Sermon for 10/23/16: Twenty-Second Sunday After Trinity

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Forgiven

Matthew 18:21-35

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It seems like Peter always knows what’s truly in the sinner’s heart, and he’s never afraid to say it. “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” In other words, how long do I have to put up with my neighbor? What is the bare minimum I have to do to love my neighbor as myself? Yeah, I know that God is merciful to me, but how long must I be merciful to my brother? This is a dreadful way of thinking! We must all learn some repentance today, before we are thrown into prison forever.

That’s what Jesus says. But don’t try to make Him say that God’s forgiveness really depends on how well you forgive your neighbor, as if you could forgive your neighbor as much as Jesus forgives you. Jesus knows that God’s mercy rests entirely on the Father giving of His Son over to death, and He applies that work to you through Word and Sacraments. God has paid the penalty for sin by killing Jesus on the cross. All your debt is paid. What you owe, Christ bought. Though you deserve to be cast into prison until you’ve paid every cent, Jesus went to prison for you. He paid the whole amount of debt for every man, woman and infant: from the vilest murderer to the meekest child. Jesus rescued you from ever thinking there is anything you have to do or give or show to gain God’s heaven. So do not believe that He will withhold God’s grace until sinners makes full repayment for their sins.

But also don’t believe that He wants you to cast them off or make someone suffer a little longer before you give them forgiveness. Jesus speaks today the way a king would if, having forgiven one servant an incredible amount of money, he then finds out that that same servant turned around and had a fellow servant put in prison for a debt far less than what was owed the king.

It is the pastor’s lot to stand in the middle of these two errors. Pastors hear the sins that people confess. They watch the lives of God’s people fall apart because of sin. They hear criticisms and accusations and complaints, sometimes against the pastor himself. Still, a pastor stands before the altar and says: “I forgive you all your sins.” He hears your sins and he forgives, admitting poor sinners like themselves to Christ’s altar. By the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in bread and wine, your sins are done away with, forgiven and forgotten. Learn from the Ministry that’s here for you! Learn from how God deals with you, and from that, learn how to be toward one another. Jesus takes your sins, dies for them, and pours out His forgiveness.

Pay attention to the Gospel that has been set before you. Has there ever been a time when a sinner does not receive absolution when he comes with repentance and confesses? If you don’t know, you have not been paying attention. Your pastor promised to forgive repentant sinners, and he can be removed from the Holy Ministry if he doesn’t forgive repentant sinners. So come and learn the Gospel of Jesus. Learn that, when you sin, the Lord will use your pastor to hear your confession and speak forgiveness. He will use your pastor’s mouth to preach to you that Jesus died so that you will live. Your sins now belong to Jesus, and He calls them all forgiven. He will feed you with His body and blood, bringing forgiveness, life, and salvation to your lips. From these, you learn to use your lips to forgive others.

Like Peter, your pastor is under orders to forgive as often as you come repenting. And if you are not yet strong enough to let go of someone’s sins, confess your weakness and your lack of faith and love. For the sake of Jesus, and in His stead, your pastor will say, “By the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” He will urge you to receive the Holy Supper. And with such forgiveness, we, who ought to pay forever, will “sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us,” no matter how many times we have to do it. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 10/16/16: Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity

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Your Son Lives

John 4:46-54

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

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” Why should we believe without signs and wonders? What good is faith if it does not deliver? The nobleman had left his dying boy to bring home a miracle worker. That took some small, burning ember of belief that Jesus could help. But the miracle worker who turned water into wine would not go with him. He would not leave Cana. It must have seemed as though the faith and hope, the desperate prayers from Capernaum to Cana, had all been in vain.

Jesus would have surely failed at the seminary. In the face of such desperation, He dares to preach the Law. He sees that faith is still lacking, still imperfect, and He will not pretend that it is good enough. He will not be winsome or polite. He will not be patient or seemingly even kind. He will not meet felt needs. He sees into the man's heart by the man's words. He rebukes. He brings faith to its knees. He makes the father come to full desperation and forget his nobility. Then He commands: “Go your way,” and all he adds is, “Your son lives.” But what does that mean to a father full of fear? Does it mean that his son lives in heaven? Does it mean he lives right now but will die within the hour? Or does it mean—dare he hope?—that the fever has left him? The nobleman is not told. Nothing is explained. No promise is made. It is a simple declaration in the present tense: “Your son lives.” That is it. Nothing more. Take that and go on your way.

