Sermon
Maundy Thursday
April 9, 2009
Text: Mark 14:12-24
Dear Friends in Christ,
With all the focus on Good Friday and Easter, we miss what may be the most important moment of all. It is the moment that explains and gives meaning to the events that would follow.
The Jewish religion was established at Mount Sinai with the construction of the tabernacle and beginning of the cultus. However, Passover set the stage for the practice of the Jewish religion. It began a pattern that would be followed throughout the period of the tabernacle and both temples. The people killed the lamb and painted the blood on the doors of their houses. The houses that had blood were passed over by God and the life of the first born was spared. But we often miss what happened next. They were to roast the lamb and eat it. Anything that they could not eat, they were to burn in the fire. Later, at Mount Sinai, the people were dedicated to God as a nation of priests by being sprinkled with the blood of bulls that were sacrificed to God. This was called the blood of the Testament. It marks the people of Israel as a people bought with blood. Then comes something significant. Seventy elders of the people ate with God. What did they eat? Meat from the bulls that were sacrificed. Those marked with the blood were set aside for God. Those who ate with God claimed this for themselves.
Christ is the true Passover Lamb - the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Christ explains this to His disciples in the upper room. He was about to die. He was about to do all that God had promised. He was about to fulfill all that had been promised in the sacrificial system of the temple. But some things do not change. To belong to God, we must be marked with blood. To claim this as our own, we must eat of the sacrifice. Since we cannot go back in time and eat of from the corpse, Christ has a new way for us to partake of this. He gives us His very flesh in, with, and under the bread. The bread of the Supper does not represent Christ. It is Christ. It is the means by which we participate in the one perfect sacrifice for our sins. For this to be true Christ must be present in that bread according to the flesh. For this sacrifice to be credited to our account, we must literally eat of the sacrificial lamb. Then, we are sprinkled with the blood of the Testament. But here there is a change. The Israelites were sprinkled outwardly. The blood touched their clothes and their skin. We take the most Holy Blood into our selves. We are sprinkled inwardly - that is our hearts, minds, and consciences. By this we are marked as one set aside by God. We are set aside as that nation of priests.
By explaining this ahead of time, Christ was creating the framework for His actions. He was dying, yes. He chose to give up His life. But in the Last Supper, we see why He did so. He is establishing Himself as the sum of all the sacrifices. He is the living temple. He is the victim and the priest offering up the sacrifice. He is the entire Old Testament cultus embodied in one single person. This is what modern American Christianity doesn’t understand. Most American Christians are totally clueless - like proverbial blonde in all the jokes. It is commonly held that Christ abolished the Old Testament with His death and resurrection. This is false and a poor reading of what Christ, Himself says. What did He say? "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18) The Law, that is the Old Testament, is not abolished to this day. How do we know. Heaven and earth are still here. But it is all fulfilled in Christ. This is no more need for a temple. Christ is the temple. There is no more need of sacrifices. Christ is the one perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world. Christ blood takes away sins. The blood of lambs and bulls cannot do this, any more than wine could do this. It is only in that these things become the incarnation of Christ’s blood among us that they have the power to forgive sins. But all this has to be conveyed to us. We must be attached to it. Christ’s sacrifice must become the sacrifice I bring to the temple of God. We do that when we eat of what was sacrificed and are sprinkled inwardly with the blood of the sacrifice.
Maundy Thursday. It is the day that explains the meaning of all the events that are to follow. It explains it by showing how Christ is now fulfilling the entire Old Testament - that He has become the entire Old Testament. In the institution of the Lord Supper, Christ is showing us how these things, His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection to life, are indeed ours as well. We no longer bring lambs and bulls to be offered up to God. God has provided the perfect sacrifice on His holy mountain. In the Supper, He carries us to that place and makes us participants with Him. In the Supper, we make the one perfect sacrifice our sacrifice, by eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood.
Amen!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Sermon for April 4-5
Sermon
Palm Sunday
April 4-5, 2009
Text: Mark 11:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
In the ancient world, there was an old king. He knew that didn’t have long. He was bed ridden. His circulation was failing. In one of the cruelest consequences of polygamous marriage, his wives could not care for him. They were jealous of one another. So each of the wives was working hard to make certain that none of the other wives would gain influence with the king by being his care giver. They had to bring in a young virgin to serve as his nurse.
As the king lay in his bed, clearly in his last days, one of his many sons attempted to lay claim to the throne. But there was a secret oath. One of the king’s wives came to him and reminded him of the secret oath. She also reported what the king’s son was doing. Though the king was old and frail, his mind was still sharp. He knew what needed to be done. He ordered the son of this wife to go the Mount of Olives. He ordered Nathan the prophet and Zadok the priest to accompany him. They were also to take the palace guard. This palace guard was largely made up of foreign mercenaries who loyal only to the old king. Once on the Mount of Olives, Zadok the Priest and Nathan the prophet anointed the boy king. They placed him on the king’s own donkey and led him into the city of Jerusalem. The soldiers cried out - Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh. Thus Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba was proclaimed king of Isarael.
What is interesting is how we read the Old Testament in a way that is different that the way the Jewish people read the Old Testament. We might know the story of Joseph. We might know some things about David - that he was anointed king at a young age, that he had been shepherd, and the he killed Goliath. But this portion of the Old Testament is not well known to us. Yet, every Jew would have been intimately familiar with this - Solomon’s entrance. Why? Because it was one of the high points of the Israelite kingdom. More important than this however, was that there would be a Son of David who was greater than Solomon. And He would make His kingly entrance into Jerusalem in the same manner. He had to come from the Mount of Olives. He had to be riding on a donkey. He had to enter with great shouts of acclimation. As a whole, the Jewish people were not looking for the virgin birth. They were not looking for someone who would lampoon their sins. They would not be looking for a suffering Messiah. They would be looking for that kingly entrance. It is significant that several false messiahs entered Jerusalem in just this same way.
We sometimes call this Christ’s coronation entrance, but that is not precisely correct. It was much the same as Solomon’s entrance. Solomon was not immediately crowned king. His father, David was still alive. It would be a short time before he was actually crowned king. So also, it would be a short time before Christ was crowned king. That would happen on Friday. Instead of a crown of gold, it was a crown of thorns. Christ was a different kind of king than Solomon. He did not come to sit in splendor and acquire vast wealth. He came to be a King who fought in the stead of His people. He would, in a sense, fight a battle with another Goliath like character - Satan. He would defeat Satan, not with a stone, but by His own suffering and death.
In a very real sense, Christ was coming to Jerusalem to provoke His enemies. He knew what would happen. He knew that He was coming to Jerusalem to die. That was His purpose. He stated this clearly on many occasions. Unlike earthly kings who might indeed be greeted with “hosanna”, Christ would literally fulfill that word. For hosanna means “Lord, save us.” Certainly man earthly kings saved their lands from foreign invaders and the like. Christ would save us from Satan, sin and death. That is a far greater enemy than any earthly king would face.
In order to understand why this is important, we must see our own need. This is where the Ten Commandments are so important. We need those commandments, to show us our sins. When we rightly understand the commandments, and compare our lives to them, we understand how we are liars, thieves, murders, despisers of parents, despisers of the Word, and abusers of God’s Holy Name. We see that all these sins flow out of the fact that we do not fear, love, and trust in Christ as we should. This is why we have our young people memorize the commandments. This why we read them in church periodically. This is also why in this past Advent and Lent, we dedicated our mid-weeks to the commandments. When we see our lives in the mirror of the commandments, we understand that we our Lord to save us. We need what “hosanna” says. If Christ had come and established an earthly kingdom, we’d still be screwed before God’s judgement. That’s the point. We need just the kind of King Jesus is. We need a King who dies for our sins. We need to be saved.
