When Jesus Says Hard Things

Pentecost 14

August 30, 2015

John 6:60-69

When Jesus Says Hard Things

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

“You'll understand when you're older.” Kids have heard those words from their parents since perhaps Adam and Eve. More often than not, “You'll understand when you're older” are the words spoken after an attempt to explain hard things. The grown-up has tried to explain something, but the kid just isn't getting it. There are just some things that you either know or you don't. Some of those things are good things; many of them are not.

A good thing that is hard to explain is love between a husband and wife. You can describe it to a child in lots of ways: you like talking to them, you do anything for the one you love, you would do anything to keep them safe. You can say all of this to a little kid, but in the end understanding the sacrificial love of marriage come from being married.

At the end of Jesus' Bread-of-Life sermon, most in His congregation of listeners did not understand His words. Like little kids, they murmured to each other when Jesus explained that He is the only food that keeps you alive, both your brain and muscles and bones, and your soul. He is the Bread that keeps the whole you alive. But His words made no sense to them, so they grumbled,

“This word is hard; who can hear it?” (John 6:60)

Who can hear and understand this hard-to-understand word of Jesus? Only believers.

In the beginning was the Word. John, chapter one. This word for Word in Greek is logos. Our word logic and logo-rhythm are based on the Greek word for the Word. And Jesus is the Word. He is the Word that created all things, seen and unseen. He is the Word that saves us. When these unbelievers in the crowd grumbled about Jesus and said the word that He had spoken was hard to understand, they used the word logos. Later another Greek word for individual words is used.

So we come back to little kids. They understand many individual words, but the Word, that is, the meaning and connection of certain ideas, they won't understand.

When speaking to many unbelievers, they know words: Jesus, sin, Savior, heaven, hell. They know lots of Bible words. They know who Jesus is. They know that there is a thing called sin and someone called Jesus who takes sin away. They know there is a heaven and maybe a hell. But well-read unbelievers who know lots of Bible words don't know the Word. They don't know Jesus. And they won't ever understand save by the Holy Spirit through His Word opens their minds.

This miracle is what we pray for those who don't get Jesus. We pray for strangers, but we especially pray for the people in our lives who don't know Jesus.

Now they hear the hard words you say about Jesus, but they aren't listening or understanding. Jesus spoke about the dear ears of the unbelievers while explaining to His disciples why He told stories.

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” (Matthew 13:10-13)

There are some things that you understand when you're older. And there are some things that you understand when you're a believer, whether you're young or old. When Jesus says hard things, even believers often struggle with His words, but He is the true and living Word and we eat the Bread.

Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

The Truth Always Flusters the Faithless

Pentecost 13

August 23, 2015

John 6:51-58

The Truth Always Flusters the Faithless

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

Today we hear Jesus continuing with His Bread-of-Life sermon. He started preaching after He fed the 5,000 with five barley loaves and two fish. After He fed their stomachs, He began feeding their souls, saying,

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” (John 6:51)

Since Jesus was such a good preacher, His unbelieving hearers didn't know what He was saying. They heard what He said, but they refused to understand His meaning. And His meaning was that to truly be alive in this world and in the world to come, they needed Him. He was saying that because of His mercy, He would give them Himself.

Jesus reveals throughout the Scriptures that He gives Himself to those who need Him and He does this giving in three ways.

He gives Himself to us through words and water.

He gives Himself to us through words spoken aloud.

He gives Himself to us through words and bread and wine.

These are the 3 different ways of giving the very same forgiveness. They are called Baptism, Absolution, and Communion.

The unfaithful, that is, unbelievers, reject all these ways—and all of His forgiveness—because they reject Jesus Himself. By rejecting Jesus, they can continue to lie to themselves that they are just fine.

They are nice people. They pay their taxes.

They don't step out on their spouses.

They open doors for little kids and pregnant mothers.

They feel bad when someone fatally crashes into a semi-trailer.

