“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.”
Do these words sound familiar? “Who is this who darken counsel by words without knowledge.” The very beginning of Job chapter 38. With all of the suffering Job went through, he said many things. He cursed the day he was born and wondered why he was not a still birth. He lamented all of the wrongdoing and evil the unrighteous commit. So many people live their lives as an insult to God’s law, and yet the LORD prolongs their life.
Job closes out his speech describing the punishment he would deserve if he had knowingly transgressed God’s law, using the phrase: “If I have.”
If I have walked in falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit, If my heart has been enticed toward a woman and I have lain in wait at my neighbors door, if I have withheld anything from the poor, if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, if I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him.
Could you picture yourself saying these things to the LORD? Have you ever thought to yourself, but I am a good person and wickedness is not ruling my heart? How could these troubles be upon me now? If I have done something to deserve this than so be it.
What have I done to deserve this trial? We know that the wages of sin are death. Yet still we wonder why now, why this trial.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD.” Isaiah chapter 55. The answer is that God knows why we face such pain and suffering and we cannot understand.
We want to make the case for ourselves and put a lot of thought into what we have done right- ways we have followed God’s law. But in the end what is most important is not how much effort we have put into living our life well, not what case we can present before the judge, but only the righteousness of Christ.
Can you imagine if the LORD asked you to dress for action and provide all of the answers to the mysteries of creation? The law hits very hard and deep in these words, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Do we ever question why things are the way that they are and why do the wicked prosper and we dry up? Have you ever questioned God’s love and care for you in the midst of a long suffering problem or struggle? Yes. In our state of sin, we all have.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements- surely you know!”
The reading continues with further details of God’s creation, beyond what we can possibly know. Yet at this point through our faith we do not need to feel worse and worse as we hear more and more evidence that we know less than nothing as compared to God.
Through faith we can see that through hearing about the unsearchable majesty of God’s creation we can Be Still and know that The LORD is God. As we hear these words about the foundations of the world and the morning stars singing together and start to let go of the burden and pressure we put on ourselves to make sense of things in our life and in our world.
We can let go of thinking we need to have everything in order or else our lives would fall apart- because Jesus holds the world in his hand and reigns at the right hand of the Father.
Consider what it means that the LORD measured the length of the foundation of the earth and laid the cornerstone. The earth was built exactly how it needed to be in order to stay together for as long as needed, through the flood, through seasons and years and centuries, through a time period of thousands of years and counting until the time when the new heaven and earth will be created when Jesus returns.
Science has identified numerous factors that all needed to be fine tuned in the right way in order for life to be possible. Water is different than other liquids in that it is more dense in liquid form than in solid. As a result ice floats to the top of rivers and lakes and artic ocean areas. We may not think of this much, but if ice sank instead, more and more surface water would be exposed to the cold leading to more and more frozen lakes and streams making life uninhabitable.
If Saturn and Jupiter were not so incredibly large compared to earth it appears comets would make life on earth continually in peril. The strong gravitational pull of these large planets pulls in the most dangerous comets that would threaten life, like a mighty defense shield circling our planet.
If the moon were not the right size the earth would not be tilted by gravity to have 4 seasons. If the earth were smaller there would be a weaker magnetic field that would result in solar winds stripping away our atmosphere. If our electromagnetic force were smaller or larger atoms would not hold together and no chemical bonds could occur. Only God knows the exact measurements that make our world hold together.
We have not been there day after day as the LORD has commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place- each new day a miracle of creation.
No, we were not there, but God’s Word is telling us about it, and the fact that Jesus holds all of creation together is a tremendous cause for relief and security. Pondering the wonder of creation and God’s perfect design can heal our troubled hearts and give us reassurance that no human words or knowledge can. We were not there, but we did not need to be, God took care of it all.
The LORD took care of it all for us. “Immediately Jesus spoke to them saying: “Take heart it is I. Do not be afraid.”
When the disciples saw Jesus walking on water, it was far beyond what they could ever imagine or expect. The one who shut in the sea with doors and said ‘thus far shall you come and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed.’ He who was there from the beginning told the disciples, “It is I, do not be afraid.”
We are no more righteous than Job, we also like Job need the forgiveness of Jesus that comes to us not through knowledge of how the universe is made, but through the gift of faith.
Like Job who looked to the promise of the Savior and said “I know that my Redeemer lives.” , we look to the cross and see that no matter how difficult the circumstances of our life, God is certainly for us. God sent His Son to die for us.
No matter the hardship we need not fear as God’s Word tells us that Jesus is here with us: “Take heart It is I, do not be afraid.” By our human wisdom we often try and find security through the knowledge we can obtain. We look at weather forecasts, we read about economic outcomes and certainly as of late about virus recovery plans.
Yet our knowledge is always imperfect, and our knowledge is not what we need to put our hope in. We need a Savior who reaches out his hand for us, who commands the winds and the waves, who has known us from the womb, and will see us through. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
It seems the Bible has a paid advertisement in it. The kind of appeal that reflects the wisdom of advertising marketing 101. Already with our Old Testament reading we heard the pitch: “Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
“Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” The gift of salvation God gives us is portrayed as a rich meal. This is an invitation to dine at the table of the eternal God. Come to the table, the feast is spread!
Buy food without money and without price. This is one of those appeals that sounds too good to be true. Where does all the free abundant food come from? How good could this feast be that we do not put any money into? What is the catch?
Sometimes when a paid advertisement makes you second guess things, it is helpful to ask what story does the money trail tell? If you know who or what group spent money on the ad, then you have an idea of where things started. In the case of this ad in Isaiah chapter 55, the money trail does tell a great deal.
Just a few chapters earlier, Isaiah chapter 53- the chapter that is quoted in our Lord’s Passion accounts. In that chapter there is record of the most significant cost paid in the history of the world.
“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one who men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.”
Sound familiar, of course. Jesus’ final few days on this earth. He is rejected and beaten. He is whipped and bloodied. You can picture how the Roman soldiers despised him. You have seen pictures of His wounds and that he was so crushed he could not even carry his own cross to his execution. Stricken, smitten, afflicted.
Jesus does all this to set the table with the richest of foods. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. He has all of our sin and iniquity on His shoulders. And by His stripes we are healed.
On that cross he prepares forgiveness for that iniquity. By that suffering the table is covered with salvation. His death puts eternal life on our plates. And though undeserving of this gift, he calls us all to come.
How can this be, as undeserving as we are that Jesus does all this just for us, so that we may be guests at the feast? What manner of love is this?
The people of Israel complained about free food provided to them. They wanted more variety, more richness than the manna that came down from heaven. They were too focused on the food itself instead of the miraculous activity happening before them, The Lord providing for them all they needed on their journey to the promised land. Somehow they lost sight of the amazing gift of love.
Sometimes if you build up your expectations with food too much you might find disappointment. After all, contrary to what billboards on the highway may want us to believe, there is more to life than eating food.
God provides us with all that we need, and if we only focus on the food, we might think of how money and other geographical barriers keep us from having the freshest choicest foods the world has to offer. Instead of saying thanks, we could say, I want more. We could miss the big picture that what is truly important is the gift of God’s love present in the food available to us.
My wife and I have been watching a tv series called “Can Somebody feed Phil” its not an original concept, just comedy writer Phil Rosenthal traveling to different regions of the world and sampling food. The food all looks so good because it is always made with care by the people Phil visits.
When other people make food for you, that is half the enjoyment of the food, it is a gift that it is prepared by people who care about us, and before that, the food’s availability and vitality is a gift from God who care for us more than we can see. The rich feast set before us is a gift of Jesus. Jesus prepares the feast.
A significant component of what makes this advertising appeal in Isaiah chapter 55 work so well is that the feast prepared for us is described in stark contrast to the alternative options out there on the market.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? The things we spend our own money on, the fulfillment we seek on our own is not bread. Sort of like when you get something from a vending machine and see the long list of ingredients with words you can hardly pronounce, where it should just say wheat flour and peanuts- and you think, this is not even real food.
When we seek the fulfilment offered by the billboards and pop up ads of this world, they always let us down. They are attempting to teach something false, that we can be filled and nourished apart from God’s Word. When we seek after things that take us away from God’s Word, we spend our money on what is not bread.
Why do you eat food that is not bread and why do you labor for that which does not satisfy? Apart from the gifts Jesus brings us our labor is always in vain because in this fallen world all our labors always amount to destruction and eventually death.
The punishment of the fall is that Adam would labor and toil in sweat and hardship until death. “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The realization that nothing will last is part of what makes the advertisements even more enticing, to make the little bit of life we have satisfying, don’t miss out fulfilling those things on your bucket list.
