Reformation Day (Observed)

Reformation Day (Observed)

October 29, 2023

Text: John 8:31-36

            The Year of Our Lord, 1523, five hundred years ago… The Reformation was in full swing.  Momentous events had already occured.  The 95 Theses, Heidelberg, Leipzig, the Diet of Worms and Luther’s “Here I Stand” speech.  Junker George in the Wartburg.  The return to Wittenberg and the Ivocavit sermons.  Watershed writings flowed from Dr. Luther’s quill.  To the Christian Nobility.  The Babylonian Captivity of the Church.  The Freedom of a Christian.  And in 1522, the September Testament, Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German, the beginning of his translation of the whole Bible into the vernacular.  The Gospel had been preached.  The evangelical fervor was spreading.  (God unleashed Guttenberg’s printing press at just the right moment!)

            But none of this without suffering.  And in 1523, evangelical Christians were vividly reminded that the price of faithful confession must be paid in blood.  Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes, Augustinian monks who had adopted Luther’s teaching as their own, were arrested, imprisoned, and brought to Brussels to be burned at the stake.  They were given one last opportunity to recant before the flames were lit.  But they responded, “We will die as Christians and for the truth of the Gospel.”  “As the fire rose around them, they confessed their faith again and again in the words of the Apostle’s Creed. Then they sang the Te Deum until, as one author puts it, ‘at last the fire choked their voices, and there remained of them nothing but ashes.’”[1]  And so, on July 1, 1523, the first Lutheran martyrs were murdered for Christ.  As with so many faithful Christians before them, theirs was a Baptism in blood.

            When Dr. Luther heard of their sacrifice, he received the news with tears, and yet, praise for his Lord.  For he knew their martyrdom would bear fruit.  And, as it happens, this is the event that spurred Dr. Luther to begin writing hymns, the first hymn of the Reformation.  In this case, it was a ballad (in the old sense of that word, a song that tells the story), twelve verses.  Sadly, you won’t find it in our hymnal.  But here is the first verse (search this on YouTube, you can listen to it, it’s wonderful)[2]: “A new song here shall be begun,/ Lord, help us raise the banner/ Of praise for all that God has done,/ For which we give Him honor./ At Brussels in the Netherlands/ God proved Himself most truthful/ And poured His gifts from open hands/ On two lads, martyrs youthful/ Through whom He showed His power."[3]

            Now, how about this, verses 5 and 6 of the hymn: “Their cloister-garments off they tore,/ Took off their consecrations;/ All this the youths were ready for/ They said Amen with patience./ They gave to God the Father thanks/ That He would them deliver/ From Satan’s scoffing and the pranks/ That make men quake and shiver/ When he comes masked and raging./ The God they worshiped granted them/ A priesthood in Christ’s order./ They offered up themselves to Him/ And crossed His kingdom’s border/ By dying to the world outright,/ With ev’ry falsehood breaking./ They came to heaven pure and white;/ All monkery forsaking,/ They turned away from evil.”[4] Why did they do it?  How could they sacrifice themselves so willingly?  They knew the truth.  And the truth had set them free.  They were abiding in the Word of Jesus Christ, which is to abide in Jesus Christ Himself.  The Son had set them free.  And they were free, indeed!  Free to give themselves into death for Jesus’ sake, knowing that they would not, in fact, die, but live eternally in Christ, who died for them, and who is risen from the dead.  Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes, the first Lutheran martyrs.

            Meanwhile, back in Wittenberg, Luther was working on his “Baptismal Booklet,” an evangelical revision of the baptismal rite, along with some baptismal instruction.  It was included in all editions of the Small Catechism published in Wittenberg during Luther’s lifetime, beginning with the second, and in many editions of the 1580 Book of Concord, so this is kinda-sorta a Confessional document.  What was new about it?  Among other things, Luther’s baptismal rite was in German rather than Latin, so the people could hear and understand what was being done and said, and thus value “the high, holy, and comforting sacrament of baptism.”[5]  That, and that the priests, sponsors, and people in the congregation would all take their participation in this rebirth seriously.  Understand what is happening here, Luther says, essentially.  We are robbing the devil of his possession, or better, Christ is robbing him.  And we are hanging around the child’s neck a mighty, lifelong enemy.  So we ought to listen closely during the Baptism, join our hearts to the prayers spoken by the priest, and continue praying for the child, or the person being baptized, their whole life long.  Luther says, “I fear that people turn out so badly after baptism because we have dealt with them in such a cold and casual way and have prayed for them at their baptism without any zeal at all.”[6]  Never mind our half-hearted efforts to instill a robust faith and Christian life in our children.  Beloved, you’re going to be hearing this from me a lot in the coming days.  We cannot expect that our children will accidentally stay in the Church and remain in the faith.  The world and Satan are too strong, now.  The world is explicitly anti-Christian.  It’s true, only God can keep your children in the faith.  But He has entrusted you with the responsibility to be His voice and hands in doing it.  You must do everything possible, so far as it lies with you… give your children every opportunity to be in the saving presence of Jesus, living in their Baptism, hearing and learning His Word, praying in His Name, and after instruction, joining us at the Supper.  Teach them.  Nurture them.  Pray for them.  The days are evil.  You know it.  Bring your children to Christ.  Bring them to Church. 

