Matthew 6:24-34
Trinity 15

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

We live in an anxious world, don’t we.  Most of us, I think, have the sense that things are not as stable and sure as they used to be.  A lot of it has to do with COVID and how that has upended virtually every single aspect of our lives. Then there’s the news media which seem to have as one of their purposes to make you fearful and anxious about something, especially your health and safety. We’re anxious about the economy and finances and prices going up and job stuff.  With not enough people working for various reasons, those of you who are working are often stressed from being overworked.  As we pass the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we’re anxious about international threats and political division and governing officials who don’t exactly instill confidence, while our nation’s position in the world declines.  We’re anxious about loved ones who struggle with various needs, about what the future holds for our children and grandchildren.  We’re anxious about the church and how she will survive in an increasingly hostile culture.  

Into all of this, Jesus comes today with the words, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” That sounds a little bit odd to our ears.  Some would say it’s irresponsible.  At the very least, most people would say it’s a little quaint or naive in today’s world.  But Jesus’ words stand.  He doesn’t back down.  He says, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to the span of his life?”  

Now some of you might be thinking about this analogy that Jesus draws.  If you’re a bird watcher, you know they work very hard to make a living. They spend a good portion of their waking hours looking for food.  Jesus knew that too. So the point is not that you should be apathetic and lazy and just sit back and not work.  The point is that sparrows do not worry about the future like we do.  They feel no urge to try to foresee the future.  They work hard and sing, and then they nest down for the night, but they do not worry.  They are provided for by their Creator.  And if your heavenly Father takes care of them, how much more will He take care of you who are of much greater value, you who are created in the image of God?

Jesus is saying here that worry is a symptom of a spiritual problem.  Worry is the opposite of faith and prayer.  Worry is what we do when we doubt that God is really in control or when we aren’t sure that He actually cares and is paying attention.  And so we try to take over His job with our worrying and anxiety.  We think it all depends on us and our plans and our managing of the situation, that it’s all in our hands.  When we’re worrying, we aren’t trusting in Him, are we.  When we’re worrying, usually we’re trying to control what is ultimately uncontrollable.

Unbelief worries, but faith prays.  Faith doesn’t deny that there are real problems to deal with; it doesn’t pretend everything will be all rosy if we just try to stay positive.  But faith knows that in the end, everything is in God’s hands, not ours.  And so it looks to Him for help and deliverance  and mercy, confident that He will work all things together for our good just as He has promised us.  By faith we trust in the Scriptures which say, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all [on the cross], how will He not also with Him freely give us all things that we need?”  Jesus Himself says, “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened [and anxious], and I will give you rest.”  

So don’t doubt but trust that your lives are in the Lord’s hands and that He will care for you according to His gracious will, even when it seems like you’re getting to the breaking point.  Do not engage in worry but in prayer.  Worry produces stress, but prayer produces peace.  For it dwells upon the sure words and promises of God.

Prayer says such things as, “Father in heaven, you know all the things I need, even before I ask for them.  You feed the birds of the air, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your will.  Help me to trust that I am more valuable in your sight than the birds and that you will feed and sustain me even in the midst of my troubles.  And dear Father, you splendidly clothe the lilies of the field, even though they are little more than the grass.  Give me to believe that you will also clothe me and take care of me.  Keep me from worrying about tomorrow, and give me a thankful heart for the gifts you give day by day, my daily bread, and everything that is necessary to support this body and life.  The world is passing away, but your Word of mercy and life will never pass away.  It will save and sustain me forever.”

Faith prays in that way because of what Jesus has done.  For He is the One who made us children of the heavenly Father.  Remember, Scripture says that we're not children of God by nature but children of wrath.  But in Christ we're brought into the family as God's children.  In order that we would be delivered from a world that is falling apart and winding down to its end, the eternal Son of God entered into this fallen world as one of us, as our brother.  Jesus took upon Himself the curse that our sin has brought on creation.  All the deterioration and the degeneration and the death He endured for us on the cross.  In so doing, Jesus caused death itself to die.  Jesus destroyed the sin that makes everything only momentary and impermanent.  In Christ it is written, “The old order of things has passed away . . .  Behold, I make all things new.”  Jesus came forth from the grave in power, bringing with Him a new creation that will never deteriorate or fall or perish, for death no longer has dominion over Him.

Trusting in Jesus, knowing all that He has done and prepared for us, our worries and fears are calmed.  For if God has provided so bountifully for our eternal needs, certainly He will care for us in all the necessities of this temporal life. And even when the hard times do come, even if it’s all taken away and God’s care seems to have vanished, we know that we who are His chosen, baptized people are not forsaken.  We believe that even when terror and tragedy, sickness and death come, He who created us can and will also recreate us in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.  So literally nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ.  And if we have Christ, then we have everything; for all things belong to Him, and in Him all things hold together.  That’s how Job could say in His suffering, in the loss of his property and his loved ones, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  “Though He giveth or He taketh, God His children ne’er forsaketh.”

“Do no worry about your life,” Jesus says.  Work hard, yes.  Plan ahead, certainly.  But don’t worry.  You’re not an atheist who thinks that we’re just drifting aimlessly through space, completely vulnerable to the random changes and chances of life.  You’re not an agnostic who doesn’t know who God is, whether he loves you or hates you.  You’re children of the heavenly Father, who has loved you to the point of giving you His own Son with all of His righteousness as a gift.  

Today with His words, Jesus is inviting you to trust–and it’s not a blind trust in fate or invisible forces or the universe—but trust in the one true God who loves you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Nothing else can save you–not your busy schedules and feverish activity, not all your righteous works, not your investment portfolio and comprehensive insurance.  Nothing can save you other than His grace, His suffering and death for you and for your salvation.  Martin Luther once wrote: “Cast your worries upon God’s back, for God has a strong neck and strong shoulders.  He can easily carry the load.  Moreover, he has commanded us to commit our cares to Him, and loves it when we do.” 

To assure you of this, the Father who gives you your daily bread now feeds you with Jesus’ very body and blood under the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of your sins.  The Father who clothes you and cares for your body robes you in the white garment of Christ’s righteousness in your baptism.  It is because of that certainty of who we are in Christ that we take to heart the words of Philippians 4, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Mark 6:14-29

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Before John the Baptizer was born, the angel said that he would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.  Elijah was one who confronted kings and called them to repentance.  That’s how it was also with John the Baptist.  He was jailed for daring to criticize King Herod Antipas and telling him that it was not lawful for him to take his brother’s wife as his own.

