David’s Son Saves David

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

October 29, 2017

Matthew 22:34–46

David’s Son Saves David

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Pharisees were shocked that Jesus had received the praise of men on Palm Sunday as though He were God. Their question about the greatest command is issued in the Temple sometime between Palm Sunday and Holy Wednesday.

The question is a set up. He offended their religion. They expect Him to answer much as He does. They think that they will then be able to point out that He is a blasphemer because He allowed people to treat Him as God and there is only one God.

He, of course, is two moves ahead of them. He answers their objection with questions before they can even protest. “What do you think of the Christ? You know there is only one God. But who is the Christ? Is He not God? Do you think He is only a man? Whose son is He?”

They say: “He is David’s Son.”

“Yes, of course. He is David’s Son,” says Jesus. “The Messiah must be a man to be the Man of Sorrows. He must be a Man to fulfill the Law and then to suffer the Law’s punishments. But David calls Him ‘Lord.’ This is because the Messiah, true God and true Man, is the Lord whom we should love with our whole, heart, soul, and strength.”

After this, they stop asking questions. No one can accuse Jesus of sin. No one can dispute His miracles. No one can argue with His teaching or find a place where He is inconsistent with Moses, the Prophets, or the Psalms. He has shown Himself to be God and Man, the Christ, the long-awaited Redemption of Israel who has come in the Name of the Lord.

That doesn’t mean they’re going to believe in Him. They harden their hearts. They are like children sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling so they don’t hear what they don’t want to hear. They say to themselves: “You think you are the Son of God? Let’s do an experiment and see how the Son of God bleeds.” Remember: this is holy week. They are days away from killing Him.

And we hear them fulfill this jab. As He is crucified, they say: “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matthew 27:40, ESV) and again: “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:43, ESV)

These statements might be the worst blasphemies in the long, torrid history of sin. For if Jesus is the Son of God He can’t come down from the cross nor can the Father deliver Him. To pit these two things against each other – the Divinity of Christ and His mercy – is to completely misunderstand both. The Pharisees are simply pagans, with a religion that is no different in substance than the Greeks who worship Zeus.

They are a warning for us. Let us not be like them. Let us instead repent and ask for the Spirit to open our hearts to His Word that we would not invent our own religion but would worship Him in spirit and truth. Rather than being children throwing tantrums let us be children lost in the grocery store in a panic calling for their fathers. Let us learn to pray and to listen.

It is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer these terrible things. He does so for the life of the world. This is an act of purest love, not of man loving God with his whole heart, soul, and mind, though the Son of David is a Man and He does love the Father and the Spirit with His whole heart, soul, and mind and He does lay down His life in obedience, but the death of Jesus is primarily an act of God loving humanity. He loves us with His whole Father, Son, and Spirit. This how God loves the world. This is how He loves Pharisees even while they mock and blaspheme Him: He dies for them. He takes on their sin and punishment. He is driven into Hell’s fires with their guilt upon Him so that they would be spared. His Blood is offered for their door posts that the angel of death would pass over. He is wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace is upon Him. By His stripes we are healed. This is how God loves and redeems the world. This is the answer to the prayer: Hosanna. The Sacrifice is bound to the altar in love and we confess that Good Friday above all other days is the Day the Lord has made and in which we rejoice.

The Father will deliver the Son after it is finished and humanity is delivered. He will raise Him from the dead and vindicate Him – but not before the Centurion does it by his confession.

“When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54, ESV)

The centurion saw what the Pharisees refused to see. Let us be like him! Let us rejoice and ask the Spirit to kindle and sustain this faith in us, to keep our Baptisms before us, to feed us with the risen Body and Blood of Jesus, to speak to us in His Word, that we might ever confess that Jesus is the Son of God who has loved us to the end, that we might have the faith of the centurion and recognize Jesus as the Son of God.

The greatest commandment is ‘You shall love Jesus, the Lord your God, with all of your heart, soul, and mind,” and the second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor, who is loved by Jesus and for whom Jesus died, as yourself, as Jesus loves him.” And above those commandments stands the first word: “I am the Lord your God, the Son of David, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who laid down His life and took it up again to free you from sin. I am your God and you are my people and I am not letting go.”

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Sermon

Rev’d David H. Petersen

Redeemer Lutheran Church

Ft. Wayne, Indiana

cyberstones.org/sermon/trinity-18-2017

What Are You Wearing?

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 15, 2017

Matthew 22:14

What Are You Wearing?

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So a clown walks in and goes up to the front. She stands next to the guy in the tuxedo. A wedding where the bride dresses up as a clown will be remembered.

Jesus described a wedding celebration that His Father is having for us. Of course as with any party it started with the invitations. But the A-list guests rejected His call to come and be with Him and His Son. His reaction is just and right: He destroys these enemies who were sincerely called, but who chose to say no to His Father.