            Baptism is the way Jesus, the Son, sets us free.  It is the portal to freedom, opening up for us all the other gifts of the Lord that set us free, the Word, repentance and faith, Absolution, the Supper.  Again Luther: “[God] himself calls [Baptism] a ‘new birth,’ through which we, being freed from the devil’s tyranny and loosed from sin, death, and hell, become children of life, heirs of all God’s possessions, God’s own children, and brothers and sisters in Christ.  Ah, dear Christians, let us not value or treat this unspeakable gift so half-heartedly.  For baptism is our only comfort and doorway to all of God’s possessions and to the communion of all the saints.  To this end may God help us.  Amen.”[7]

            Now, not much will surprise you in Dr. Luther’s baptismal rite.  Our rite is very similar to, and based on, that of Luther.  But one thing that will get you (and I delight in the fact that it will get you)… Luther includes an explicit exorcism!  Well, think about what Baptism is.  It is the casting out of every evil spirit, that the Holy Spirit may take up residence in the Christian, ever bringing the Christian to the Lord Jesus Christ, and so, to the Father.  “Depart, you unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Spirit,” we say in Luther’s rite.[8]  And again, “I adjure you, you unclean spirit, in the name of the Father (+) and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit (+), that you come out of and depart from this servant of Jesus Christ... Amen."[9]  We’re not so sure we like it, because we don’t like to imagine that these precious, cute, innocent (a denial of original sin!) little babies have anything to do with evil spirits.  But that’s how deeply we’ve been deceived.  As Luther would say, we don’t take Baptism, or demons, or our sins, or the salvation our God accomplishes for us in Christ, and gives us here in the baptismal waters, seriously enough.  We’ve got to get over ourselves.  Every Baptism is an exorcism.  That’s how badly we need Baptism.  If you are ever tied to a stake in the midst of the flames, as was the case for Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes, you’ll be thankful the devil was cast away from you in your Baptism (exorcised, whether the exorcistic words were said, or not), and that the Holy Spirit has made Himself at home in your mind and heart, your body, and your soul.  You can be thankful, anyway, because no matter what you are now suffering, or will suffer in the future… whatever the temptation, whatever the trial or cross… you do not belong to the devil, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to His Father, and to the Spirit of the living God.  You are baptized into Christ!  The Son has set you free.  And you are free, indeed!

            By the way, also in 1523, a number of escaped nuns from Nimbschen arrived in Wittenberg, reportedly smuggled in a cart full of herring barrels (“What is that intoxicating scent?!”).  But it would take a couple years for Luther to realize he should marry one of them.  Or, perhaps we should say, for Katharina von Bora to convince him.  Thank God for devout and wise women.  Our Lord’s grace abounds.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

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[1] Matthew Block, https://www.canadianlutheran.ca/the-martyrs-esch-and-voes/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2D63tHVGcA

[3] Martin Luther: Hymns, Ballads, Chants, Truth (4-CD Set) (St. Louis: Concordia, 2004) p. 8 of accompanying booklet.

[4] Ibid, p. 10.

[5] The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, Eds. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000) p. 371.

[6] Ibid., p. 372.

[7] Ibid, p. 373.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid, p. 374.

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24A)

October 22, 2023

Text: Matt. 22:15-22

            There are things we must render to Caesar.  That is the first thing we have to say on the basis of our Holy Gospel.  Our fallen flesh doesn’t like that, and it is especially difficult for pious Christians and conservative Lutherans to acknowledge the fact.  But Jesus is clear.  Whose image is on the coin?  That which bears Caesar’s image belongs to Caesar.  Give it to him.   

            What about our coins?  What about our paper bills?  In what is, for all practical purposes, a cashless society (and possibly heading that way completely), we may have trouble remembering this, but our money, too, bears the image of presidents and the inscription, the official seal of the government.  Beloved, it is our Christian duty to pay taxes.  Jesus says it here.  And St. Paul preaches this very thing, including our duty to submit to our rulers, in Romans 13: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities,” he says (Rom. 13:1; ESV).  Why?  Because government is a good gift of God, given as an antidote to lawlessness and chaos, to punish the wicked and reward the good.  Government is necessary for society to function.  And though it is true that all governments among men are corrupt to one degree or another… that they act outside of God’s will in any multitude of ways… and that we should and must call them to repentance for those things (we live in a society where we have the luxurious freedom, and therefore responsibility, to speak out against evil, and abuse, and downright incompetence, a freedom unprecedented in world history)… it must not be lost on us that Paul is writing this during the reign of Emperor Nero, a man who burns Christians on poles to light up his garden parties, who personally and ravenously attacks them before cheering crowds in the arena, and who would eventually give the order for Paul’s beheading (and Peter’s crucifixion).  Nevertheless, “the authorities are ministers of God,” Paul says, and this is also why you pay taxes (v. 6). 