Miracle of miracles: that mysterious sentence changed the nobleman. He had tried to command Jesus. He did not ask. He commanded: “Come down before my child dies.” But Jesus said: “Your son lives,” and everything changed. It was not the nobleman who believed. It was the man, the father of the son. His nobility was stripped away. The Word of Jesus changed him. He went on his way. He obeyed and believed as a simple man, stripped of pretensions, no longer glorying in his faith, no longer making demands of God, but resting in the Word of Jesus. He still doesn't know just what it means, but Jesus said it, and that is good enough. This is how faith lives between Cana and Capernaum without signs or wonders.

He was not the first parent to get a son back from the dead. The widows in Nain and Zarephath had experienced this miracle as well. The Syro-Phonecian woman got her daughter back from demons. Abraham got Isaac back from the mountain, and Issac got Joseph back from brotherly murder. God provides. He always does. But most significantly Our Father in heaven got His Son back from the dead. When it was finished, He gave up His spirit. That Son didn't have to die. He didn't have to be forsaken by the Father and feel the hatred of the mob burning in His hands and feet. He didn't have to… except that His love demanded it. Love drove Him to the cross. Love desired to drive off the fever in Capernaum and change water into wine in Cana. Love demanded death to put death to rest, so that Jesus could stand in the upper room and pronounce peace upon the Church and establish the Ministry of reconciliation. The Father lost the Son on the cross. He went to heaven and told Our Father what He told the nobleman: Your Son lives. The Sacrifice is complete. The Father's wrath has been appeased. Hell has lost its claim. God's good will has been restored.

Jesus lives. Go on your way this dying, autumn day. Take this with you: Your Son lives: not the one that has come from your our union with your spouse, but a different Son, a Son more fully yours than those temporarily placed into your care. Your Son lives—even if you are yet a child or never had a child. For this Son is your Son, but you are not His father or mother. He is the Son given to you in the waters of Holy Baptism. He is placed upon your tongue in the Holy Communion. You are His and He is yours. He is your Son, even as His Father and His Spirit are your Father and your Spirit. He has caused Himself to become your Lamb, slain for your transgressions and raised for your justification. You've come this day to modern day Cana, not where water is turned into wine, but where wine carries the Blood of Christ and makes glad the hearts of men. You've got your miracle and sign. It is the Body and Blood Jesus. Be strengthened and encouraged as you go on your way. Go back to your daily life. Your Son lives. So will your children. So will you. Jesus lives. This is enough for faith. It will see you through. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.               

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.  

Sermon for 10/9/16: Twentieth Sunday After Trinity

Sorry about the sniffle sounds on the audio recording. My allergies have been very nasty this weekend.


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Heeding the King

Matthew 22:1-14

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

There’s something that people always seem to get wrong about parables. The Kingdom of Heaven is not like a wedding banquet. It is like a King who gave a wedding banquet. It is like a Man who owns a vineyard and goes to hire laborers, a Man who sows good seed, or a King who wished to settle accounts. The Kingdom of Heaven is not found in abstract notions. It is found in a Man: our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why St. John the Baptist cried: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” when Jesus appeared. He was saying: “Repent. Jesus is here.”

Few would refuse an invitation from the President of the United States, whether or not you like him or voted for him. He is the President. If he summons, you go. You do that even though his term and power are limited. You show your respect for the Office of the President. You don’t ignore him, and you certainly don’t ignore his invitation.

But that is how men treat God. They spit on His invitation. They do not believe that Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is the King. They don’t believe He has power. Satan deceives them by the humility of the invitation. They think God can't see them in the dark. They think they can lie to Him as easily as they lie to men. They'll make amends later, when it is more convenient. And God is so gentle in His invitation, so meek, that they think He can be ignored and mocked. He is so gracious that they think they can they treat His servants shamefully without consequence. Repent.