Interestingly, Christ entered Jerusalem directly into the temple. Christ would overthrown that temple. In the other Gospel accounts Christ, cleanses the temple. He throws out the money changers. Why? Because the temple was to be a beacon to the world of God’s gracious presence in the world. But Christ would not be done. He had earlier told the Samaritan woman that in the future the temple would not be the place to worship God. On Good Friday, Christ departed the temple. Now this is one of these mysteries about the nature of God. We say Christ was a man. On Good Friday He was on the cross. But He was also in the temple, in the Holy of Holies, behind the curtain. At least until the moment of His death. At that moment, we know that the curtain was torn and the Holy of Holies was thrown open. This was Christ leaving the temple. The temple was no longer His throne room. People were to no longer look to the temple. They were to look Christ’s death and resurrection. They were to look for Christ in the break of the bread. It should be noted that in just a few years the temple was destroyed and has never been rebuilt. I don’t believe that God will ever permit it to be rebuilt. Our King lives among us in Word and Sacrament - that is in the liturgy.
On Palm Sunday Christ entered Jerusalem to claim His throne. He came to die. He came to be the perfect Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. But He enters as King so that there is no mistake. He is the true of Son of David. He is the One who truly saves His people as they asked in the word “Hosanna.” He is not like Solomon who built the first temple, but was not faithful. He was not David who was not permitted to build the temple because he had blood on his hands. He is God the Son, the perfect obedient Son of God, the true King of the Universe, in whom God the Father has placed all authority. If we are looking for a savior from sin, in Christ we clearly see it. We see it in a king placed on a cross and crowned with thorns. He would be mocked and abused. But we see the true glory in the gift He gives to us through His death and resurrection.
Amen!
Palm Sunday
April 4-5, 2009
Text: Mark 11:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
In the ancient world, there was an old king. He knew that didn’t have long. He was bed ridden. His circulation was failing. In one of the cruelest consequences of polygamous marriage, his wives could not care for him. They were jealous of one another. So each of the wives was working hard to make certain that none of the other wives would gain influence with the king by being his care giver. They had to bring in a young virgin to serve as his nurse.
As the king lay in his bed, clearly in his last days, one of his many sons attempted to lay claim to the throne. But there was a secret oath. One of the king’s wives came to him and reminded him of the secret oath. She also reported what the king’s son was doing. Though the king was old and frail, his mind was still sharp. He knew what needed to be done. He ordered the son of this wife to go the Mount of Olives. He ordered Nathan the prophet and Zadok the priest to accompany him. They were also to take the palace guard. This palace guard was largely made up of foreign mercenaries who loyal only to the old king. Once on the Mount of Olives, Zadok the Priest and Nathan the prophet anointed the boy king. They placed him on the king’s own donkey and led him into the city of Jerusalem. The soldiers cried out - Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of Yahweh. Thus Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba was proclaimed king of Isarael.
What is interesting is how we read the Old Testament in a way that is different that the way the Jewish people read the Old Testament. We might know the story of Joseph. We might know some things about David - that he was anointed king at a young age, that he had been shepherd, and the he killed Goliath. But this portion of the Old Testament is not well known to us. Yet, every Jew would have been intimately familiar with this - Solomon’s entrance. Why? Because it was one of the high points of the Israelite kingdom. More important than this however, was that there would be a Son of David who was greater than Solomon. And He would make His kingly entrance into Jerusalem in the same manner. He had to come from the Mount of Olives. He had to be riding on a donkey. He had to enter with great shouts of acclimation. As a whole, the Jewish people were not looking for the virgin birth. They were not looking for someone who would lampoon their sins. They would not be looking for a suffering Messiah. They would be looking for that kingly entrance. It is significant that several false messiahs entered Jerusalem in just this same way.
We sometimes call this Christ’s coronation entrance, but that is not precisely correct. It was much the same as Solomon’s entrance. Solomon was not immediately crowned king. His father, David was still alive. It would be a short time before he was actually crowned king. So also, it would be a short time before Christ was crowned king. That would happen on Friday. Instead of a crown of gold, it was a crown of thorns. Christ was a different kind of king than Solomon. He did not come to sit in splendor and acquire vast wealth. He came to be a King who fought in the stead of His people. He would, in a sense, fight a battle with another Goliath like character - Satan. He would defeat Satan, not with a stone, but by His own suffering and death.
In a very real sense, Christ was coming to Jerusalem to provoke His enemies. He knew what would happen. He knew that He was coming to Jerusalem to die. That was His purpose. He stated this clearly on many occasions. Unlike earthly kings who might indeed be greeted with “hosanna”, Christ would literally fulfill that word. For hosanna means “Lord, save us.” Certainly man earthly kings saved their lands from foreign invaders and the like. Christ would save us from Satan, sin and death. That is a far greater enemy than any earthly king would face.
In order to understand why this is important, we must see our own need. This is where the Ten Commandments are so important. We need those commandments, to show us our sins. When we rightly understand the commandments, and compare our lives to them, we understand how we are liars, thieves, murders, despisers of parents, despisers of the Word, and abusers of God’s Holy Name. We see that all these sins flow out of the fact that we do not fear, love, and trust in Christ as we should. This is why we have our young people memorize the commandments. This why we read them in church periodically. This is also why in this past Advent and Lent, we dedicated our mid-weeks to the commandments. When we see our lives in the mirror of the commandments, we understand that we our Lord to save us. We need what “hosanna” says. If Christ had come and established an earthly kingdom, we’d still be screwed before God’s judgement. That’s the point. We need just the kind of King Jesus is. We need a King who dies for our sins. We need to be saved.
Interestingly, Christ entered Jerusalem directly into the temple. Christ would overthrown that temple. In the other Gospel accounts Christ, cleanses the temple. He throws out the money changers. Why? Because the temple was to be a beacon to the world of God’s gracious presence in the world. But Christ would not be done. He had earlier told the Samaritan woman that in the future the temple would not be the place to worship God. On Good Friday, Christ departed the temple. Now this is one of these mysteries about the nature of God. We say Christ was a man. On Good Friday He was on the cross. But He was also in the temple, in the Holy of Holies, behind the curtain. At least until the moment of His death. At that moment, we know that the curtain was torn and the Holy of Holies was thrown open. This was Christ leaving the temple. The temple was no longer His throne room. People were to no longer look to the temple. They were to look Christ’s death and resurrection. They were to look for Christ in the break of the bread. It should be noted that in just a few years the temple was destroyed and has never been rebuilt. I don’t believe that God will ever permit it to be rebuilt. Our King lives among us in Word and Sacrament - that is in the liturgy.
On Palm Sunday Christ entered Jerusalem to claim His throne. He came to die. He came to be the perfect Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. But He enters as King so that there is no mistake. He is the true of Son of David. He is the One who truly saves His people as they asked in the word “Hosanna.” He is not like Solomon who built the first temple, but was not faithful. He was not David who was not permitted to build the temple because he had blood on his hands. He is God the Son, the perfect obedient Son of God, the true King of the Universe, in whom God the Father has placed all authority. If we are looking for a savior from sin, in Christ we clearly see it. We see it in a king placed on a cross and crowned with thorns. He would be mocked and abused. But we see the true glory in the gift He gives to us through His death and resurrection.