            “Pay to all what is owed to them,” says the Apostle: “taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (v. 7).  Now, of course, there are exceptions, and that is any time the governing authorities command something contrary to God’s Law, when they require us to sin.  Like if they told us to stop preaching God’s Word, or dictated which parts of God’s Word we could preach, or forbade us from worshiping together, demanded we perform same-sex marriages, things like that.  Then it is as Peter and the Apostles say in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”  But otherwise, we should pay our taxes, be honest on our tax returns, obey the laws, perform our civic duties, and, yes, honor the office of our rulers according to the Fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother.  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.”[1]  This is, as you know, the first part of the Two Kingdoms doctrine.  God rules the world through the vocation of government, what we call “The Kingdom of God’s Left Hand.”  God rules through Caesar, whether he knows or acknowledges it, or not.  So, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matt. 22:21).  That is what our Lord Jesus commands us to do. 

            But you also know that that is only the minor point in our Lord’s teaching us this afternoon.  The supreme point that we should render to God the things that are God’s (v. 21).  What belongs to God?  Everything.  He created it, all things, visible and invisible.  Everything belongs to Him.  That means all that you have, all you possess.  He gave it to you.  It is all gift from Him.  It is His to begin with.  And He places it all in your hands, to be stewarded.  For your own needs, and your enjoyment, yes.  And for your neighbor’s needs.  And above all, for His own glory.  Are we talking, here, about money?  Of course.  Be generous with it.  Give an offering.  I encourage you to tithe.  Give to charity.  Feed people.  Clothe them.  Be generous to family and friends, to your waiter or waitress, and to strangers in need. 

            But it’s so much more than money.  We often speak of time, talent, and treasure.  Fine.  Good.  Be generous with those.  But what about your home?  Your home belongs to God.  He has given it to you as a gift, to be stewarded.  Is your home a place of prayer and spiritual nurture, of safety and solace, a shelter from strife?  Do you use it to show hospitality?  That is a biblical admonition for Christians.  What about your daily bread?  Do you share it?  What of your friendship?  Mercy?  Patience?  How about your vehicle?  Your place of work?  You get the point.  Everything you have.  How should you steward it and use it for God’s purposes?  We really shouldn’t be selfish with anything, but as we all know, it’s harder than it looks.  God have mercy on us. 

            But it’s not just your money, time, and stuff.  Render to God the things that are God’s.  You, yourself, belong to God.  Your life is not your own.  Your body is not yours to do with as you please.  Your soul is not yours to do with as you please.  God created you.  He gave you yourself, body and soul.  And more than that, He redeemed you from sin, death, and the devil… from yourself!  He sent His Son to do that very thing by His blood and death on the cross.  You are bought and paid for.  You belong to Him. 

            But there is something even more, here.  Look in a mirror and ask yourself, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  And now you’ve got it, don’t you.

            “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’…  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 2:26-27).  That’s how it was in the Garden, with Adam and Eve.  Well, what does it mean to be created in God’s image?  It means to have a clear and firm knowledge of Him and His will, to be of like mind with Him (that is, to be in agreement with His will), and to be righteous and holy, as He is righteous and holy, doing as He commands, and not doing what He forbids.  Now, you know what happened to that image when our first parents rebelled in the garden.  Image lost.  It is true, insofar as we still retain a rational soul (we’re able to think logically and critically), a conscience (at least some conception of morality), and an instinct that there is such a thing as divinity, that there are higher and lower things, things we’re obliged and forbidden to do, etc., this is evidence of a vestige, at least a dim shadow of the image.  But we essentially lost it.  We defaulted on what we owe God, that which Ibears His image and inscription.  We became obsessed with creating an image of ourselves according to our own will, divorced from our God. 