But the party is going to happen, even though the original guests wouldn't be there. So more invitations are sent out to gather up the B-side, both those who look good on the outside and those who don't. Soon the party is full of guests.

These guests were going about their lives and the Father's invitation came unexpectedly. So helpfully and as was the custom in those days, the wedding party provided wedding clothes to the guests. You showed up in your old clothes, you changed into the free new clothes, and then you went into the wedding.

Everyone was wearing their free new clothes, except for one. He insisted on wearing his own clothes. What does this mean? It doesn't mean that Jesus will accidentally allow in an unbeliever to heaven and have to correct it later. It does mean, as Jesus said at the end of the story, that

MATTHEW 22:14 NIV 1984

many are invited, but few are chosen.

The wedding hall was full of guests, so Jesus' point shouldn't end up with us trying to guess the stats of heaven and hell. It means that those who have Jesus have been given Jesus.

They are wearing Jesus because He called them and chose them. They are wearing His perfect life that was full of honoring His heavenly Father and doing His holy will and obeying His earthly parents and speaking the Gospel truth in perfect love to miserable sinners and treasuring the gift of marriage and blessing children. He never had a sinful thought, spoke an angry word, or failed to do the right thing His whole life long. His clothes are perfect, clean, and wholesome. And He gives them to you.

The man who refused Jesus' clothes is the unbeliever who wants to wear good clothes, but insists on doing his own thing. He refuses or ignores God's things. He thinks his life is pretty good and feels that he tried hard to be a nice guy. He worked hard, made money, spent it on his family (and on himself), gave offerings to charities and did the 50/50 raffle at church, and stayed out of the newspaper. He loves his country and even knows the words to the anthem and hold his hand over his heart and says UNDER GOD nice and loud when the pledge is recited.

His funeral obituary is a long list that proves that he was a nice guy, and why everyone at the funeral will say that this guy is in a better place.

But this guy is a clown, like a bride dressed up like a clown at her own wedding. My choice of illustration isn't perfect, but Jesus' point is that what you are wearing matters. Isaiah the prophet told the truth about all our good deeds: to God they are bad.

ISAIAH 64:6a NIV 1984

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags

Doing your own thing and wearing your own filthy rags, your own sin-twisted goodness, is a rejection of Jesus. I do wonder about those who dress up like Princess Leia and Han Solo to get married. Or those who wear the regular fancy clothes, but write their own wedding vows. More often than not, their vows reveal that they think marriage is about them and their choices and their feelings of love.

But true love is Jesus. And He called you and chose you. He dresses us up in His clothes, His righteousness, so when His Father sees you, He sees Jesus.

You wear Jesus. You can certain of this because He died for all and then He spoke to you. He said, “I baptized you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Because He makes you clean, you are going to the wedding. And it is already in full swing. And probably and hopefully we all will get to join the party today. The apostle John heard Jesus tell this story in real time, and before John was called to the wedding feast, he saw this vision of reality of heaven, filled with sinners who were wearing Jesus.

REVELATION 7:9–17 NIV 1984

⁹After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb." ¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²saying:

"Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!”

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴I answered, “Sir, you know.”

¹⁵And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God

and serve Him day and night in His temple;

and He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them.

¹⁶Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat upon them,

nor any scorching heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;

He will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

What More Could He Have Done?

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 8. 2017

Matthew 21:33–46

What More Could He Have Done?

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

³³“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. ³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

MATTHEW 21:33–34 NIV 1984

Everything so far was routine. A typical business arrangement that should have worked for both sides. Then things quickly got out of hand. As you listen, ask yourself, “What could the landowner have been thinking?”

³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. ³⁵The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

MATTHEW 21:34–36 NIV 1984

The tenants, who had already agreed to return some of the fruit as their rent, attacked the servants. Without any moral grievance or legal right, they broke their agreement with landowner and became his enemies. They became violent and worse, it was premeditated. As far as the story goes, we can assume time. Time for news of the violence to reach the landowner. Time for him to decide what to do. Time for the next servant to go and approach the vineyard. In all that time, the tenants never repented of their violence and lawlessness. Instead of asking for mercy, they escalated their planned violence: beating, killing, stoning.

This story is about the Jews. Jesus was speaking to His own Jewish people about their own history of violence. Looking back on the time before Jesus Christ was born—the Old Testament—the author of the letter to the Hebrews wrote:

[Some of the prophets] were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. ³⁷They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—³⁸the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

HEBREWS 11:35A–38 NIV 1984

The reason for this violence, which went on for a long time, was that these prophets told the truth. They told the truth about sinners and their sins. Evil queen Jezebel chased after the prophet Elijah to murder him for exposing her useless gods (1 Kings 19). King Joash stoned the faithful prophet Zechariah after Zechariah exposed Joash’s betrayal of the true faith (2 Chronicles 24).

Perhaps the worst example comes from about 600 years before Jesus was born. The kingdom of Judah—the southern part of the Holy Land—has a king who was a psychopath named Manasseh. He murdered innocent people. He indulged in the pagan rituals, including burning his own son to death. Worst of all, he set up idols to false gods in the sacred Temple of Solomon. So the Lord sent prophets to tell the truth, among them Isaiah.

¹⁰The Lord said through His servants the prophets: ¹¹“Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. ¹²Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ¹³I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, ¹⁵because they have done evil in My eyes and have provoked Me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day.”

2 KINGS 21:10–15 NIV 1984

The Lord allowed Manasseh to die in his bed after being king for 55 years(!), but not before Manasseh is said to have sawed the prophet Isaiah into two halves. And soon after this evil king’s peaceful death, his whole nation was destroyed.

So we see how Jesus’ story played out. His own people forsook the true faith, that trusts in the true God who places us into a good vineyard, a good place and good situation. And instead they produced bad fruit. Most were not monsters like Manasseh, but they accomplished just as much evil with their indifference and indecision. They said nothing while babies were being murdered. They refused to teach their children the story of salvation and the comfort of the coming Savior. Instead they taught themselves that many gods and many lies can all be true. They lived like money would make them happy. Then they lived their lives like they would just go on forever, and when that didn't work out, they became bitter. And worst of all, whenever a true prophet or preacher came along, sometimes they would angry at him, but mostly they just ignored him.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

So what could the landowner have been thinking? He kept sending servants. In the story the servants who keep getting clobbered were God’s prophets to Israel. Now, what’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again with the same results. The landowner keeps doing the same thing. Here's the thing: the only insane people in the story were the tenants—they thought murdering the owner's slaves would make them the owners of the vineyard. But since he dealt mercifully with these insane tenants, the owner ran the risk of looking crazy himself.

And even more strangely the landowner, like the tenants, decided to escalate. No more servants; now his son.

³⁷Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. ³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

MATTHEW 21:37–39 NIV 1984

What more could he have done? The landowner who represents the Lord God Himself, sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on a mission that certainly would end in His death. And it did. God’s enemies killed His Son in His day and now lie about who Jesus is. On the other hand, God’s friends—you—are killed with Him in His death and raised to life in Holy Baptism and now speak the truth about the Son. He gives you His vineyard, a good place and a good situation, to produce good fruit, not to save yourself, but because you already are saved.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

There Is a Third Son for You

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 1, 2017

Matthew 21:23-32

There Is a Third Son for You

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I hope many of you will stay for our Bible study later this morning. It's about a son who said yes to his father as to his future and then didn't do what his father wanted. Instead this son did what he thought his heavenly Father wanted. Instead of pursuing a life as a respected professional—what his father wanted—the son tried to get his heavenly Father's approval by performing religious acts. These acts of religious piety often were so over-the-top that they were concerning or even annoying to the son's new religious community.

Over time, the son began to realize that his religious performance did not please his heavenly Father. The son felt lonely and isolated from his heavenly Father. He had traveled the path of self-correction and self-perfection and it left him without hope.

Fifteen hundred years earlier, Jesus spoke with this son's fellow travelers. They called themselves Pharisees. At that time Pharisees had only good connotations. Pharisees looked good. They helped people. They lived upright lives. People liked them. People wanted to be like them. They were outwardly kind and compassionate people (and some were doubtlessly truly caring).

But Jesus saw through them. He saw what really drove them as individuals and as a group. They driven by their desire to please other people and their heavenly Father with their religious performance. They talked a good game, but they were not about their Father's business. Jesus laid it out for them like this:

²⁸What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ²⁹He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,' but he did not go. ³¹Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

MATTHEW 21:28–31 NIV 1984

The Pharisees did not miss Jesus' point. They were the second son. They respectfully said, “Yes, sir!” to the father, but then they did not do what he asked them to do. On the other hand, there were other sinners, who had rudely said no to the father at first, changed their minds and later did what he asked them to do. Sinners, really bad people, were turning to Jesus' heavenly Father and were doing His will.

What is His will? In the story the father asked them to work in his vineyard. And Jesus explained that this vine work was confession and repentance.

³²Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

MATTHEW 21:32 NIV 1984

Many Pharisees had heard John the Baptist preach the way of righteousness. This way means calling sin, sin. This way means calling yourself what you are: sinner. And this way means receiving forgiveness from God Himself. Dr. Luther explained this righteous way in two parts:

The one is that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution or forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that our sins are thus forgiven before God in heaven.

SMALL CATECHISM V:1

Even though this righteous way is life for all who trust in the Lord, there are many who find this way off-putting and tiresome and even wrong. The Pharisees thought their performance of right deeds would force God to honor them as VIPs in heaven. Martin Luther, the son who disobeyed his earthly father, was taught the same.