Amen!
Sermon for March 31-April 1
Sermon
The Sixth Midweek in Lent
March 31-April 1, 2009
Text: Exodus 20:16
Dear Friends in Christ,
There is an irony to the occasion of this sermon. A judge heard a suit by an atheist that argued that since atheists had no recognized holidays, Christians shouldn’t be allowed to celebrate any holidays either. The judge dismissed the suit saying that the atheists had their own holiday - April fools day. April fools day is really a liars holiday. My Uncle Arnie once, on April 1st, quietly and somberly told each of the children in turn as they came down for breakfast, that the chicken coop had burned down. They knew it was April 1st but their dad was so somber and serious that they each had to go check.
The Eighth Commandment is actually one of the hardest of all the commandments to get our brains around. It doesn’t forbid joviality and teasing. But it does require a great deal of us. The way we can see this best is to reverse commandment. Let’s forget about, for a moment, what it forbids. Rather, lets look at what it commands us to do. We are commanded to bear true witness. This command does not even allow us the option of silence. We are to bear witness to that which is true. Any attempt to silence the truth is also a violation of this command.
None of God’s commands were ever intended as a weapon to be used against others. Any attempt to use a command as a weapon is in fact a gross misuse of God’s law. In the Missouri Synod today, this is in fact the most frequent violation of the Eighth Commandment. I have rarely heard people utter outright falsehoods. But I have been warned on many occasions, when I knew I was speaking the truth, that I was in danger of violating the Eighth Commandment. What is happening in these cases? Someone doesn’t want the truth spoken. So they use the command as a weapon. In so doing they themselves violate the very command that they are claiming to uphold.
Another frequent abuse of the Eighth Commandment is the implicit slander. I remember a member of the synod’s board of directors telling me, to my face, that I didn’t know all the facts about the attempted firing of Robert Preus as president of the seminary. That if I knew everything I would understand why it was necessary and even good that Preus be removed. But none of this could be told, to protect the reputation of Dr. Preus. What he was in essence saying was that Dr. Preus was guilty of some terrible wrong doing. So while claiming that he was protecting Dr. Preus, he was in fact destroying his reputation, by leaving this unspecified charge hanging out there. Of course, in time, the facts did all come out and there was nothing to this man’s claim. It was just an out and out slander. It was a clear false witness. Yet, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a church official do just this very thing, I would be a wealthy man. You see, we are called upon to make judgements about many things. We must judge truly and honestly based upon what is known. If someone has information that would change that judgement, they must lay it out. If they are unwilling to do so, they must be silent. For their very claim of “secret” information is in itself a slander. If my judgement in the end is wrong, I have still judged rightly, since I have made my judgement based on what was known. My only obligation would be to diligently seek out all the known information. If I have done this, I have not sinned. The Church is not to trade in secrets. It is to deal openly in the light of day. When it does this, everyone can see that true witness has been born. When it is clear that true witness has been born, everyone’s reputation, including the Church’s, is protected.
The key to understanding the Eighth Commandment is to realize that we are to bear true witness to whatever situation is before us. If it is a private matter, then we can deal with it privately. But if it is a public matter, silence is not an option. If we know facts pertaining to it we must bring them forward. This is even ensconced in our criminal law. If I know something concerning a criminal matter, I must bring this forward to the court. I cannot hide it away. If I do, I can be thrown in jail. This is the most frequent way in which the Eighth Commandment is violated. Certainly there are times when someone tells an out and out lie. But most often the violation is failing to come forward and bear witness to the truth.
As we have looked at the commandments Christ spoke from Mount Sinai, we have noted that they are to serve as a mirror. We are to use the law to examine our own lives. And we see that we have not kept the Eighth Commandment. We have not born true witness as we should. In the same way we see that we have not kept any of the commandments. We are to use the law against ourselves. We are not to used it as a weapon to brow beat others. In recognizing our failure, we need to see a couple other things. We cannot do better by our own power. Second, doing better in the future doesn’t undo the sins that we have already committed. So the law, as the mirror, is to show us the utter futility of our own works. The law just sinks us ever deeper. And so the law is given to make it clear that we must turn outside ourselves for help. We must turn to Christ. For only in His death and resurrection can we find a cure for the law’s demands. It is important to know the law, so that we can rightly examine our lives. But it is also important to understand the extreme demands of the laws. We must understand the law is beyond us. It kills us. But the cross of Christ, raises us to life.
Amen!
The Sixth Midweek in Lent
March 31-April 1, 2009
Text: Exodus 20:16
Dear Friends in Christ,
There is an irony to the occasion of this sermon. A judge heard a suit by an atheist that argued that since atheists had no recognized holidays, Christians shouldn’t be allowed to celebrate any holidays either. The judge dismissed the suit saying that the atheists had their own holiday - April fools day. April fools day is really a liars holiday. My Uncle Arnie once, on April 1st, quietly and somberly told each of the children in turn as they came down for breakfast, that the chicken coop had burned down. They knew it was April 1st but their dad was so somber and serious that they each had to go check.
The Eighth Commandment is actually one of the hardest of all the commandments to get our brains around. It doesn’t forbid joviality and teasing. But it does require a great deal of us. The way we can see this best is to reverse commandment. Let’s forget about, for a moment, what it forbids. Rather, lets look at what it commands us to do. We are commanded to bear true witness. This command does not even allow us the option of silence. We are to bear witness to that which is true. Any attempt to silence the truth is also a violation of this command.
None of God’s commands were ever intended as a weapon to be used against others. Any attempt to use a command as a weapon is in fact a gross misuse of God’s law. In the Missouri Synod today, this is in fact the most frequent violation of the Eighth Commandment. I have rarely heard people utter outright falsehoods. But I have been warned on many occasions, when I knew I was speaking the truth, that I was in danger of violating the Eighth Commandment. What is happening in these cases? Someone doesn’t want the truth spoken. So they use the command as a weapon. In so doing they themselves violate the very command that they are claiming to uphold.
Another frequent abuse of the Eighth Commandment is the implicit slander. I remember a member of the synod’s board of directors telling me, to my face, that I didn’t know all the facts about the attempted firing of Robert Preus as president of the seminary. That if I knew everything I would understand why it was necessary and even good that Preus be removed. But none of this could be told, to protect the reputation of Dr. Preus. What he was in essence saying was that Dr. Preus was guilty of some terrible wrong doing. So while claiming that he was protecting Dr. Preus, he was in fact destroying his reputation, by leaving this unspecified charge hanging out there. Of course, in time, the facts did all come out and there was nothing to this man’s claim. It was just an out and out slander. It was a clear false witness. Yet, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a church official do just this very thing, I would be a wealthy man. You see, we are called upon to make judgements about many things. We must judge truly and honestly based upon what is known. If someone has information that would change that judgement, they must lay it out. If they are unwilling to do so, they must be silent. For their very claim of “secret” information is in itself a slander. If my judgement in the end is wrong, I have still judged rightly, since I have made my judgement based on what was known. My only obligation would be to diligently seek out all the known information. If I have done this, I have not sinned. The Church is not to trade in secrets. It is to deal openly in the light of day. When it does this, everyone can see that true witness has been born. When it is clear that true witness has been born, everyone’s reputation, including the Church’s, is protected.
