Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Reformation Day (Observed)
Reformation Day
(Observed)
October 25, 2020
Text: John 8:31-36
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John
8:31-32; ESV).
1520
was a banner year for the Reformation.
Dr. Luther was really becoming a Lutheran, growing in his understanding
of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from
works, and diving deeper into the theology of this blessed Gospel. Abiding in the Lord’s Word (Scripture
alone!), the Truth was, indeed, setting Luther free, and millions of us along
with him.
We’ll
be celebrating the 500th anniversaries of significant Reformation
events the rest of our lives, and this year is no exception. To highlight just a few from the year 1520,
there was the papal bull excommunicating Luther in June, the burning of
Luther’s books, and Luther’s own bonfire party in October, where he added the
bull to a pile of Roman canon law and set it ablaze. And there were a number of noteworthy
writings, including Luther’s Treatise on Good Works, in which he unpacks
the Ten Commandments in light of justification by faith alone. Here he shows us that a good work in God’s
sight cannot be something we choose or make up for ourselves, or even a human
tradition instituted by the Church, but a work commanded by God in Scripture, flowing
from faith, and done out of love for God and our neighbor. So also, there were three treatises that
really brought Luther’s theology into focus and made a great impact on the
Christian world for the preaching of the pure Gospel: An Open Letter to the
Christian Nobility, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of
a Christian.[1] And it is upon these I’d like to concentrate
most of our time.
In
the Open Letter, Luther pleads with the newly elected emperor Charles V
and the German princes and nobles to deliver Germany from papal tyranny. The pope, Luther said, had surrounded himself
by three walls: First, he claims the temporal authority has no jurisdiction
over him; that instead he has jurisdiction over the temporal authority. Second, the pope refuses to be corrected on
the basis of Scripture because, he claims, the right to interpret Scripture
belongs to him alone. Third, the pope
refuses to submit to a free Christian council, claiming, contrary to history,
that no one can call such a council but the pope himself. Luther attacks these walls at their
theological foundations and calls upon the nobles, as baptized Christians
placed by God into an office of authority, to defend the Christians of their
realm against such abuses. Luther wants
a council to rein in the pope, discuss Roman abuses, and come to God-pleasing
resolutions on the basis of Holy Scripture.
In
The Babylonian Captivity, Luther addresses Rome’s sacramental
system. As you may remember, Rome
enumerates seven Sacraments (and the Eastern Orthodox enumerate them
similarly). Lutherans, contrary to
popular belief, do not so much enumerate the Sacraments. We do all seven things in one way or another. But if we stick to the strict definition of
the word “Sacrament” as that which God Himself institutes in Holy Scripture,
where the Word of God is combined with a visible element, bestowing forgiveness
of sins, some of those seven things will not be included. For example, Luther doesn’t include
Confirmation as a Sacrament. There is no
command from God in Holy Scripture to do Confirmation. Catechesis, yes, but Confirmation, no. And there is no visible element, nor does the
confirmand receive forgiveness by undergoing the rite. Marriage is instituted by God, but one does
not receive forgiveness from God in the rite of Holy Matrimony. Same with Ordination, which Rome abuses with
the celibacy of priests and the idea that an indelible character is stamped
upon the recipient of Ordination. Our Confessions
are not opposed to calling Ordination a Sacrament, if by that we understand the
application of the Ministry of the Word, which forgives the sins of the people
(Apol. XIII [VII]:7-13). But rejected is
the Roman idea that the priest attains a greater grace and a higher spiritual
character than the laity. Extreme
Unction, or the anointing of the sick and dying by a priest, is not a Sacrament
commanded by God, though St. James does commend pastoral visitation of the sick
with prayer and anointing with oil (James 5:14). We call it Commendation of the Dying, and it
may include Sacraments, but it is not itself a Sacrament.
So
that leaves us with three. Luther
writes: “To begin with, I must deny that there are seven sacraments, and for
the present maintain that there are but three: baptism, penance, and the bread”
(132; italics original). Luther begins
with the Lord’s Supper and maintains it must be freed from three abuses: 1.
Withholding the cup from the laity… After all, Jesus gave both kinds to His
Church and bids us, “Drink of it, all of you.”
2. Transubstantiation, which uses Aristotelian philosophical terms to
explain the mystery of how this bread can be our Lord’s true Body, and the wine
our Lord’s true Blood, and denies what the Scriptures plainly say about the
bread and wine also remaining. And 3.