            But we also know what God has done about it.  He sent His Son.  Jesus.  “He is,” Paul says, “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15).  Very God, Son of the Father from all eternity, He is born in time of the Virgin Mary in our flesh.  God with us.  Like us in every way, yet without sin.  “(I)n him,” that is, in His human flesh, our flesh, “the fulness of God was pleased to dwell” (v. 19).  And so, He doesn’t just know God and His will.  This Man is God.  He is not just of like mind with the Father.  His will is to do the will of the Father.  Perfectly righteous.  Perfectly holy.  And He is our new Adam.  As Adam is the father of our fallen race, now Jesus… undoing by His holy life all the damage Adam did, by healing creation of its brokenness, by casting out Satan and the demons, dying the accursed death in our place, as payment for our sins, rising again, living, ascending, reigning… and sending His emissaries to preach the Good News… Jesus has become the Firstborn and Source of New Creation.  And you are born anew when you are baptized into Him.  Old Adam, drowned and dead.  New Creation in Christ risen and living.  Clothed with Christ.  Covered with Christ.  Image restored. 

            Look in a mirror.  Whose likeness and inscription is this?  You have been re-created in the Image and likeness of God.  His Name, His inscription, is written on you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  So, render your whole self to Him, all that you are and have.  You belong to Him, and there is nothing better than that. 

            And now, look at your neighbor.  Whose likeness and inscription is on him?  Render love, and service, and generosity to your neighbor, because that is rendering to God.  “Whatever you do to the least of these,” right (Matt. 25)?  And in that sense, even paying your taxes is rendering to God.  Caesar will find out soon enough he’s not God.  It is God who rules all things in heaven and on earth.  And everything belongs to Him.

            What does it mean to render yourself to God?  It means to repent.  Repent of all that you hold back for yourself, all of you that you prefer to rule for yourself.  That’s all part of Old Adam’s quest to know good and evil for Himself. 

            Repent of all that you hold back from your neighbor who needs you, who likewise bears the divine Image. 

            Be ruled by God’s Word.  Let it change you. 

            And then, live in the Image.  Live in Christ.  Live by faith.  Forgiven of all your sins.  Renewed by His Word and Spirit.  Come to Church.  This is what we call “The Kingdom of God’s Right Hand.”  It is ruled alone by the Word.  In the end, to render yourself to God, is simply to receive that Word, and live in it.  To receive Christ and live in Him.  Such rendering is not a tax.  It is life from the dead.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

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[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23A)

October 15, 2023

Text: Matt. 22:1-14

            Who are these, so bold, so audacious, as to tell the King they have better things to do than attend the Wedding Feast of His Son?  The immediate audience for our Lord’s parable is once again made up of the Chief Priests and Pharisees.  This is the continuation of the sermon we heard Him preaching last week.  Only now, he is riffing on this morning’s Old Testament reading (Is. 25:6-9).  “Remember, dear shepherds of Israel, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts from the Prophet Isaiah?  The feast of rich food and well-aged wine?  We all know the Prophet is speaking of the Messianic age.  That is what will happen when the Kingdom arrives, when God’s Messiah comes.  Well, dear friends, guess what?  Here I AM!  And I have sent servant after servant, prophet after prophet, to tell you the Feast is prepared.  But now that it is here, you refuse to come in.  You have no desire.  And, in fact, you seize my servants, treat them shamefully, and kill them.  That’s what you do.  So, fine.  I won’t make you come in.  I won’t force you to rejoice and feast with Me in My Kingdom.  But be warned.  The troops are on their way to destroy you murderers and burn your city,” a reference to the coming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  “But that won’t stop Me from giving My Feast.  I will invite others to take your place.  And they will rejoice and be satisfied with the good things from My Table, while you find yourself in the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

            So, the original audience was the Jewish clergy.  But the Holy Spirit has preserved this parable also for our learning.  What is the application, what is the warning for us who hear it anew here this afternoon?  Of course, don’t seize your pastor, treat him shamefully, or kill him (I’m not too worried about that, today).  And don’t do that to any of the Lord’s servants, be they preachers of the Gospel, or other Christians who speak the Lord’s Word to you.  There are places in the world at this very moment where that is a very real danger, and we know it probably will be here, too, in time to come.  But perhaps more to the point for us here and now, when you receive an invitation from the King, which is to say, from God, to the Wedding Feast of His Son (and you have, that’s why you’re here!)… don’t make excuses why you can’t come.  “Oh, sorry, business, you know,” or “family time,” or “I’m too tired.  Maybe next week.  I’ll get around to it one of these days.”  Or just, “I don’t want to!”  Whatever it is.  Guys, God invites you to His House to feast with His Son at His own Table.  That is what you believe, isn’t it?  I realize it’s all hidden under the ordinary, and unremarkable, and often downright scandalous, forms of words and water, bread and wine, a sad sack of flesh up in the pulpit, and a bunch of sad sacks sitting next to you in the pews.  But you know that things are not as they appear.  Not in Christ.  So, don’t excuse yourself.  Don’t miss this.  Because you don’t have to come.  God will not force you.  And you know what happens to those who refuse.  So, that is the warning.  Come to Church.  Come into the presence of Jesus.  Come into His Wedding Feast.  This is the foretaste.  This is the appetizer.  This is the vestibule to the Royal Estate.  Soon enough you will see the splendor in all its fulness.  It is just the other side of the portal. 