The key to understanding the Eighth Commandment is to realize that we are to bear true witness to whatever situation is before us. If it is a private matter, then we can deal with it privately. But if it is a public matter, silence is not an option. If we know facts pertaining to it we must bring them forward. This is even ensconced in our criminal law. If I know something concerning a criminal matter, I must bring this forward to the court. I cannot hide it away. If I do, I can be thrown in jail. This is the most frequent way in which the Eighth Commandment is violated. Certainly there are times when someone tells an out and out lie. But most often the violation is failing to come forward and bear witness to the truth.
As we have looked at the commandments Christ spoke from Mount Sinai, we have noted that they are to serve as a mirror. We are to use the law to examine our own lives. And we see that we have not kept the Eighth Commandment. We have not born true witness as we should. In the same way we see that we have not kept any of the commandments. We are to use the law against ourselves. We are not to used it as a weapon to brow beat others. In recognizing our failure, we need to see a couple other things. We cannot do better by our own power. Second, doing better in the future doesn’t undo the sins that we have already committed. So the law, as the mirror, is to show us the utter futility of our own works. The law just sinks us ever deeper. And so the law is given to make it clear that we must turn outside ourselves for help. We must turn to Christ. For only in His death and resurrection can we find a cure for the law’s demands. It is important to know the law, so that we can rightly examine our lives. But it is also important to understand the extreme demands of the laws. We must understand the law is beyond us. It kills us. But the cross of Christ, raises us to life.
Amen!
Sermon for March 28-29
Sermon
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 28-29, 2009
Text: Mark 10:32-45
Dear Friends in Christ,
Did you hear that their going to make a new Three Stooges movie? They’re still working on the casting of Moe, but Jim Cary is going to put on forty pounds and shave his head to play Curly and Sean Penn is going to play Larry. I always thought Sean Penn was a stooge. We’ll see if this one ever sees the light of day. Hollywood is like that. There were several attempts to put Lord of the Rings onto film. Two saw the light of day. An animated version flopped, but the recent one scored big. Dark Shadows was the most popular daytime show ever. Only one attempt to bring it back ever saw the light of day - and it lasted a half season on Friday nights. But the Three Stooges, well, that’s another one of those iconic acts that it would seem natural to recreate. But one wonders if it takes more brains to be that dumb than Hollywood has these days.
Long before Larry, Moe and Curly were on the silver screen, there was Peter, James and John. Even though we have three names, we know that in reality, in the Bible there were twelve stooges. That’s okay, because there were really six stooges on the silver screen - Larry, Moe, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe. And the actor who played Curly Joe was so much younger than the others he had actually grown up watching them.
Peter, James and John were really the originals. They to have patented the idea of putting their foot in their mouth.
Christ says: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.” What did Jesus just say? He said He’s going to die. He’s going to die horribly - painfully. This is not going to be fun. Then two of the stooges come up - James and John, - brothers, kind of like Moe and Curly. They ask: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” About now I’d be asking them to go to the doctor and have the wax cleaned of their ears. You want to scream: “Haven’t you been listening? He’s going to Jerusalem to die.” They’re still thinking of an earthly Davidic kingdom. They’re still thinking in terms of earthly glory.
They say patience is divine. Certainly Christ showed more patience than I would have. Christ poses to them a question: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” He’s asking them if they understand what is to come. They insist that they are, but they are still pretty clueless. Christ then tells that they will indeed drink of the same cup. By this Christ is saying that they would indeed suffer and be abused in the same manner as He Himself. James would be the first. He would be beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I. Peter would be imprisoned. His life would be saved when an angel would lead him out of prison. There is a rather humorous account of this that we read in the book Acts. “He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision...they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me..." When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.” (Acts 12) Peter would later be crucified in the city of Rome by Nero. John would live to a ripe old age and some even claim that he was bodily assumed into heaven. But in his old age he would be imprisoned on the Island of Patmos by the Emperor Domition. Each of these men would indeed suffer on account of Christ.
This goes to very nature of Christ’s mission and the nature of the Christian life. Christ came to serve. He came to die in service to mankind. He came to be the ransom price for our release from Satan’s power. We see this in laid out so clearly in Chronicles of Narnia. The devil makes the bargain. He thinks that with Christ dead, He will be able to destroy man, even if he temporarily surrenders his hold over us. But the devil does not understand the resurrection. He doesn’t fully understand the power of God in Christ. And so when Christ rises from the dead, Satan is undone. He cannot hold man, since the law has been satisfied.
The Christian life flows out of this reality. Without the foundation of Christ’s death and resurrection, our lives are worthless. This is why these WWJD bracelets were wrong headed. They were focused upon what Jesus would do in a superficial way. They didn’t take into account that much of what Jesus did, we cannot do. Nor was it clear what Jesus had done. That is where we must start. Christ served us. He made us His children. He gave us life that we did not have. Then from this foundation, we seek to serve our neighbor. This does not earn Christ’s favor. But it is a reflection of the fact that we know that we have Christ’s favor. Serving our neighbor flows out of understanding how Christ has served us. If we try to motivate Christians in any other way, we will create self righteous hypocrites who are on their way to hell. The Christian life must flow from the cross of Christ. What He has done for us, must be the starting point. Any thing we do is must be in response to that reality.
Christ came to earth to die. He states that clearly. In this He is serving mankind. He is paying the price of our sins. He is breaking Satan’s power over us. Christ is not a king with earthly glory. He comes in lowly pomp to die. When we seek earthly glory, it is a false glory. Earthly glory is never about Christ. Christ is about eternal glory. Our lives also need to reflect this. Christ has served us. We serve others as a reflection of what Christ has done for us. Christ’s true glory is service. So as Christ has served us so we serve our neighbor. That is what it is to be truly great in the kingdom of God.
Amen!
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 28-29, 2009
Text: Mark 10:32-45
Dear Friends in Christ,
Did you hear that their going to make a new Three Stooges movie? They’re still working on the casting of Moe, but Jim Cary is going to put on forty pounds and shave his head to play Curly and Sean Penn is going to play Larry. I always thought Sean Penn was a stooge. We’ll see if this one ever sees the light of day. Hollywood is like that. There were several attempts to put Lord of the Rings onto film. Two saw the light of day. An animated version flopped, but the recent one scored big. Dark Shadows was the most popular daytime show ever. Only one attempt to bring it back ever saw the light of day - and it lasted a half season on Friday nights. But the Three Stooges, well, that’s another one of those iconic acts that it would seem natural to recreate. But one wonders if it takes more brains to be that dumb than Hollywood has these days.
Long before Larry, Moe and Curly were on the silver screen, there was Peter, James and John. Even though we have three names, we know that in reality, in the Bible there were twelve stooges. That’s okay, because there were really six stooges on the silver screen - Larry, Moe, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe. And the actor who played Curly Joe was so much younger than the others he had actually grown up watching them.
Peter, James and John were really the originals. They to have patented the idea of putting their foot in their mouth.
Christ says: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him.” What did Jesus just say? He said He’s going to die. He’s going to die horribly - painfully. This is not going to be fun. Then two of the stooges come up - James and John, - brothers, kind of like Moe and Curly. They ask: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” About now I’d be asking them to go to the doctor and have the wax cleaned of their ears. You want to scream: “Haven’t you been listening? He’s going to Jerusalem to die.” They’re still thinking of an earthly Davidic kingdom. They’re still thinking in terms of earthly glory.