Our gospel reading helps us to see that Jesus offers so much more than satisfaction while we are fortunate enough to enjoy- before the sands of the hourglass all slip through to the bottom. Jesus offers us bread that satisfies to eternal life. He offers this to everyone, Jesus fed not just the disciples, but the whole crowd in the group called five thousand.
A recent survey about political censorship in America today found that 62% of people today are uncomfortable revealing anything in public about their political beliefs. People in our world today are scared. We are afraid to let others know what we think for fear of the reaction. In fact one of the questions found that 44% of those under the age of 30 think it is acceptable for a company to terminate employment of an executive based on evidence of the person making a donation to a political party that you disagree with.
In other words, a significant percentage of our younger population think that some people should be treated with respect, and those who have different political beliefs than you, should have things important to them like their jobs taken away as punishment for their beliefs. And for those over the age of 30, this belief is not exactly rare either.
This is an illustration of the effects of the fall in our world today. This is part of the toil and futility of the fall, that we should seek to cut down one another because we see things differently. Jesus invites us to an identity that does not bring division, but unity, he brings salvation to all. Jesus invites all who are thirsty to come to him and be satisfied, not just those who vote a certain way.
And Jesus leads His church to proclaim this free gift. From the missionary journeys of St. Paul, to the exile of John on Patmos, the New Testament continues to celebrate the invitation to come.
“The Spirit and the bride say “Come.” And let the one who hears say “Come” and let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Revelation 22:17
Listen to the beginning on the Collect prayer: Heavenly Father, though we do not deserve Your goodness, still you provide for all our needs of body and soul. The prayer says it so well. We receive what we have not earned. God shows love to us in all of the things that provide for us body and soul.
God’s Word provides refreshment to our view of our lives. Like windshield wipers clearing away the rain moment by moment, God’s Word helps us to push aside all our own preoccupations with how slowly and painstakingly our daily work comes together and how inefficient we are in our toils. Jesus helps us to see how easy it is for us when we readily receive. He gives us what truly satisfies. Amen.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all he had and bought it.” Such beautiful words, but what do they mean? Why did Jesus tell this parable and the parable of the treasure hidden in a field on the occasion that he did?
We know that Jesus used parables as a teaching tool about the mysteries of God’s kingdom and heaven. Some have called parables Earthly stories with heavenly meanings. But parables are more than a bunch of stories that make understanding God’s kingdom easier.
They are intended to encourage and build up faith. Jesus recognized how difficult it is to live in God’s kingdom in the fallen world we live in. The parable of the treasure in the field and the Pearl of Great Price contain elements of hiddenness. The treasure is buried, the pearl needed to be discovered.
Jesus knows the difficulty we face, He knew the temptation the disciples had of falling away. In response to the difficulty, in response to the hiddenness of God’s kingdom he tells parables of comfort to believers describing how precious we are to him. Parables describing his great love for us where he paid all to obtain us.
The parable of treasure and the parable of the great pearl start with the memorable formula: “The kingdom of heaven is like… In every instance in the gospel of Matthew where Jesus begins a parable with “The kingdom of heaven is like” the main character or central thing described in the parable is always Jesus. The parables all describe the how Jesus brings the kingdom of God to the world. The parable of the pearl of great value is no different.
In the past the church has generally understood that the pearl of great value represents Jesus, and we as believers give up everything we have in order to obtain Him. Recognizing that He is worth more than anything else in the world. In a basic sense it is true that God’s kingdom is worth more than anything else we could have or desire.
But if we follow the specific details of the parable, nowhere else in the scripture is it the case that people can make a financial transaction to possess God. Jesus is not our possession. We are God’s beloved possession. Instead the rest of scripture indicates that Jesus sold all he had to buy us. He paid for us with his precious blood. Jesus did not hesitate, out of love for us, the pearl of great price he gave up his life on the cross.
We as the church are the treasure that is buried in the field and purchased with eager marvelous joy. We are hidden among the world, we are the wheat hidden among the weeds.
Several years ago Nicholas Cage starred in a movie about discovering a vast treasure hidden by some of the founding fathers of the United States, National Treasure. This was a very far fetched story, but I have to admit, the prospect of finding such treasure does sound exciting. Not just gold and silver, but also historical records, scrolls from the ancient library at Alexandria before it burned down.
However through the eyes of our faith we see that that finding such a treasure would be of limited value, and would only bring temporary joy. We know the real treasures of this world are not what we can find, but instead true treasure is God finding us and showing us His perfect love.
God knows how precious we are. Because of God’s love we have become a treasure, beloved for eternity.
The small daughter of a famous artist was once asked which child was her mother’s favorite. The little girl replied: “She loves Jimmy the best because he’s the oldest, and she loves Johnny the best because he’s the youngest. And she loves me best because I am the only girl.”
Parents have their own imperfect way of loving each child best. Even more so, God loves us personally, no matter what our life experience is or what we have accomplished in life. Jesus wants us to recognize that we are all precious in His sight, all the pearl of great worth.
When you know someone loves you, it makes you feel your worth so much more. Even more so we feel our worth knowing that we have such worth in God’s eyes.
If young men and women in our churches could understand what great worth they have, how different might the decisions be that our youth make. If youth were properly taught what a treasure they are to Jesus, how much less would be the temptations of the treasures of popularity with peers, material pursuits and pursuits of vanity.
If parents understood the worth they are to God, how much more confidently and joyfully might they raise their children in the faith! How sad that the joy of God’s kingdom is so often hidden among us.
We considered earlier how parables bring to light truths that are hidden. How unlikely and improbable that the kingdom of our living God should be hidden. God made the world and yet His kingdom is hidden in the very world He made. The hiddenness is because of the reign of sin.
Because of sin some people do not see it, some people go on about their lives completely content to be without God’s kingdom. Right before our gospel reading for today is the parable of the weeds- which describes how the wheat is hidden among the weeds. True believers are hidden among the weeds of unbelievers, and all will be harvested at the last day.
Even we as God’s people also experience the hiddenness of His kingdom. Sure, we see the glory of God in worship and in the gifts of forgiveness. But we also see so many disappointments and deep hurts within our lives and within the church. One theologian noted that the church is the only army that goes after its own wounded.
In our Old Testament reading we hear how the people of Israel are not more numerous than other people. In other words they are not stronger, or more powerful. There is nothing about them that makes them better than any other peoples of the world. By outward appearance they are just like anyone else, maybe even less noteworthy. What is special about them is hidden.
Yet because God has chosen them as a people of his own possession. What is hidden among them is the great treasure of God’s love. This treasure is what makes them so special. “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”
The treasure of being God’s people is what makes us blessed. Though God’s kingdom may feel to us as if it is hidden. God’s Word makes clear that we are a people of His own possession. Bought by Jesus, there is nothing hidden or secret about the inheritance we have. In fact nothing can take us away from this heritage.
The parables in our gospel reading help us to see how valuable it is to be God’s treasured possession. And just like Jesus fought and gave all He had to obtain us, we meet his love with the same passion so that Jesus is for us is like the treasure we would not trade for anything, He is for us the pearl of great price we value above all. No longer is the meaning of our lives in a sense hidden.
We heard from our reading in Romans how because of God’s plan to conform us to the image of His Son, nothing can separate us from His love:
“because God foreknew us he also predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son… those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
If we are persecuted, we see that the treasure of God’s kingdom is worth more than our wealth in this world or even our material safety. People may think they are taking things away from us, but the true treasure is hidden and they cannot take it.
This treasure we have we value so much that we want others to share in our joy. Even though we do not buy the treasure, we can still use the resources God gives us to help others to know Jesus. We do not want the treasure to remain hidden from others. Because the treasure means everything to us we are willing to do what it takes to keep our church cared for and an inviting place for new people to visit.
Through its history we in the church have always been willing to make sacrifices of our time to provide connection points with others through outreach activities, through fellowship events and topical Bible studies.
Because we value the kingdom above all else we can approach our lives with joy! Our priorities in life are clear. We cannot be slowed down worries and anxieties about our possessions, our popularity or how well the things of this kingdom are going. Stock market updates? Irrelevant to the treasure of God’s kingdom. The latest poll on political directions of the country- nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus, nothing that changes what is most important to us. We have taken God’s promises and hid them securely in our hearts.
We are God’s treasured possession, As we heard in the Gradual with Psalm 125 “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore. The Lord surrounds and protects his treasured possession. How beautiful those words are!
In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 44 we hear an in depth and majestic description of God’s standing as creator and by comparison the folly of all false gods that are created by man.
“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” This message was given to Isaiah to share to the people of Israel who were away from their homes in exile for their past sins. Should someone claim to have another god who can save and deliver them, they are asked to come forward. “Who is like me? Let him proclaim it”
God asks followers of false idols to come forward and provide evidence to the court to prove their worth. Can they predict the future? Can they hold together a people from ancient times to follow them, delivering the people in time of need and prospering their way? The LORD asks what results false idols have ever brought to the world.