The Sacrifice of the Mass, whereby our Lord is supposedly offered to God anew
with each celebration as an unbloody sacrifice, as though His once for all
sacrifice on the cross was insufficient, and as though the Lord’s Supper were
our good work for God to earn His forgiveness, rather than God’s good work for
us to grant us forgiveness.
Luther
thanks God that Baptism has been preserved in the Church through the centuries,
but warns against the dangerous idea that Baptism only cleanses us from the
sins committed before we are baptized, as though we have to look for a second
plank in penance and vows and pilgrimages when we make shipwreck of our faith
by sinning after Baptism. But Baptism,
as God’s work in us, forgives not only original sin, but all actual sins
committed before and since. Faith clings
to Baptism, not because it is a good work we do for God, but again, a work God
does in us, by which He washes away our sins and actually grants us faith in
Jesus Christ. Notice how in each of
these Sacraments, the Roman idea that the Sacraments forgive ex opere
operato, by the outward performance of the work, is denied. The Sacraments grant forgiveness of sins
because of God’s Promise, and faith receives the benefits of that Promise in
the Sacrament.
Finally,
there is Penance, or what we Lutherans call Confession and Absolution. Some Lutherans are surprised that Luther
calls this a Sacrament. Of course, the
name Penance is misleading, because never is the Absolution pronounced by the
pastor to be connected to performance of works of satisfaction. No, the whole point of the thing is that God
has given an Office, the Office of the Holy Ministry, whereby those who are
penitent, those who mourn over their sins, may confess their sins to God and
(here is the key point!) hear the human voice of their pastor deliver the
verdict of God Himself: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus
Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” No
conditions. No requirements to be met
before the Absolution goes into effect. All
your sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.
That’s it. Luther complains that
Rome had reduced the Sacrament to three parts: Contrition (sorrow over sin),
confession, and satisfaction. Notice
what is missing? The heart and center of
the whole thing, that which makes it a Sacrament: The Absolution! The Absolution is the main thing. That is the delivery of the Gospel. That is the delivery of the saving death and
resurrection of Christ into the ears of the penitent.
So
now the Gospel Truth delivered to Christians in the preaching of the Word and
the holy Sacraments, we come to the third Treatise, The Freedom of a
Christian, and this one I highly encourage you to just go read. Find it online. It’s short.
It’s free. It is sometimes called
the Treatise on Christian Liberty.
And here is the summary of the whole thing: Christ is the
Bridegroom. You, dear Church of God, are
the Bride. All that is Christ's is now
yours by the wedding ring of faith, which is to say, His righteousness, His
holiness, His life, His salvation… His Kingdom!
And all that is yours is His, which is to say, your sin, your death,
your condemnation. On the cross, He puts
all that is yours to death in His flesh.
And now He is risen, and you live with Him forever in His Kingdom. And this means you are free. You don’t have to do any works for this to be
your blessed reality. It is all yours. By grace alone. Through faith alone. In Christ alone.
Why,
then, do good works? Because your
neighbor needs them. That is the only
reason. This is summed up in the
wonderful little paradox Luther gives us at the beginning of the Treatise: “A
Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of
all, subject to all” (277). Insofar as
it concerns your salvation, you are completely free. All sin has been forgiven. The Law can no longer threaten you or accuse
you. You don’t have to do anything to be
saved. But because you are saved, and
you are the Bride of Christ, you love and serve your neighbor. You become, Luther says, a little Christ to
him. You provide for his needs. You sacrifice yourself for his good. Not because you have to. But because that is who you are in Christ.
In
each of these writings, Luther gives us the Truth as it is in Christ, and as it
hadn’t been expressed clearly in many years.
He gives us what the Scriptures say.
He gives us the unadulterated Gospel.
He gives us Christ. And so it is
as Christ says in our Holy Gospel: “If you abide in my word, you are truly
my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” For this reason, we give thanks to God this
day for Dr. Luther, and for the Reformation of the one holy catholic and
apostolic Church. In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Monday, October 19, 2020
St. Luke, Evangelist
The Feast of St.
Luke, Evangelist
Trinity Lutheran
Church, Grangeville, Idaho
October 18, 2020
Text: Luke 10:1-9
“The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest” (Luke 10:2; ESV).
Our Lord gives us this admonition to pray for the sending of preachers
even as He answers the prayer in the sending of the seventy-two. They are to go ahead of Him, two by two (like
animals sent out from the ark to populate the earth), into every town and place
where He Himself was about to go. They are
to go out as lambs in the midst of wolves, as Christians in the midst of
hostile unbelievers, as preachers in the midst of a bloodthirsty, unbelieving
world, hell-bent on killing them for the preaching. And they are to trust. No moneybag or knapsack or sandals covering
their beautiful Gospel-carrying feet.
