physically blind man is used by Jesus to reveal the truth that:
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BAPTIZES THE BLIND INTO THE LIGHT OF FORGIVENESS
Sermon Body
(I. Our sinful flesh is blind to the works of God in Christ.)
As he passed by, he say a man, blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he wen and washed and came back seeing. (John 9:1-7) His whole life this unnamed man had lived in the darkness of his blindness. He didn’t live in our modern world with its convenience’s and technologies that are available for the sight impaired. Being unable to contribute to society, he would’ve been considered a burden and outcast. What’s more, physical disabilities were seen to be enfleshed punishments for his sin, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Has the mindset changed so much from then to now? Don’t we look at the weak, the disabled, the blind and the lame and pity them, wondering what they must’ve done that God would have created them to suffer in that way?
But this isn’t the way of thinking in the kingdom of God. Jesus addresses this false belief and thinking, saying: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in Him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of world” (vv. 3- 5). Don’t mistake what Jesus is saying here. He isn’t saying that the blind man or his parents were without sin. They weren’t. The cause of the blindness was not because of personal sin. The weakness of blindness has been given so that the works of God might be displayed in Him. This is the way of the kingdom, the way Jesus turns the world upside down, because God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:27-29).
The blind man is humanity reduced to one. He is a physical and spiritual representation of all humanity. In his physical blindness, he represents the frailty of mankind in the weakness of their flesh. This blindness also reveals the spiritual blindness of mankind. We share in the same infirmity of the soul: we’re blinded by the darkness of sin. The sin has infected our spiritual eyesight, causing us to be blind to God. We can’t accept this spiritual blindness as we’re caught in the throes of self-justifying lifestyles. So we lash out in our blindness against those around us. We lash out at each other through the swords and clubs of our words, speaking and thinking ill thoughts against our neighbor. We lash out at God through not accepting that we can be blind, so we try to make our own self-made path to salvation, eventually falling even further into the ravines of sin. We lash out in our blindness and the isolation that comes from the darkness by seeking out the seductive comforts of the world. In our blindness we are dead and being dead we are blind. Thus, we become the deaf and blind spoken of by Isaiah, in our OT reading: Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind by my servant or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious (Isaiah 42:18-21).
(II. Christ Jesus works the works of God by baptizing us and bringing us into the light of forgiveness.)
Yet out of the darkness there comes a Light. This Light is the very Son of God, and in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4-5). The Son of God, as the light that pierces through our blindness comes and declares: I will lead the blind in the way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them (Isaiah 42:16-17). So Jesus takes the blind man and works in him the works of the Father, declaring: I am the light of the world. This light breaks into the darkness of the blind man and frees him the physical blindness that had plagued him his whole life. He covers his eyes with mud and spit and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. In the washing away of the balm of spit and mud in the pool of Siloam, the man rises to new sight. In other words, Jesus works the works of God by baptizing the blind man and bringing him into the light of forgiveness. The miraculous restoration of his eyesight leads him to be questioned by the spiritually blind leaders of Israel, who in their own spiritual blindness reject the works of God and so endure in the blindness of their sin. They refuse to see the Light of God, all the while the formerly blind man is led to confess His belief in Christ. Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The one who had been blind answered, “And who is he, sire, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9:35-39).
Our Lord Jesus baptizes the blind into the light of forgiveness. So it is that you’ve had your spiritual eyes covered with the saliva and mud of Jesus and have been washed in the waters of baptism. You’re blindness is no more and you clearly see the light and truth of Jesus as he guides you on paths you had not known. He does this as one who having been baptized with the darkness of the sins of the world in the Jordan, goes to Golgotha to die upon the cross as the perfect sacrifice on your behalf. He baptizes you into the light of forgiveness, a light that eternally shines forth from the face of Jesus Christ forever and ever, as one who has overcome death and hell. The light of forgiveness surrounds us and purifies us by the wounds of our Lord. Now we are forgiven for speaking and thinking ill thoughts against our neighbor. We are forgiven for lashing out at God and for attempting to save ourselves. We are forgiven for taking refuge in the seductive comforts of the world instead of the grace He so freely gives. You are forgiven and now see the light of life in your Lord. You are freed from bondage to your spiritual blindness to live in the light of forgiveness.
But what does this now mean for us? How does one live in the light of forgiveness? The Apostle Paul speaks to this when we declares in our Epistle reading this morning: For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:8-14).
Conclusion
Awake, O sleepers, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. As we awake from the dead we confess our Lord and live as forgiven sinners in the midst of the dark world that we live in. We awake and see that that it is the Lord who is our lamp, that the Lord our God lightens our darkness (Psalm 18:28). Though once blinded, God has revealed to us the light of salvation through His Son. In this light we shine forth with good works towards our neighbors, always forgiving one another as Christ has forgiven us. Awake, O sleepers and live as baptized children of God, who’ve been raised from death into the light and life of Christ. In our daily remembrance of our baptism into the light of forgiveness, we remember the burning candle given to us at our baptisms and the words spoken by our pastor: “Receive this burning light to show that you have received Christ who is the Light of the world. Live always in the light of Christ, and be ever watchful for His coming, that you may meet Him with joy and enter with Him into the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which shall have no end (LSB, 271, Rite of Baptism).
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
Vicar Duncan Sprague
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)