            And think about this… Who are these others, these tramps on the road, invited, now, to take the place of the original guests at the Son’s Wedding Feast?  These are, of course, the Gentiles, to whom the Gospel is preached, now brought in and included in God’s people, Israel.  Well, that’s you.  See, both Jews and Gentiles, all who do not refuse Him… even, Jesus says, “both bad and good” (Matt. 22:10; ESV), that is, notorious sinners and respectable citizens, these are invited into the Kingdom, into the Feast, by the preaching of the Gospel, that the hall may be filled with guests.  That is, by the way, the program of the Kingdom.  Preach the Gospel to all, without distinction.  Bring in more guests.  All who will come.  Now, whether they come, or not, that’s up to the Spirit, not us.  But we’d love to fill this place to capacity, and then some.  Baptize them.  Catechize them.  Bring them into the fulness of the Feast.  That’s what we’re given to do as Christ’s Body on earth.  That’s why He hasn’t already come years ago and put an end to all of this.  For the sake of those who have yet to hear, and believe, and come into the Feast. 

            The “bad,” though… they are not left bad.  And the “good” must not be left in their own goodness.  One and all must come to see that their own clothes… be they soiled, torn, and tattered (the bad), or brand new, dry-clean-only, designer brand (the good)… their own clothes are insufficient, unsatisfactory, inappropriate for this Feast.  But, not to fear.  In the world of the Gospels, when one was invited to a prestigious wedding feast, the host would provide the appropriate garment for his guest.  The host would cover the guest in fitting apparel.  That is what God does for you in Holy Baptism.  That is what you receive by faith.  The analogy is this: You come to God’s Kingdom with your own garments, soiled with obvious sin, or as clean as human works can get them, it doesn’t matter.  You fall somewhere on the righteousness spectrum.  But it isn’t good enough.  You are a sinner.  You have sin.  You are not perfectly righteous, which is what God demands.  Your clothes aren’t good enough.  So God strips you of your shameful garments, your pitiful unrighteousness, and covers you instead with the spotless robe, the perfect righteousness of His Son, Jesus.  St. Paul puts it this way: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).  And again, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:14), that is, don’t pick up again your old, ratty clothes.  Even the designer ones are nothing but filthy rags before the Lord.  And the Lord Jesus has taken them away, to be put to death in His flesh on the cross.  Those are clothes of death.  But here are resurrection clothes, robes of righteousness, washed white in the blood of the Lamb, which the Lord Himself freely gives you.  Be covered.  Be cleansed. 

            Well, this explains the man found without a wedding garment, doesn’t it?  It’s not that he wasn’t legitimately invited in, and the Lord even calls him, “Friend” (Matt. 22:12… Reminds us of someone else the Lord called “Friend,” doesn’t it, who had thrown away the Savior’s invitation to conduct his own business, to go to his own place?  Matt. 26:50).  It is also not that he was expected to have a wedding garment of his own.  The King had provided the garment for him.  So it must be that he cast it off.  Or refused even to put it on.  He insisted on wearing his own clothes.  Like the Chief Priests and Pharisees, like the self-righteous among us, he insisted he attend the Feast on his own merit.  But it doesn’t work that way.  Everyone here is here at the King’s mercy.  Everyone here is here by grace, that is, by the King’s unmerited favor.  Your own righteousness will get you thrown out into the outer darkness.  But Christ’s righteousness, freely given, distributed to one and all alike in His preaching and gifts, will get you a place at His Table at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end. 

            Rich food and well-aged wine.  Flesh full of marrow, and aged-wine well-refined.  Nothing but the best.  And the Bride in all her blood-bought splendor, which is to say, Lady Church.  And then, the Bridegroom.  He has swallowed up death forever, and all that goes along with it.  All violence.  All sickness.  All sadness.  All pain.  Here He is, our Bridegroom, the Royal Son, present with us at the Feast.  And we join the festal shout: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Is. 25:9).

            Beloved, to be a Christian is not to balk at the invitation to this Feast, or to list off the reasons why you can’t (or more accurately, don’t want to) attend.  No.  It is to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).  “The Lord is at hand” (v. 5), and so, in spite of all that our eyes may see, we are well, and all is good.  Do you know what is true, what is honorable, what is just and pure?  Do you know what is lovely and commendable, what is excellent and worthy of praise?  It is all from the Lord, and it flows from the altar.  Think about these things.  Set your mind on them.  And then, clothed with Jesus, receive them from His hand.  This whole Royal Feast is for you.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.         

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22A)

October 8, 2023

Text: Matt. 21:33-46

            There are at least three perspectives from which we should hear and consider our Lord’s parable this morning. 

