Sunday, August 19, 2018

Sermon for 8/19/18: Twelfth Sunday After Trinity

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


Be opened. Hear the Word of God. Peace is not found in lying about what the Bible says or pretending that God is different from how the Bible describes Him. Faith is not the vague notion that there is a god up there somewhere who thinks that I’m special, but who doesn’t care enough to actually tell us who He is. Yet all those things have seemed more attractive to us than the Truth. But the sin of self-deception never delivers as promised. Giving in to temptation is never without consequences, without lingering diseases and worries, without fear and shame, without danger or cost. A moment’s indiscretion, a bit of selfish indulgence and self-promotion, and we suffer through another failure of our own design; we wind up hurting those we love the most.
It is precisely into this mad world that our Lord Jesus Christ inserted Himself. He stood alone. Even the weakling felt powerful against Him and abused Him with glee. Still, He came. He came for the very people who sought to hurt Him. While we were jockeying for seats at Satan’s table, Jesus Christ bought us back at the terrible cost of His own Life. He submitted to death so that we would live. He came and endured our hatred and violence as a sheep to the slaughter, never complaining. He came to seek and to save, to rescue and to redeem, to give His life in exchange for yours. The Innocent suffers in place of the guilty; the Righteous dies for the unholy. He sacrificed Himself in your place. Through that cruel execution He has taken on your guilt, your shame, and your death. He took it all to the grave and buried it there.
You don’t need to look after yourself. You don’t need to protect your own interests. You don’t need to stand up for your rights or honor. You don’t need to be pretty, get good grades, be a star athlete, or popular. Jesus loves you. That is enough. He has taken care of everything.
So what happened to the deaf man by the Sea of Galilee? His friends brought him to Jesus. They didn’t just change the name of the problem and pretend that that was enough. They didn’t tell him God wanted him that way and that he should get used to it. They brought the man to where he could get help; they brought Him to Jesus. And Jesus put His finger into the man’s ear, spat, and touched his tongue. And at the hand of Jesus, the deaf man was free to hear God’s Word and proclaim His praise. Jesus broke the chains of death. He stopped the cycle. He restored His good creation.
That is who Jesus is. That is why He came. Peace is created by the forgiveness won on the cross, and it passes all understanding. It is not ours to manipulate. Likewise, peace and unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ can only be created by God. It will only be fully realized when we are taken from this valley of sorrows. Faith is the ultimate gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the conviction that the Holy Trinity has worked out salvation for you for free; God will at the end bring us to everlasting consolation.
When Jesus invades your personal space and sticks His finger into your ear, it comes away dirty, with who knows what gross thing on the end of it. That is a little embarrassing, a little uncomfortable. But when that gunk has been removed and He is revealed to you according to His mercy, you hear the Shepherd’s voice with your ears, saying: “I love you. I forgive you. Be mine.” That moment of embarrassment you feel as you confess your sin is worth it, no matter how many times. He removes that shame along with sin, and you are free to sing His praise. Come. Stick out your tongue. Have the body of Christ placed upon it. Be opened. 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.



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