You know and have met lots of people like this. You can have long conversations about kids or the weather or sports with them. But when the conversation gets into more substantial areas that are in the news, then you have to look out.

For example, even hinting that Planned Parenthood is not a stellar organization can bring out the claws. Or even hinting to someone that their loved one is in heaven, not he was a nice guy, but only by the mercy of Christ, can offend as well.

When you tell the truth to the unfaithful, it will always fluster them. The unfaithful around Jesus become flustered when He—that most excellent preacher—truthfully said that He is the living bread that brings life forever. All those outside of the Church and many within reject Jesus' words, saying,

“How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (John 6:52)

Unbelievers who refuse to see their own sin will never grasp Jesus' promise of life through Himself. They have no sin; they need no Savior. At best Jesus is a nice guy who they'll tolerate as long as their version of Jesus stays on easy topics: cute kids, nice weather, sports teams. Or love, love, love. But if the real Jesus shows up and preaches love and sin, then this Jesus must be silenced.

Even Christians get flustered with Jesus' words here.

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54)

They like part of this truth. They like Jesus in an abstract way. To them Jesus is an idea and they embrace this idea and accept Christ into their lives. And the idea is more or less: Be nice like Jesus.

Strangely these folks boast of their literal understanding of the Bible. (They say that they take word for word.) But sadly they will only accept Jesus' words here as figurative words. They like the idea of Jesus as bread. They like that picture. So do we.

Indeed Jesus was speaking figuratively here. But He was also speaking literally. His words cannot but focus our hearts and minds on the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

We take Christ seriously. When He speaks using pictures, we rejoice in His vivid descriptions. When He speaks literally, we rejoice in the reality and perspective that only He can provide. And sometimes He does both.

Little ones who receive Baptism and the Words of Christ in church and at home are receiving the Bread of Life, Christ's own flesh. Then when they live a little longer, they also receive the body and blood of Christ through Holy Communion. So little ones to Him belong. And to Him belong also all the faithful to whom Christ has given the Bread of life.

We get this only by faith, by trusting in Jesus' words. And Christ is the one who gives us trust and understanding of realities that go beyond all understanding. This is why preachers end their sermons with these words:

And the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

We eat Christ's flesh through hearing the Word of God and receiving the truly present living Bread in Communion.

The unfaithful will always be flustered by this truth. Even many of the faithful struggle with these words. Perhaps even you struggle to flee from doubt.

When you become flustered, there is only one thing to do. Listen again to Jesus' promise that you indeed belong to Him.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:14-17)

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

A Lifetime of Receiving His Kingdom

Funeral of Rosetta Petersen

August 18, 2015

Matthew 6:33

A Lifetime of Receiving His Kingdom

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

In the springtime of 1935 a young lady in Wilton, Iowa, received words from her pastor that encouraged her for the rest of her life.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

These words spoken by Christ Jesus called Rosetta to seek and receive His kingdom and His righteousness. And she promptly did so. She received Christ's kingdom through His kingly gifts, more precious than gold or frankincense or myrrh; she received the Lord's true body and blood for the forgiveness of her sins.

And for the rest of her life, even when she was unable to come to God's house, she sought and received the gifts of His kingdom, His word, body, and blood. These divine gifts made Rosetta righteous in her Savior's sight.

This is why she insisted on putting her time at church and Sunday school on the record. She wanted this written down and remembered so that her children and grandchildren, whom she dearly loved, and all those who knew and cherished her, would know why she is still alive. Church and Sunday school, both as a girl and a grown woman, is where she gathered with fellow hungry sinners and was fed with the bread of life. Jesus said,

“I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again.” (John 6:35)

Our perfect Savior-King used bread to describe Himself. Exactly right! Man cannot live without bread, without food; sinners cannot survive without Jesus. Rosetta appreciated a good bread, a good meal. It was rare to leave her table hungry. She loved food, but she cherished and adored the Bread of Life. And so she went to church and received His kingdom and His righteousness, as she heard Christ's words voiced by her pastors:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)

One drop of Christ's blood is valuable. If the I-74 bridge was packed with 18-wheelers in both directions, each trailer filled with gold, what would you do? You'd take a different bridge, because a bridge jammed with gold won't get you anywhere. One drop of Christ's holy precious blood fills sinners with His kingdom and His righteousness. How many drops, how many cups, of His priceless blood did Christ pour into Rosetta's mouth over the years? How many words did Christ speak into Rosetta's ears over her almost 95 years? How much? Her cup runneth over.