This is not an indication that you don’t have to pay the pastor. It is rather an indication to the preacher
that he is not to be concerned about money or provisions. He is to live by faith, trusting in the Lord,
and relying on the generosity of those who, by God’s grace alone, by the work
of the Holy Spirit, hear and believe the preaching. Keep that in mind, dear calling congregation
of God. When you receive a pastor, as we
pray you will very soon, it is your duty before God and your glorious privilege
to generously supply his needs and those of his family. And it doesn’t work like it does in other
jobs. You don’t pay him for services
rendered. You pay him so that he can
render service. It is totally upside
down by any worldly standard, as so many things are in the Kingdom of God.
The
preacher is to enter the house… your house,
your Church… and say, “Peace be to this
house!” (v. 5). That is, he is to
announce the Gospel of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God in the
death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. And
if there is a son of peace there… if the people receive the preacher and his
preaching… that peace will rest in that place.
And if they do not, that peace will return to the preacher and the place
will lose that preaching. This is the
warning for us all in these times when the Gospel is so despised. God doesn’t have to rain the preaching down
on us forever. Luther said the Gospel is
like a passing rain shower. It pours
down abundantly to the flourishing of faith and the salvation of many souls. But when it is taken for granted or received
ungratefully, it will move on to other places, as we are seeing in Europe’s
empty churches, and now in our own beloved America.
But
that is to be no concern of the preacher.
He is to preach. Whether the
people receive the preaching, or reject it and so persecute the preacher, that
is for God to worry about. The preacher
is to preach, and he is to remain in the house, eating and drinking what is set
before him, receiving his wages, not looking for a better deal or a more
comfortable situation. He is to remain
until Jesus sends him somewhere else.
And he is to open his mouth and proclaim: “The Kingdom of God has
come near to you” (v. 9), the Kingdom has arrived in the Person of the
King, in the flesh of Jesus Christ. For
you see, even as the workers go out into the harvest field and the Gospel is
preached, Jesus comes in the preaching.
Where the preacher goes, Jesus goes.
Where the Gospel is, Jesus is.
This isn’t just a historical, back-then-and-there reality. It is now.
Here. Today. In this very moment. In this very place. As the Gospel is preached to you, Jesus is
with you in the flesh, doing His saving work.
The proof of it is in your ears as He forgives your sins and delivers
the Gospel preaching. And it is on the
altar from which you will receive His healing touch, His true Body, His true
Blood, given and shed for you, for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Well,
all of that is a long preamble to what may be said very simply: Today is the
Feast Day of St. Luke the Evangelist, who recorded the words of our Holy Gospel
this morning. St. Luke was not one of
the seventy-two sent out that day, but he was an answer to the prayer our Lord
puts on our lips to send out workers into His harvest. St. Luke was a preacher. Born in Antioch in Syria, he joined the
Apostle for much of his missionary activity.
St. Luke is the writer of the Gospel that bears his name, as well as the
Acts of the Apostles. He wrote the
Gospel to serve as a catechism for the Gentiles, and so we see how his work as
an Evangelist (that is, a Gospel writer) complements the preaching of Paul, who
was the Apostle to the Gentiles. A
careful historian, Luke looked into the facts our Lord’s life and
ministry. He interviewed the
eye-witnesses, the Apostles, the major players. And undoubtedly St. Mary, for it is from Luke
that we get the most intimate details of the beloved Christmas story, the Angel
Gabriel appearing to the Virgin, the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth when St.
John the Baptist leaps in his mother’s womb at the presence of the embryonic
Lord Jesus, the manger, the shepherds, all heaven singing the Gloria in
Excelsis. And St. Mary pondering
these things and treasuring them in her heart.
How could Luke have known what Mary treasured in her heart unless she
had told him?
Luke
was St. Paul’s faithful assistant to the end.
Shipwrecked with him on the island of Malta (Acts 27-28), accompanying
the Apostle in his captivity to Rome, Luke alone stood with Paul in his trials
as everyone else deserted him (2 Tim. 4:10-11).
