To the Table Where the Bread Is Served

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

July 21, 2013

Luke 10:38-42

To the Table Where the Bread Is Served

In the name of Jesus.

Last Sunday I ended the sermon with Jesus saying, “Well done, My good and faithful servants.”

For I was hungry

and you gave Me something to eat;

I was thirsty

and you gave Me something to drink;

I was a stranger and you took Me in

(Matthew 25:35)

Feeding Jesus is a good thing. You are glad to do it, in your case by feeding your family. But if Jesus came to your door, you would feed Him. You'd have some option on how to do this. Your dining room or do you go out to eat? If a restaurant, Burger King or the Bix Bistro at the Blackhawk Hotel? If your dining room, frozen pizza or pot roast?

But that's all hypothetical. But it wasn't for Martha.

Martha invited Jesus into her home and by doing so, took on the responsibility of attending to the needs of the most important Person ever to walk the earth. So there He was, reclining in her house, waiting for dinner. What would you expect Martha to do?

You'd expect her to make dinner. And she did. Was that what was wrong? No. She was feeding Jesus!

Preparing to care for the needs of others as though they were Jesus is a fruit of repentance, not a fruit of our sinfulness. It is being a Good Samaritan. Martha was going and doing what He did. So what's the problem?

When Jesus rebuked Martha, He was responding to her judgmental anger at her—she felt—“lazy” sister. Professor John Kleinig explains why Jesus said what He said.

He does not criticise her, as some maintain, for busying herself with the preparation of the meal or for failing to sit at his feet like Mary; he chides her for yielding to anxiety and for concentrating in annoyance on her sister Mary as she prepared the meal for him.

(“Meditation," Logia, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2001.)

He wasn't upset that she wasn't attending His Bible class; He was concerned about her anguish over food that wouldn't last. Jesus had gone 40 days without food, and had fought off the attacks of the Devil, refusing to forsake the one thing that is needed: Jesus Himself, the Word of God. This is true even though the Devil suggested something wise—eat!

“If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Make some bread, Jesus. Don't die before You can finish Your mission, Jesus! Get Your priorities right, Jesus!

But He answered, “It is written:

Man must not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes

from the mouth of God.”

(Matthew 4:3-4)

He could have said these words to Martha. Even though we need daily bread—Jesus shows us how to pray for it as we'll see next Sunday—there is more to life than daily bread. As Luther would say, there is more to life than

food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, homestead, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouse and children … good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors

(Small Catechism, Lord's Prayer, Daily Bread)

Our life is about listening to Him, about listening to every word that comes from the mouth of God. These words are easy to find, but we make ourselves so busy with work and fun that we can't sit still and listen. This makes us worse than Martha—it's reasonable and Christian to assume that Martha wanted to finish her preparations so that she, too, could sit at Jesus' feet. Do our preparations for our needed daily bread for ourselves and our family have as their goal to find rest in the sacred promises and Sacraments of Christ?

You are thirsty and He quenches your thirst. You are hungry and He feeds you. Drink in the promises of the Water of Life in our Baptisms and eat the true Body of Christ at His table.

Let Him serve you.

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)

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Losing Focus

Quote from John Kleinig's essay, "Meditation" (Logia 10/2, 2001, 45-50)

Luke teaches us the elements of Christian meditation with the story of Mary and Martha in 10:38-42. Mary is the model for all those who meditate. She welcomed Jesus into her house, sat at his feet as his disciple and listened to his word. Her eyes were fixed on Jesus; her ears were attentive to him; she was open and receptive to him. Nothing distracted her from Jesus and what he had to say to her.

Martha stands in contrast to her. Whereas Jesus praises Mary, he criticises Martha. He does not criticise her, as some maintain, for busying herself with the preparation of the meal or for failing to sit at his feet like Mary; he chides her for yielding to anxiety and for concentrating in annoyance on her sister Mary as she prepared the meal for him.

Both Mary and Martha were in fact engaged in meditation, Mary by listening to Jesus and Martha by cooking the meal for him. The difference was that Martha lost her focus on Jesus and so missed out on the one thing needful. She was distracted from him by her anxiety and annoyance.

So then, whether we are activists like Martha or contemplatives like Mary, Jesus must be the focus of our meditation. Everything else is distraction.

Go and Do What He Did

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

July 14, 2013

Luke 10:25-37

Go and Do What He Did

In the name of Jesus.

I.

When you see someone who seems to be in need on the street or on TV, you want to help. But most of the time, you don't help them. There're good reasons why you don't—you're late or you don't know if they are really in need. But I think it's safe to say that if you did see someone in a ditch, dirty and dying, I know that somehow you'd help them.