Let us encourage each other with the holy promise of Christ that this beloved saint received 80 years ago. Seek His kingdom and His righteousness by going to where He laid down His life for you. Seek ye first His cross where He shed His blood for the sin of the world and seek ye first His body and blood shed for your sin.

Rosetta received His kingdom and righteousness. And she had many gifts added to her as well. Her marriage. Her family. Her fellow believers. And a piano. 53 Christmases ago Ed bought her a piano. (You can now see that very piano upstairs.) It would have been their 20th Christmas together as man and wife. I wonder what the first song played on that piano was. Maybe one of you remembers. For a lifetime that piano was used to bring the words of Christ through song into their home.

And for all eternity her King, who rules by dying like a little lamb, will receive the song of the sainted choir:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! . . . To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (Revelation 5:12-13)

Rosetta has joined the eternal choir. Her voice will never diminish because His kingdom and His righteousness will endure forever.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

The Small Sliver of Sloth

Pentecost 12

August 16, 2015

Hebrews 5:11-14

The Small Sliver of Sloth

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

Everyone gets slivers, those little pieces of wood that get stuck in your skin. The strange thing about slivers is that the bigger the sliver is, the easier they are to find and take out. On the other hand, when a sliver is small, it's much harder to spot and to take out.

This fact makes slivers a useful picture of our own sins. Someone who's a drunk or a drug addict usually knows what they are. They may or may not do anything about it, but their sin is a very big sliver indeed. We could picture it as a plank stuck in their own eye. That's an uncomfortable image, but again, someone is that situation knows it and so does everybody else.

Some of us do struggle with booze and drugs. Or perhaps it's a big temper. Big slivers that everyone can see. But for many of us our slivers are small and hard to spot. For many of us laziness is our most deadly sliver, our most deadly sin. The writer to the Hebrews mentioned this sliver in chapter five.

We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. (Hebrews 5:11)

Slivers are usually sharp, but this laziness is a dullness that surrounds us and is inside of us. This sin isn't fatigue or being tired. It is a dullness or a laziness of such a kind that a person knows what is right and true and good, but does not pursue it as it deserves to be pursued. The person afflicted with this laziness tries to be good only halfheartedly, causally, in a bored and uninterested way.

In olden times this laziness was called sloth. It was listed among the seven deadly sins. Luther railed against this laziness in the Large Catechism.

Likewise, those fussy spirits are to be rebuked who, after they have heard a sermon or two, find hearing more sermons to be tedious and dull. They think that they know all that well enough and need no more instruction. For that is exactly the sin that was previously counted among mortal sins and is called acidia (apathy). This is a malignant, dangerous plague with which the devil bewitches and deceives the hearts of many so that he may surprise us and secretly take God’s Word from us. (Martin Luther, Large Catechism, Third Commandment, 99)

This apathy toward God's Word is seen in Jesus' parables. For example, in one story, a master gives money (minas) to three servants before leaving for a trip. When he comes back, he finds that the first two servants had been faithful with their minas. But the third servant was lazy.

Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ (Luke 19:20-24)

Many people who have been given Baptism as their inheritance hide away God's Word. Too many of our Bibles from our first Communions and confirmations are in mint condition, but our screens, big & flat and small & bright, burn out from tens of thousands of hours of use. You discuss and research how big your next TV will be and what room to put it in and how to get a good deal. You study up on your work breaks and after getting home. Good. How about researching what kind of big Bible you'll get and where to put it? Your TV gets a mounting bracket that you use every day; how about a wooden stand or altar for your Bible where you can read it everyday? Pretty cool, yes? To our lazy ears all that just sounds weird or maybe makes you feel guilty.