In the verses that begin chapter 44, which is not included in our lectionary reading for this morning, we hear the most important reason there is no God like YHWH, because God alone formed Israel.
Isaiah 44:1-2
But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
God Formed us from the beginning. Our society may have lost sight of this truth long ago, but no matter the changes in science and technology the fact remains that God formed us and shaped us to be His people. He formed each of us from the womb, just as God first formed Adam of the clay of the earth. We were made exactly how God intended, with God’s life breath.
Genesis 2:7 “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature.”
”For you formed my inward parts: you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:13
As our gradual celebrates, how unsearchable are his ways in creating us and forming us with the breath of life. For from him and through him and to him are all things.
We see in the first two verses of Isaiah chapter 44 that Israel has been chosen from the beginning for the purpose of serving God. Israel was formed for the task of doing God’s purposes and Israel can count on God’s protection for this task. “Behold my servant whom I have chosen.”
Christ formed us as His body, the church. Through his betrayal and flogging, through His prayers for those who persecuted him on the cross, Jesus began to build his church. Jesus reconciled all people to himself on the cross and through his resurrection he became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep , through the persecution of the apostles and the blood of the martyrs, Christ chose his church and formed her to be His servant. We did not build the church ourselves: Through the foundation of Holy Baptism Jesus formed us into His church.
God created us and the church to give glory to Him through our faith and obedience to Him. When people live their lives apart from His design and only for their own sinful pursuits- then they are pursuing things in life that are apart for what we were designed for.
This is like using a tennis racket for playing baseball, or using a baseball bat to play tennis. We would be missing most of the enjoyment of the sport in not sticking with the original design.
Just after the selection of Isaiah 44 that served as our Old Testament reading there begins in verse 9 a description of those who fashion idols. God formed us, and we form idols. Listen to the reading as it describes the irony and pathetic nature of how people create their own gods and worship them. The reading gives a picture of the folly of pretending that we can create gods that can save us.
Isaiah 44:9-20
9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
12The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in thefire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
It is sad to hear this description. There is a sense of the man’s pride in what he accomplishes with using wood and fire- but this pride is tragically misplaced. It has led to a false idol worship. And what is more we heard the LORD has shut their eyes so they cannot see and their ears so they cannot understand- so that the unbeliever does not stop to think “Is there a lie in my right hand?” God formed us and we form gods.
In our current time there are a lot of things we design and create in terms of food crop varieties, animal breeding, and technology innovations, When it comes to technology most of what we create is simply an innovation or variation of what has already been invented in the past. When it comes to genetic modifications, we are only taking the life God has already created and focusing on certain traits to express them more.
If we recognize innovations and cultivations as a gift from the LORD we are thankful for his gifts of creation. When we take the credit ourselves we begin to form idols out of what we make.
Of course we can’t create a person from clay- or anything that is actually living. Did you ever hear about the famous Miller experiment from 1952 where he and a partner claimed to have simulated early conditions of the earth and built amino acids- the building blocks of proteins? This was an energizing concept for evolutionists, that they could simulate past conditions and build molecules.
Of course it did not prove anything, the amino acids were not such that could build life, the gases used would not survive in an oxygen rich environment which current research identifies was present in the atmosphere in all geology and fossil records. And most importantly the experiment proposes no explanation for the design and order necessary for cells to function. This experiment was simply a foundation in the false idol of scientific pursuits. When it comes to making the conditions of life, man is helpless.
Despite the folly of our sinful human nature, despite the false idols we make of money and wealth and savings, or popularity and social standing, or nutrition and health, appearance or politics or family reputation and success- God still loves us and cares for us and actively works to form us away from false idols and into His image.
Isaiah 44:21-28: Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, 25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, 26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’; 27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry; I will dry up your rivers’; 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
God is forming us: Listen how the God who is there promised to Israel in the time of exile a future through the promise that Jerusalem would be inhabited, the cities of Judah built. God even references forming and shaping the landscape to save Israel as in the case of the deliverance from Pharaoh when, deep rivers became dry.
God formed Israel through the oath he led King Cyrus to make: Saying of Jerusalem she shall be built and of the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.
God did not create us and leave us be. He forms us with His Word. And he redeems us. In this chapter God provides rescue and redemption from bondage through use of a king of another nation- Cyrus. Cyrus was used to fulfill God’s purposes. Now in these last days he has spoken to us through His Son Jesus Christ. Like Cyrus was for the people in exile longing for return, Jesus is our Shepherd who unites us with the Father’s will.
Jesus forms us to call those who are captive by false idols to know his joy. Jesus forms us to be light to the world. Jesus forms us to be his own and live under Him in his kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. Amen.
Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Come to me. The message from our God, “Come to me.” Not stay away, keep your distance, approach with caution and possibly at risk of your life- but come. Jesus does not ask that we prepare ourselves throughout life so that we are finally worthy to come before our God. We are not asked to achieve a certain level of holiness before we come to Jesus, nor are we expected to fast and pray for a specified number of hours before we come.
The theme of coming with nothing in our hands is illustrated in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 55:1 Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Our God willingly gives us more than we can imagine and invites us to come. It would be an insult to insist on bringing a bag of chips and an upside down cake to the party we are invited to when compared to the feast spread before us.
In John chapter 7 Jesus is attending the feast of Booths and he tells them about the gift of the Holy Spirit with the same language of come to me for abundance.
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of flowing water.
Jesus extends the invitation to come specifically to all those who labor and are heavy laden. He is talking about those who are in need. At the beginning of our gospel reading those in need are not those who are self proclaimed wise and understanding, but those who are little children, those who have a simple and honest need, who have no delusion that they can carrying their own weight.
Like children we are in need because we are weary and heavy laden with the trials of living in this fallen world. It is a heavy business to toil at the labors we are given because of the Fall.
Consider how heavy the labor and how heavy the burdens we carry with us. Even on days off and three day weekends, life has plenty of daily responsibilities that can make us tired. During this time of the year the heat can especially make us feel tired. What is more physical labor is only part of the burden we carry. What we try to carry on our own is the weight of our sin. What we carry with us is a natural desire to impress the rest of the world that we are good people, and also to impress God.
Our prayer of the day helps us to see one of the aspects of life in this fallen world that makes us heavy laden: Gracious God, “Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world, and at life’s end grant us Your promised rest and the full joys of Your salvation”
Change in life is indeed wearisome, no matter how comfortable we may be with life circumstances, everything changes, when we are comfortable being home with parents, we get older and are no longer around the same family support as before. We find new surroundings as adults only to face more change in the form of losing loved ones to death. Even our own bodies, because of the fall, constantly are changing to where we feel weariness and heaviness.
We are heavy laden with the weight of past criticism we have received from others, we are heavy with a sense of having let down and failed people in numerous ways throughout our lives, whether because of the selfishness of our sins or because our fears kept us from being capable of what we should have done.
The pharisees made the practice of faith itself a weighty and difficult task. Jesus talked about the heavy yoke of the pharisees: “ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.”
One way or another you probably have had parents or teachers or pastors lose sight of the teaching of the gospel where following Jesus represented heavy burdens that made you feel you could not live up to what is expected of you. We carry these burdens with us in the form of those feelings that we have not done enough, that our heart is not in the right place to earn our place in God’s kingdom. Jesus invites us to come to him for rest from all these burdens that weigh us down and receive the free gift he gives.
Our need along with all others who are weary and heavy laden is for forgiveness, mercy, new life. We need this incredible gift Jesus gives that lifts all the weight of our sin and even the weight and trial that our fallen world brings upon us.
The Lord’s Supper is a great place for us to hear this message of a free gift – my body given for you, my blood shed for you. As we receive the bread and wine, this gift reminds us of how simple and easy life is in God’s kingdom, ‘come and be nourished, taste and see that the Lord is good.’ Nothing in our hands we bring, just our heavy laden self.
And as weary as we are with the changes of this world, the Lord’s Supper is the same comfort, the same gift. Jesus does not change. In Him we are being prepared for eternal rest and eternal joys. This is why the Lord’s Supper has been called by the church fathers as the medicine of immortality, we are becoming like Jesus through receiving Jesus.
In a manner of speaking the traditions of counting Sundays of the month for when to receive the Lord’s Supper were inherited by the Lutheran church from a time period when people placed a heavy burden on themselves to emotionally feel the right things when receiving the Lord’s Supper, as in:
‘we are not worthy enough to come each week, lets build up good credit with prayers and preaching of the Word one or more Sundays and then come the next Sunday and receive the Lord’s Supper.’ Now my brothers and sister in Christ, you have the opportunity to taste and see that the Lord is good each and every Sunday. You are invited to come, to believe that your sins are forgiven through Christ.