And then we see these Jewish priests passing by. Let's assume that they wanted to help, but couldn't because they also had some good reasons to keep walking. As men of the Temple they were obligated to remain ceremoniously clean—their sense of the law required them to keep their distance from the messiness of death. So even if they wanted to help, they were bound to their sense of the law. In effect, they pitted their way of loving God against loving their neighbor.

II.

And then the Samaritan arrives and he helps. Everyone else in this story had to do something—except for him. He was under no obligation to help. Indeed he was expected to stay away from Israelites, no matter what.

But the Samaritan gets close. He saves this man who was as good as dad. The only one in the parable who is not under the obligation of the law is the only one who does it.

The law is clear and simple: love. Jesus made it explicit through the words of an expert in the law.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

(Luke 10:27)

The Samaritan loved his neighbor. He loved him as he loved himself. He risked time and money to care for his neighbor, just as he would have risked time and money on himself.

A pastor this week told me that he had been asked for help from a homeless man and eventually the pastor got this man a place to sleep for the night, only to discover that his neighbor had run up a bill on the pastor's credit at the motel. It got messy. The Samaritan was taking the same risk. He didn't knew if he could trust this man; but he helped.

Who is your neighbor? Anyone who needs help. You'll get your hands dirty. You'll get taken advantage of. You'll throw some good money after bad. Jesus knows this—yet He still calls you to show mercy to your neighbor.

III.

This is exactly what He did. He showed mercy to His neighbor. Who is Jesus' neighbor? You, because you're in need. You were dead and He came and found you. He was under no obligation to help. He should have walked on by. There would have been no shame in it. Justice demanded that you be left there. He knew that helping you would get Him dirty and bloody and dead. Yet He still showed you mercy by taking your place in the ditch.

IV.

Go and do what He did. Jesus is the Samaritan who saved you without demanding repayment, without putting you under obligation to Him.

Go and do what He did. Be a Samaritan who helps those who need help. Help them without feeling obligated to and without making them obligated to you. Treat them as you would treat Jesus, your Savior.

Then [Jesus] the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry

and you gave Me something to eat;

I was thirsty

and you gave Me something to drink;

I was a stranger and you took Me in;

I was naked and you clothed Me;

I was sick and you took care of Me;

I was in prison and you visited Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

“And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

(Matthew 25:34-40)

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Seventy “John the Baptists”

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

July 7, 2013

Luke 10:1-20

Seventy “John the Baptists”

In the name of Jesus.

I.

Last Sunday's readings ended with Jesus seemingly discouraging people from following Him. An interested prospect said,

“I will follow You, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

(Luke 9:61-62)

Then right after this, we begin Luke 10. And what is Jesus doing? He's sending out seventy messengers to go out to tell people that He's coming! I wonder if any of these men whom Jesus seems to have put off were part of this group of “John the Baptists.”

I call them John the Baptists because their mission was similar to that of the original John.

And [John] will go before [Jesus]

in the spirit and power of Elijah,

to turn the hearts of fathers

to their children, and the disobedient

to the understanding of the righteous,

to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.

(Luke 1:17)

John and these seventy men all had the same task—to let it be known that the kingdom of God was near.

II.

The kingdom of God. What is it? If you pray the Lord's Prayer, you pray for it to come.

Thy kingdom come. How? God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

(Small Catechism, The Second Petition)

Jesus' kingdom is where you will be—heaven. But it's also something that you are now. Saying that God's kingdom is near is another way of saying that you believe.

Jesus talks about His kingdom in these two ways.

They will come from east and west, from north and south, and recline at the table in the kingdom of God.

(Luke 13:29)

Jesus talks about heaven and how we have a place in His kingdom. But other times He talks about His kingdom as that condition of trusting in Him. No one can see it or measure it or photograph it, not even the person who believes, but they have it and it is real.

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, He answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is among you.”

(Luke 17:20-21; see also 16:16)

There are even times when He talks about His kingdom in a way that you can indirectly see both our heavenly future and our present condition.

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

(Matthew 19:24)

III.

You have entered the kingdom of God. The impossible has happened—you believe! And so this promise that you have received makes you joyful. But be mindful of the reverse in yourself and others. Where this promise, the nearness of the kingdom of God can cause fear.

Consider Elijah's stay with the widow in Zarapheth. Elijah was the prophet who preached famine from God and then he came to this widow's house, just as she was about to eat her last meal all because of Elijah's famine. The kingdom of God came near that woman and her son. Wouldn't she be afraid and wonder, “Why is he here? Is he going to do us more harm?” The incident ends well—God miracles food to them—but later the son dies! And his mother asks Elijah,

“Man of God, what do we have in common? Have you come to remind me of my guilt and to kill my son?”