This King Herod Antipas was the son of the infamous Herod the Great, who murdered not only several of his own sons to preserve his throne, but who also tried to assassinate the very Son of God Himself in His infancy in the massacre of the Holy Innocents at Bethlehem.  Herod Antipas would carry on his father’s murderous ways.  Though he was already married, he had taken up with Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip.  To add to the royal sleaze, Herodias was also his niece, the daughter of another sibling.  King Herod was imprisoned to his desires–his desire for power and prestige and dominance over his brother, his sexual desire for this woman.

And so John the Baptist preached the truth to Herod, telling him that he was committing adultery by doing this.  Herodias’ hated John for this, and she wanted him dead.  But interestingly, it seems that King Herod himself knew that John was a just and holy man.  He feared John and didn’t wish to harm him.  Today’s Gospel reading says that, surprisingly, Herod heard John gladly.  It’s not unlike those today who know that Christian teaching is good, that Christian morality is right, who may even be willing to talk with a pastor about religion.  But they just can’t bring themselves to actually embrace the faith and leave behind worldly ways.  They resist repentance and refuse to let go of their favorite sins.  God save us from such a hypocritical hearing of His Word, where we listen to it willingly but then refuse to repent and believe it and live by it.

Herod had put John the Baptist in prison–in part to protect John from his wife Herodias.  Jesus was well aware of what was happening to His forerunner.  Soon after John was imprisoned,  Jesus said about him, “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”  John no doubt knew what awaited him.  After all, from the time he baptized Jesus, he had proclaimed that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the Lamb destined for sacrifice.  If John was the forerunner who prepared the way for Jesus, that meant that he would go ahead on the way the Lord Himself would travel, the way of suffering and death.  John knew it wouldn’t end well for him in this world.  He said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”   John had now decreased to the point of living in a dungeon, soon to perish.  But even in prison, remember how Jesus sent John’s disciples to him with this comforting message, “Go and tell John that the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them.”  Even behind bars John is not forgotten or forsaken by the Lord.

King Herod knows that John is a man of God.  But Herod gets himself ensnared by the salacious dancing of Herodias’ daughter from her previous marriage.  The lust of his eyes and his groin draw him to do something truly foolish, to offer the young dancing woman anything she wants, up to half the kingdom.  We may mock the silliness of what he says and does here.  But don’t our sinful desires also lead us to do ridiculous and foolish things?  Haven’t you ever looked back on something in your life after the fact and said to yourself, “What was I thinking? What have I done?”  And regarding Herod’s particular sin here, how many today have threatened their marriages and their families and gotten themselves ensnared by the salaciousness of pornography with all the corruptions it brings?  How many who know better still indulge themselves with adulterous flirtations and even affairs with co-workers and friends?  All such things are the way of death.

And then, when Herodias finally has the chance to get her revenge on John, when her daughter comes back with the request for John the Baptist’s head on a platter, why did King Herod go through with it?  He didn’t want to do it; he was exceedingly sorry he made the offer.  He realized how stupid he had been.  But, it is written, “because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.”  In other words, he preferred pretending like he was a man of his word instead of honoring the Word of God.  He cared more about looking good in front of his friends than he did about doing what was good in the sight of God.  

Is that not often our problem?  We want everyone to think we’re better than we really are.  Too often we’re so much more concerned about pleasing others than we are about pleasing God.  What God thinks takes second place to what people think.  And so we end up compromising and acting against our consciences and what we know to be right.  

Let us, then, listen to the preaching of John and repent.   For the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.  The hour of salvation is now.  For despite your self-justifying and posturing, the truth is that the Lord still desires to save you and to have you with Himself.  The truth is that He kept the Law in your place and died the death of the unrighteous in order to make you a righteous person. The truth is that in Him your conscience is cleansed, your soul is spotless and pure as new-fallen snow–all of it accomplished by His steadfast and unfailing love for you.  

Herod tried to use John’s death to make himself look good and cover up his foolishness.  But the death of Jesus actually does cover your foolishness and your sin; the shedding of the blood of Christ actually does declare you to be good and holy in the sight of God.  That’s who you are now by faith in Him.

Remember that Jesus, too, stood before this same King Herod.  Herod was in town for the Passover during Holy Week.  Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to Herod for questioning.  The king had gladly received John, but Jesus doesn’t get the same treatment.  When Jesus wouldn’t perform any miracles for Herod or answer any of his questions, Herod and his men mock Jesus and dress Him up in a gorgeous robe as some sort of fake royalty and send Him back to Pilate.  

So Herod had a hand in the deaths of the two greatest men who ever lived.  Again Jesus had said, “Among those born of women there has not arisen any greater than John the Baptist.”  “Nevertheless,” Jesus continued, “He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  Our Lord Jesus made Himself dead last and utterly least in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus became the lowest of the low and the Servant of all in order to save us.  John’s death was quick and relatively painless, but the death of Jesus dragged on for hours under torture–torture that He bore in order to redeem His torturers, people like Herod and Pilate, like you and me, and the entire fallen world.  John’s disciples manfully came forward to collect his decapitated body and bury it in a tomb.  But Jesus’ disciples fled, and it was left to Joseph of Arimathea to bury the Savior in a borrowed tomb.  Truly, Jesus went to the lowest depths for us and for our salvation.  That is why He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, with the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.  He alone is King of kings.

Let us, then, learn to live and die as John did, always with Christ in view.  When you face death, whether from ordinary causes or at the hands of an enemy enslaved to his passions, let the words which Jesus spoke to John ring in your ears, “The dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”  In the end our enemies can only do us good.  For John was mercifully removed from the shallow world of lies and vanity.  He was brought early to the perfect gladness that Christ won for him.  John, who leaped for joy in his mother’s womb in the presence of Jesus, now is born into eternal life and leaps joyfully in heaven where the Lord is present forever before his face.  Though sometimes our cry is “How long, O Lord?” still we are able smile at an enemy like death.  For the Lord brings good out of that evil so that we are drawn into his nearer presence, where we wait for the day of vindication and the resurrection of the body.  