We should feel guilty, because we are. But instead of trying to write off our sins, our slivers, our laziness, Christians repent and turn to Christ and receive His forgiveness.

The materialism of our day―our love of stuff―makes laziness, our sloth, easy to fall into. We have a lot of stuff that keeps us from letting the Word of God be the main thing of life. The Gospel of Christ occupies only one of the many cubbyholes in our minds and souls; work, pleasure, family, friends, even the sports page may have bigger cubbyholes. The gifts of God intended to remind us of His goodness end up being more important than the Giver; in our laziness our love of stuff stop us from gratefully adoring God and His Word. This laziness is seen in the words of the crowd that carelessly demanded stuff from Jesus.

Therefore the Jews started complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:41-42)

Like the crowd, we naturally don't want Jesus. We just want the stuff He gives to us. We even take His greatest gift, the Gospel, and use it as an excuse to keep on being lazy. You know that every sermon will end with Pastor proclaiming the forgiveness of Christ. We are so lazy we view the wonderfully inevitable Gospel as old hat, "This sermon is boring. Pastor says that we are forgiven every week." And so we continue in our laziness, holding on to our laziness that we love.

There are many who are lazy who don't even bother with coming to church. And if and when the Pastor urges them to come, well, he just don't understand. Doesn't Pastor know that you can be a Christian without going to church?

Actually he doesn't know that because it is a sharp lazy lie of the Devil. And the lazy souls who know that what is right and good and true, who know that they need to go to church, just aren't interested. And after many months and even years when they are removed from the spiritual care of the pastor and congregation (since they don't want any spiritual care from anybody), they aren't the problem. It's that mean Pastor: "Doesn't he know about forgiveness?!"

Yes, he does. Yes, I do. I am a wretched sinner covered in slivers and so are you. That's why we're here. To have Christ forgive our slivers. He doesn't remove them; He'll do that when He calls us home.

Until then, He calls us through Baptism, Preaching, and Communion to leave behind our casual halfhearted way of living. He said:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:15-19)

Be zealous and stop ignoring your slivers and repent. Trying to take out a sharp little sliver can hurt more than the leaving the sliver in. So we live in pain, bearing the cross, all the while receiving gold and white garments and eye salve from the Lord Jesus. Or as Jesus said in John 6, receiving Himself, the bread of life.

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” (John 6:51)

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

Wonder Bread and He Even Better

Pentecost 11

August 9, 2015

John 6:24-35

Wonder Bread and He Even Better

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

Wheat flour, water, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, soybean oil, barley malt, wheat gluten, salt, calcium carbonate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, vitamin D3, vinegar, glycerides, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, and several other things.* Put these ingredients together in the right amounts, bake it, and viola! Wonder Bread.

Maybe you love Wonder Bread; maybe you don't. Maybe you don't eat bread at all. But whether you eat the Bread with the colorful dots on the bag or bologna or fish sticks or filet mignon, you always get hungry again. Even the barley bread that Jesus provided for the 5,000, only stuffed them for a few hours. And then they were hungry again. The wondrous bread that God sent to Moses and the Jews in the desert only lasted a day.

So we need our bread daily. And Jesus gives us the food that we need, sometimes so much food that we can easily stuff ourselves. And for His people, this daily bread points us to the Bread of Life. What is the Bread of Life? Jesus told us who the Bread of Life is.

“I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again. (John 6:35)

When it comes to Wonder Bread and Bologna sandwiches, less is more. When it comes to the Bread of Life—Jesus Christ Himself—more is more. And Jesus is talking about both kinds of food here.