            First, we should hear it from the perspective of the Chief Priests and Pharisees, the original target audience, who perceived that Jesus was speaking the parable about them (Matt. 21:45).  How so?  The Chief Priests and Pharisees know that they have been entrusted with the care of the Vineyard.  They are the tenants, the husbandmen.  And they know, because they are well acquainted with our Old Testament reading, Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard (Is. 5:1-7), that the Vineyard is Israel.  The Chief Priests and Pharisees, the clergy of Israel, are charged with tending the Vineyard in such a way that it produces fruit for the Master, which is to say, God.  And they understand that Jesus is accusing them of stealing the Vineyard and keeping the fruit for themselves; disregarding the Master’s Word and killing His servants, the prophets; and now murderously opposing the Son of the Master, the Heir, that they might have the inheritance for themselves. 

            This is a Word of warning, first of all, to all Christian clergy.  God has established His Vineyard.  He has done all, provided all that is needful for the flourishing of His Vineyard.  He planted it, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower for it.  Even as He planted His people of old in the Promised Land of Canaan, so He has planted His Church in the world.  The fence, we may say, is His holy Word, which the preachers are to preach.  It is for the protection of God’s people from all that would harm them, the devil, the unbelieving world, our own sinful flesh.  It keeps the enemies out of the Vineyard, and keeps the people of God in.  The wine press, we might say, is the Spirit, who brings forth the wine of joy.  And the tower… This is the watch tower, the pulpit, from which the clergy are to shout, “The Master is coming, O people of God!  Prepare!  Rejoice!  And bring forth your fruit in faith and love!” 

            When the clergy fail to do that… When they are in it only for their belly’s sake, or for the honor or prestige, or simply as hired hands trying to make a living… When they let the fence fall to ruin, failing to guard against false teachings, which are demonic, and the wickedness and perversion which are the fruit of unbelief…  When they seek to be popular with the world, sell out to the world, compromise the holy Word of God in favor of the world…  When they do not press the grapes for the sweet wine of the Spirit, or allow the wine to become polluted… When they fail to watch for the Master and herald His coming… What will happen when He does come?  The Chief Priests and Pharisees get it right: “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” (Matt. 21:41; ESV).  So, let the clergy be warned. 

            But this is also a warning to you, O people of God.  He has planted you here in His Church, where, by grace, He has provided all that is necessary for your flourishing.  Do not leave the Vineyard.  Do not go outside the fence.  That is the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And do not refuse the pressing in the wine vat, which is repentance leading to the joy of forgiveness and life in Christ, and the precious and holy cross laid upon you, which are the sufferings of God’s people for the sake of Jesus, leading to eternal reward.  And do not despise the heralds upon the tower, the preachers who announce the Master’s coming and prepare you for His Advent.  Do not despise God’s holy Word.  He comes, our Lord and Master, expecting fruit: Faith toward Him, and fervent love toward one another.  Let us all repent and prepare.  So, let us be warned.

            Second, we should hear our Lord’s parable from the perspective of the faithful servants sent to gather the fruit.  God sent prophet after prophet, and He never promised them it would be easy.  They were compelled to go.  The love of Christ compels us, as Paul says (2 Cor. 5:14).  In fact, many of the prophets were told to go (though they didn’t want to), and God promised them the people would not listen.  For example, at one point, Jeremiah is told, “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.  You shall call to them, but they will not answer you” (Jer. 7:27).  There is a seeming futility in it all.  And then, you can look forward to horrendous suffering, and likely, a martyr’s death.  How about that, dear prophet?!  Depart in peace, and in the joy of the Lord!  Go to the Vineyard and collect My fruit.  There you will be tortured, mocked, flogged, and imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, killed with the sword, made to go about in skins of sheep and goats (a nasty method of execution where the animal skin is sewn around your body, and as it dries, it squeezes you to death), destitute, afflicted, mistreated… this is how the writer to the Hebrews describes the prophetic life (Heb. 11:36-37).  Dear people of God, preachers and lay confessors alike, you can expect such treatment at the hands of the world, and even from ungrateful and apostatizing Christians.

            But then there is a word of comfort.  The Lord knows.  He sees.  He hears your cries.  He counts your tossings, and stores up your tears in His bottle (Ps. 56:8).  And He will not leave you in this distress.  Again, the writer to the Hebrews: “God had provided something better for us” (11:40)… “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,” namely, these servants, the prophets, and our forefathers in the faith who have suffered for Christ, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely”… repent!... “and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:1-2).  Looking to Jesus, who suffered for us, and surrounded by those who suffered for Him and now bask in His risen and glorious presence, let us speak faithfully now, love faithfully now, suffer faithfully now, in hope, for the sake of the joy that is to come.  The grapes are being pressed, that the wine of joy may flow. 