So let us be like John, full of courage and zeal, willing to decrease all the way unto death so that Christ might increase and be all in all for us.  For that is your calling in baptism.  The Epistle said it: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”  Dying to our passions and to our love of the approval of others, we are raised with Christ to live a new life, a life that bears witness to Him who is our life.  That is what many Afghani Christians are doing right now.  Reports have come out of Afghanistan that they are requesting prayers not primarily to be rescued–since that’s unlikely for most–but especially that they may remain faithful to Christ in the face of the threat of death for themselves and their children.  As it was for John, and for our Lord Jesus, so it also remains for the church today.  We pray that we may take Christ’s words to heart, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

One last thing: what do you think John’s disciples did after he was buried?  They did what John had taught them to do; they went to Jesus and followed Him.  And that’s what we do, too.  If John was the forerunner, then we are the afterrunners, following after the One John pointed to as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  We go the altar of our Lord, where a very different sort of dinner party is prepared, a true Kingly feast where He bestows upon us not just half but the fullness of His kingdom, where He lavishes His mercy and forgiveness upon us with His sacrificial body and blood, where He gives us to reign with Him as kings and priests.  In the confidence and assurance of what Christ gives to us here, we say “Let the world hate us, mock us, even kill us if the Lord wills it.  It harms us none.  Baptized into Jesus, we are sons of God in whom He is well-pleased and whom He will never forsake.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”  

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Mark 7:31-37

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Ordinarily when I preach on today’s Gospel reading, I like to focus on the miracle and the things that lead up to it.  Today, though, I’d like to focus more on the results of the miracle and what follows after it.  The Gospel reading tells us that after the deaf-mute’s ears were opened and his tongue was loosed, the man spoke plainly. More precisely Mark tells us that the man spoke rightly.  The Greek word is orthos.  It means to act in conformity with a norm or standard–rightly, correctly.  Our words Orthopedic (right feet), Orthodontics (right teeth), and orthodoxy (right teaching or right praise) all come from this word.  And so the deaf and mute man spoke orthos; he spoke rightly.

Applying this to ourselves, we are reminded that there is a right way and a wrong way to talk, and not only when it comes to your ability to form words but especially when it comes to what you say.  Even if we have perfect pronunciation, we can still fail to speak orthos, rightly–if we don’t honor our Lord’s name with our lips, if we speak with words of self-serving pride, if we gossip about our neighbor and put the worst construction on his actions.  And so we also need the Lord to heal our tongues so that we speak orthos, rightly and correctly. 

When the deaf mute had his speech restored to what is straight and right, the people knew  that the healing was good.  It was miraculous.  They wanted to tell others about it.  What they didn’t understand was why Jesus told them to be quiet about it. And since they could not understand that, they ignored Him.  Because they couldn’t understand the reason, they chose to do what they wanted and what they thought best.  What harm could come from telling others about the compassionate power of God in Jesus?  Such a thing seemed not only victimless but good and even necessary despite the Lord’s command.  But don’t ever let not understanding God’s words and commands be the reason for you to do something against them. The person who does not know why the pin is in the grenade should not be the one to pull it.

And here was the problem. They weren’t telling people that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the one who has come to redeem and restore creation.  They were telling people that He was a miracle worker.  Now that wasn’t incorrect; it wasn’t heresy.  But it was misleading since it wasn’t the whole story  (sort of like most of our evening news).  This confusion about who Jesus is, what His mission and purpose are, ended up making His ministry more difficult.  You may recall that when Jesus was brought in front of Herod at His trial, Herod wanted to see what he had heard about.  The news was that Jesus performs miracles.  And so Herod wanted to see a trick; he didn’t care what Jesus had to say or teach or who He was.

The real miracle Jesus came to perform, though, is the atonement of the world.  He came to reconcile all of humanity back to His Father through His death and resurrection.  He came to give His life as a sacrifice and ransom and to rescue us out of Hell.  He came to make all creation orthos again.  But Herod doesn’t get that.  And that might well be partially the fault of these people who couldn’t stop themselves from blabbing about this miracle when Jesus told them not to.  And so you could say that the people who brought the deaf mute to be healed also did not speak orthos, rightly.

These things are a warning to us. God’s Word is never arbitrary. When He says don’t tell people, He means it, even if it seems counterintuitive.  The history of sin is the history of thinking we know better than God’s Word what is good.  Eve didn’t understand the reason for God’s command not to eat the fruit.  She couldn’t see why God would command this since it was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and capable of making her wise.  Why then not do what she thought to be good, since God’s Word and command didn’t make any sense.  She didn’t think she would bring pain, sorrow, and death upon herself and her children. She thought God was wrong about what was good, or that God didn’t really understand. So she took matters in her own hands. And her husband who was with her let her do it.

That is what you do every time you sin.  We refuse God’s Word for our own wisdom. “Sure,” we say, “gluttony is a sin, but what’s wrong with overindulging in a little food or drink?  Doesn’t God want me to enjoy myself?”  “What’s wrong with skipping church for a few weeks when the kids have sports or when we’re on vacation?  Sure, God commands us to remember the Sabbath Day each week, but these other things are good, too.”  “What’s wrong with living together and having sex before marriage if we intend to get married eventually?  Sure, there’s that 6th Commandment, but doesn’t God support our love?”  “What’s wrong with conceiving a child outside of the womb with in vitro fertilization?  Sure that’s not how God created it to happen, and IVF almost always kills multiple embryonic children, but doesn’t God want us to try to be fruitful and multiply?”  And I could go on and on with examples of how we justify and rationalize our departure from God’s words.

God’s Law is always good.  His Word is always trustworthy.  Sometimes, to our fallen reason, it seems contrary to what is good.  But that is only because we are ignorant.  Don’t pull the pin on the grenade.  Don’t be like the friends of the healed man who ignored Jesus’ words and did what they wanted to.  When God’s Law seems contrary to what is good, we do best simply to repent and submit to God’s Word.  When we don’t, when we insist upon our way, we hurt ourselves and we hurt others. We pull the pin. There are no victimless sins.

But here is comfort for sinners. Despite the glaring imperfections of these people, the Lord had compassion.  He listened to the prayers of the people.  He healed the man.  He didn’t put them off as if helping them was beneath Him.  He came with real compassion.  For He came to restore our bodies as well as our souls.  He cares about people when they are suffering physically.  He sees you and cares about you.  His sigh to heaven comes from His heart. The sorrow and pain of the deaf man moves Him to act even though it will result in making His ministry and mission harder. The fact that they don’t listen to His Word, that they take the miracle and run, that they don’t fully understand who He is, does not stop Him or lessen His compassion.