Do not think this door will always remain open. Do not think you can ignore the invitation without a cost. Do not think the Word of God belongs to you and will always be here. Ignore it, abuse it, neglect it, and it can be taken away. Look to modern day Europe and Israel. Let them be signs to you. Once they were nations teeming with the Word. Now they are nearly godless. The Good News of Jesus Christ is rarely heard and nearly forgotten. The Christians remaining in those countries suffer in ways we have so far been spared. Be warned. The King in the parable sent His army to those who refused Him. He destroyed them and burned their cities. Repent.

The King is still inviting. Your pastor has been sent here on His behalf: Come to the Wedding Feast of the Son! He wants you. It does not matter how bad you have been, what you have done, what you have said, who you have hurt, or how many times you have spat on this invitation in the past. Now is the hour of salvation. He loves you. He wants you. Rich or poor, smart or dumb, young or old: it doesn't matter. He will fill the banquet hall, and He wants you there. Everything is ready. There is nothing for you to do. Come, eat and drink a food better than that of the kings: the body and blood of Christ, laid before you in the humble means of bread and wine, hidden from those will not believe, but given and shed for you to unite you to Him and forgive all your sins. Come, eat and drink, without money and without price.

Do not worry about what to wear. Christ provides His own righteousness for you. He covers all your iniquities, all your shame and guilt. You are immaculate, without blemish, spot, or stain. His name rests upon you. You have been washed and clothed with Him. He has shown His love for you in the cross. He has taken up your flesh and made a Sacrifice of Himself to buy you back out of Hell. He has shut the devil's mouth, and there is no one left to accuse you.

Such love exists only in one place: in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for He is love. God has loved you since the beginning of time. He has called you by name. He is worthy. His invitation awaits you. Christ can do what He wants, and what He wants is to have you with Him as a His Holy Bride. The marks of His love are still upon His hands, feet, and side. He is the Lamb who was slain but who lives. He is the Voice from the burning bush who led His people out of slavery. He is still leading out of slavery and into freedom. Come, eat and drink. Be free. Be forgiven, renewed, strengthened.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a King, a Man. The Kingdom of Heaven is Jesus. And the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.          

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.           

Sermon for 10/02/16: Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity

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The Bigger Deal

Matthew 9:1-8

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

So, which is easier? Is it easier to say to the paralytic to, “Get up and walk,” or to say, “Your sins are forgiven?” In many so-called Christian Churches, we are told that “Get up and walk” is the more important of the two, and so the harder to say, because there is empirical evidence to prove whether or not bodily healing has actually been accomplished. Like the Old Testament scribes, such modern-day Pharisees demand visible signs: healings, manifestations of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, or some other power that will prove that God is really with them.

We recently heard the account of the man Jesus healed on the Sabbath. And just as the Pharisees objected to Jesus healing on the Holy Day of the Lord, so the scribes objected to our Lord forgiving the sins of this paralyzed man. Since Jesus didn’t defile the Holy Day before the Pharisees, surely He must have blasphemed by forgiving this man’s sins in the presence of the Scribes. After all, everybody knows that God alone has the authority to forgive sins.

The world agrees, but for a different reason. Anyone can say that someone is forgiven by God. But the world requires a demonstration of power in a visible way before it will allow itself to believe. Do something—still the storm, heal the sick, make me wealthy, or raise the dead—and then I will believe. But the Scriptures are clear: even if someone comes back from the dead, they will not believe.

Jesus says that He heals the paralytic to prove that He can forgive sins. Jesus knows how we think, doesn't He? But our Lord’s answer to the question is the opposite of how we think. To win the forgiveness He delivers to the man, Christ must suffer. To earn the absolution He speaks to us, Jesus must be beaten, bruised, mocked, and finally die. The cost of the paralytic's salvation, the cost of your salvation, is the blood of Christ, shed on the cross.

The crowd rejoices over the healing. That’s a big deal, truly. But the man had been already made well by Christ before he could walk. Jesus forgave this man's sins! God reconciled this man to Himself in Christ. Whatever else was said about the paralytic at that point, whether he walked away or remained paralyzed, he was a child of God whose sins were forgiven. The big miracle was not the one the crowd thought was so impressive. Seeking the lesser miracle of healing, the paralytic received the greater miracle of forgiveness.