Your sins are forgiven because Jesus carried all of these heavy burdens of the sin of the world on the cross. Because he has carried it, his yoke is marvelously light.
I think back to what it was like to see a teacher in public when I was in High School. If I was slouching in my seat at a restaurant, now I was sitting straight up, see I am on task, I am a good person, I am on my best behavior. The need to impress an authority was so deeply ingrained that it was certainly hard to just be myself in the presence of an authority.
Now it is different as an adult, I see authorities as simply people like me, playing a role, I do not need to prove things to them- it is only God who I am accountable to. This is the easy yoke of the gospel, to realize that we are loved by God, and we do not need other people’s approval, and we do not need to prove anything to others. Instead we are free to show love to others.
We live in a time where the message of the gospel is widely unknown in how the average American sees life. In my role as a counselor I see many ways in which depression and anxiety reigns in people’s lives because of life lived apart from the gospel. I see common themes of people’s unwillingness to trust others or be willing to care for others, and people feeling judged and unworthy of others.
We have the easy yoke of Christ that we are joined to. Instead of seeing others as a threat and weight to our lives, we are free instead to care for needs of those who are oppressed out of compassion or love because God has first loved us.
We love others through following Jesus, we walk with Jesus in love and it is an easy and light yoke to carry because it is filled with hope and promise, joy and peace.
Jesus yoke is light and easy, when we live life according to the plans of God’s Will life is easier. Divided priorities in life make life harder. When countless numbers in our society willingly break the commandments because they feel they are free from the law- then society suffers, families are broken, and children are not raised in the faith.
Our yoke seems so hard in this day and age in that we as a society live apart from God’s will in so many ways, where we are apart from God’s design for creation, apart from a focus on being caretakers of the earth and one another, apart from loving others as God has loved us.
Yet we as the church are free to live a different way than our culture, we can live as a people set apart in Christ to the glory of God. We can say no to the costly darkness of sin in order to embrace the light of Christ. We sang “Come unto Me, Ye Weary” to start our worship service. Stanza 2 describes this choice to walk in the light of Christ.
“Come unto Me, ye wanderers, and I will give you light. O loving voice of Jesus which comes to cheer the night! Our hearts were filled with sadness, and we had lost our way; but thou hast brought us gladness and Songs at break of day.” May the Lord bless us with this gladness and lightness at break of each day. Amen.
There is a phrase in our
society that some people are just addicted to “drama.” They seem to want to have things to be upset
about, they look for issues of debate where they are at the center. Whether it
is with friendships or co-worker relationships, it seems that some people
actually need to have conflict in their lives- as in maybe they wouldn’t know
what to do with themselves without a rallying cry of conflict to repeat early
and often.
But most of us do not want
conflict. Nobody wants to grow up in a
home where parents are fighting and arguing all of the time. Personally, I have
made a point to stop following the news for a time. I know that it is only going to be about
conflict. And there is a time and a place for all of that. Peace sounds much better. Can we all just take a sabbatical from
conflicts for about 6 months, or how about for three years?
Likewise wouldn’t it be nice
if we experienced peace in the living
our Christian faith. What if our faith was not met with protests? Perhaps instead our faith could be welcomed
and applauded. Can’t we just have it
where nobody would say anything against us if we talk about how important
marriage is and how children need a mother and father living in the same
household, raising them in the faith?
Can we have a chance for an open platform of speech to share the message
that Jesus alone provides the fulfillment people are looking for in life?
Wouldn’t it be great to
have peace when we speak on behalf of the unborn and when we speak the truth
that a baby dying is not a way to provide salvation, as in save people from
difficult circumstances? What if we
could have peace when we describe how old false idols and heresies only repeat
themselves. What if we could talk about how Baal worship involved child
sacrifice and pursuit of sexual immorality as a means of bringing on good times
or material prosperity? And here we are today, people celebrate their
constitutional rights to take the life of the unborn.
We know that this peace we
would like is not going to be offered to us from the unbelieving world. Instead
we have peace in a much more important way than being comfortable in our society
today. We have peace through the gospel
of Jesus. We have peace through walking the way of the cross.
It is only when our sinful
flesh is killed and destroyed at the cross that we can once again be reunited
in God’s image and know peace. This is
what Jesus means when he speaks of coming not to bring peace but a sword. The
sword is the truth of God’s Word that cuts through any desire we have to find
peace outside of God, whether in the security of family relationships or
whatever false idol we put our trust in.
It is important that when
we listen to the words of scripture that we realize that God’s Word does not
contradict itself. Nor should we allow
people to discourage us about what God’s Word is saying through emphasis on
what one passage of scripture says with a wrong interpretation or a lack of the
big picture. “Do not think that I
have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a
sword.” Is Jesus advocating warfare?
Is being a Christian all about being in conflict with others? What about if you
just love to be peaceful and you do not want to always be in conflict with people? Does that mean living Your Christian faith is
not for you?
We know that the Word of
God cannot be used against itself. All of scripture points to the same truth of
God’s reign in the world. We heard in
the gradual: “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his ways! The
wisdom of God involves the Prince of Peace, Jesus, talking about how he has not
come to bring peace, but a sword. He is
speaking about how family members can be an enemy when they do not live in
faith, yet he is also clearly teaching in scripture the bonds of love that tie
us together through our faith. Jesus treasures even the simple act of giving a
cup of cold water in support of a servant of Jesus. Jesus speaks about bringing conflict because
he will not settle for anything less than a perfect peace in His
righteousness.
No matter how much the
gatekeepers of our culture may accuse the church of causing division and making
people feel shamed and judged for who they are, The truth is we are not the
ones who are bringing conflict to the world.
The conflict comes from the darkness of sin in the world hating the
truth we carry with us as we follow God’s Word.
If Jesus were to come to
bring the peace the world desires it would have needed to come in the form of
his leading the way of man’s rebellion against God. The sword Jesus brings is to cut through the
false idol worship that our world treasures through speaking the truth.
Look at our Old Testament
reading from Jeremiah: “As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word
of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly
sent the prophet.”
Deuteronomy chapter 18
first gave us the standard of knowing the truth of a prophet’s message in
talking about a New prophet who would come greater than Moses:
“When a prophet speaks
in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that
is a word that the Lord has not spoken, the prophet has spoken it presumptuously.
You need not be afraid of him.”
Any prophet would like to preach peace from
their own wishful thinking, but it will be a false prophecy, what they speak
shall not come to pass simply because they have spoken it. Wishful thinking peace always end up with
conflict and war.
Only Jesus was able to
offer a prophecy of peace that remains, he offered this prophecy when he
preached about how he would following the Father’s will give his life on the
cross and draw all men unto himself. “When
you have lifted up theSon of Man, then will you know that I am he, and
that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father has taught
me.”
This peace is the
possession of the church. Although
church’s are known for different conflicts among members or among pastors,
between this family or that family, we have a foundation of peace in Christ
that endures in the church through every time and place.
In our church body, our
denomination, we do not struggle as many other churches do about whether God’s
Word is true and reliable. We know that
all of scripture is God breathed. We do not waste any energy over conflicts as
to which Bible account is reliable and which is meant to be ignored. We have peace with one another in Christ
because of this common acceptance of the Word of God as fully inspired by
God.
Nor do we have division in
our church over political issues, as we have a clear distinction of the
difference between the right hand kingdom and the left. And we can agree on
supporting causes that relate to the gospel, the sanctity of life, the
importance of marriage, and the goodness of God’s gift of creation.
We also do not have
divisions about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper or Baptism, where some see the
sacraments as symbolic and others do not.
We do not have divisions where some see a need for speaking in tongues
and others do not.
Our unity and consensus of
doctrine is founded in Christ. Some see
doctrine as a bad word, that which tells us what to do and makes our faith an
obligation instead of a gift. But
doctrine is in no way a burden to us, it is a gift. Our unity of doctrine is the best way we know
from the scripture of receiving Jesus as our Lord over and above any sinful
human priorities in our life.
Doctrine helps us see how
as a church we can keep our priorities from getting off track. As we recognize the centrality of teaching
God’s Word and sharing God’s Word to the world, there are few things to
disagree on. In our current context as a
congregation we might disagree on how money should be spent and how to make
sense of a building that was designed for a larger congregation than we can
expect to be in the near future.
We also may experience a little friction over how we should respond to the Corona Virus crisis as a church. Some may feel more comfortable gathering than others, especially when public announcements discourage certain categories of age and health from being in public. We may see conflict over questions of erring too much on the side of safety or erring too much on the side of bringing everything back to the way it used to be.