Jesus is the friend of sinners. He has compassion on all who suffer.  He groans in sorrow and grief over our predicament; He literally feels our pain.  He groans, too, over what has been done to us by the devil, by our neighbors, by our loved ones, and of course also by our own foolish decisions and actions.  Getting involved with us means that He will have to suffer, that we will complicate things–but it doesn’t matter to Him.  He gets involved anyway.  He sticks His fingers in our ears.  He is dirtied by the gunk of our fallen nature.  He takes our sorrow, our sin, our blame into Himself in order to heal and save us.  He groans all the way unto death on the cross and overcomes the curse for you, that you might be made new, that your entire selves might be orthos and right again forever.

This flesh and blood Jesus bears with you; He does not turn away from you but gets up close and personal with you.  He puts the finger of His Holy Spirit into your ears in the preaching of the Gospel, so that you can hear rightly and believe and be saved.  He spits and touches you in baptism, where by water and the Word of His mouth He regenerates you and gives you new birth.  He places His true and real body and blood on your tongue for the forgiveness of your sins.  He opens your lips, and your mouth declares His praise.  He is faithful to you even unto death and has risen from the dead in order to bring you to Himself alive and healed on the last day.  Truly then, He has done all things well–for you.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(with thanks to Jason Braaten and David Petersen)

Luke 15:1-3,11-32
 

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

If your parents were anything like mine, they didn’t want you hanging out with the wrong crowd.  They knew that if you spent too much time with those who were troublemakers, disobedient, kids who experimented with drugs, that you might well go down a dangerous and destructive path.  The Bible says this explicitly in 1 Corinthians 15, “Bad company ruins good morals.”  Even as adults you know that this is true.  If you hang out with people whose talk is foul-mouthed, you tend to start talking like they do.  If you spend a lot of time with those who are worldly and secular in their lifestyle, you’ll tend to start thinking and behaving like they do.  If pop culture is your daily company, with all of its mocking humor that scoffs at what is decent and true, with all of its shallow, mind-numbing silliness, that will certainly affect your faith and life negatively.

So it seems understandable, at least on the surface, why the Pharisees and scribes complained about the company that Jesus was keeping in today’s Gospel.  “This man receives sinners and eats with them!”  He wasn’t just keeping company with thieving tax collectors and conspicuous sinners; He was actually sharing a meal and fellowship with them.  How could this man dirty Himself and His reputation like that?  Was He lowering the standards of His teaching?  Was He condoning their sin?  It all just seemed wrong to the religious leaders.

To show what He was doing, Jesus told three parables–the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.  The first two reveal Jesus’ searching love, how He has come to seek out and save the lost, to call sinners to repentance, back to Himself–not to condone sin but to forgive sin.  Bad company may ruin good morals, but the good company of Jesus redeems and gives new life.  What brings joy to heaven is not the self-righteous model citizen, but the one who repents and trusts in God’s mercy.

Today’s parable of the lost son highlights that mercy of God.  A certain man had two sons.  The younger son tells his father that he wants his share of the inheritance.  He’s tired of waiting around for his dad to keel over.  He wants to move on with life and have some fun.  And so in his impatience and audacity, he makes this self-serving request of his father.  

The father could have rebuked him for his insolent attitude, but instead, he grants his request.  The father knows that he can’t coerce and force love from his son, and so he takes the hurt and lets him go, knowing that the son will likely have some very hard lessons to learn as a result.

God also deals with us in the same way.  For we too have sometimes tried to use Him for our own ends, praying selfishly or using a religion as a cloak to justify our behavior.  In fact you could describe sin as the wish that God were dead, so that we could then live our lives the way we please.  God could sternly enforce obedience from us if He so chose.  But He doesn’t want slaves cowering in submission; He wants children who receive and return His love.  And so He sometimes lets us go our own way; He lets us mess up so that we can see how barren our life is apart from Him.

And indeed the younger son’s life turned out about as barren as it could be.  He may have had fun partying with his friends and living the good life for a time.  But when his money ran out, so did his friends.  In the end he was left all alone, and the best job he could find was feeding pigs–the bottom of the barrel for a Jewish boy.  That’s the way sin always works.  It gives short term happiness and long term pain.  It lives for the moment and sacrifices eternity.

When the younger son was so hungry that the pig food started to look good, he finally came to his senses.  He realized what he had lost by leaving his father.  He realized that even his father’s servants were doing better than him.  He was sorry for what he did.  But notice that sorrow isn’t what brought him back.  It was the memory of his father’s goodness that moved him to turn and head toward home.  In the same way, we are made able to truly repent only in the certainty that we have a merciful heavenly Father.  Being sorry is only the beginning; Judas was sorry, too, you recall.  Believing that your heavenly Father will receive you back for the sake of Christ in spite of your unworthiness is the heart of the matter.  True repentance includes faith.  Romans 2 says that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repent.

Even with his repentance, the younger son underestimated his father by thinking that he could only be allowed back as a servant.  But the father hadn’t written him off like that.  He’s waiting, looking down the road, hoping that his lost son will return.  It says here, “But when (the younger son) was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”  Dignified men don’t run, but the father was compelled to by his love, hurrying to welcome his son back.  

The father goes out to the son, even as God is always reaching out to us with His mercy.   And notice that the father embraces the son even before the son can say a word, even before he can make his confession!  In this we see that God doesn’t receive us back and forgive us based on how well we repent or because we formulate the right words.  God forgives us and receives us to Himself because of His grace and mercy toward us in Christ.  His very nature is love.  It’s all based on His undeserved and unmerited kindness.  There is the saying that confession is good for the soul, and that is true.  But we learn here that absolution is even better for the soul, for the mercy of God is what restores and saves us.  That’s what the father is doing here–forgiving and welcoming his son back to the family.

And it’s not just a conditional or probationary status that he’s given until he proves himself.  Rather, the Father treats him in a way that only a full, honored son would be.  He puts a distinguished robe on him.  He gives him the family ring.  He puts sandals on his feet, for only the servants would be barefoot.  And the father throws a party, to celebrate that his son who was “dead” is alive again.

This is the picture of God’s compassionate love for you.  God’s servants, the holy angels, rejoice over the sinner who repents.  You don’t have to prove yourself first.  Rather God embraces us fully as His children with all the blessings that brings, so great is His joy to have us home.  

