CLICK HERE for the audio file.
CLICK HERE for the video file.
Faithful Stewards
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Although we shouldn’t, sometimes preachers worry about what will happen when we preach what God wants us to preach. We worry that we might upset someone. We worry about our our future, our reputation, our status. We worry about feeding our families. As a pastor who has been…forcefully invited to depart from a congregation, I can tell you that the danger is real. But John the Baptist didn’t let such distractions bother him; he just preached. Even so, sitting in prison, he send his disciples to ask Jesus,“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Jesus said that John was the greatest among those born of women, but even John sought reassurance in the face of persecution. Still, persecution is no excuse to be less than faithful. The preacher delivers what God gives Him to preach. We are not to offer personal insights, nor seek to impress people with our humor or charisma. We are here to speak on behalf of Jesus Christ.
A pastor is a minister of Christ. He does what Jesus gives him to do. Jesus is the Lord of the Church, and the pastor answers to Him. St. Paul urged the pastors in the city of Ephesus: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” The Church belongs to God; it doesn’t belong to itself, nor does it belong to any pastor. It belongs to Him who purchased her at the cost of His own blood; it belongs to the Lord Jesus.
A pastor is a steward of the Word of God. He doesn’t own the Word; he cares for what belongs to God. Paul calls the pastor a steward of God’s mysteries. But what are these mysteries? They are God’s Word and the Sacraments instituted by Christ. The word for “mystery” in Latin is “sacramentum,” the word “sacrament” in English. The Sacraments are mysteries. We cannot understand how water can bring the Holy Spirit, but Jesus joins His Word to that washing. He promises that this washing is not merely a washing of the body, but a cleansing of the soul to provide us with the forgiveness of sins. How can this be? It is a mystery.
The Sacrament of Holy Communion is also a mystery. How can the bread of the Holy Sacrament be the body of Jesus, and the wine His holy blood? No one can explain how that is so, though some have certainly tried and failed. It is a mystery that cannot be explained. But God reveals to faith many things we cannot explain. Faith, by the way, does not reject reason; it subjects reason to revelation. Divine mysteries are revealed by God. We don’t accept them because we can figure out how they are true. We accept them because God reveals them to us and, therefore, they are true!
The steward of the mysteries of God must be faithful in his stewardship. He does not own these mysteries as his personal property; they belong to Christ, and Christ Himself is the One who has commanded that pastors be called to this office of stewardship, to preach His Word, to forgive and retain sins, to administer the Sacraments; in short, to feed the flock God has entrusted to his care. Pastors need to know how the Chief Steward wants His things managed, and the pastor must act accordingly.
And so, the pastor is obliged first to preach God’s Law. It’s not always easy to do, but it is necessary. Christians are not to commit adultery, attack or tell lies about each other, cheat, steal, take God’s name in vain, or despise His Word. But we do! And when we do, we aren’t behaving like Christians. We need to be told that we are sinning, that we must repent of our sins or face the yawning jaws of hell. Yes, Christians need to hear this because this is what God says, and the minister had better say what God says.
But the Law is not the primary message of the preacher. As St. John reminds us in his Gospel: “The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The central mystery of our faith is the incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. Here in Jesus is grace and truth. Here in Jesus is the forgiveness of sins to comfort the wounded and repentant soul. Here in Christ is peace with God, abundant and eternal life, and deliverance from every evil thing.
The steward must be faithful because what he administers is for the salvation of souls. He must not baptize unless he is also willing to teach. He may not give the body and blood of Christ to those who do not know what they are receiving or what they are confessing by receiving it. The pastor is not a spiritual vending machine. He is a steward, responsible for managing faithfully the treasures that belong to his Lord.
Every pastor fails in some way or another, many times over. What else would you expect from a sinful man? This is why pastors need parishioners who will do for them what Jesus did for John. Jesus didn’t ridicule John in his weakness; He encouraged John to hold on to what he was preaching because it was true. When you encourage your pastor to be faithful, this is a kindness you are offering, not just to him, but to Jesus Himself. After all, it is our Lord’s office, and the pastor is but a minister of Christ: by God’s grace the faithful steward. And when your pastor speaks in the name of Jesus, Jesus Himself speaks to 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.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment