Quinquagesima
February 19, 2012
Justified by Faith Alone
Luke 18:35-43
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
I've never been blind, but I get sick once in a while. So do you. And when you're sick, you're helpless. You're weak, tired, and in pain. It's hard to think. Others have to help you. And this is just the 24-hour flu! Some of you face much more long lasting weakness where you must depend on others constantly.
Consider the blind man whom Jesus healed. (Mark tells us that his name was Bartimaeus.) His blindness made him helpless. He was able to eek out a life by begging, but in every way that mattered he was helpless. And being helpless made him bold. So when he's told that Jesus is going by, he screams out again and again, “Son of David, have mercy on me! Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Son of David was name for the Messiah of the world. Bartimaeus was confessing his faith in Jesus as his Savior by using this special name. He was able to use this special name and mean it because of his faith in Jesus. How did he come to have this faith in Jesus? Jesus gave it to him, just like He gave Bartimaeus his sight.
When Jesus said that Bartimaeus' faith had healed him, He was not saying that his faith was the cause of his healing. Faith only receives what Jesus gives. The cause of the blind man's healing was Jesus' desire to heal him and make him see.
Sickness, blindness, sin—they all have one thing in common. They make us helpless, more or less. The sick can recover, the blind can survive, but sin makes us totally helpless. The only hope against sin is faith in Jesus and His cross.
Being sick, being blind, and being sinful are all real problems, but it is much easier for many to pretend that sin isn't a big deal. It is so easy to sing the Kyrie without any real thought to it. “Lord, have mercy on us!”
Here's the thought behind the Kyrie: we totally rely on Jesus for absolutely everything that we have. Health, sight, and forgivness from our sin are all gifts from Jesus. When you sing this song, remember that you are blind and sick with sin. You are helpless. But in your helplessness, be bold! Have mercy, Lord!
Back in the Old Testament, you can read about Naaman, a foreign general who had leprosy. He went to God's prophet Elisha and asked to be healed (2 Kings 5). He brought $400,000 of silver and $4 million in gold to pay for his healing. But God through His prophet said, “I don't care about your money. Be healed.”
Being poor doesn't change a thing either. This blind Bartimaeus had nothing to offer Jesus—he didn't have a dime or denarius to his name. He was a blind beggar. But Jesus says, “I don't care about your lack of money. Be healed.”
Rich or poor doesn't matter to Jesus. His love is what makes us clean. When Paul talks about love in 1 Corinthians 13, he isn't talking about the passing love within friendship or the burning love of romance that burns out over time. He's talking about the love that God's Son has for you. His love put what is good and best for you ahead of what is good and best for Him.
In our Bible study today we'll hear about this love in Romans 5: 6 For at a time when we were still weak, Christ died for us ungodly people. 7 Hardly anyone will risk his life for the sake of what is right, although for a good cause someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God puts his own love for us on display in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This is the object of our faith, Christ's love on the cross that saves us. This alone is where our faith is founded. Listen to Jesus: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Today you'll need to keep your distance from me because I'm still a little sick. How remarkable that while we were still deathly sick with sin, Jesus came to us like the Good Samaritan and carried us to safety.
Amen.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sexagesima
Sexagesima
February 12, 2012
Justified by Word Alone
Luke 8:4-15
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Whenever someone tries to tell you something by telling a story, they are trying to get across one idea. For example, when Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches, He's telling us a very short story to get across one idea: we totally depend on Him for everything. He's not saying that we should wear clothing made of leaves or only drink vine sap or only eat grapes.
This same principle is true today. Jesus teaches us this idea: you are justified by His word alone. But in years past Lutheran pastors in Germany saw this story as a chance to preach about sound agricultural techniques. They preached about farming for 45 minutes and ignored what Jesus was really talking about! They took an earthly story with a heavenly meaning and forced it to be a heavenly story with an earthly meaning.
These pastors who were Lutheran in name only missed the point. We are justified by God's word alone. This truth opposes any false idea that the Holy Spirit brings forgiveness directly to us. For example, many claim that they are spiritual, but not religious. What does that mean? It means that they don't go to church. Why? Because they think that their relationship with God is based on directly experiencing the divine. They scorn the truth that God has promised to come to us through His Word alone.
I'll talk about this again in April, but consider why Jesus waited all day before visiting His apostles on the evening of Easter Sunday. He did appear to the women at His empty tomb and told them to tell His men that He was alive. Why did He do that? Because He wanted them to trust His Word. He was carefully preparing them for the time when they would no longer see Him in the flesh, but would have the presence and promise of His Word alone.
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9, “though seeing, they may not see.” What does He mean? Does this mean that He really doesn't want some people to go to heaven? Certainly not. What Jesus is teaching us is that there are some who are so set against the truth, that they make themselves blind. For example, those who are in favor of murdering babies. How can they be so blind? They see the ultrasound of a little baby, but instead of a life, they see an inconvenience.
Jesus uses parables to help those who can see—believers—see even more clearly. But those same words to those who are blind—unbelievers—make them even more blind. It is to God's credit when we see more clearly, but those who are blind are blind because of their own stubbornness.
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
The Word is the key to this parable. The seed represents God's Word. Believers sow the seed as they confess Christ's cross to their friends and family. Preachers sow the seed as they proclaim Christ and Him crucified to their flocks. Parents and grandparents sow the seed as they teach their little children to pray before meals and bedtime; they sow the seed as they discuss our Christian faith at home in informal conversations around the dinner table with their teens. But at the end of the day, when we think over our religious conversations with them, whatever the outcome, we trust the real work of making the blind see is in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
But these sown seeds doesn't always produce the immediate result that we'd like. There are many who hear God's Word and dismiss it quickly. Many of you have told me about your conversations with your friends about religion. Sometimes they are say, “Hmm, that's interesting” or “You're rather narrow-minded, aren't you?”
There are others who have faith for a time, but fall away in a time of testing. Others overwhelm themselves with the earthly priorities. The test: how will you spend your time on Sunday morning?
This test strikes soon after Confirmation. We see that many of our young people aren't here. Why? There are many excuses, but they all come to this fact: what they want is more important than what Jesus wants.
But it's not just our young people; many of our mature memebers are missing, too. Why? Because they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
How can we help them? We need to allow the Holy Spirit to grow roots in our homes. Parents and grandparents, we need to water the seed that was planted at Baptism. The best way to pour the water of life upon our little kids is to water ourselves first. We can have the courage to actually re-memorize the Small Catechism—I know, it's a little scary! Have hymnals at home—one for each member of the household—and spend a little time memorizing beloved hymns. When will you have time to do all this? Turn off the electricity. Shut it down. Pull the plug and open a book. Read the Bible together. Read children's books that help you develop a Christian way of looking at the world. Good examples are the books of C.S. Lewis, his Chronicles of Narnia.
For our mature members who we miss, we'll keep on sowing the seed. Sometimes the seed will be the Law and sometimes it'll be the Gospel. So I'll continue my visits and make myself available to answer their questions about God's Word. But some of our loved ones need to have their alarm bells rung. When I listen to a member blather on about how they don't need to go to church, I must rebuke this deadly attitude because Jesus doesn't want them to burn in hell. Sowing the seed. Sometimes my rebuke will fall on deaf ears, but sometimes it won't. The same is true of you when you sow.
Just two more things. First, we are not good plants ourselves because our soil was so good. Not so! Our soil was just as rocky and dead as any other soil, to extend the metaphor of the parable. But Jesus made us good soil and sowed His holy seed of His Word. Second, sowing seed isn't a one-time operation. We have been given God's Word in abundance and we sow it recklessly, and recognize that God the Holy Spirit does the real work of planting and growing and harvesting.
We stand before God as His holy plants because Jesus died on a tree. Can a plant take credit for growing and bearing fruits and flowers? No. God makes them grow. God makes us bloom and grow through His Word alone and soon He will bring in His harvest.
Amen.
February 12, 2012
Justified by Word Alone
Luke 8:4-15
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear friends,
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Whenever someone tries to tell you something by telling a story, they are trying to get across one idea. For example, when Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches, He's telling us a very short story to get across one idea: we totally depend on Him for everything. He's not saying that we should wear clothing made of leaves or only drink vine sap or only eat grapes.
This same principle is true today. Jesus teaches us this idea: you are justified by His word alone. But in years past Lutheran pastors in Germany saw this story as a chance to preach about sound agricultural techniques. They preached about farming for 45 minutes and ignored what Jesus was really talking about! They took an earthly story with a heavenly meaning and forced it to be a heavenly story with an earthly meaning.
These pastors who were Lutheran in name only missed the point. We are justified by God's word alone. This truth opposes any false idea that the Holy Spirit brings forgiveness directly to us. For example, many claim that they are spiritual, but not religious. What does that mean? It means that they don't go to church. Why? Because they think that their relationship with God is based on directly experiencing the divine. They scorn the truth that God has promised to come to us through His Word alone.
I'll talk about this again in April, but consider why Jesus waited all day before visiting His apostles on the evening of Easter Sunday. He did appear to the women at His empty tomb and told them to tell His men that He was alive. Why did He do that? Because He wanted them to trust His Word. He was carefully preparing them for the time when they would no longer see Him in the flesh, but would have the presence and promise of His Word alone.
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9, “though seeing, they may not see.” What does He mean? Does this mean that He really doesn't want some people to go to heaven? Certainly not. What Jesus is teaching us is that there are some who are so set against the truth, that they make themselves blind. For example, those who are in favor of murdering babies. How can they be so blind? They see the ultrasound of a little baby, but instead of a life, they see an inconvenience.
Jesus uses parables to help those who can see—believers—see even more clearly. But those same words to those who are blind—unbelievers—make them even more blind. It is to God's credit when we see more clearly, but those who are blind are blind because of their own stubbornness.
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
The Word is the key to this parable. The seed represents God's Word. Believers sow the seed as they confess Christ's cross to their friends and family. Preachers sow the seed as they proclaim Christ and Him crucified to their flocks. Parents and grandparents sow the seed as they teach their little children to pray before meals and bedtime; they sow the seed as they discuss our Christian faith at home in informal conversations around the dinner table with their teens. But at the end of the day, when we think over our religious conversations with them, whatever the outcome, we trust the real work of making the blind see is in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
But these sown seeds doesn't always produce the immediate result that we'd like. There are many who hear God's Word and dismiss it quickly. Many of you have told me about your conversations with your friends about religion. Sometimes they are say, “Hmm, that's interesting” or “You're rather narrow-minded, aren't you?”
There are others who have faith for a time, but fall away in a time of testing. Others overwhelm themselves with the earthly priorities. The test: how will you spend your time on Sunday morning?
This test strikes soon after Confirmation. We see that many of our young people aren't here. Why? There are many excuses, but they all come to this fact: what they want is more important than what Jesus wants.
But it's not just our young people; many of our mature memebers are missing, too. Why? Because they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
How can we help them? We need to allow the Holy Spirit to grow roots in our homes. Parents and grandparents, we need to water the seed that was planted at Baptism. The best way to pour the water of life upon our little kids is to water ourselves first. We can have the courage to actually re-memorize the Small Catechism—I know, it's a little scary! Have hymnals at home—one for each member of the household—and spend a little time memorizing beloved hymns. When will you have time to do all this? Turn off the electricity. Shut it down. Pull the plug and open a book. Read the Bible together. Read children's books that help you develop a Christian way of looking at the world. Good examples are the books of C.S. Lewis, his Chronicles of Narnia.
For our mature members who we miss, we'll keep on sowing the seed. Sometimes the seed will be the Law and sometimes it'll be the Gospel. So I'll continue my visits and make myself available to answer their questions about God's Word. But some of our loved ones need to have their alarm bells rung. When I listen to a member blather on about how they don't need to go to church, I must rebuke this deadly attitude because Jesus doesn't want them to burn in hell. Sowing the seed. Sometimes my rebuke will fall on deaf ears, but sometimes it won't. The same is true of you when you sow.
Just two more things. First, we are not good plants ourselves because our soil was so good. Not so! Our soil was just as rocky and dead as any other soil, to extend the metaphor of the parable. But Jesus made us good soil and sowed His holy seed of His Word. Second, sowing seed isn't a one-time operation. We have been given God's Word in abundance and we sow it recklessly, and recognize that God the Holy Spirit does the real work of planting and growing and harvesting.
We stand before God as His holy plants because Jesus died on a tree. Can a plant take credit for growing and bearing fruits and flowers? No. God makes them grow. God makes us bloom and grow through His Word alone and soon He will bring in His harvest.
Amen.
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