In fact so much does God want to have us with Himself that He made His own Son to be like the younger son.  When it comes right down to it, Jesus is the real prodigal son in this parable.  It says here that the father gave to the younger son of his livelihood, or literally his “substance”– just as we confess in the Creed that Jesus is of one substance with the Father.  Then the Son of the Father goes to a far country, which is to say, the Son descends to earth and becomes man for us.  Here He blows His wealth and His substance consorting with tax collectors and sinners and the likes of us.  He is prodigal and beautifully excessive in the way He dishes out His grace and mercy toward us.  He loses it all for you, dying in your place as if He were the rebellious sinner, to win your forgiveness.  Then Jesus arises and returns to His Father, who exalts Him to His right hand, and gives Him the name that is above every name, rejoicing that He who was dead is alive again, that He who was lost for a time to the grave has been found triumphant over sin, death, and the devil.  

Once you were dead and lost.  But God raised you to life in His Son Jesus.  The Father now says to you, “Your brother, My Son was dead, and is alive again.  Repent and find your life in Him.  No matter how low it has gotten for you, Jesus has gone to the lowest depths on your behalf in order to become the way back for you. You’re not an outcast stepchild here.  You are robed in Jesus’ righteousness at the font and the family ring is put on your finger.  The banquet table of the supper is laid before you, the body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  You’re a full-fledged child in My house through Jesus.  There is great joy in heaven for each one of you who are here in penitent faith.  Welcome home.”

Now before we finish, we unfortunately need to talk about the older son.  Notice that the father has to go out to him, too.  He too had left home in a sense, forsaking the father’s love by thinking He had to earn it, that his father’s favor was a reward for his good behavior.  “All these years I’ve served you” he says, talking more like a servant than a son.  But here, too, the Father gives all.  He says, “All that I have is yours.  That’s the way it’s always been.”  And in the end the question is left unanswered: does the older brother believe that?  Do we?  Do you believe that the fullness of God’s mercy is yours apart from any merit or worthiness in you?  Do you believe that it’s all a free gift in Christ?

Jesus declares in today’s Gospel that it most certainly is.  Let us, then, never become like the older brother, whose legalism and self-righteousness kept him outside of the household and away from the joy of the feast.  Let us never think that there are certain sinners who aren’t worthy of God’s mercy, as if Jesus didn’t shed His blood for them, too.  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–only sinners.  If we refuse to keep company with those who repent and trust in Him, we are refusing to keep company with Christ Himself, just like the Pharisees.  We are putting ourselves outside of the joy of the household.  Only as we repent can we rejoice in the repentance of another.  Only as we see ourselves as lost sinners can we rejoice that Jesus welcomes penitent sinners to His table.  “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”  That’s good company.  So come in and make merry and celebrate the Lord’s mercy.  In Him the lost are found and the dead live.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Luke 14:15-24

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

“A certain man gave a great supper and invited many.”  This certain man is God the Father.  The supper is the banquet of salvation, the heavenly meal of forgiveness and life which Christ His Son purchased by His death for sin and by His victory over the grave on Easter.  In fact Jesus is Himself the meal, the bread of life given in the Word and in the holy supper of His body and blood.  God has sent out His Holy Spirit to invite many through the preaching of the Gospel to come to the feast.  All things have been prepared by God; there is no cost or strings attached.  Jesus has won redemption fully and completely.  The Holy Spirit comes purely by grace to draw people to the divine banquet.  Those invited may freely dine on the finest of fare which God has to offer.

“But,” it is written, “they all with one accord began to make excuses.”  They all had other things they thought were more important than this invitation.  Being with the Giver of the feast and sharing in the joy of His meal was low on the priority list.  Maybe some other time.  

All demonstrate unbelief in the Gospel invitation.  The first said, “I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.”  This man is caught up in his property and does not believe that in Christ the meek shall inherit the earth.  He seeks to gain the world and in the process forfeits his soul.  He sees the value of land but does not desire the priceless land of the new creation.  He elects to go and see his piece of ground, almost like a burial plot, showing his destiny to return to the ground in death.  Especially as the summer months begin, we feel the temptation to let the place up north or the vacation trip down south or out west take priority over the worship of the Lord and His invitation to the Gospel feast.  We dare not treasure what we have paid for above that which God has freely given in Christ.

The second said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.”  This man prefers his work to the work of Christ, who said, “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.”  This man is like those who want to produce their own righteousness before God, walking under the yoke of the five books of Moses’ Law, rather than trusting in the righteousness of Christ, walking in the freedom of the Gospel.  But in the end they will find no rest.  Their labor and struggle will be in vain.  The temptation for us is to value our efforts at good living over and above the grace of Christ.  Whenever we think we can do without the banquet of Jesus serving us His Word and Sacraments, we are by definition trusting in our own service and works.

The third said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”  This man prized his earthly marriage over the heavenly wedding of Christ and His Churchly Bride.  He loved union with his wife more than communion with his Creator.  When death parts him from his wife, there will be nothing to restore him to life.  So also, we must guard against turning the good blessings of marriage and sexuality against the God who created them, or putting our spouse or family before God.

In every stage of life we’re faced with diversions from the Gospel invitation.  “Hey, I’m just a young adult.  This is the time I’m supposed to have fun and party and sow my oats.  When I settle down, get married, have kids, then I’ll start to get serious about Church and God’s Word.  Please have me excused.”  “Hey, I’ve got responsibilities now with children to take care of.  I’m trying to keep my family financially secure.  The weekend’s my only time to rest or get anything done.  Besides, the kids have sports on the weekend; and we can’t skip that!  Please have me excused.”  “Hey, retirement’s just around the corner.  These are my prime earning years.  I’ve got to stay focused on that.  I’m so busy.  Once I’m retired I’ll have all sorts of time to hear God’s Word.  Please have me excused.”  “Hey, now that I’m in my golden years I can finally travel and do all those things I wanted to do.  I better now while I’ve still got my health.  You understand.  Please have me excused.”

The sad thing is that on the surface, all of these excuses seem pretty reasonable.  There’s nothing wrong with taking care of land or business concerns or participating in sports or being with your wife and family–or for that matter, trying to stay safe from COVID.  But when such things are  used as justifications for saying “no” to God’s invitation, then they have become idols to whom you are giving false worship.