We know solutions will not
be perfect in managing building maintenance costs, but everything is in a
different perspective when we recognize that what is important is that we seek
to know Jesus and meet him where he has promised to be for us. We meet Jesus as
we gather for worship, as we hold Bible Studies, and even as we make
connections with those in our community through the gospel. Our perspective is clarified when we hope and
wait for Jesus to return as something that is far more important than living up
to past traditions of a congregation.
We sang the sermon hymn, ‘Let us Ever walk with Jesus’ In walking with Jesus we will have peace, no matter how the world sees us, no matter what we worry about. In the gift of the Lord’s Supper walk with Jesus and receive assurance of peace as we eat his very body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. May the peace of Jesus guide us, and guide our Land until the day when we shall see Him face to face. Amen.
Do you see the harvest
that is out in the fields right now? Do you see how ripe the conditions are for
God’s kingdom to be proclaimed? Our
nation, already reeling over the limitations caused by the Corona Virus, has
been fighting with itself. Instead of
looking to the chief Shepherd Jesus, many are seeking a self righteousness of
their own in the form of doubling down on political strivings. Nowhere in the
news does there seem to be an emphasis on striving to submission to our Lord in
this time of need.
These recent events could
simply be a cause for discouragement- a tense feeling in the shoulders and the
back of the neck- when can I have a vacation from all of this? No matter how we
feel about it, the world around us has been prepared by our loving God for the
harvest.
The evidence is all around
us. People are clearly lost, like sheep
without a shepherd. The sin of racism
has become a central focus in our nation in recent weeks. And certainly God’s
Word makes no allowance for racism- all of us are created in God’s image.
How clever Satan is that
as some people target one sin such as racism- they go down a rabbit’s hole of
illogic and commit an entirely different sin of hatred and violence toward the
authorities in place in our government.
We know from God’s Word
that those who live through hate and outrage , those who carry a self righteous
anger, no matter the political direction it comes from, are walking down a
lonely road of bondage to their own sin. As a nation we are like sheep without
a shepherd. The Harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few.
The Collect of the Day
asks for faith to believe God’s promises that we may receive eternal
salvation. This is language about how
the harvest works. We take on the role of harvesters because we believe God’s
promises. Our faith in Jesus is what
allows us to collect any harvest. Without this trust in Jesus, we can do no
harvesting for God’s kingdom.
The workers are few
because there are many without faith or with a stunted faith. Many are called, few are chosen. Think of the
parable of the Sower where some seeds are devoured by birds, other seeds came
up on rocky soil and with no depth of roots the plants were scorched by the sun. Other seeds feel among thorns and were choked
out by them. Only the one group of seeds
out four fell on good spoil and produced a great harvest.
The laborers are few
because unbelief reigns. When people do not have faith, they are not in any way
qualified for the job. The scarcity of
workers is because of the common place instances of unbelief and doubt, and
denial of the truth of God’s Word.
Consider what it means
that there is a greater harvest than the laborers available. There is a big
percentage of the pie our role of service in the kingdom left for us to dig
into. We do not have to fight off others
for the cultivation of the harvest. There is plenty of fruitful work for us to
pursue.
The work all revolves
around our trust in our Savior, our faith in God’s Word.
There are so many
troubling events happening in our time, everything from drug addiction to
broken families, to racism, to the media throwing gasoline on fires. Karen and
I were talking this weekend about what it feels like to search through the news
looking for some answers as far as what direction our nation is heading and
realizing the answers are not there.
God’s Word has all the
answers about the state of our nation and about our future. Even our gospel
reading for this morning has plenty of answers about the world we live in and
how God has designed that we respond.
To start with consider
Jesus’ reaction to the crowds of people: “When he saw the crowds, he had
compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd.” In the New
Testament this Greek word for compassion is only used of God. Only Jesus who is
without sin can fully understand how lost and helpless we are without Him. In Christ what was impossible is now
possible. In Christ we can extend this compassion to others.
The answers are all in the
scripture. Because people are without a shepherd, we have these tragedies of
discord in our land. And because Jesus has taken our flesh and redeemed us,
Jesus offers the path forward toward a new and better way.
A shepherd leads and
guides. Think of the great commission from Matthew chapter 28, the 11 disciples
at that time, were called to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and
teaching. The answer to the helpless
condition of our world is the new life in Christ, and the teaching of God’s
Word that comes with this new life.
With verse 10 in our
gospel reading we see a distinction between all of the disciples that followed
Jesus and the particular 12 he sent out.
Here things get tricky for our application as the church. What does this
mean, is this a promise only for the Apostles, or only now for pastors who take
on this role? Enter no town of the Samaritans? How do we apply this? The answers are in study of God’s Word. We
find answers in considering how before the crucifixion Jesus directed his
ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and after his resurrection
He commands his disciples to be his witnesses throughout Jerusalem, all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
The calling to the
pastoral office is a special thing instituted by our Lord, and it is a prayer
often prayed in our church about pastors, that the harvest is great and the
laborers are few, send out new men as laborers into the harvest fields as pastors.
But the harvest is for the entire church. No church ever grew with only the pastor
doing all of the work. The shepherd leads and we follow, so that the harvest is
great for us all.
Think again about what it
means that there is more harvest opportunity for us than we have time to
gather. Jesus has prepared in the hearts
of countless people a willingness to hear His Word.
As a church there are many
decision points we have as far as how often we offer Bible studies and other opportunities
to grow in our faith. It is encouraging
to consider that every ministry outreach we hold can play a role in collecting
the harvest the Lord has prepared for us.
This is the continuation
of the day of Pentecost message of the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us
without limits. Nothing stops us from publishing posts on our
church facebook page or our website that communicates the good news of Christ
for us. The harvest is always there, what varies is whether we are prepared as
workers to collect.
I pray the Lord would continue
to provide me with faith and courage to help lead you all to greater
faithfulness in your own vocations in life, whether at home or in the ministry
of our congregation- so that every day of your life contributes to the Lord’s harvest.
Around this time 2 years
ago I chatted briefly with LCMS President Matthew Harrison at a conference, while
he was at a table for a book signing. I told
him I was without a call to a congregation, and he told me to hang in there and
advocated for more congregations to call pastors on candidate status. It was
meaningful to me to have the President of the LCMS offer encouragement, it
helped me realize we in the church are all working toward the same goals,
regardless of what we have accomplished in life or what reputation we
have.
The inscription on the
book read: Nick, The Lord bless you and
make you a blessing.” It’s a two step process that the Lord works in us,
blessing us with faith, and blessing others through our faith. In all things the
harvest is the Lord’s. God’s Word says
it all.
Our reading from Exodus
chapter 19 helps us see how the harvest is all produced by the LORD. “You
yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’
wings and brought you to myself.” Faith
for the people of Israel was clear as sight, the LORD’s deliverance of them.
Israel was carried to
salvation from Egypt as on wings of an eagle. Because they were carried in this
way, they were put in a position to be God’s treasured possession among all the
peoples. “and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation.”
The harvest is so great, a whole nation stands before the world as a kingdom of priests. So plentiful the harvest, the church which is present in every country in the world shares the good news of the kingdom. We as the church are the priesthood of all believers who are built on the foundation of Christ. We are chosen for this calling. It is the Lord’s doing, He is the master gardener designer the beautiful and awe inspiring results. Amen.
Is this real? It almost seems too good to be true. Are we really so fortunate to be able to
gather in the same place for worship? Is this a dream? Are we really going to
be receiving the Lord’s Supper in a short while? Can we really do it in this
difficult time?
Is it real? Is Jesus
really present here with us, even as He is reigning over the whole church and
our world? Of course it is all real. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking
into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in
the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
It is real, Jesus will
return. And until He returns we are not
left to just gaze up in the sky with a feeling of abandonment or lack of
purpose. We are given the gift of the
Holy Spirit so that we can even today live in the joy of God’s kingdom coming
among us- so that we can live out our lives in faith and trust in Jesus until
he returns. Jesus not only reigns over
the whole world, but over our congregation and our own individual lives. Jesus ascended into heaven so that we would
know Him through the church- through Word and Sacrament, through forgiveness
and love, self sacrifice, and hope. How
amazing! This is real!
The rule of Jesus at the
Right Hand of the Father means that everyone can know Jesus- not just the
disciples. Remember the promise from the Old Testament: “And no longer shall
each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for
they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the
Lord.”
Do you feel the beauty of
this promise fulfilled in our time today? Through Christ we have received the same
promise of God. Through our personal devotions and prayers we have know Jesus
with us through a time of social isolation. And now the time has come where we
once again can hear this promise to know Jeus each and every Sunday as God’s
Word is read.
“They shall be my people, and
I will be there God.” No matter if we are wearing masks or if we are separated
by unusual precautions- we are here, we shall always be His people and Jesus
shall always be our God- who reigns above.