They say patience is divine. Certainly Christ showed more patience than I would have. Christ poses to them a question: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” He’s asking them if they understand what is to come. They insist that they are, but they are still pretty clueless. Christ then tells that they will indeed drink of the same cup. By this Christ is saying that they would indeed suffer and be abused in the same manner as He Himself. James would be the first. He would be beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I. Peter would be imprisoned. His life would be saved when an angel would lead him out of prison. There is a rather humorous account of this that we read in the book Acts. “He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision...they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me..." When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.” (Acts 12) Peter would later be crucified in the city of Rome by Nero. John would live to a ripe old age and some even claim that he was bodily assumed into heaven. But in his old age he would be imprisoned on the Island of Patmos by the Emperor Domition. Each of these men would indeed suffer on account of Christ.
This goes to very nature of Christ’s mission and the nature of the Christian life. Christ came to serve. He came to die in service to mankind. He came to be the ransom price for our release from Satan’s power. We see this in laid out so clearly in Chronicles of Narnia. The devil makes the bargain. He thinks that with Christ dead, He will be able to destroy man, even if he temporarily surrenders his hold over us. But the devil does not understand the resurrection. He doesn’t fully understand the power of God in Christ. And so when Christ rises from the dead, Satan is undone. He cannot hold man, since the law has been satisfied.
The Christian life flows out of this reality. Without the foundation of Christ’s death and resurrection, our lives are worthless. This is why these WWJD bracelets were wrong headed. They were focused upon what Jesus would do in a superficial way. They didn’t take into account that much of what Jesus did, we cannot do. Nor was it clear what Jesus had done. That is where we must start. Christ served us. He made us His children. He gave us life that we did not have. Then from this foundation, we seek to serve our neighbor. This does not earn Christ’s favor. But it is a reflection of the fact that we know that we have Christ’s favor. Serving our neighbor flows out of understanding how Christ has served us. If we try to motivate Christians in any other way, we will create self righteous hypocrites who are on their way to hell. The Christian life must flow from the cross of Christ. What He has done for us, must be the starting point. Any thing we do is must be in response to that reality.
Christ came to earth to die. He states that clearly. In this He is serving mankind. He is paying the price of our sins. He is breaking Satan’s power over us. Christ is not a king with earthly glory. He comes in lowly pomp to die. When we seek earthly glory, it is a false glory. Earthly glory is never about Christ. Christ is about eternal glory. Our lives also need to reflect this. Christ has served us. We serve others as a reflection of what Christ has done for us. Christ’s true glory is service. So as Christ has served us so we serve our neighbor. That is what it is to be truly great in the kingdom of God.
Amen!
Sermon for March 24-25
Sermon
The Fifth Midweek in Lent
March 24-25, 2009
Text: Exodus 20:15
Dear Friends in Christ,
You shall not steal. This is the new slogan for the plastics industry, right? You know get rid of all the metal products and replace them with plastic ones. No, you don’t think that’s right? I know, it’s the campaign slogan for those who oppose Republican party national chairman Michael Steele. Oh, you don’t think that’s right either. Oh, I know it’s an environmental slogan opposing foundries. I see you’re still shaking your head. That must not be it either.
You shall not steal. What is this all about. It’s about property. Yes, the Bible affirms the idea of private property. The Bible considers property and wealth a blessing from God. But it also condemns those who take it from others. We need to take this apart to understand what God is saying to us.
What is the Biblical understanding of property? It has two meanings. The first is the fruit of ones own labor. Throughout the Old Testament, blessing is described and planting and harvesting. Curse is described as planting and someone else harvesting, such as a foreign invader. So it is mine because I have earned it. I have put the time and sweat in so it belongs to me, to do with as I please. The second meaning of property is that which is freely given as a gift. Interestingly, here there is greater responsibility. A gift is also a trust. Whereas what you have earned it yours to do as please. You can use it wisely or foolishly. It is your call. But what is given to you is a trust. It must be used for the purpose it was given. The recipient is responsible to the giver for the use they make of it. One of the most common forms of gift in the Scriptures is an inheritance. We might say well, what responsibility is there with that. The giver is dead. But the Fourth Commandment requires us to bring honor to their name. So we must use the gift in a way that brings honor to their name. So property is what we have earned and what we have been given. What we have been given is always the more precious of the two.
Stealing or theft is the taking of that which we have not earned and have not been given. So what are some common forms of theft today among the supposedly “good” people. Disputing a will. Unless one can show that there was some manipulation of the deceased, this is theft. So lets say a hired care giver is dishonest and convinces an elderly person to rewrite their will to favor the care giver. It would be right for the family to dispute this and have that will set aside in favor of an earlier will. But they would not be free to claim anything they pleased. In a story, an elderly lady felt so pressed upon by greedy relatives and other gold diggers that at the last moment before her death, she left everything to her lawyer. Knowing that the will would be challenged, the lawyer simply distributed the estate fairly, so that everyone got a share, but at the same time were thwarted as well. He kept only his fees. That lawyer displayed the proper honesty that is expected of all of us.
What about law suits. Even the laws of Moses provided for what we today call civil suits. The Lutheran Confessions teach us that if we have a dispute of a legal nature, the court has been put into place by God to resolve such things. But there’s a catch. We are to go to the courts to demand justice. Lets say our property has been damaged by the actions of another person. We can demand that they pay to put it right. Perhaps we can demand a little extra for our time and hassle, and of course of legal fees. But if we ask for money far beyond what was done, that is stealing. When I was in Indiana, one of my predecessor’s wife fell on a wet floor in a public building. They sued and got a big settlement so that they could retire in grand style. But the lady was not seriously injured. So there, this pastor, was guilty of theft in demanding compensation far beyond the injury that was done.
Can the government be a thief? Certainly. Government’s role is defined by God. It is there restrain evil. It does that by having a police force, military, courts and the like. It is not put in place by God to be our nanny. The government is not charged with taking care of us. It’s charged with protecting us. So when the government seizes property for purposes other than public use, they are a thief. In one case, a church wished to relocate. They spent years buying up small parcels of land until they had about forty acres. They were just about ready to start building when the city came in and seized the land so that they could sell it to a shopping center developer. Even though they offered compensation, this was theft by the government. Sadly our courts have permitted this sort of the thing to happen. Likewise all the attempts at redistributing wealth result in the government being guilty of theft. I would indeed charge the wealthy to be generous in helping their fellow man. That is good, right and salutary. But when the government takes that same money by force, to give out to those it chooses, it is theft, plain and simple. We must see it as such. For such things are grave injustices before God.
You shall not steal. We might think this is one we don’t have to worry about. But stealing is all around us. Many of the “good” people are in fact thieves. Often we ourselves are thieves. We’ve become so calloused by our society and our bad laws that we often don’t even see our thievery. And so we must repent of this also. But we do not repent without hope. For we know that in Christ our sins are forgiven. We can turn to Christ with certain that hope that He will indeed turn a gracious eye to us, as He once did to another thief. We know that we also will hear those words of assurance from the lips of Christ - “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Amen!
The Fifth Midweek in Lent
March 24-25, 2009
Text: Exodus 20:15
Dear Friends in Christ,
You shall not steal. This is the new slogan for the plastics industry, right? You know get rid of all the metal products and replace them with plastic ones. No, you don’t think that’s right? I know, it’s the campaign slogan for those who oppose Republican party national chairman Michael Steele. Oh, you don’t think that’s right either. Oh, I know it’s an environmental slogan opposing foundries. I see you’re still shaking your head. That must not be it either.
You shall not steal. What is this all about. It’s about property. Yes, the Bible affirms the idea of private property. The Bible considers property and wealth a blessing from God. But it also condemns those who take it from others. We need to take this apart to understand what God is saying to us.