(1 Kings 17:18)

The widow saw the kingdom of God and His power. But without Jesus, His kingdom is only the threat of destruction. It only reminds us our own mortality. God's kingdom without a way to enter it is like an invading army of death. George Washington entering Trenton was great for some, but not so great if you worked for the British. One man's Savior is another man's destruction.

IV.

This is what Jesus taught His 70 new John-the-Baptists. For those who welcomed the kingdom because the Spirit had caused them to believe, the kingdom of God had come. But for those who rejected Jesus, the kingdom of God had still come.

When you enter any town, and they don’t welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘We are wiping off as a witness against you even the dust of your town that clings to our feet. Know this for certain: The kingdom of God has come near.’

(Luke 10:11)

The kingdom of God—all by itself—is scary. God without Jesus is dreadful. Many know there is a God, but don't know Jesus. So they try to cross over into God's kingdom without Jesus. And without Jesus they won't find safety there.

Power without Jesus' forgiveness isn't helpful. And you see this as Jesus redirects the fervor of His 70 John-the-Baptists.

The Seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.” He said to them, … “Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing will ever harm you. However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

(Luke 10:17-20)

The Seventy came back pumped up. They were uplifted and elated with this taste of glory and power. Jesus responds with a “Meh”. He points out all the things they'll do and says that all of that isn't the point. Don't focus on the glory.

Instead, He reminds them why their names are written in heaven. To us the Seventy are anonymous, but Jesus knows everyone of them. And their names will always be connected to the kingdom of God because God hid Himself in human flesh and walked to the cross without nothing to His name, except our shame.

And in our shame that Jesus suffered, there is the kingdom of God—at the foot of His cross. You, too, will suffer. You may die. But nothing will harm you because nothing can drive God's kingdom away from you. With John, Elijah, and the Seventy, we echo Paul's conviction of the kingdom.

For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

(Romans 8:38-39)

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What Not Looking Back Looks Like

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

June 30, 2013

Luke 9:59-62

What Not Looking Back Looks Like

In the name of Jesus.

As you listened to the holy Gospel this morning, you might have been taken aback. Shocked, even. After telling someone that He had nothing,

He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-62)

Jesus seems to thoughtlessly open His mouth and succeed in offending pretty much everybody. Jesus seems to be against funerals. Jesus seems to be against good-byes. He also seems to be against animals and birds.

Why does Jesus say all these things? Why does He tell believers not to look back?

Because Jesus is against loving this world. Jesus warns us against clinging to things that will take us away from Him. St. Paul puts Jesus' warning like this.

Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)

We are warned that even good earthly things, like saying good-bye to our loved ones and our stuffed homes, can be used by the Devil to drag us away from God.

Ever inventoried all your stuff for your renters' or homeowners insurance? Ever helped someone pack up their stuff? You've been to yard sales—that's the stuff they don't want. We have a lot of stuff.

How much stuff does a fox or bird have? A nest. A hole. Jesus had less than that. Yet we, His followers, expect to have more than Him. When this expectation of stuffed homes takes over in our lives, we stop clinging to Jesus.

Now the first man had volunteered to follow Jesus and Jesus' reply seemed like a no. But then Jesus asked another man to follow Him. Now this man asked to do a noble thing: bury his father. And Jesus said no.

Now Jesus is not against funerals; He attended several. But He makes it clear that to follow Him means to make Him your priority. This man's request came from a heart that wanted Jesus to be on a list of priorities. But Jesus can't be on a list; He must be the list. And this is true for our funerals.

I've been to many Christian funerals. This means that the funeral service is supposed to be about Christ. Instead they are the dead burying the dead. Relatives get up to speak and go on and on about how wonderful this dead person was and how the world will never be the same without them. They tell amusing or inspiring stories to prove that this person deserved to go to heaven.

I am wretched man. When I die, I want the pastor to explain not how I'm dead, but why. Not my colon. Not my heart. Not the butler. No, my sin did it. I'm dead because I'm a filthy wretched vile sinner. My sin killed me.

But I will live on after my death because Jesus killed me a long time ago. He didn't leave me dead, but brought me back to life. If you've been baptized, this is true for you as well.

When we examine the places where we live and the place where we confront death, ask yourself where Jesus is. Let's make Him easy to find. Let your home be speak Jesus, not just your stuff, but the people who live there. Speak your daily good-byes in the hope of Jesus, which means that we see our loved ones as the precious souls that they are. They're precious because Jesus died to make them so. And for our good-byes at funerals the same hope is still there, perhaps easier to see than the hurried Byes of the morning, but still the same. Still the same Jesus.

And that's what looking ahead to Jesus is all about: seeing ourselves as we truly are and seeing Jesus who makes us good.

In the name of the Father and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.