And lest we who are here become self-righteous, what about when we come to the banquet of the Lord but don’t eat?  Which is to say, what about those who hear the Word of the Lord that is read and preached in this place but refuse to believe and receive it?  They’re at the table, so to speak, but refuse to trust in the Gospel and partake of God’s free gifts of mercy and life in Christ.  The food is in front of them, but they’re not hungry.  They’re just going through the motions.  They don’t have any desire or see any need for Jesus and what He has to give.

That’s what happened with the Jews in Jesus’ day.  They had Him in their midst.  They heard Him preach and teach.  But most of Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah and the Savior.  They felt no need for the salvation He came to bring.  Often it was only the lowly and the outcast of society who believed in Jesus and trusted His words of life.  This is what Jesus is referring to in the parable, “Then the master of the house, being angry [at those who rejected the invitation], said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’” “If you people are too good to come to My feast, fine.  Then I’ll fill my house with those whom you self-righteous look down upon, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  And they shall be filled with eternally satisfying food.”

It was the same way later with the apostle Paul.  In his missionary work it was his custom to begin by going to the Jewish synagogues in whatever land he was in and preach Jesus as the Messiah.  But the message would often be disdained by the Jewish leaders and embraced rather by the Gentiles.  Once in the city of Antioch, when the Jews were opposing the things spoken by Paul, he said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.”  This is what Jesus is referring to in the parable, “The servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’  Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.’”

God will have a full house on the Last Day for His feast.  And if those who should come don’t, then many whom you might not expect will–not only the poor and the lame and the blind, but also even many from among the pagan nations will be brought to believe and be saved.  For this meal is given not on the credentials of the ones invited but on the graciousness of the Host.

This parable is given by Jesus, then, as a warning to us against being complacent in our own spirituality and trusting in our own merits and qualifications to insure that we will receive eternal life.  To the Jews who thought they had heaven wrapped up by virtue of their genealogy and good deeds, Jesus said, “None of those who were invited shall taste my supper.”  Let us also be on guard against putting our faith in our religious pedigree or our good living.  For when we do that, we will lose our hunger for the feast.  We’ll stop taking the things of God seriously as we should.

In the end the only ones taking part in the feast are beggars and foreigners.  For only they  were given to see their need for what the Master had to give.  This is what you also must become before God: a hungry beggar, a needy foreigner, like a starving man in a third world country.  You must be brought by God to see that of yourself you are spiritually empty, wasting away, with nowhere else to turn but to Him.  The divine Law must expose your desperate need so that you will crave the Bread of Life.  Only then will the great supper be not just one of many other more important things to do.  It will be the One Thing that you cannot do without, the very source of your life.  For the meal is Christ, who is the Life.

Our Lord Jesus offered up His body on the cross to be “roasted” in the fire of judgment.  He literally suffered hell in our place at Calvary.  Having rescued us from sin and Satan by His holy death, and being now raised from the dead, Jesus offers Himself to the whole world as heavenly food that we might receive His saving gifts and be nourished by them.  This holy food is served up and offered wherever the gospel is preached.  When you believe the gospel, you partake of Christ, and this nourishes and strengthens your soul.  It tastes of forgiveness of sins, eternal life and blessedness.  When you are surrounded by death, sin, disease, and hard times, let this be your hunger and thirst.  Especially those who are under great affliction are the ones who find this food so delicious.  When terrified and fearful hearts and consciences hear in the gospel that Christ suffered and died for their sins, allowed himself to be prepared and served up as food for all hungry and thirsty souls, and believe this without doubting, then their fragile hearts, distressed consciences, and troubled souls are comforted and revived.  (Martin Luther)

And so the Spirit’s call goes out to you again this day, “Come, for all things are now ready.”  Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day.”  The banquet table is laid before you in the Word and the Supper.  Partake of this holy, life-giving food.  Believe in Christ and be saved.  Receive the foretaste of the feast to come, the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which will have no end.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Luke 16:19-31

✠ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

If there’s one thing that Scripture makes very clear, it’s that many people who think that they have eternal life with God are going to be surprised to find out that they actually don’t.  Matthew 7 gives one of the starkest examples of that.  Jesus says, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me...”  Or in the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 are left wanting to enter the heavenly wedding feast and thinking they should be let in, but they’re locked out.  

And in today’s Gospel reading, I am sure that the rich man thought that his status before God was in good shape.  We shouldn’t turn the rich man into a caricature–some sort of heartless greedy monster.  He was likely respected and looked up to by the people.  He would have been seen by the average person as having been blessed and favored by God.  The rich man’s money and business may well have provided jobs or built synagogues.  The fact that he didn’t pay attention to the miserable beggar at his gate probably wouldn’t have seemed terribly strange.  Beggars like Lazarus were ones that most people would have wanted to avoid, like a homeless man that we might scurry past and avoid eye contact with on the street.

To this day most people believe that as long as they do their best trying to live a good life, as long as they do more good than bad, they’ll go to heaven.  They may not be 100% sure of it, but one thing most people are sure of is that they don’t deserve to be cut off from God forever in hell.  What funeral have you ever gone to, even of someone who never went to church, where people didn’t say, “Oh, they’re in a better place now; they’re looking down on us from above,” and other such cliches.  What eulogy didn’t make the deceased sound like a good person at heart, even if they were a bit of a jerk.  Almost everyone thinks they’ll eventually end up in heaven.  And most people, sadly, are in for a rude awakening.

The rich man in hell knew that his brothers were under the same delusion that he was.  That’s why he wants to warn them.  He realizes that they think they’re fine with God, when they’re not.  They, too, might refer to Abraham as their father and think they’re among the people of God, but they are deceived.  They don’t share Abraham’s faith.  And so they aren’t true children of Abraham.  Let this warning, then, also come to you and me today, so that we don’t end up like the rich man, complacent and falsely secure, putting our faith in the wrong place.  

That’s really the key difference between the rich man and Lazarus–their faith.  It wasn’t so much about what they possessed, but what possessed them, what had a hold of their hearts.  Even though he may have been a religious person, the rich man’s real confidence was in his own abilities and smarts, his own resources, his own power and standing as a pillar of the community.  Even in the fires of hell, the rich man rejected Moses and the prophets.  Did you notice that?  When the rich man wants to use Lazarus to go back to his brothers from the dead and warn them, Abraham says that Moses and the prophets are more than enough; that Word of God is all that his brothers need.  But the rich man doesn’t think that’s good enough.  He thinks that Scripture is empty, that it doesn’t have the power to bring them to repentance or to save them.  He wants a miracle.  Even in hell his trust is in something else than God’s Word.  Just because he sees heaven and hell doesn’t mean that he’s become a believer.  Death does not change someone from being an unbeliever to a believer.  The hard-heartedness of the unbelieving goats perseveres into eternity.  In fact his unbelief actually becomes a part of his eternal torment, as his hard heart grows increasingly more frustrated and angry at the ways of God.