What is the Biblical understanding of property? It has two meanings. The first is the fruit of ones own labor. Throughout the Old Testament, blessing is described and planting and harvesting. Curse is described as planting and someone else harvesting, such as a foreign invader. So it is mine because I have earned it. I have put the time and sweat in so it belongs to me, to do with as I please. The second meaning of property is that which is freely given as a gift. Interestingly, here there is greater responsibility. A gift is also a trust. Whereas what you have earned it yours to do as please. You can use it wisely or foolishly. It is your call. But what is given to you is a trust. It must be used for the purpose it was given. The recipient is responsible to the giver for the use they make of it. One of the most common forms of gift in the Scriptures is an inheritance. We might say well, what responsibility is there with that. The giver is dead. But the Fourth Commandment requires us to bring honor to their name. So we must use the gift in a way that brings honor to their name. So property is what we have earned and what we have been given. What we have been given is always the more precious of the two.
Stealing or theft is the taking of that which we have not earned and have not been given. So what are some common forms of theft today among the supposedly “good” people. Disputing a will. Unless one can show that there was some manipulation of the deceased, this is theft. So lets say a hired care giver is dishonest and convinces an elderly person to rewrite their will to favor the care giver. It would be right for the family to dispute this and have that will set aside in favor of an earlier will. But they would not be free to claim anything they pleased. In a story, an elderly lady felt so pressed upon by greedy relatives and other gold diggers that at the last moment before her death, she left everything to her lawyer. Knowing that the will would be challenged, the lawyer simply distributed the estate fairly, so that everyone got a share, but at the same time were thwarted as well. He kept only his fees. That lawyer displayed the proper honesty that is expected of all of us.
What about law suits. Even the laws of Moses provided for what we today call civil suits. The Lutheran Confessions teach us that if we have a dispute of a legal nature, the court has been put into place by God to resolve such things. But there’s a catch. We are to go to the courts to demand justice. Lets say our property has been damaged by the actions of another person. We can demand that they pay to put it right. Perhaps we can demand a little extra for our time and hassle, and of course of legal fees. But if we ask for money far beyond what was done, that is stealing. When I was in Indiana, one of my predecessor’s wife fell on a wet floor in a public building. They sued and got a big settlement so that they could retire in grand style. But the lady was not seriously injured. So there, this pastor, was guilty of theft in demanding compensation far beyond the injury that was done.
Can the government be a thief? Certainly. Government’s role is defined by God. It is there restrain evil. It does that by having a police force, military, courts and the like. It is not put in place by God to be our nanny. The government is not charged with taking care of us. It’s charged with protecting us. So when the government seizes property for purposes other than public use, they are a thief. In one case, a church wished to relocate. They spent years buying up small parcels of land until they had about forty acres. They were just about ready to start building when the city came in and seized the land so that they could sell it to a shopping center developer. Even though they offered compensation, this was theft by the government. Sadly our courts have permitted this sort of the thing to happen. Likewise all the attempts at redistributing wealth result in the government being guilty of theft. I would indeed charge the wealthy to be generous in helping their fellow man. That is good, right and salutary. But when the government takes that same money by force, to give out to those it chooses, it is theft, plain and simple. We must see it as such. For such things are grave injustices before God.
You shall not steal. We might think this is one we don’t have to worry about. But stealing is all around us. Many of the “good” people are in fact thieves. Often we ourselves are thieves. We’ve become so calloused by our society and our bad laws that we often don’t even see our thievery. And so we must repent of this also. But we do not repent without hope. For we know that in Christ our sins are forgiven. We can turn to Christ with certain that hope that He will indeed turn a gracious eye to us, as He once did to another thief. We know that we also will hear those words of assurance from the lips of Christ - “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Amen!
Sermon for Mach 21-22
Sermon
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 21-22, 2009
Text: Numbers 21:4-9
Dear Friends in Christ,
Are we there yet? Parents dread hearing those words when they’re traveling in the car. Sometimes children ask it so much that the parents just want to wack the kids up the side the of head. Children haven’t yet learned to enjoy the journey. I love seeing the countryside, especially as it goes through the seasonal changes. Often times people today are impatient to get to the end of a movie. Many people don’t like long movies. They say that they can’t sit that long. So something like Lord of the Rings which is ten hours long, they don’t bother to see. Their impatience costs them what is perhaps the greatest cinematic epic of all time. Most scientific advances come from great patience. Thomas Edison and his team of scientists tried hundreds of materials before trying carbon fiber as filament. One of his workers threw up his hands in frustration and exclaimed that they’d tried a hundred different materials and they’d learned nothing. They were no closer to making light bulb. To which Edison replied, no we now know a hundred ways not to make a light bulb. And of course every wine maker knows that best wine take years to produce. Impatience will only result in producing the cheap stuff.
The Israelites were finally getting close to the time when they would enter the promised land. They had been wandering for many years. The nation of Edom would not let them cross through their territory. So they had to go further out into the desert and travel around Edom. In reality this only increased their journey by a few days, but the people grew impatient. Thus we read: And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." We have to read that closely. They had food. They had manna which God provided. But they were tired of manna. It’s like the lady who called 911 because her local McDonalds was out of Chicken McNuggets. I mean after all, how many ways can you prepare manna? Manna bread, manna bagels, manna pitas, manna waffles... you get the idea. I suppose after forty years of the same thing for dinner, we’d get a little cranky too.
By the way, what is manna? It is a fungus, related to the mushroom, which grows up at night in the desert. It can be dried and pounded into flour. But it does not keep for any length of time. So it must be prepared and eaten very quickly. It does still appear occasionally in small patches today and it is highly prized by desert people. The miracle was God’s multiplying a rare thing to feed a couple million of people.
The people complained against God and against Moses. First of all what had Moses done? He wasn’t in charge. He was just following God’s orders. Second, God is providing free food, preserving their clothing and shoes so that they miraculously did not wear out. He had set them free from slavery in Egypt and shown them many great signs - like the parting the Red Sea. God had given enemies into their hands. They still didn’t get it. They still didn’t really believe.
We might marvel at this but we should not. Miracles do not produce faith. St. Paul tells us in Romans that faith comes from hearing the Word of God. Here is the greater marvel. They had that Word. They had been at Mount Sinai. They had the teaching of Moses laid before them. It would seem to us that with that Word, reinforced as it were by the great signs, they would have indeed believed. And indeed we know that some, like Joshua and Caleb did. But many did not. Why? We don’t know. In Lutheranism, we call this the cross of theology - or crux theologum. In Lutheranism we absolutely refuse even to attempt to explain why one person is saved another is not. This is hidden from us. Only God Himself knows and understands this - perhaps even only God the Father. We might ask why, for example, God sends missionaries to one tribe and but another tribe in the same region is never evangelized? We simply don’t know this and cannot answer it. In fact, attempting to answer this question leads to heresy. The Calvinists, in attempting to answer this turn to double predestination - that is God, in His wisdom chooses whom He will save and whom He won’t save. He predestines each man either to heaven or to hell. But the Scriptures are clear that God does not predestine anyone to hell. He desires that all men would be saved. The Armenians and Wesleyans insist that it is all determined by our decision to give our lives to Jesus. But this then would be work righteousness and make us the cause of our own salvation. So Lutheranism has simply said, no, we cannot offer an answer. For human logic would always in the end violate the Scriptures. So we must just leave this hanging out there unanswered.