Today many cultures still revere their religious performers, such as Buddhist monks or Hindu gurus or yourself. It is easy to spot idols if Indiana Jones grabbing a golden head off of a bobby trap, so it is easy to be sad about those self-righteous actors in our world, whether from Kathmandu or Hollywood or Washington. But it's much harder to spot idols or actors when they live in Davenport. Or in your house. Or look at you in the mirror.

We are these two sons. We say yes and we say no. We do our Father's will because He has made us alive to do His will, but we also sin and do our own good things that really aren't so good.

We don't want to be the guy who says yes and then goes off to do his own thing. But we aren't saved by saying no to the Father and then saying yes to Him later with our good deeds. That risks becoming a religious performance, too. Our salvation is not about us, the two sons. Our salvation comes from the other Son, not mentioned in Jesus' parable. We are saved by the Son who said yes to His Father and then did His Father's will all the way to the cross.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

Getting Paid with Jesus

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 24, 2017

Matthew 20:1–16

Getting Paid with Jesus

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Everywhere on earth good men expect: “First come, first served.” But it is not so in the Kingdom of Grace. Here the last will be first and the first last.

This seems awful. The innocent will be punished and the guilty will escape? But it is quite wonderful when we realize that the only Innocent One is Jesus Christ and we are all guilty.

In this Kingdom we who didn’t work get paid as though we did, and we are even invited to remain in the vineyard. On the other hand those who come and demand to be paid their fair wages, those who insist on justice, they get only what they deserve, and nothing more, and they are sent away.

¹²They said, ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ ¹³But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go.

MATTHEW 20:12–14a NIV

Jesus’ “last-come-first” way is a scandal to good men because the Kingdom is not earned by the industrious or the good. It is given to the wasteful, to the lazy, to sinners. The only way to get in is through humility and repentance. It is to simply trust that vineyard owner will give us whatever is right. Those proud in their own goodness cannot obtain the Kingdom. Only those receive the Kingdom as a gift from the Lord’s generosity come in. That is the definition of grace. Grace is the undeserving last rewarded as first.

We can read this story and try to link up the workers to real people in our lives. The first workers can be lifelong Lutherans, the later ones are adult converts, and the last hired are deathbed conversions. But this would be a misreading of this story. The point is here, when the Master is explaining what had just happened:

‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

MATTHEW 20:13b–16 NIV

The response to the pay is the key. Unbelievers treat the denarius as though it was theirs’. Just like last week’s unmerciful servant who thought he just needed to time take back what was his own, these all-day workers wanted to be paid for their time. They think they belong to themselves. They think they have value independent from Christ Jesus. And receiving His gift would destroy their illusion of independence.

We are tempted into this illusion. When things don’t go our way in life, after we have been so good, we are tempted to grumble like the older brother in the Parable of the Lost Son. When the father rejoiced in the return of the sinful young son, the older brother fumed that he never got paid for all his obedience.

Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

LUKE 15:29 NIV

Like the prodigal father, the people of this world see our heavenly Father as unfair. And they’re right, but not in the way they think. God’s way is the way of grace and the cross. He makes the first last. All one of them: Jesus. And He “unfairly” makes the last first. All of us.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

Forgiving Our Debt with His Payment

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 17, 2017

Matthew 18:21–35

Forgiving Our Debt with His Payment

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

At the heart of this parable is the difference between justice and mercy. Justice is getting exactly what you deserve; mercy is getting the opposite of what you deserve. The servant stands before the king and which one does he ask for? Does he ask for mercy or justice?

²⁴As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. ²⁶The servant fell on his knees before him. He begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything.’

MATTHEW 18:24-26 NIV

This servant shows that he didn’t believe that he needed to be forgiven because he didn’t ask for forgiveness. He asked for patience. He thinks that the king has simply done him a favor that he might have done on his own, if only he were given enough time. So he is not repentant. He doesn't really think that the king has forgiven him, because he doesn't think he really had something wrong with him. He probably would have said that the king was a nice guy, but his freedom and his righteousness were his own, and that he would have gotten free eventually on his own.

This is a warning to us. By faith we will be generous and merciful to other people, but that we also see our place in God's kingdom: we are beggars. We cannot dig ourselves out of this hole. We sins are too much for us. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. So we need His mercy, not more time to dig ourselves deeper into debt.

In short, we need Jesus. We need Him to forgive our debt, our trespasses, our sin. It is too much for us, but Jesus has forgiven it all.

²⁷The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

MATTHEW 18:27 NIV

So, dear beggars and now also servants of the true everlasting King, Christ hasn’t give you justice, but mercy. He has given you the opposite of what you deserve: instead of prison, He has given you a place in His kingdom.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45

For a more complete treatment of this text,

see Pr. David Peterson's Sermon.