Notice in verse 6 of our
reading the anticipation the disciple had for Jesus as they came together with
Jesus after His resurrection: For forty
days Jesus had been appearing to them and others showing them his resurrection
glory. Everyone was all together now, they
asked him, “Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”
This was a question heavy
with expectation, yearning and hope.
‘Lord will you at this time fulfill your promises to us?’ ‘Will you deliver us from the sufferings and
the uncertainties of this world?’ ‘When
will the day come when every eye will behold you?’
Jesus answered, “It is not
for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own
authority.”
Perhaps some knowledge is too
great for us. Psalm 131 puts it well: “O
LORD my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high, I do not
occupy myself with things too great and marvelous for me. But I have calmed and
quieted my soul.”
We ourselves are not
strangers to occupying ourselves with great questions. Why this illness in our society now with so
many complications to our lives and so many losses?
Why this ongoing struggle
with managing difficulties of maintaining a church? Why this cross to bear? We would like to have all of the
answers. But God’s Word tells us not to
let ourselves become occupied with questions too great for us. We are to let God’s Word quietly and gently
calm our restless souls.
The disciples may have asked,
‘Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom? ‘ But it was not yet time for
Jesus to restore the kingdom and bring about the great transformations of the
last day. Jesus had a plan even so. “But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
He was telling them something
marvelous. My kingdom will indeed come
as you asked. But you are going to play
a part in bringing it forth! I am giving you all the gift of the Holy Spirit so
that through you my Word will go out in great power to the ends of the
earth. You will be my witnesses until
the day I return. You will be my
body.
Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the righteous
is like the light of dawn,
which
shines brighter and brighter until full day.
In last Sunday’s readings we
heard from 1Peter chapter 3
1Peter 3:15 ‘always be
prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you’ We
want to be prepared to describe the hope we have in Jesus, no matter how
difficult the time we live in. Our hope
is not just in the fact that Jesus is risen, but that he has ascended and will
return.
In other words our hope is
not just that one day we will be with Jesus because he is risen, we shall rise
too- our hope is also that because Jesus reigns over all even today our current
life circumstances are directed and ordered by our Savior.
He cares for our needs and
walks with us, even through our suffering. Peter references the ascension a few verses
later in chapter 3: “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,
with angels, authorities and powers having been subject to him.”
Peter knew that the church
was not alone since Jesus ascended to heaven.
He saw how all things were now subject to Jesus- even as he saw the
church experience the persecution he references in 1Peter chapter 1.
We are not asked to live
our faith on our own. We are never alone.
As he spoke to the 11 on the Mt.
“see I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We already have been equipped with everything
we need. We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and we have a living
Savior who fights for us. He has taught
us His truth and now we as the church are to be his witnesses in places he
himself never traveled to during his earthly ministry.
He Ascended to heaven and
left the disciples in Jerusalem so that he might exercise his full power at the
right hand of God. Just as we confess in
the Apostles Creed, Jesus Ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of
God the Father almighty.
When we say Jesus reigns
at the right hand of the Father, it does not mean that Jesus is sitting on a
throne next to the Father. But instead
that Jesus is ruling over Heaven and earth.
He ascended above to heaven not to distance himself from us, but so that
he could come in the power of His Word to all people throughout world.
He shows the power of his
rule at the right hand of the Father as he makes himself present with us and
all believers. He comes to us in the
Lord’s Supper at our church and in churches throughout the world. There are no
limits to what Jesus at the right hand of the Father can do. There may be rulers and authorities of this
world that do not acknowledge him, yet His truth reigns throughout the
world.
Ephesians tells us
that “In glorifying Christ God also
raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus.”
He has ascended and he has
raised up us his church as well. We wait in faith on the sure promise of God.
It is with this sure promise that the church prays, Come Lord Jesus, come
quickly.
We rejoice in the church
today as we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus.
It certainly is comforting to know that Jesus reigns over all. As we celebrate this weekend Memorial day
along with the rest of our nation, we give thanks for the courage Jesus gave to
those who have served our nation.
Certainly we can see the reign of Jesus in the form of the countless men
and women who have served our nation in times of war.
It is a wonderful thing to know that Jesus rules in love each day in our world, no matter the trials we experience. He is risen indeed Alleluia!
Brothers and sisters in
Christ, on this the fifth Sunday of Easter we are encouraged by God’s Word to
desire those great and wonderful things Jesus has promised us, even to our
inheritance of eternal life. In John chapter 14 we hear the disciple Philip’s response
to Jesus’ announcement that nobody comes to the Father except through me. Philip says: “Lord show us the Father and it
is enough for us.” Philip seems to be saying that if Jesus shows them the
Father, that is all they could ever hope for and want in life. How lucky they
were to meet Jesus so that they could be shown the Father. Yet Jesus is not a means to an end. Jesus is
more than the bridge who takes us to heaven or takes us to the Father. Jesus is
himself the Way the Truth and the Life. He
is the way for us now more than ever as we endure the ravages of our fallen
world day by day.
We sell our faith short if
we do not desire more from Jesus than a safe passage to eternal life. We are
called as his children to ask for far more- to seek to be with Him above all
else. It is for this reason that Jesus
says: “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” We are to ask for more than just enough faith
to get by, but for all of the riches and joys of life in Christ. And even today
as we wait on the reopening of our churches, we should settle for nothing less
than the fullness of our life in Christ. In this time of need, we cry to the
Lord for help and we seek a return to the sanctuary of rest that we find in
worship. Listen to the words of the
Introit for this Sunday, as the words of Psalm 30 speak of our complete
dependence on the Lord for deliverance and life:
Praise the LORD! Sing
to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!
I will extol you, O Lord, for you
have drawn me upand have not let my foes rejoice over me.2 O Lord my God, I cried
to you for help,and you
have healed me. 3 O Lord, you have brought up my
soul from Sheol;you restored me to life from among those who go down to the
pit.4 Sing
praises to the Lord, O you his saints,and give thanks to his holy name.5 For his
anger is but for a moment,and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the
night, but joy comes with the morning. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to
the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Praise the LORD! Sing to
the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!
For those of us who are able to gather for worship on
May 24th the Lord willing, we will sing to the Lord a new song
indeed. It might be a bit of a stretch to say that before the pandemic we took
worship for granted, as we certainly have always valued worship as a church.
But we never saw a time coming where we would not be able to meet for so many
weeks. Surely we will look at worship differently now. Through this trial
and prolonged fast from both worship and the reception of the Lord’s Supper,
how grateful we will be to worship again, how passionate will be our desire to
‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’
Some of you have reflected to me about missing out on celebrating
Easter Sunday for the first time in your lives. In the same manner, never in my
life as an adult have I experienced so many days without the reception of the
Lord’s Supper as a central part of my life. Last Sunday we reflected on the
illustration of the worship life of the early church: “And they devoted
themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread
and the prayers.” Clearly celebration of
the Lord’s Supper was foundational to their meeting. Notice also Acts 20:7 takes it for granted
that he First day of the week is the day to celebrate the Lord’s Supper: “On
the first day of the week , when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul
talked with them , intending to depart on the next day, and prolonged his
speech until midnight.”
During the Reformation the meaning of the Lord’s Supper
was corrected from the false teaching of the Mass as a sacrifice. Instead the emphasis was that on every Lord’s
day we receive the gift of our Lord coming to us. The 24th article of the Apology of
the Augsburg Confession describes this practice: “Among us the Mass is
celebrated every Lord’s day and on other festivals, when the sacrament is made available
to those who wish to partake of it, after they have been examined and
absolved.”
As the role of Christians in society has made the news
over questions of public gatherings and public health priorities, the church
has been encouraged by governing authorities to meet digitally and online
instead of in person. Some churches with
drive in services even faced opposition from local governments. The church has rightly observed the role of
obedience to authorities according to the Fourth Commandment. However, the church cannot afford to change
her views on what is important about worship because of what is convenient in
this time of pandemic. Online worship
has been an important resource for our church in proclaiming God’s Word to our
nation in a time when we have been isolated from one another, but we need to be
honest that it is not fully worship.
We are receiving pastoral care and comfort and
reassurance through online worship, but we are not receiving God’s gifts in a
bodily manner. We are not gathered together as the body of Christ, we are not
joining our voices in worship, and most important of all, we are not receiving
our Lord’s Body and Blood present in the bread and wine for the forgiveness of
our sins. Technology provides convenience,
but it must not be cited by governing authorities as a convenience that
justifies our ongoing refraining from gathering for worship.