And it is from St. Paul that we learn one of our favorite details about
Luke: Paul greets the Colossians on behalf of “Luke the beloved physician”
(Col. 4:14). Does this mean Luke was an
ancient medical doctor? Quite
possibly. It certainly would explain
Luke’s fascination, even above that of the other Gospel writers, with Jesus’
healing miracles, and our Lord’s continued work of healing through His Apostles
in the book of Acts. We can see how this
would be particularly valuable in his work with St. Paul, Luke perhaps caring
for the Apostle and tending his wounds after the beatings and lashings and
stonings and imprisonments, and whatever the affliction that affected the
Apostle’s eyes (Cf. Gal. 4:13-15).
But
above all, St. Luke is a physician of souls.
Which is to say, a pastor. And
here we learn what we should look for and expect from a pastor. He is to be our Seelsorger, our
curate, our confessor who applies the medicine of God’s Word to us in our sin
and wretchedness, the surgical wounds of God’s Law, the healing balm of God’s
Gospel. Remember, the preachers in our
text weren’t just to proclaim the arrival of the Kingdom in every town. They were to heal the sick (Luke 10:9)… There Luke goes again with the healing! Now, it is true, as I mentioned, that in the
Apostolic Church, while the Apostles were still alive and active in their
missionary journeys, they, and some of the Christians they appointed, were
given the gift of extraordinary miraculous healings. By and large, that gift is no longer manifest
in the Church. And that should not
disturb us. God never promised to give
the same gifts in the same measure to His Church in every time and place. Healings, as well as the other extraordinary
gifts, like tongues-speaking and prophesy, were given to the infant Church to
confirm the preaching and show Jesus’ continued presence with His Church in
that preaching. Now the Church is
well-established, and more importantly, we have a gift the infant Church did
not have: The New Testament Scriptures, or, as St. Peter calls them, “the
prophetic word more fully confirmed” (2 Peter 1:19). So while miraculous healings can still
happen, it is unlikely, and unreasonable for you to expect, that your pastor
will make the lame to walk or cure your cancer here in the Service.
Though
I will say, we enlightened moderns are rather blind to the miracle that takes
place every time we recover from a sickness.
So it happens through medicines and doctors. You know what St. Luke the Physician would
say about the medicines and technology we have available to us today? “Wow!
Miraculous! Praise be to Christ,
who continues to heal the sick!” But we
think it is all a result of our great intelligence and ingenuity. Christ have mercy on us.
And
also, by the way, dear Christian, never discount what happens, and what is
hidden from your eyes, at the healing command of Jesus in the preaching of His
Word, and the healing touch of His Body and Blood at the Supper. Now, I’m not advocating some sort of
superstitious use of the Lord’s Supper, as though we won’t get sick if we take
Communion, or even that we won’t get sick here at Church.
What I’m advocating is that you believe what you’ve learned from the Holy Scriptures about
the nature of this gift and what it is you receive… our Lord’s true Body and
Blood! Luther says in his Large Catechism
that the Lord’s Supper “will cure you and give you life both in soul and body.”[1] That is a marvelous phrase we so often miss. After all, it is the same Body with which
Jesus cured lepers, made the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the blind to
see, the same Body that was crucified for your sins and is risen from
the dead, that you now eat under the bread; the same Blood that was shed
on the cross for your forgiveness which now courses through the veins of
the risen and ascended Lord, that you now drink under the wine. How many times have you recovered because of
that healing touch? How many sicknesses
did you not get because Jesus gave Himself to you in the Sacrament? These days we are told we should run away
from the Church and the altar in a time of pandemic. Now, certainly, we should take wise
precautions, and some people should take more than others. But Jesus is just the medicine we need, and
this is precisely where we need to be. Jesus
is the Great Physician of body and soul.
The
pastor, as physician of souls, is to administer Him. In preaching and in Sacrament. And oh, how we need Him! St. Ambrose said, “Because I always sin, I
always need the medicine.” Why do you
need a pastor? Why are you calling one? Because you need someone like St. Luke to go
with you on the journey, whose job is to tend your wounds, cleanse you from the
infection of your sins, bind you up in your brokenness, help your eyes to see,
and administer the medicine that gives you life. Not with his own gifts. But with Jesus. By applying the death and resurrection of
Jesus in the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments. It is our Lord’s answer to your prayer: “Oh,
Lord of the Harvest, send out workers to Your harvest field. Send us a faithful pastor, a physician for
our souls.” That is what He will
do. Because He loves you. And through the hands and mouth of whatever
imperfect and sinful man he sends you… and he will be a sinner, by the way, and
he will sin against you, and you will have to bear with him in patience and
forgive him his trespasses against you, even as you care for him and his family
and provide for their needs… nevertheless, through his hands and mouth, Jesus
Himself will tend you. He will heal
you. Which is to say, He will forgive
your sins and raise you from the dead.