When it comes to mouth and stomach food, Jesus reminds us to be alert about where food comes from. David prayed in Psalm 145:

The eyes of all look to You, O Lord, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand, and satisfy the desires of every living thing. . . . My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever. (Psalm 145:15-16, 21)

If you give half of your sandwich to a beggar on the side of I-74 exit, you expect him to say thank you. If he doesn't say thank you, you're might be tempted to not share your bread with him the next time.

Kids, when you eat, what do you do before you pick up your fork and spoon? You pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever. Amen."

But have you noticed that when you go out to eat, most people just put food into their mouths without saying thank you. Why is that? Kids, why don't they say thank you to Jesus for their food?

Some of these people might be praying quietly. But many people just don't care about how they get their food, as long as they get their food. When the crowd of people, who ate from the five barley loaves and two fish, found Jesus, we never hear them say thank you. All they wanted was seconds.

When it comes to food that spoils and passes through us, we can't get enough. But when it comes to the food that remains to life everlasting, we are tempted to treat Him with a second thought.

For example, compare how you look forward to the Sunday morning service and how you look forward to Sunday lunch. Both are important; both are from Jesus our Lord. Yet only one offers food that lasts. Only one offers Jesus Himself. The crowd in Capernaum cared about lunch. What about you? Which food do you care about? Wonder Bread or the Bread of Life?

“I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again. (John 6:35)

Let us do the work of God. Let us come to Christ Jesus to receive His Body and His Blood more and more, Sunday after Sunday. Let us come to Christ to receive His Words into our ears, day after day, more and more.

Too much Wonder Bread is just too much. But too much Bread of Life, too much Jesus, is never enough and is always enough. We will never be hungry again and we will never be thirsty again because He has given Himself to us.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!

*theysmell.com/wonder-bread-ingredients (accessed August 5, 2015)

Every Grace Overflowing

Pentecost 10

August 2, 2015

2 Corinthians 9:8

Every Grace Overflowing

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

Usually if something is overflowing, it's not good. If your glass is overflowing, it's not good. If the bathtub is overflowing, it's not good. If the Mississippi is overflowing, it's not good.

An evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. (Luke 6:45)

When water overflows, you can maybe contain it. But you can't contain up sin. When sin overflows from your angry heart, you can't clean it up.

This little babe, my daughter Elizabeth, before you this morning has evil stored up in her heart. She was conceived and born in sin. Her heart is filled up with sin and hates God. By the nature she has inherited from me, she hates what Christ wants for her. Paul wrote the following about everyone, including Elizabeth and me and you.

For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)

Elizabeth can't overflow with hostility toward God or you, yet. She can't steal $20 out of your purse. She can't gossip about you. So it's easy to think to dismiss the truth that she was born evil. To say that she is unpleasing to God as she is by nature, is offensive to our ears.

Dear friends, this evil Elizabeth has to be killed. Paul wrote:

Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin―because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. (Romans 6:3-9)

He's talking about you and about Elizabeth. You were overflowing with hatred and slaves to evil. So Christ was killed on the cross and then He killed Elizabeth just moments ago in Baptism. By uniting her to His death, He guarantees that she will live. Christ used the hands and mouth of His pastor to wash and speak forgiveness and life into Elizabeth. For all of you baptized, He has done the same for you. You were overflowing with evil, and instead of trying to contain it, He killed you and resurrected you to be a new person.

This is how God overflows you with grace.

And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you overflow in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Elizabeth is rather limited in what she can say and do. This is good and bad. She can't draw with markers on anyone's wall or refuse to share a playground swing. But she also can't lend you any money or say thank you after a good meal. But she will. She'll do all these things. She's still a sinner, and she'll prove it. But now she's is a saint in the judgment of Christ Himself and she'll prove that, too, by receiving what He gives us. Her new life has begun by receiving water and His word. Jesus overflows grace to Elizabeth and you, and in His overflowing, you overflow in every good work as you receive and do what He gives you.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!