Listen to the descriptions of what worship is in both
our current hymnal Lutheran Service Book (2006) and previous hymnal Lutheran
Worship (1982)
Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what
it says. Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received
with eager thankfulness and praise… The rhythm of our worship is from him to
us, and then from us back to him. He gives his gifts, and together we receive and
extol them. We build one another up as we speak to one another in psalms, hymns
and spiritual songs. Our Lord gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink. (Page 6. Lutheran Worship)
Our Lord is the Lord who serves. Jesus Christ came
into the flesh not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom
for many. On the cross He offered Himself as a spotless sacrifice for the sin
of the whole world. Through His perfect life and death, He accomplished
forgiveness and salvation for all before the Father in heaven. By His empty
tomb and ascension into heaven , He declared
His victory over sin and death to all the world. Seated now at the Father’s
right hand , He graciously serves His church with the gifts of salvation. On
the Last Day, He will come again to gather His elect from every nation to
celebrate the fest that that will have no end.
Our Lord serves us today through His holy Word and
Sacraments. Through these means, He comes among us to deliver His forgiveness
and salvation, freeing us from our sins and strengthening us for service to one
another and to the world. At holy Baptism, He puts his name upon us, pours His
Holy Spirit into our hearts, and rescues us from sin, death and the devil.
Through Holy Absolution, He pronounces His forgiveness again and again. With
His holy Word, written in scripture and preached into our ears, He daily
proclaims His abiding love for us through all the joys and sorrows of life in
this world. In His Holy Supper, He gives us His own body and blood to eat and
drink as a priceless gift to nourish and strengthen us in body and soul. (Lutheran Service Book p.
viii)
Pray with me the Prayer of the Day:
O God, You make the minds
of Your faithful people to be of one will. Grant that we may love what You have
commanded and desire what You promise, that among the many changes of this
world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found; through Jesus Christ,
Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever. Amen.
We will as members of our
congregation approach a return to worship on our own time schedule according to
our particular circumstances in life. Yet through our Lord are minds have been
made as one will. We have prayed that we will fix our hearts on Jesus as the one
constant in our ever changing world and the one true joy.
Stained glass depicting the body and blood of Jesus Christ on Thursday, March 5, 2020, at Heavenly Host Lutheran Church, Cookeville, Tenn. LCMS Communications/Erik M. Lunsford
Listen
now to the Epistle reading for the 5th Sunday of Easter 1Peter
2:2-10:
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that
by it you may grow up into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the
sight of God chosen and precious,5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in
Zion a stone,a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will
not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those
who do not believe,
“The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were
destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light.10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you
had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We have indeed faced many
changes in our world in recent months and we are now preparing to learn
different ways to resume things we used to do as a culture- the top of which is
gathering for worship. Through all of
these trials we know that the only way we can make it is to fix our hearts on
Jesus. Our society has adopted plans of sheltering to wait out a virus
outbreak. Yet now it appears the outbreak may not go away until a vaccine is
developed, and even that is not a guarantee of effectiveness. Our life of following Jesus is more than hiding
to avoid danger. We are not called to be reckless, but we ought not to give up
gathering for worship when we can gather more safely for worship than when we
are out getting groceries. As the
reading from 1Peter affirms, we have indeed tasted that the Lord is good, and
we desire to receive more and more of the gifts of salvation, united as a
chosen race, royal priesthood, a holy nation- we are a spiritual house built on
the foundation of Christ.
From the beginning Jesus
intended that we should be the bricks and stones that build the church, held
together by His Word. Our Baptism liturgy quotes verse 9 remarking how we are
baptized into God’s name so that we can proclaim the praises of him who called us
out of darkness and into His marvelous light. In this era of uncertainty and
distress we have been built up to proclaim the mercy of Jesus to our world. We
have been built and designed for such a time as this!
We are about to begin an
entirely new chapter in the life of the church. We will need to be careful
likely for a painfully long time in how we handle our gathering. We will have
face masks and spread out through the sanctuary in where we sit (slightly more
than we already were doing for reasons unrelated to infection risks). Our procedure for celebrating the lord’s
Supper will be different (although still the same body and blood of Our Lord
given to us.”
Many in our world would
tell us Christians that we should not gather at all and only watch services at
home for months and months to come. Worship is not seen as an essential plan
for rebuilding our economy (although certainly has been vocally valued by some
of our leaders in government). “As
you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen
and precious” We come to Jesus to
offer spiritual sacrifices, to live and abide in Jesus as one body. Our coming is a bold confession of our faith,
that we would rather live in the small risk of an infection than never go to
meet Jesus in worship again. (I call this a small risk because of the
precautions we intend to take such as distance and masks, without precautions
gathering for worship would be considered a large risk).
Earlier in the course of
our collective shelter in place, as we looked forward to the return to normal
in our nation, there was a sense that with a little bit of waiting things could
simply resume as they had before. As the wait has gone on longer and longer it
is normal to talk about what things we miss and look forward to having in our
lives again. We look forward to sports, local travel and shopping and
recreation activities among other things. God’s Word helps us to see the truth
that getting these things back that we missed is not the point.
Getting closer to Jesus is
what we truly desire. In whatever way that our circumstances in society improve
in the coming months we should be able to see how the trials and crosses we
have faced have brought us closer to Jesus.
We should be able to approach our faith with renewed purpose and focus
and life. If we are not changed as a church as far as desiring more to be with
Jesus in Word and Sacrament through all that we have experienced in recent
months of isolation away from worship, then we have numbed ourselves into
living according to our culture. Listen now to the good news of our gospel
reading, listen to the poetic words of the Alleluia verse, words of hearts
changed by faith and made alive in Christ:
Alleluia. We know that
Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has
dominion over him. Alleluia. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my
Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Alleluia.
John 14:1-14
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in
God; believe also in me.2 In my Father’s house
are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to
prepare a place for you?3 And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also.4 And you know the way to where I am going.”5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are
going. How can we know the way?”6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father
also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is
enough for us.”9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so
long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen
the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is
in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but
the Father who dwells in me does his works.11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters in
Christ, do not our hearts burn within us as we look forward to the time when we
will be resuming public worship and encountering Jesus in Word and Sacrament! Although we can participate in online worship
settings, I know from talking with many of you that we are now at a point of
longing more than ever to return to the in person fellowship of the body of
Christ in worship. The Introit appointed
for the 3rd Sunday after Easter describes this inherent goodness and
blessing of unity in the body of Christ described in Psalm 133.
Behold how good and
pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the
head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the
collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls of the mountains
of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Behold how good and pleasant it is when
brothers dwell in unity!
Hear now the appointed First
reading from Acts chapter 2 which helps us to see how the first community of
believers had common conviction about their sins and a common share in the
blessings of the promise made through Christ delivered in Baptism:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
But Peter standing with
the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them,
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God
has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now
when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For
the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off,
everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And
with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying,
“Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So
those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about
three thousand souls.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Reflect now on the Easter victory message of our risen Lord:
Gradual: Christ has risen from the dead. God the Father has crowned him with glory and honor, He has given him dominion over the works of his hands; he has put all things under his feet.
The appointed Epistle
reading is from 1Peter a reading which describes the depth of the Father’s foresight
and love for us in the plan for the cross. We are called to love one another
from this perfect foundation of love.
1 Peter 1:17-25
17 And
if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s
deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile
ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver
or gold, 19 but with the precious blood
of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the
world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised
him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having
purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly
love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,23 since you have been born again, not of perishable
seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass and all
its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but
the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was
preached to you.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Verse: Alleluia. We know that Christ being raised
from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Alleluia. Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road,
while he opened to us the scriptures? Alleluia.
The Holy gospel according
to St. Luke the 24th chapter
Luke 24:13-35
13 That
very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven milesfrom Jerusalem,14 and
they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
15 While they were talking and discussing
together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But
their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And
he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are
holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood
still, looking sad. 18 Then one of
them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who
does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What
things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all
the people, 20 and how our chief
priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified
him. 21 But we had hoped that he was
the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day
since these things happened. 22 Moreover,
some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the
morning, 23 and when they did not find
his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who
said that he was alive. 24 Some of
those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had
said, but him they did not see.” 25 And
he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken!
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you O Christ.
Grace mercy and peace to
you friend in Christ, from our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is an old saying that guests, like
fish, begin to stink after three days. This expression reflects how quickly
house guests can wear out their welcome. They become less attractive as when
they first arrive. It’s nice to have
company, but after a while we start to miss the ordinary schedules and space we
have without guests. Although I can’t help but wonder if after so much social
distancing if we will start to look at guests differently.
The disciples entertained
an unusual guest in our gospel reading, one whose presence and attractiveness
never wears out. However, to start with
the disciples actually find reason to be offended by Jesus. As far as they are
concerned he is an ignorant guest who knows nothing of what was so important to
them. Why else would he so carelessly
ask: “What is this conversation you are having with each other as you walk?”
The disciples respond to
this question by standing still, looking sad- they are processing a grief that
is not easy to talk about. “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not
know the things that have happened here in these days?”