Lazarus, on the other hand, clung to Moses and the prophets.  The Word of God was his hope.  For you may remember that the name “Lazarus” literally means “God is My Helper” or “My God is Help.”  Even though Lazarus longed for mere crumbs from the table, even though the street dogs licked his wounds, even though in this world Lazarus had nothing–not even his health–in truth, and perhaps surprisingly, Lazarus found what he was seeking.  He found mercy that endures forever.  He received Living Water and Bread from Heaven. He obtained perfect satisfaction and health.  It was all there for him in Moses and the prophets.  For there in Moses and the prophets was the Messiah, Jesus, his Help and his Savior.  

You recall that when Jesus was walking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, it is written that “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”  Moses and the Prophets are all about Jesus.  So Lazarus went to heaven not because he suffered or because he was poor but because he believed Moses and the prophets.  Or to put it more precisely, he believed in the Messiah Jesus whom they prophesied, who would take the sins of the world upon Himself and earn for him God’s favor and a place in heaven.

Lazarus found there in the Scriptures a man much like himself.  Isaiah prophesies that the Christ is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, despised and rejected by men, one without any attractiveness that we should desire to be near Him.  Jesus Himself said in the Psalms that He was surrounded by unbelieving dogs who mocked Him in His pain, who pierced His hands and His feet.  And yet, Isaiah says, “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. . .  And by His wounds we are healed.”  The blood that flowed from those wounds cleansed us of our sin and bought our eternal healing, the restoration and resurrection of our bodies to glory on the Last Day.

Truly Jesus made Himself to be just like Lazarus for us.  For notice how Lazarus is comforted there in the bosom of father Abraham, laying on his chest.  That is a clear picture for us of the first two persons of the Trinity, the eternal Father and Son, as John 1 states, “No one has seen God at any time.”  But, “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.”  Jesus is the very heart of the Father; and He has made the love of the Father known to us by coming down from heaven into our poverty and affliction in order to raise us up and bring us back with Himself to the riches of heaven.

Lazarus was a true son of Abraham, not only by blood, but also because he had the same faith as Abraham.  You recall how the elderly, childless Abraham was told by God that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would be as countless as the stars.  And even though Abraham had no evidence or experience to go on, he believed God’s promise, and God credited it to him as righteousness.  Abraham was righteous by faith alone.  And so was Lazarus, too.  Lazarus trusted in God’s promise that He would not forsake the lowly, that no one who puts his trust in Him would be put to shame, that the Lord saves those who have a humble and contrite and penitent heart.  Even when all of the evidence and experience of Lazarus’ life said that God had forsaken him, he still clung to God’s promise.  By that faith he was accounted righteous before God.  He was saved.

And so it is, then, also for you.  The evidence and experience of your life may seem to suggest that God doesn’t like you, that He’s forgotten you.  Unlike the rich man, you may have this nagging feeling that you’re not going to heaven, that there’s no way to escape hell because of what you’ve done or because of the things that have happened to you.  But don’t judge God by what you see or feel.  Instead, go on His Word and His promises.  Trust that what He says is true and real.  For God does not lie; He does not break His Word.  He will come through for you–maybe not the way you want right now; maybe not even in this life.  But most assuredly He will do so in the life to come.  For He has conquered your sin and death by His own death and resurrection.  By faith in Him, you are accounted righteous before God.  You are holy in His sight, flawless.  The comfort and happiness of heaven is yours, entirely by the grace of God.  You don’t have to earn it by your works.  It’s all a gift of Christ’s love for you.  So while the rich man was unexpectedly surprised by his eternal torment, you will be blessedly surprised by the boundless goodness and joy of everlasting fellowship with God.  What He has prepared for you will be an unanticipated marvel and wonder.

Those who are like the rich man refuse to believe this.  They want a god who rewards people based on merit, and so they get what they deserve, the fire of hell.  Abraham reminds us that even if someone like Lazarus were to rise from the dead, that wouldn’t cause anyone to believe who didn’t already believe Moses and the prophets.  For Jesus did in fact raise Lazarus from the dead right before Holy Week.  And yet that miracle didn’t cause the rich Pharisees and chief priests to believe; they only plotted Jesus’ death even more fervently.  So beware of desiring miracles and signs, needing to see such things before you’ll believe.  Miracles don’t create faith.  For faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.  If God gives signs, they only confirm the faith that He has already worked through His Word and Spirit alone.

Let us, rather, be like Lazarus in spirit–helpless, weak, dependent on the Lord, satisfied with no other food than what comes from His table, eating the crumbs of the Bread of Life that satisfy completely.  And yes, let us be confident of heaven, but not because we think we deserve it or that we’ve earned it by our efforts–if you’re putting your faith in something inside of you, well, good luck with that.  No let us be confident of heaven because of Christ alone and what He has done for us, how He has claimed each of us poor, miserable Lazaruses as His own by water and the word.  And let us set our hearts on that Day when the angels will bear us home and we will be drawn to the Father’s side in Christ, there to bask forever in His goodness and love.

✠ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-27

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Technology of itself is neither good nor bad.  But the way we use technology is not neutral, either morally or spiritually.  Scientific advancements bring new problems, as the tools we use end up using and changing us. The invention of the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, and now mobile technologies have changed how and where people live, how we view the world and interact with each other. You’ve seen others–and perhaps even yourself–become chained like a slave to screens–televisions, computers, and handheld and wearable devices.

The account of the Tower of Babel is about certain technological advancements that occurred among the people of that day.  Without good stone for building, they learned to mold clay into bricks, bake them, and bind them together with asphalt. This was, no doubt, a good thing. But they employed their technology in a manner serving their own desires and their own pride. They sought to build a tower that would be to their own name, to their own glory.  That is why St. Jerome referred to the Tower of Babel as the “Tower of Pride.”

“Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language,” God said. “Us” shows already here that there is One God in Three Persons–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  In the counsel of the Holy Trinity it was determined to bring judgement on these builders who used their language and their technology for evil.