You are privileged to witness this miracle first-hand every Sunday. It's easy to miss. We don’t seem to think it’s very profound when your pastor, acting “in the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ,” forgives your sins “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It seems mundane, but it’s a profound miracle. After all, every sin you commit in thought, word, and deed, every sinful thing you have done and every righteous thing you have ever left undone, was forgiven in Holy Absolution, covered in the blood of Jesus. This is as certain and sure as Christ your dear Lord had spoken that Word of forgiveness to you Himself! God makes you well by forgiving you all your sins in Absolution.

Which is easier: to forgive or to heal? Only Jesus knows the answer for sure, for He is the only one who can do both. Jesus healed the paralytic to prove that He had the authority to forgive the man’s sins. Jesus has forgiven your sins too. You are a child of God. No matter what else is true about you, you have already been made well by the forgiveness of Christ, won on the cross, and spoken by the mouth of your pastor. All glory be to God, who has given such power to men. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 9/25/16: Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity

My apologies for the delay and for the lack of an audio recording.

       

Questions

Matthew 22:34-46

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

Once again, the Pharisees are doing everything they can to prove that Jesus is a fraud and a phony. A lawyer among the Pharisees asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is. But they don’t really care about the truth. They don’t care about the Word of God. All they care about is their own perceived superiority: how they have studied the Word of God, how they perfectly patterned their lives after God’s Law, how no one else can match their faithfulness. The Pharisees weren't interested in learning unless they could see the benefit to themselves. They were those students who raised their hands the fastest and always gave a right answer. They were those students who took great joy showing off and smirking at the ignorance of their classmates.

But just as he did before, Jesus silenced the Pharisees. “If David calls [the Christ] 'Lord?', how is the Christ also David’s son?” Suddenly the know-it-alls didn't have an answer for Jesus. In fact, their ignorance on this matter made it clear to everyone that maybe they didn't know nearly so much as they thought. So instead of listening and learning, they just stopped asking questions. The Pharisees weren't interested in learning unless they could use it as an opportunity to show everyone how much they knew. They stopped asking questions altogether.

We, on the other hand, have no problem questioning God. “Why doesn’t God do things the way we want them done?” “Why did He put that tree in the Garden?” “Why do I have to have cancer?” “Why does it seem like evil people prosper and people who are generally good seem to suffer?” We have all sorts of questions for God, because we feel we know best how to take care of ourselves, because we know what we need, because we don’t like to have to rely on anyone else…ever. It is contrary to our rugged individualism to admit that we are not sufficient to meet every challenge placed before us. We are a new brand of Pharisee, for not only do we trust in our own reason and strength, but we make ourselves out to be gods, putting our sinful desires ahead of the Word of God and His gifts. We fear, love, and trust in ourselves, and we think that’s enough. Like the Pharisees, who want to know which commandment is greatest so that they can save themselves by keeping the commandments, we are satisfied with our own expectations, our own understanding, our own obedience. And if that’s good enough for us, that should be good enough for God.

But Jesus teaches us these commandments, not so we can save ourselves, but so that He can save us. We don't have all the answers, especially in spiritual matters. Left to ourselves, we're like children who stumble around in a dark room, bumping into furniture and knocking things over. That's why you are invited to sit at the feet of the Christ, the Son of David, and be taught by God through His Word and messengers. That's the Word which saves us! He saves us from our inability to keep the Law by keeping it in our place. Yet He also teaches and trains us for our purpose in life: first, to glorify God by receiving His Word and gifts: daily living in our Baptism, being absolved of our sins, and receiving Christ's body and blood; and second, to love and serve our neighbor in his time of need.

 Saving faith is not about having the sinner having the right answer—which is good, because no sinner has every right answer. Saving faith is not all about the sinner being perfectly obedient—and again, that’s a good thing, because no sinner is perfectly obedient. Saving faith is all about Jesus, because Jesus has all the right answers and perfect obedience. And what’s more, saving faith is all about Jesus, because He gives you His perfect obedience, and He speaks all the right answers before His Father for you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.     

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.