It is as sure as the Gospel you’ve heard this morning, and the Body and
Blood you’re about to receive. The
Kingdom of God has arrived. Jesus is
here. Peace be to this house! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Nineteenth Sunday
after Pentecost (Proper 23A)
October 11, 2020
Text: Matt. 22:1-14
This
morning the Father invites you to the Wedding Feast of His Son, to the Holy
Marriage of Christ and His spotless Bride, the Church. It is a magnificent occasion, the event of an
eternal lifetime. Even Americans can’t
pass up a royal wedding. When a prince
and a princess get married, we’re glued to our television screens and we buy
all the magazines. Because it is almost
like a real-life fairy tale. Cinderella
or Snow White, with flesh and blood, castles and cathedrals, pomp and
circumstance, and, we hope, a happily ever after.
For
the same reason, we love all weddings. I
was amazed how many people wanted to come to our wedding all those years
ago. Of course, with a bride like mine,
who could blame them? But so also, there
was the sublime liturgy, the grand procession, the ceremony and timeless
traditions, in a Church decked out for the occasion. And, of course, the feasting and champagne,
the music and dancing, the laughter and love, all to mark a new beginning of
unlimited possibilities. That is the
thing about a wedding. No matter how the
reality of the thing turns out, we’re hardwired to think of it as a happily
ever after. We even use words like
“forever” to describe what has begun.
Now, that is hyperbole. It is an
exaggeration, and we know it is, because we hear the sobering words “Till death
do us part” in the exchange of vows, and we know death will rend asunder what
God has joined together in holy matrimony.
But don’t be so quick to dismiss the sentiment. There is something to this idea. We understand, almost instinctually, that the
marriage of husband and wife, and in particular a Christian husband and
wife, reflects something, even if dimly, that is eternal and incomparably
sublime. “This mystery is profound,”
says St. Paul, “and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church”
(Eph. 5:32; ESV).
So
the invitation goes out. The royal
heralds announce it in every pulpit, to you and to all, the invitation from God
Himself, the great King: “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat
calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast” (Matt.
22:4). But the reaction is
incredible. So many would rather not
attend. So many refuse to come. Now, it’s not like this is just any
wedding. It is a royal affair, only
infinitely, exponentially greater. The
King pulls out all the stops for the sake of His guests. But those invited pay no attention to the
heralds. One goes off to his farm,
another to his business. Some treat the
servants shamefully, and then kill them, persecuting the preachers and the
Church. In the original context of the
parable, this refers to the Jews, who rejected the Christ, refused entrance to
the Kingdom, and put the Apostles and other disciples to death. But the story repeats itself today. All is ready!
The Feast is prepared! Come to
Church! Come into the Kingdom! Come into the joy of your heavenly Father at
the nuptials of His Son! But the people
would rather not. Better things to do. Has this been you, beloved? Repent.
So many outright refuse. The
Wedding Feast disgusts them. Even to the
point of treating the heralds shamefully and shedding their blood. This is the great warning to all who reject
the invitation to God’s gracious and lavish Feast! If you will not have His grace, you will have
His anger. He will send in His troops
and destroy those murderers and burn their city. So it happened, quite literally, to Jerusalem
in AD 70 at the hands of the Romans. So
it will happen on an even grander scale on the Day of Judgment which is to come.
But
the Lord has a Feast and He will fill it with guests. Go to the highways and byways and herald the
news. Invite as many as you can find and
bring them into My Feast. Let the
preaching go out to every corner, gathering all whom you find, bad and good, so
that the wedding hall may be full of guests.
The Gospel is not just for Jews, it is also for Gentiles. It is not just for respectable Christians, it
is for those lost in their sins. Preach
it, and so snatch them out of the world, away from their sins. Save them from the devil’s cold grasp and the
yawning jaws of hell. Snatch them out of
death, and into life. That is what happens
as the Gospel is preached and the Holy Spirit bestows faith where and when He
pleases in those who hear. That is what
happens when the naked, bludgeoned, and bloody sinners are stripped of their
tattered and filthy rags and given the wedding garment of Christ’s
righteousness in Holy Baptism.
Yes,
the guests are provided with the festive garment. You don’t have clothing splendid enough to
attend this wedding, this Church, not even your Sunday best. Your good works are not good in comparison
with what God demands. Your own
righteousness is damnable sin in comparison with the righteousness with which
God wants you covered. So the King
Himself provides the garment for you when you come into the wedding. It is Christ’s own righteousness. In fact, it is Christ Himself. For nothing but the most splendid and
spotless robe will do.