Now clearly we live in a far more technologically advanced age than the one in Genesis 11. While this presents opportunities for greater good, there is also the opportunity for greater rebellion and pride and the sense that we are the ones who run the show.  As an example: In the church we see the benefit of technology in being able to stream our services as a temporary solution for those who are physically unable come to church.  However, even this good thing can become an evil if people begin to think that watching church on their computer screen is enough or just as good as physical attendance.  Biblically speaking, there’s no such thing as a virtual church that exists somewhere in cyberspace.  For we believe in the incarnate Jesus who calls us to gather in the flesh with one another, to hear His words face to face and to receive His true and literal body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.  Our God is an in-person kind of God.  We should be willing to risk all the treasures of this world in order to have these treasures of heaven.

Likewise also out in the world, we benefit from great and wonderful medical advances and treatments.  And yet at the same time we see human life being manipulated and destroyed in the name of research or choice–millions of human embryos in the IVF lab and unborn babies in the womb are killed.  In the midst of the wonders of global communication and instant contact through the internet, there is a vast wasteland of pornography, voyeurism, and just plain idiocy.  And, of course, in our age we also construct great and tall buildings and monuments, which is fine and good. But is this to God’s glory or our own?  We advance technologically and decline morally.

This decline is reflected in our language and the way we talk.  Not only do we sometimes engage in spin and the manipulation of words to deceive or to push our own agendas, but our culture uses euphemisms to try to pretty up and justify sin: marriage equality, reproductive rights, non-binary, gender fluid.  The elites of society actually cowtow to the person who insists on being referred to as an individual with the pronouns “they” and “them,” or even nonsense words like “ze” and “zir.”  It’s no wonder that the judgment God pronounces on fallen mankind who abuses language is to confuse the languages.

So let us be on guard against the desire to find our security in the wisdom of the world, it’s achievements and advancements.  Let us not pridefully stake our lives on things that pass away, on wisdom that is really just prettied-up foolishness.  God’s judgment will not be thwarted.   He scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  It is written, “The Lord came down,” which is a human way of saying that the Lord, who is slow to anger, finally said, “Enough!” and began to punish.  Let us be warned, repenting in our minds and hearts and behavior, and turning to Christ for mercy and help.

For in the glorious events of Pentecost that we are celebrating today, the LORD came down in a new and different way. When the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the gift of speaking in other languages that they had not studied or learned, the judgement at the Tower of Babel was reversed.  Pride caused the languages of the world to be divided; Christ’s humility caused the good news of God’s forgiveness to be preached in a united way to every language. What the Tower of Pride split apart, God has put back together in the holy Christian Church.  Pride caused one language to become many. In the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, those many languages and peoples are made one.

The Church is not German or Roman or Greek or Jewish or any other ethnicity. The Church is Christ’s, and the day of Pentecost reveals that the Gospel is for everyone.  The Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, the hope of our own resurrection and life in God’s kingdom is for every tribe and nation and people and language.  It is a tremendous thing when a people are welcomed into the Church not because of the color of their skin or common cultural background, but because they are fellow sons and daughters of Adam, who in Holy Baptism are made to be fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

We, who come from different places and have different talents and gifts–we have in Jesus a common inheritance. Today’s Gospel declares Jesus’ farewell gift to you, the inheritance He leaves with His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”

“Not as the world gives.” The world does have a certain kind of peace–but it’s a fake peace, a temporary truce.  What Jesus gives is real, lasting, deep and true.  Isaiah prophesied, “The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.”  You have been reconciled to the Father in Christ.  You are at peace with God through the cross of Jesus.  This is the peace that passes all understanding, the peace that comes through the blood of Christ that has atoned for your sins, that calms your consciences.  God is not your enemy.  He comes down to you in Christ with mercy and pours out His Holy Spirit upon you through the Gospel and the Sacraments.  So it is that Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.  Neither let them be afraid.”  There is no reason to fear any more, not even when you’re confronting the grave.   If you are right with God, then you can face whatever is going on in your day to day life with His strength and with the confidence that He is with you and will guide you through His Word.  This is not worldly peace which fails; this is peace given by the Spirit of God which never fails and which endures forever.

If you want to know what the Holy Spirit does, look at what Jesus does. Note how the Son and the Spirit are both sent by the Father. “The Father sent Me,” Jesus declares, and then He says, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will … bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The Father who sent the Son sends the Spirit to deliver the work of the Son. The Son wins forgiveness for us sinners, and the Spirit delivers that forgiveness, so that we are reconciled to the forgiving Father. The Spirit is poured out to unite us with the Son in Baptism, and so we are made children of the heavenly Father.  The Holy Spirit is not off doing His own strange and bizarre thing, but is always connected with Jesus and delivering His Gospel.

The Holy Spirit comes to make you holy in Christ.  And if you doubt this about yourself, if you know your own unholiness all too well and wonder if because of your sin you may not have the Holy Spirit, consider these words from Martin Luther: “To be sure, the Holy Spirit sometimes lets His Christians fall, err, stumble, and sin. This is to forestall any complacency, as though we were holy of ourselves, and to teach us to know ourselves and the source of our holiness. Otherwise we would become arrogant and overweening.”

When we sin, we are not sure if God really accepts us.   But our Lord says, “You must not look at yourself; you must fix your eyes on what I have done for you and what I give you–the forgiveness of sins, Baptism, the Sacrament, and the Gospel.  These are the tokens of My grace and peace.”  That is where the Holy Spirit is present for you in rich measure with all of His gifts.  That is how Pentecost continues for you each and every day:  through the words of Jesus, who is the Word made flesh.  Remember, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, who puts language to its proper use, who doesn’t use words to spin or manipulate or deceive, but to preach Him who is Truth Incarnate, so that you may call on the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved.

So even though God would be completely just in coming down as He did at Babel and visiting you with wrath and destruction, yet once again God has given you opportunity to repent, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out on you generously. By His holy inspiration, you have heard the words of Jesus repeated to you, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.”  Do not take not this gift lightly, nor wonder if it is truly yours. This consolation is for you.  Say to yourself on this feast of Pentecost, “I am baptized.  I, an unholy sinner, have been declared holy, and have received the Holy Spirit. The Father has made peace with me through His Son, and my home will forever be with Him.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(With thanks to the Rev. Christopher Esget)