The events of Holy Week
were so significant in Jerusalem that they could not imagine someone not
knowing about them and not being significantly affected. They feel it is a desecration of their deep
sorrow that Jesus is himself so calm and content. Sometimes guests have no idea how insensitive
they come off in not knowing the basics of where they are at!
The disciples also treat
Jesus like an irritating guest. Jesus’
question about what conversation they were having touched a raw nerve… It is
like the saying about displaced aggression, a bad day at work means you snap at
a loved one you don’t mean to yell at and they in turn yell at the next person
they see and maybe even the dog.
The disciples were angry
at those who crucified Jesus, but they unknowingly take out their anger on the
stranger who has met them on the road.
If they couldn’t address their anger at those who killed Jesus, the next
best thing is to turn against the guest who doesn’t realize that certain topics
are simply off limits.
Although guest and
visitors can quickly wear out their welcome, Jesus did not turn out as the type
of guest they perceived Him to be. To
start with he certainly was not ignorant of the events going on in Jerusalem.
He himself knew by his suffering the full extent of what happened on Good
Friday. He alone knew firsthand the
meaning of the scripture’s statement “God made him to be sin, who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Nor was Jesus ignorant of
the purpose for these things. In fact
Jesus led them through a Bible study of the entire scriptures helping them to
see that it was necessary for the Christ to die and on the third day rise
again. He walked with them, and walked
them through the scriptures.
Surely Jesus pointed out
all those passages in the Old Testament that described the curse of the law and
the atonement for our sin that God provided through sacrifice. And passages of the suffering servant who
healed us by his wounds. Jesus helped them to make sense of his crucifixion and
what his resurrection meant.
To our ears it sounds self
evident that the resurrection of Jesus is incredibly good news, and the
guarantee of our resurrection. But we
know this from the scripture. The
Epistles of St. Paul in particular look back to the Old Testament passages that
describe the salvation the coming Messiah would bring.
At this time the disciples
did not have the New Testament, the news of the resurrection sounded like a
puzzle, it was unsettling to have their grief interrupted by a measured hope
that maybe just maybe Jesus is alive after all.
They would not have understood by human reason that Jesus’ resurrection
meant that he would die no more. They
may have seen his resurrection as only a delay until the Roman authorities
killed Him again.
As Jesus taught them from
each and every book of the Old Testament he opened the scriptures to them so
that they saw that his crucifixion was not just one detail in the story, or one
hiccup in God’s plan for Israel’s redemption, but instead the cornerstone of
our salvation. A seven mile walk with
Jesus and the sadness that weighed them down was now replaced with an entirely
new perspective on the recent events in Jerusalem.
The disciples shared how
they had hoped this Jesus was the one who would redeem Israel. They had in mind that Palm Sunday was the
beginning of Jesus unifying the people of Israel to overthrow Roman occupation. Their idea of redemption had to do with temporal
conquest. They lament to Jesus that they
had hoped, but now their hope was dashed.
But the truth of the
matter was that Jesus had already more than fulfilled their hopes. His crucifixion was not a bitter defeat after
all, but the foundation of hope eternal.
They held Jesus at fault
for not being more sensitive about their dashed hopes, and here he was before
them the fulfiller of our salvation.
Although the disciples
were irritated at first by the words of the stranger they encountered, the questions
Jesus asked laid a foundation for their understanding the true meaning of God’s
Word, His questions as they walked along the road began the course of events
for their hearts to burn within them while he opened to them the scriptures.
Likewise Jesus is not
unwilling to touch on sore spots in our lives with the Law so that he can heal
us with the Word of the gospel. Through
His Word we are reminded of the painful truth of how often we fail to love
others as ourselves. In the midst of this
epidemic we have certainly come together as a community. Yet many needs of
others weighs on us to the point where we do not love others as ourselves- as
we are driven into the mindset of every man for himself that staying safe from the
virus in my own life becomes the chief concern.
I can see how my sin is
more pronounced through trying situations and situations where we are afraid of
an unknown future. Through His Word we see the ways in which we fail to trust
in our Savior when we are afraid. Yet
through His Word we also see how Jesus meets us along the way, to make up the
difference for our failures. Our hearts burn within us because we see exactly
how much God loves us.
Jesus is our abiding
guest, even when we are troubled, who comes to us in His Word and whose word
remains with us. The words of the
evening prayer service in our hymnal use this passage to emphasize how Jesus is
our guest in worship who comes to us to bless us with His love: “Stay with us
Lord for it is evening, and the day is almost over.”
Jesus gladly accepts our invitation,
He gladly abides with us in His word. He
gives us His body and blood to drink in the Lord’s Supper- he makes himself
known to us in this breaking of the bread.
And the result is that we feel a change!
Our mood is changed from
sorrow to joy. Our perspectives are
changed from disappointment at how life turned out, to awe and wonder- our
hearts burning within us as we recognize the true purpose of our life as
disciples.
Before recognizing Jesus,
the disciples shared, “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” They had their own imperfect human
expectations of how the future should go. And they saw themselves humbled.
Likewise we sometimes find
ourselves looking back at an expectation that was not fulfilled. We hoped that things would turn out one
particular way- and it didn’t happen.
Our human designs for the future seldom work the way we think they should. Our designs for the future appear to us as the best thing- but time after time we see how God’s design is what truly brings the joy and fulfillment of Christ into our lives.
We are humbled to realize
that we put so much hope into our own designs- when God never promised to bless
our own designs, but His designs. We
realize that the sorrow we feel when plans don’t work out is a sorrow of our
own making. God has not let us down, we
simply have trusted in our own deliverance and reaped accordingly.
In God’s Word we are continually challenged to put our hope in God’s deliverance, not our own strivings. God’s Word invites us to walk with Jesus, read His Word- and then reformat and reprioritize life. As we do this we find fulfillment and certain promises, not disappointments. What a beautiful journey it is, as we walk with our Savior. Amen.
To close this morning’s message we pray the “Prayer of the Church”
Our hearts
have burned in us, O Lord, as Your Word has been read and preached. Keep our
faith from growing cold and grant us grace, that we may not waver in faith or
succumb to temptation. Give to us and to our children receptive hearts, that we
may hear and, hearing, believe and, believing, be steadfast in this faith and
hope all our days. Lord, in Your mercy, hear
our prayer.
You have
cleansed us, O Lord, with water and the Word in Baptism, and You have marked us
as Your own people. Give to us grace, that we may live out this faith in holy
lives, lifting up Your name in word and works for as long as we live. Guide us,
that with souls purified by obedience to the truth, we may love one another
earnestly from a pure heart. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Bless Your
Church, O Lord, that she may welcome the stranger in Christ’s name and manifest
the unity of the faith in the bonds of love. Gather together those who are
separated, and preserve their faith by Your Word until all precautions and
shelter measures have passed. Bless Matthew, presiding in our Synod; Daniel, our district president; Doug our circuit visitor; and Nick, our pastor. Bless those training
for church-work vocations. Bless each of us as we live out our baptismal
vocation of worship, witness, prayer and service. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Guard our
nation, O Lord, that we may enjoy peace and security in the face of threat and
danger. Bless Donald, our president; the Congress of the United States; Eric, our governor; and all state and
local officials, that they may fulfill their offices faithfully. Bless all
emergency and medical workers and the members of the armed forces who protect
us, and teach the nations the ways of peace. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Deliver us
from all our afflictions, and grant us strength to bear all our burdens, O
Lord. Hear us in particular for those
on the front lines of service during this time of pandemic and those
whom we name in our hearts. According to Your gracious will, heal the sick,
relieve those who suffer, comfort the grieving and give peace to the dying.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Stay with
us, O Lord, and be our strength in weakness and our hope in time of despair.
Your gracious will once kept the saints in faith even unto death. Keep us, we
pray, with them in Your faith and fear, that we may be found faithful when
Christ comes again in His glory to bring to fulfillment all things, once and
forevermore. Lord, in Your mercy, hear
our prayer.
Through the
breaking of the bread, O Lord, feed us upon the flesh of Christ and grant us to
drink His blood in faith. Preserve the faith of all of us who wish to receive
this Sacrament in the presence of the congregation but cannot, and grant them
their desire soon. Lord, in Your mercy, hear
our prayer.
Accept, O
Lord, this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving we bring for all Your goodness
and generosity. And with our song of praise, accept our tithes and offerings we
give at the time we are able, that Your Church may have the resources to
proclaim Your Gospel and care for the poor and those in need. Lord, in Your
mercy, hear our prayer.
These and
whatever other things we need, O Lord, we pray You to grant us in the name of
and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose death has made full atonement
for our sin and whose resurrection has granted to us the promise of our own
joyful resurrection to eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