This
explains the problem of the man attending the wedding without the proper
garment. It’s not like the servants
pulled him in off the street in his rags, and so there he was in tatters
through no fault of his own. On these
occasions, kings gave their guests splendid garments to wear. The robe was given him at the door. But what did he do? He preferred his own rags to what was
given him. He preferred his own
works, his own righteousness, his own fig leaves to the righteousness of
Christ with which God had clothed him.
Such a one cannot partake in the joy of the wedding. He will be bound hand and foot and cast into
the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Whatever you do, beloved, do not seek to
enter the Feast by your own merit or worthiness. Do not amble up to the altar as if you
have a right to it because of who you are and what you’ve done. Do not approach the day of your death, or the
Day of Judgment, as though you know you’ll be in heaven because you’re a
good and decent human being. That is
to don your own filthy rags in place of your baptismal robe. The robe is given you by grace, for
Christ’s sake, because God is good, and He loves you. Do not cast it aside. Live in it.
Always. Only.
But
do come! The King wants you at His
Feast. Yes, you! In fact, do you want to know a great
surprise? You aren’t just any
guest. You are the Bride! You are Holy Church, and this is all for
you. You want to hear a little more from
St. Paul about the robe you’ve been given?
It is that washed white in the blood of the Bridegroom. Our Lord gave Himself up for you, dear Bride
of Christ, gave Himself into the accursed death of the cross, shed His blood,
sacrificed Himself, in order to sanctify you; that is, make you holy, cleanse
you from your sins and your filth and your shame by the washing of water with
the Word (that is your Baptism into Christ!), and present you to Himself in
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish
(Eph. 5:25-27). Can you imagine it? You, spotless, without sin, resplendent,
shining with the brilliance of His own holiness and righteousness. But it’s not just your imagination. It is the reality now hidden from your
eyes, but known before God. On Judgment
Day, that is what will be revealed.
And
here is the Feast. This is really just a
foretaste, but make no mistake, it is the real thing, hidden under bread and
wine. All of heaven is in attendance,
angels and archangels and the whole company.
And here the Bridegroom receives you as His own. He feeds you and nurtures you, covers you and
provides for your every need. He gives
Himself to you, and all that is His, to be one with you forever. For what God has joined together, no one dare
separate.
Christian
husbands and wives are given to be a reflection of this, living icons and
sermons to the world. One man, one
woman, living together in love and fidelity for life. Oh, we don’t always do it very well. Okay, we almost never do it very well,
and certainly never perfectly. But
Christ redeems it and the Spirit works through it anyway. As Christian wives submit to their husbands,
which is to say, receive their husband’s protection and provision and
self-sacrifice, they are the living picture of the Holy Church submitting
to Christ and receiving all of His good.
And as Christian husbands give themselves up for their wives, even
into death if necessary, sacrificing their own wants and comforts for the
sake of their beloved, covering her faults, protecting her, providing for her,
leading and guiding her, they are the living picture of Christ loving
the Church and giving Himself up for her.
Christian parents reflect how this marriage between Christ and His
Church gives birth to children who are fed and nurtured in Christian faith and
life. They do this as they bring their
children to the Divine Service and Sunday School and Catechism Class, and teach
their children the faith at home, raising them in the fear and admonition of
the Lord. By the way, couples who have
lost children or cannot have children of their own do this, even in their deep,
personal sorrow, when they support parents and care for the children of the
Church, children in their extended families, God-children, and other children
in their communities. And Christian
singles are not left out of this either.
They are the very icon of the Church waiting upon Christ in faith
for companionship and fulfillment and every good, trusting He will either
provide them a spouse now in this life, or strengthen them in patience for the
Day when our Lord will infinitely repay their loneliness with His manifest
presence in the life to come. This is
all so important in our culture that despises marriage, desecrates life and
children, and glories in unfettered sexual promiscuity and perversion. We repent of our participation in any of
that. And we display in our Christian
lives and relationships a better vision, a substantial and eternally fulfilling
option: Relationships rooted in Christ and His self-giving love for His Church.