            And that leads us to the third perspective from which we should view this parable.  God’s.  Look at His great love for His people, for Israel, for us.  See how longsuffering He is.  He sends us His servants.  Prophet after prophet after prophet.  Apostles.  Pastors.  Christian family members and friends.  Brothers and sisters in Christ.  He sends and He sends, in the face of great mistreatment.  Even violence and murder.  And then, as the climax of it all, He sends His Son.  His Son, the Heir, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Thrown out of the Vineyard.  Led in captivity outside the walls of Jerusalem.  Killed on a hill across the way.  Crucified, dead and buried.  For God so loved the world, He gave His only-begotten Son (John 3:16).  But He is not done.  Having shed His blood in atonement for the sins of His murderers, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  And He comes.  God sends Him, even now.  Not in wrath.  Not in vengeance.  In compassion.  In love.  For you.  To make you His own.  To plant you in His Vineyard.  Still looking for fruit.  Still providing everything for your flourishing.  Building you into a holy House, the Stone the builders rejected, now the head of the corner.  It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Matt. 21:42; Ps. 118:22-23).  It is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for many (Rom. 9:33).  It will break all who stumble upon it, and crush all those upon whom it falls (Matt. 21:44).  But “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (Rom. 9:33).  God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  What wondrous love is this, O my soul?  O love, how deep, how broad, how high!  Love unknown, my Savior’s love to me.  Love to the loveless shown, that they might lovely be (LSB 543, 544, 430).  God sends His Son. 

            But the Son is it!  There are no more after, or apart from, the Son.  He sends His Son to you, here and now, in Word and Supper, in Baptism and Absolution and the mutual conversation and consolation of your brothers and sisters in this Christian congregation; that is, in the divinely appointed means of grace.  Have Him now, and you have Him forever.  And He Himself will bring forth fruit in you.  But you don’t have to have Him, and this is the warning.  If you will not have Him as He comes to you now, you will stumble upon, and be crushed by, this Stone. 

            For, understand, He is coming again.  He is coming to judge.  As your preacher, and as His herald, I am on the Vineyard tower, and I see Him, now, on the move.  He is coming, beloved, to gather the grapes and enjoy the sweet wine.  Greet Him not in bitterness and fear, grabbing up whatever you can and fleeing the Vineyard.  Greet Him with joy and with praise upon your lips.  Prepare.  Rejoice.  Receive Him, and all that is His.  And bring forth for Him the fruit of faith and love.  This is the Son.  And here is a great mystery.  He has been thrown out of the Vineyard and killed.  But now He is risen.  And the inheritance is ours.  Why?  Because He gives it to us.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.                       

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21A)

October 1, 2023

Text: Matt. 21:23-32

            The question is one of authority.  Does Jesus have authority over my life, what I think, say, and do?  Over my justification, and salvation?  Over the Church, what we teach, and what we do here?  Over our life together?  Does Jesus have authority over all things?  And if not Jesus, who does have the authority?  Me?  What of my desire for authority, particularly over my life, my identity, my place in Church and society?

            The chief priests and elders of the people wanted to know, “By what authority are you doing these things”… particularly, overturning the tables of the money changers and driving out those who sell the sacrificial animals in the Temple.  But also teaching, and healing, even on the Sabbath.  Telling us what we should believe.  Telling us what we should do.  Telling us we are not, in fact, righteous, and that You are!  And that if we want to be righteous, we have to be righteous in You!  Who gave You that right… “who gave you this authority?” (Matt. 21:23; ESV).  Because we most certainly did not.  And we are the authority around here.  We are the ones who tell You what You must believe and do.  And if You want to be righteous, You have to go through us!

            “I also will ask you one question” (v. 24)…  It is a question that will unveil for you, and for all, whether or not your idea of authority is rightly ordered.  If it is rightly ordered, then you will know by what authority I am doing these things, and you will submit to My authority.  But if it is not… If it is not rightly ordered… you will not believe Me, even if I tell you.

            The Baptism of John: Is it from heaven, that is, from God, or from man?  Now, the chief priests and elders know the catch.  They are learned theologians, and they didn’t get where they got without a keen intellect.  If they say from heaven, everyone will smell the roast.  They will give themselves away.  Jesus will have exposed to them, and to the world, that their idea of authority is not rightly ordered, for they did not submit to the Baptism of John.  They did not submit to God’s herald of repentance.  With John, too, they did not recognize his authority.  So they rejected him.  And in so doing, they rejected the authority of God!  They cast off God’s authority in favor of their own! 

            But if they say from man… well, the people consider John a genuine prophet.  And so they fear the people.  They fear man, rather than God.  They fear man too much to be honest.  And anyway, what do they really believe?  From heaven, or from man?  It doesn’t really matter.  They reject it either way.  All that matters is our position, our prestige, our power.  All that matters is that we are the recognized authority around here.  So, they say, “We do not know” (v. 27).  And Jesus answers them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  Because the question has already revealed the answer.  In rejecting John’s authority, you rejected the authority of God.  In rejecting the Person of Jesus, you are rejecting God Himself, the Son of God in human flesh.  And He is the very God you supposedly represent. 