Back to the Israelites. They grumbled against God and Moses. So God did something to get their attention. He sent a plague of snakes. Many died, painfully, from the poison of the snakes. And it worked, for we read: And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us." But God didn’t take the snakes away. He would test them further. He would ask them, “Do you really trust in Me and My words of promise?” He is using this to separate the believers from the unbelievers. God instructs Moses to make an image of the snakes that were plaguing them and put it on display. So Moses fashioned snake from bronze and placed it on a pole in their camp. Anyone who was bitten and looked to it was saved. Those who did not looked to the bronze serpent, died.
What did this bronze serpent do? Nothing. It’s a statue, an image. It has no power. Much the same as water, bread and wine have no power. The power here was the promise of God. If you trust God’s words, you will cast your eyes where He has instructed you to look. So for the Israelites it was the bronze serpent. For us, we are to look to Word and Sacrament. Word and Sacrament is our bronze serpent - the thing that we are to look to for our salvation. Why? Because these things have great power in themselves? No. Because God has attached His Word of Promise to these things. He tells us that in Baptism we die and rise with Christ. He tells us that in the Supper we participate in His sacrificial death. This is not our fancy. This is the promise of God. And in a very real sense, even today, God is dividing the believers from the unbelievers. The believers seek God where He has promised to be - in Word and Sacrament. To demand God’s presence in some other way, such as in our experiences, is really unbelief. It is a rejection of the promises God has given us.
The bronze serpent teaches us that we must look to God’s promises for our salvation. Only where God has promises it, will we be saved. Christ makes this connection very clearly in pointing to the bronze serpent. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too will the Son of Man be lifted up. He would be lifted up upon the cross, so that all who look to Him, as God would have us look to Him, will indeed be saved. Amen!
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 21-22, 2009
Text: Numbers 21:4-9
Dear Friends in Christ,
Are we there yet? Parents dread hearing those words when they’re traveling in the car. Sometimes children ask it so much that the parents just want to wack the kids up the side the of head. Children haven’t yet learned to enjoy the journey. I love seeing the countryside, especially as it goes through the seasonal changes. Often times people today are impatient to get to the end of a movie. Many people don’t like long movies. They say that they can’t sit that long. So something like Lord of the Rings which is ten hours long, they don’t bother to see. Their impatience costs them what is perhaps the greatest cinematic epic of all time. Most scientific advances come from great patience. Thomas Edison and his team of scientists tried hundreds of materials before trying carbon fiber as filament. One of his workers threw up his hands in frustration and exclaimed that they’d tried a hundred different materials and they’d learned nothing. They were no closer to making light bulb. To which Edison replied, no we now know a hundred ways not to make a light bulb. And of course every wine maker knows that best wine take years to produce. Impatience will only result in producing the cheap stuff.
The Israelites were finally getting close to the time when they would enter the promised land. They had been wandering for many years. The nation of Edom would not let them cross through their territory. So they had to go further out into the desert and travel around Edom. In reality this only increased their journey by a few days, but the people grew impatient. Thus we read: And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." We have to read that closely. They had food. They had manna which God provided. But they were tired of manna. It’s like the lady who called 911 because her local McDonalds was out of Chicken McNuggets. I mean after all, how many ways can you prepare manna? Manna bread, manna bagels, manna pitas, manna waffles... you get the idea. I suppose after forty years of the same thing for dinner, we’d get a little cranky too.
By the way, what is manna? It is a fungus, related to the mushroom, which grows up at night in the desert. It can be dried and pounded into flour. But it does not keep for any length of time. So it must be prepared and eaten very quickly. It does still appear occasionally in small patches today and it is highly prized by desert people. The miracle was God’s multiplying a rare thing to feed a couple million of people.
The people complained against God and against Moses. First of all what had Moses done? He wasn’t in charge. He was just following God’s orders. Second, God is providing free food, preserving their clothing and shoes so that they miraculously did not wear out. He had set them free from slavery in Egypt and shown them many great signs - like the parting the Red Sea. God had given enemies into their hands. They still didn’t get it. They still didn’t really believe.
We might marvel at this but we should not. Miracles do not produce faith. St. Paul tells us in Romans that faith comes from hearing the Word of God. Here is the greater marvel. They had that Word. They had been at Mount Sinai. They had the teaching of Moses laid before them. It would seem to us that with that Word, reinforced as it were by the great signs, they would have indeed believed. And indeed we know that some, like Joshua and Caleb did. But many did not. Why? We don’t know. In Lutheranism, we call this the cross of theology - or crux theologum. In Lutheranism we absolutely refuse even to attempt to explain why one person is saved another is not. This is hidden from us. Only God Himself knows and understands this - perhaps even only God the Father. We might ask why, for example, God sends missionaries to one tribe and but another tribe in the same region is never evangelized? We simply don’t know this and cannot answer it. In fact, attempting to answer this question leads to heresy. The Calvinists, in attempting to answer this turn to double predestination - that is God, in His wisdom chooses whom He will save and whom He won’t save. He predestines each man either to heaven or to hell. But the Scriptures are clear that God does not predestine anyone to hell. He desires that all men would be saved. The Armenians and Wesleyans insist that it is all determined by our decision to give our lives to Jesus. But this then would be work righteousness and make us the cause of our own salvation. So Lutheranism has simply said, no, we cannot offer an answer. For human logic would always in the end violate the Scriptures. So we must just leave this hanging out there unanswered.
Back to the Israelites. They grumbled against God and Moses. So God did something to get their attention. He sent a plague of snakes. Many died, painfully, from the poison of the snakes. And it worked, for we read: And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us." But God didn’t take the snakes away. He would test them further. He would ask them, “Do you really trust in Me and My words of promise?” He is using this to separate the believers from the unbelievers. God instructs Moses to make an image of the snakes that were plaguing them and put it on display. So Moses fashioned snake from bronze and placed it on a pole in their camp. Anyone who was bitten and looked to it was saved. Those who did not looked to the bronze serpent, died.
What did this bronze serpent do? Nothing. It’s a statue, an image. It has no power. Much the same as water, bread and wine have no power. The power here was the promise of God. If you trust God’s words, you will cast your eyes where He has instructed you to look. So for the Israelites it was the bronze serpent. For us, we are to look to Word and Sacrament. Word and Sacrament is our bronze serpent - the thing that we are to look to for our salvation. Why? Because these things have great power in themselves? No. Because God has attached His Word of Promise to these things. He tells us that in Baptism we die and rise with Christ. He tells us that in the Supper we participate in His sacrificial death. This is not our fancy. This is the promise of God. And in a very real sense, even today, God is dividing the believers from the unbelievers. The believers seek God where He has promised to be - in Word and Sacrament. To demand God’s presence in some other way, such as in our experiences, is really unbelief. It is a rejection of the promises God has given us.
The bronze serpent teaches us that we must look to God’s promises for our salvation. Only where God has promises it, will we be saved. Christ makes this connection very clearly in pointing to the bronze serpent. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too will the Son of Man be lifted up. He would be lifted up upon the cross, so that all who look to Him, as God would have us look to Him, will indeed be saved. Amen!
Sermon for March 17-18
Sermon
The Fourth Midweek in Lent
March 17-18,2009
Text: Exodus 20:14
Dear Friends in Christ,
Ah, yes, the Sixth Commandment. Everyone’s favorite commandment. It has been the butt of more jokes than almost any other of the commandments. Society has wavered between libertine disregard for the commandment on one hand and pietistic hyper strictness on the other.