That
is to say, there really is a happily ever after. Christian marriage in this fallen world is
but a dim reflection, but here the Lord invites us to the fulness of the real
thing. Christ is the Bridegroom. You, dear Church, are the Bride. Spotless robes. Clothed by Him. Sins forgiven. Joyful and free. The Table is set. All is now ready. A Feast of rich Food and well-aged Wine. Music and dancing. Laughter and love. A splendid liturgy and unbreakable vows. Forever is no exaggeration. This union is eternal. The Bride is coming down out of heaven from
God. The Bridegroom comes and our lamps
are lit with the oil of faith and expectation. The bells ring out and the heralds proclaim. The princess awakens at true love’s kiss. Bone of His bones, and flesh of His flesh. Death shall never again part us. For Christ is risen. And covered with Him, in His embrace, we all
live happily ever after. In the Name of
the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Eighteenth Sunday
after Pentecost (Proper 22A)
October 4, 2020
Text: Matt. 21:33-46
The
issue is, you either receive the preaching of God’s Word in faith,
and so receive the preacher of that word; or you reject the Word in unbelief,
stopping up your ears, abusing the preacher, even to the point of killing
him. That may seem like an extreme
assertion to you, sitting as you are, in Moscow, Idaho, in the United States of
America, in 2020. But if it does, you
are blissfully ignorant of history and the socio-political climate of much of
the world today. In other words, this
isn’t just a there and then kind of parable. It is relevant precisely today, and even in
this place, here and now. The
world… as in the unbelieving mass of humanity… follows in its father, Adam’s,
footsteps, rejecting God by refusing the preaching and denying God’s Word. This explains the world’s hatred for the
Church. This is why, even in our
relatively free society, the Church’s voice is unwelcome in in the public
discourse. This is why wherever
tyrannies exist on earth, the Church must either capitulate by denying the
Gospel and endorsing the tyranny, or Christians die. Or both, which is usually the case. And preachers, in particular, are vulnerable,
because they always have this nasty habit of preaching the very Word the world
wants to extinguish. Just ask Dietrich
Bonhoeffer. But you’ll have to wait to
ask until you meet him in the world to come, because he loved not his life even
unto death, thus by his martyrdom conquering by the blood of the Lamb and the
Word of his testimony (Rev. 12:11).
Incidentally, this is something for which we must always be ready, this
possibility of martyrdom, even here in America.
Because as societies collapse (and we are all nervous of that very
possibility in these trying times), the vacuum is inevitably filled by tyranny,
by the strongest tyrant.
The
struggle between faith’s reception and unbelief’s rejection of the Word is
evident from the very beginning. This is
THE cosmic issue, at the heart and center of the war between God and the
spiritual powers of darkness. In our
Lord’s parable this morning, we get the whole scope of the Bible. It is a pattern that repeats itself over and
over again. God plants a Garden, a Vineyard. It is the Garden of Eden. It is the Land of Canaan. It is Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, and the holy
Temple. It is Paradise, the place
provided by God for fellowship with Him, where God can be present with
His people, and give them to enjoy the Vineyard’s fruit.
But
again and again, there is rebellion against God and rejection of
His Word. Adam and Eve listen to the
serpent’s preaching, and they take and eat of the forbidden fruit. The Children of Israel adopt the idolatrous
practices of the pagans, joining their holy bodies to cultic prostitutes and
sacrificing their children to demons of wood and stone. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day
were, perhaps, more nuanced, but they were too clever by half. In the case of the Pharisees and scribes, a
grand show of meticulous effort to keep every detail of the Law outwardly
exposed them as hypocrites who worship the idol of self-righteousness. On the other hand, the Chief Priests, which
is to say, the Sadducees, reveled in the beauty of the Temple liturgy, the
priesthood, and the sacrifices. But it
was all show. They denied the
substance. They did not believe in
angels or miracles or heaven. They were
not looking for Messiah to deliver forgiveness of sins. And in particular, they denied the
resurrection of the dead. Their god was
money and power, to be held at all costs, even if it meant an uneasy
endorsement of Roman control over the Holy Land and the Holy City.
In
each case, God sent His preacher. God
Himself preached to Adam and Eve, but they found the serpent’s sermon more
relevant and inspiring. And so they lost
their home in Eden. In all the years
Israel occupied the Promised Land, they rebelled and denied and went (as God
says) whoring after other gods.
God sent prophet after prophet, looking for the fruit of repentance and
faith. Some they beat. Some they stoned. Most were killed in an effort to extinguish
the preaching. Still, God sent more. Prophet after prophet. Even into the exile. The Northern Kingdom taken captive to
Assyria. Judah to Babylon. Time and again, when they were cast out of
the Vineyard and oppressed by unbelieving tyranny, God’s people cried to Him,
and God heard and delivered and restored.