            Hypocrisy, clearly.  But there is another group in the Jerusalem crowd, and they reveal a great irony.  They are the notorious sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes, who did submit to John’s Baptism.  They repented.  They confessed.  They were cleansed.  They changed… they changed their minds, and their hearts… they changed their behavior!  They did not cling to their own authority, their own autonomy over their bodies, their pocketbooks, their ethics, their lives.  In submitting to the preaching and Baptism of John, they submitted themselves to God.  They placed themselves under God’s authority, which is really just a recognition of the authority that already belongs to Him.  And it was freeing!  For the first time in their lives, they were free!  To submit to God’s authority is true freedom.  And they know it.  And then, they followed John’s bony finger, pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (their sin!), and they’ve been hanging on Jesus’ every Word ever since.  Words of mercy.  Words of peace.  Words of forgiveness.  Words of life.  Words that gather them around the Table to eat and drink with the Son of Man. 

            These are the first son in Jesus’ parable.  It is true, at first, they rejected God’s Word, His will, His authority, in favor of their own (“I will not” [v. 29], they said to Him).  But then (and we must say, only by God’s grace), they changed.  They changed their minds.  They humbled themselves.  They submitted.  Which is to say, they repented.  The self-righteous chief priests and elders of the people are the second son.  They say the right things, professing allegiance to God and His Law (“I go, sir” [v. 30]).  But in their hearts, they do not submit.  And that is the very definition of hypocrisy.  The irony is, the repentant tax collectors and prostitutes are righteous before God.  They are justified.  The honorable clergy of Israel are left in their sins.  Before God, they stand condemned. 

            Well, beloved, there are only two options, here.  The authority: God’s, or man’s?  God’s, or yours?  The question is necessarily confrontational.  Because you can’t have it both ways.  Jesus’ demand for authority over your life, your person, your body, your soul, and all that belongs to you… that demand is comprehensive.  Your demand for any little piece of authority over and above His is, in the final analysis, a complete rejection of Him.  This is the default inclination of our fallen nature.  Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority, grasping their own authority under the form of forbidden fruit.  So do we, their children… every time we grasp what is forbidden.  Every time we disregard the preaching.  Every time we set up our own rules over and above God’s. 

            So, now, here are the options: First, the way of the tax collectors and prostitutes… Repentance.  Submission.  If the authority belongs to God, place yourself under it, which is really just a recognition of the authority that already belongs to Him.  He is your God, whether you will have Him or not.  True humility is to acknowledge that, believe it, and confess it, and then act accordingly.  And, to rest in it, and rejoice in it. 

            The other option is to grasp and cling to the illusion of your own authority, thinking you stand outside of His.  Believe what you want.  Do what you want.  Impose upon others to believe and do what you want, all under the guise of virtue and righteousness.  That is the way of the chief priests and elders of the people. 

            What will it be?  Repentance, or self-autonomy? 

            You are baptized into Christ.  The Spirit of truth dwells in you and has freed you.  You’ve heard the preaching.  And so, you know the answer.  Repent.  Submit.  Let Him overturn the tables of all with which you’ve polluted your body and soul, God’s House of Prayer.  “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6).  Begin with self-examination.  What vestiges of authority do you continue to grasp for yourself?  What incomprehensible or unpopular articles of doctrine do you find difficult to believe, or embarrassing to confess?  What pet sins are you holding on to?  What hinders you from loving your neighbor, even the difficult one, fully and freely, to the point of your own self-sacrifice?  What are the things in your life that you insist remain under your control?  Your money?  Your time?  Your family?  Your body?  Your spirituality?  Beloved, these all belong to God, who created them.  These all belong to Jesus Christ, His Son, who redeemed them.  You belong to God, and to Jesus Christ, His Son, under His authority. 

            For He not only has it by divine right (and He does have it by divine right… He is God!).  He has it because He paid dearly to purchase it for Himself… to purchase you for Himself.  Not with silver or gold, but with His holy, precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death.  He humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God, submitting to His Father’s authority all the way to the cross, and at the proper time, the Father exalted Him.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  He is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.  To place yourself under His authority… which is to say, to repent, to confess, to believe, to change… is to take your rightly ordered place as a redeemed and sanctified child of God.  Under the authority of God, you are authorized to do that.  And you are free. 

            For the Christian, there is really only one option.  Let go of your desire for control and self-authority.  Give it up to God.  Then get in line with repentant tax collectors and prostitutes, your fellow sinners, and rejoicing, come into the Kingdom of God.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.