Part of the problem has to do with our lack of a clear understanding of creation. We act as though sex and sexuality are part of the fall - almost as though Adam and Eve didn’t have private parts until they ate the fruit. So let’s be clear about this. Adam and Eve would have had sexual relations even if they had not fallen into sin. They may even have had sexual relations before the fall. We don’t know that one way or the other.
One of the games Satan plays is to divide the world into material and spiritual. The spiritual is the higher order and the material is the lesser thing. But this is not what we learn from Scripture. All that is comes from God’s creative hand and Word. Whether something is spirit or flesh and bone is of no matter. Both are equally important parts of creation.
This division of spirit and material is called dualism. In its most extreme forms it is even claimed that the material world was created by the devil. There are two reactions to dualism with regard to sexuality. One reaction is to be completely libertine. After all its only the spiritual world that’s important. What we do in the material world doesn’t matter. The other reaction is to demand total celibacy, even to the point mutilating the body to prevent it. The ancient church struggled with dualism and sexuality. This led to both Augustine and Jerome teaching that sexuality was only for reproduction and was to be otherwise totally avoided. Since of course these are two of the most influential of the church fathers, their error was compounded over the centuries. It wasn’t until the time of Luther, more than a thousand years later, that there was a corrective.
Another term for sexual relations is marital relations. This is in fact a good term. For that is what God intends. In the context of marriage, man and woman become one flesh. They join together. In this way they build a strong relationship. Sexual relations were created also for this purpose. And in a proper Christian marriage relationship, sexual relations, like all aspects of married life, are focused on the other. So one does not demand this or that from the other because they would get some cheap thrill out of it. But each person is looking to serve the other and will seek to make certain that the other person’s needs are met. There must never be humiliation or control, but a free giving of self to the one flesh relationship.
About now you’re saying, pastor, I needed this sermon forty years ago. I think I’m a little past this. First, there is no age limit, though age sometimes limits us. As age and infirmity place limits upon this, we should share what intimacy we are still able to do. Even something as simple as holding hands, can be a continuation of that one flesh relationship. Because this is a one flesh relationship, however, each must sacrifice for the other. Perhaps at a certain point, one is more capable than the other. This might be especially true if a person is disabled at a young age. This does not dissolve the bond. Here is where we must make the greatest of sacrifices. Our own needs must always be placed below the needs of the other. So a person whose spouse is no longer capable of certain forms of intimacy is not free to seek it elsewhere. They must sacrifice for the other. Ah, but pastor, I’m even beyond that. I’m widowed. Yes, but now how do you speak to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of these things? Do you encourage them to respect the one flesh bond of marriage, or do you approve of false ways? Remember that there is something that makes it easier for children to speak to grandma and grandpa about these things than it is to speak to mom and dad. So you who are widowed still must have an understanding of these things.
Nor does age release us from the command of God. My friend Diane has been moaning about her father’s flagrant fornication with his girl friend. His excuse is that he is widowed and they’re too old to have - oops - a baby. So what’s the big deal? Well, because God has said that these things are reserved for marriage. We are to bond together and be truly one flesh. We are not to play at it or dabble at it.
Sexual sins are like all sins. No one obeys this command perfectly, even for a day. At some level, in thought, word, or deed, we break the Sixth Commandment each day. This we must place at the cross, even as we seek to do better. It does not matter if it seems a minor violation or a flagrant shattering of the command, Christ has paid for all this. So for us we cling the cross. And for others, who we see around us, we must be like Christ. We must speak truthfully. To violate the Sixth Commandment is a sin. Go and sin no more. But at the same time, we must forgive the repentant, as Christ has also forgiven them.
Amen!
The Fourth Midweek in Lent
March 17-18,2009
Text: Exodus 20:14
Dear Friends in Christ,
Ah, yes, the Sixth Commandment. Everyone’s favorite commandment. It has been the butt of more jokes than almost any other of the commandments. Society has wavered between libertine disregard for the commandment on one hand and pietistic hyper strictness on the other.
Part of the problem has to do with our lack of a clear understanding of creation. We act as though sex and sexuality are part of the fall - almost as though Adam and Eve didn’t have private parts until they ate the fruit. So let’s be clear about this. Adam and Eve would have had sexual relations even if they had not fallen into sin. They may even have had sexual relations before the fall. We don’t know that one way or the other.
One of the games Satan plays is to divide the world into material and spiritual. The spiritual is the higher order and the material is the lesser thing. But this is not what we learn from Scripture. All that is comes from God’s creative hand and Word. Whether something is spirit or flesh and bone is of no matter. Both are equally important parts of creation.
This division of spirit and material is called dualism. In its most extreme forms it is even claimed that the material world was created by the devil. There are two reactions to dualism with regard to sexuality. One reaction is to be completely libertine. After all its only the spiritual world that’s important. What we do in the material world doesn’t matter. The other reaction is to demand total celibacy, even to the point mutilating the body to prevent it. The ancient church struggled with dualism and sexuality. This led to both Augustine and Jerome teaching that sexuality was only for reproduction and was to be otherwise totally avoided. Since of course these are two of the most influential of the church fathers, their error was compounded over the centuries. It wasn’t until the time of Luther, more than a thousand years later, that there was a corrective.
Another term for sexual relations is marital relations. This is in fact a good term. For that is what God intends. In the context of marriage, man and woman become one flesh. They join together. In this way they build a strong relationship. Sexual relations were created also for this purpose. And in a proper Christian marriage relationship, sexual relations, like all aspects of married life, are focused on the other. So one does not demand this or that from the other because they would get some cheap thrill out of it. But each person is looking to serve the other and will seek to make certain that the other person’s needs are met. There must never be humiliation or control, but a free giving of self to the one flesh relationship.
About now you’re saying, pastor, I needed this sermon forty years ago. I think I’m a little past this. First, there is no age limit, though age sometimes limits us. As age and infirmity place limits upon this, we should share what intimacy we are still able to do. Even something as simple as holding hands, can be a continuation of that one flesh relationship. Because this is a one flesh relationship, however, each must sacrifice for the other. Perhaps at a certain point, one is more capable than the other. This might be especially true if a person is disabled at a young age. This does not dissolve the bond. Here is where we must make the greatest of sacrifices. Our own needs must always be placed below the needs of the other. So a person whose spouse is no longer capable of certain forms of intimacy is not free to seek it elsewhere. They must sacrifice for the other. Ah, but pastor, I’m even beyond that. I’m widowed. Yes, but now how do you speak to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of these things? Do you encourage them to respect the one flesh bond of marriage, or do you approve of false ways? Remember that there is something that makes it easier for children to speak to grandma and grandpa about these things than it is to speak to mom and dad. So you who are widowed still must have an understanding of these things.
Nor does age release us from the command of God. My friend Diane has been moaning about her father’s flagrant fornication with his girl friend. His excuse is that he is widowed and they’re too old to have - oops - a baby. So what’s the big deal? Well, because God has said that these things are reserved for marriage. We are to bond together and be truly one flesh. We are not to play at it or dabble at it.
Sexual sins are like all sins. No one obeys this command perfectly, even for a day. At some level, in thought, word, or deed, we break the Sixth Commandment each day. This we must place at the cross, even as we seek to do better. It does not matter if it seems a minor violation or a flagrant shattering of the command, Christ has paid for all this. So for us we cling the cross. And for others, who we see around us, we must be like Christ. We must speak truthfully. To violate the Sixth Commandment is a sin. Go and sin no more. But at the same time, we must forgive the repentant, as Christ has also forgiven them.
Amen!
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