Ezra and Nehemiah brought the exiles back and rebuilt the Garden… they
rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple. More
prophets: Haggai. Zechariah. But there was an end to it. There was the famine of God’s Word proclaimed
by Amos and other faithful prophets (Amos 8:11). 400 years of no prophecy from Malachi to John
the Baptist. And when John arrived on
the scene to prepare the way of the Lord, we know how the tenants received him. They didn’t!
They rejected his preaching and relieved John of his head.
Now,
this is where we might expect God to simply annihilate His people. They have it coming, after all. But that is not what He does. What does He do? “Finally he sent his son to them, saying,
‘They will respect my son’” (Matt. 21:37; ESV). And we all know what will happen. It’s like a horror movie where you’re
screaming at the people on screen: “Don’t open that door! Don’t go down those stairs!” Even if we didn’t know the Gospel, we know
the pattern, and we know where this must lead.
They will not respect Him.
They will kill Him. “But
when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his
inheritance’” (v. 38). And that is
what they did. They took Him and threw
Him out of the Vineyard. They led Him
outside the City, to Golgotha, the Place of a Skull. And they killed Him. They put Him to a miserable death, the
accursed death of the cross. How could
God let this happen? Surely He saw this
coming! It only stands to reason that
those who rejected the Master’s messengers would reject His Son; that those who
reject the Word and murder the preachers, will murder the Word Himself
as He comes to them in the flesh.
What do you think the Master will do to those
tenants? What does God do to those who
reject and murder His Son? It is as the
Chief Priests and elders themselves admit: “He will put those wretches to a
miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the
fruits in their seasons” (v. 41).
This is what will happen to everyone who rejects God’s Word. Jerusalem as the City of God has come to an
end. The Romans saw to that in AD
70. The Jewish leaders who rejected
their Messiah, the Christ of God, have been cast out. They rule no longer. They are dead and buried and must bear their
rejection of Jesus forever in hell. That
is the fate of those who reject the Christ and His preaching to the bitter end.
But
thanks be to God, not everyone rejects.
Some are given ears to hear. Some
are given faith to believe, and so receive the Lord Jesus and His salvation. The Vineyard has been given to others, those
Jews who believe in Him and cling to His Word, as well as, of all people, Gentiles
who are baptized into Christ and believe His preaching (and that probably
includes most of you). These now
constitute the new Israel of God. And as
for the Jerusalem Temple? Not one stone
is left on another. For the true Temple,
the true Sacrifice, the true Dwelling Place of God with man, is that which they
tore down, but which Jesus rebuilt in three days: The Temple of His flesh. And see, now, how the Stone that the builders
rejected has become the Cornerstone? Is
it not marvelous in your eyes? Christ,
who was crucified, is risen from the dead!
And now, once again, the preaching goes out. The preachers are sent to herald the Good
News. And by that preaching, the hearts
of sinners are turned from their sins to the living God, and to Jesus Christ,
His Son. They are joined to Him as
living stones, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus (1 Peter 2:5).
So
this morning God once again sends His preacher to you to herald the Good
News: Your sins are forgiven in the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Repent, O sinner, and believe this Gospel. Come back from your exile, East of Eden, and
enter the Garden where you belong. “Return
to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13).
That is the prophetic preaching! Be free of the tyranny of sin and death. Be free of the serpent’s oppressive chains. Give up your sins. Don’t believe the devil’s lies. Stop living for your flesh and for the things
of this world. Live as forgiven and
redeemed children of God. These are the
fruits of repentance and faith the Lord gives you to bear. Give your body as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable, for you know that losing your life, you will find it. Bear one another’s burdens. Forgive each other, as Christ has forgiven
you. Love and serve, even if it means
the death of you. For your life is
hidden with Christ in God. It is life
abundant. It is life forever in
resurrection glory, in your very body.
Healed. Restored. Made holy.
Made whole.
You
have been given to believe this preaching.
And so this morning, the Heir Himself comes to you, the very Son of
God. He was crucified for your sins, but
behold, He lives. He welcomes you to the
Vineyard, and He will not cast you out.
For He gives you not only to be His tenants. He gives you to be the sons and daughters of
God. The inheritance is yours, the
Kingdom of our Father. Milk and honey,
vines and fig trees. Like Adam in
Paradise, work and tend it, patiently waiting, each day by faith. Believe and pray. The fruits will come. The enemies will be cast out. Soon the Garden will be restored. The gates unbarred, all wrongs made
right. The Lord Himself walking with you
in the cool of the day. The pattern will
come to its conclusion, and all will be fulfilled. For here you are, in the Vineyard, by grace. And Christ is all in all. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.