Liturgical Date: September 11 Remembrance
Date: September 11, 2011
Rev. Paul Schlueter
Text: Luke 13:1-9 (English Standard Version)
There are certain moments that after they have happened you know things will never be the same again. September 11, 2001 was one of those days.
For myself, I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was in the office at church. I saw a report on a news website that a passenger jet had collided with one of the World Trade towers. We turned on the radio to listen to the news. There was confusion. How could it happen that a jet would fly in to a major building in a major city? People were trying to understand. Then the other tower was hit. It was no longer a coincidence. Another hit the Pentagon. Another crashed in Pennsylvania. There were reports of hijacking. Horrible though it was, it all suddenly made sense. We had been attacked. We had been caught unaware and our vulnerabilities had been exploited. On that day we all lived with fear and uncertainty.
It became clear that the events of that day would affect the days that followed. We were at war; yet not with a state or a nation, but with an ideology, an enemy without borders. So we went to war. Our military began to root out that enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. So we saw the impact reported on the news. But we also felt it personally. We felt it in our personal sense of security; then to be sure, but still now, like when we go through security at the airport or when we see a woman wearing a Muslim head scarf at the mall. We thought we were safe. September 11 made us feel that we were not.
The impact of this event was also felt along different lines. The impact was felt along the lines of religion. All of a sudden the topic of religion became very prominent. After all, our attackers were Muslim, they were religious. And then there were those American religious leaders who claimed to have had a message from God that explained the attacks. It was the corrupt politicians in Washington, the gays in New York. And then there was the common experience of every one of us, who suddenly felt the need to pray. Who wrestled with questions about how something like this could happen? Why did this happen? Where was God when this happened? These were questions we all tried to answer.
The text for our message for today is selected from the Gospel of Luke 13:1-9
1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
6And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' 8And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"
In truth this text asks those same questions, does it not?
Muslims attacked the towers. Pilate attacked the Jews. Who was to blame? The soldiers? The terrorists? Pontius Pilate? Osama bin Laden? Maybe it was religion. Or maybe it was God.
As if that question was not enough, Jesus went to the very next place that we would go. What about the disaster that happened at Siloam. Whose fault was that? What about the disaster that happened at New Orleans - Katrina – whose fault was that? There is always someone to blame. Jesus tells us unequivocally the answer.
“Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Who is to blame for September 11? We are. Who is to blame for Katrina? We are. Who is to blame for earth quakes and draughts and storms and wars and natural disasters? Is it the Muslims? The fornicators? The gays? The politicians? Absolutely. And it’s you and me as well. The problem with the world in sin. Sin comes from sinners. You and me and everybody else is a sinner. We all need to repent. We all need Jesus.
We began by discussing watershed events – days that impact every other day that follows. The world has seen its share of watershed events. The first such event occurred only days after the very beginning. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit he forbade them to eat. That day changed every other day. That day cursed the ground and expelled us from God’s created paradise. That day introduced suffering and death.
But there is another watershed day, a better watershed day. There is a day that completely changed the course of history, that even reversed the course of history. If the first day brought death to every person who ever lived, this day brought life. If the first day brought condemnation and judgment, this day brought mercy and freedom. If the first day brought sorrow and suffering, this day brought peace and joy. For this day was Jesus’ day. This day was the day that paid for our sin that he paid for our judgment, that he set us free from our punishment and that he restored to us life. Jesus died on the cross. God raised him from the dead. He has ascended into heaven. He has called us to faith so that everyone who believes in him, so that everyone who looks to him sees him on the cross and confesses him as lord is saved from the destruction of this world and the damnation of the next, and in place of suffering and death receives life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life. John 3:16
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13
God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that might receive the adoption of sons. Galatians 4:4
God sent his only Son into the Word so that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9
The problem in the world is sin. Jesus has provided the solution. What is necessary is repentance and faith. Jesus has provided salvation.
The world is struggling under the weight of sin. It is a weight that is too big for us to carry. But God himself has shouldered that weight. God himself has shouldered that load. He paid for our sin on the cross. He gave to us life at the empty tomb.
On this day, September 11, Americans remember those who died on that day and the days that followed. But that day is nothing and means nothing without the ONE day, the ONE death that really matters. Because our ultimate enemy is not Islam, it is not terrorism, it is not Osama bin Laden or whoever it is who has replaced him. Our enemy is death. The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. Christ fulfilled the law. Christ paid for sin. Christ defeated death.
Today as we remember 9-11 let us truly remember. Let us remember where the real battle lies. And today, as we remember fallen heroes, let us remember that hero who fell but got back up again to save us from death and hell and who gives to us life.
Amen.
And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen
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