Lutheran Satire: Luther, the Pope, and James 2

Jesus Is Not Just Another Good Man

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

August 27, 2017

Matthew 16:13-22

Jesus Is Not Just Another Good Man

In the name of the Father

and of the ☩ Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

Children saving the world from evil is a common idea in books and films these days, but I suppose in 1963 it wasn’t. Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle Iin Time is about children saving the world. They travel through space and time, fight an evil brain, and save the world from evil.

It’s mostly make-believe, but the Madame L’Engle identified herself as a Christian. She wanted her writing for children to indoctrinate them into a certain way of understanding Christ. So cut to about the middle of the book and you get this dialogue between the characters explaining how there is a cosmic battle between good and evil, light and darkness, and how people on our planet have been fighting against the darkness. Quoting the Gospel of St. John, a sort-of angelic fairy godmother called Mrs. Whatsit explains to the kids that Jesus is one of these fighters:

“And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”

“Jesus!” Charles Wallace said. “Why of course, Jesus!”

“Of course!” Mrs. Whatsit said. “Go on, Charles, love. There were others. All your great artists. They’ve been lights for us to see by.”

“Leonardo da Vinci?” Calvin suggested tentatively. “And Michelangelo?”

“And Shakespeare,” Charles Wallace called out, “And Bach! And Pasteur and Madame Curie and Einstein!” . . .

“And Schweitzer and Gandhi and Buddha and Beethoven and Rembrandt and St. Francis . . . Euclid . . . And Copernicus.”

(A Wrinkle in Time, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Yearling Edition, April 1973, page 89)

Who is Jesus? According to the author of A Wrinkle in Time Jesus is a good light fighting the darkness, just like Leonardo da Vinci and Gandhi and Buddha and Madame Curie and Einstein. Artists and philosophers and scientists who were—giving them the benefit of the doubt—trying to make the world a better place. Jesus is a nice guy who teaches us to be nice. And if you’re already nice, how to be nicer.

We could make-believe that if Madeleine L’Engle were to travel back in time to the moment Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” I have no idea what she would have said. But in her writing, this notion that Jesus was some kind of Yoda or Mr. Spock comes through loud and clear.

Who is Jesus?

He is not just another good man, another artist, another philosopher, another scientist, another prophet.

He stands alone because He is

the Christ, the Son of the living God.

MATTHEW 16:16 NIV

Christ means that He is the anointed Savior, sent by His Father to save spiritually dead sinners by living and dying for them.

He was sent by His Father into the world at Bethlehem, He was anointed by the Holy Spirit at the River Jordan, and He was put to death for our sin upon the cross of Calvary. Indeed it’s worth noting that although at this point Jesus had done many miracles in the presence of His disciples, He was now going to clearly lay out why God was among them. Just after this dialogue between Jesus and His disciples, Matthew reported that for the first time,

Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

MATTHEW 16:21 NIV

Jesus is the Light that shines in the darkness, but He doesn’t save us by inspiring us to be good or creative or charitable. He rescues us by being punished for our evil and the destruction our evil causes. By means of His cross and baptism He inspires, breathes, into us His completed promise that our sins are forgiven.

This is what He means when He promised Peter that the Christian Church would be built on these words that Peter had been given to speak. Because of Jesus, heaven is opened to you and He brings you into His heaven. Heaven is where Jesus is, and He is already with you and with His Church.

If Jesus was just another good man, you would just be another bad person. Happily Jesus is not another Einstein or Shakespeare or Albert Schweitzer.

Children will not save the world.

Science will not save the world.

Art and literature and music will not save the world.

Humanitarianism will not save the world.

But Jesus does save you, because He is God in the flesh, who died and rose, for you.

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

Jesus’ Promise Pulls Us Out of Our Imagination

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 13, 2017

Matthew 14:29

Jesus’ Promise Pulls Us Out of Our Imagination

In the name of the Father

and of the ☩ Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

I.

Jesus made them get into the boat. He had just finished feeding the 5,000 and then He made His helpers, the disciples, get into a boat. Picking up the account:

²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. ²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd.

MATTHEW 14:20-22 NIV

A big reason for getting these men on the boat was their imagination. They were thinking how nice it would be to have a king who could provide bread without Adam’s curse: no longer having to sweat to get bread. John reported that the crowd was thinking pretty hard.

¹⁴After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.

JOHN 6:14-15 NIV

John referred to the crowd, but it would wise to include the twelve disciples in that crowd. They, too, were imagining this king of bread. And why stop at bread? If this Man could make thousands of loaves from five, why not wine? Olive oil? Or even gold? You start with one bar of gold and He makes it into a thousand. Rumpelstiltskin, eat your heart out.

If you think the disciples were immune from their imagination, go back to Jesus forcing them onto the boat. They needed a timeout after this glorious miracle, so that they would not fall in love with power and come to despise the real reason Jesus had come to earth.

II.

He had come to rescue us with His Word. He had spoken His promise that He would die. His suffering and death would grab us up and away from the slow death we were drowning in. From the womb we are drowning in our doubt, in our intentions, and in our bad ideas, to say nothing of our actual sins. So He came by, reached out to us not with His hand, but His tongue, and spoke us out of drowning and onto dry land, Himself, the Rock of our salvation.

III.

Mark tells us that while the disciples were on the boat in the storm, Jesus went walking by without any intention of stopping. But when they saw Him, they were scared. In His mercy, Jesus stopped and spoke to them.

Shortly before dawn He went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, ⁴⁹but when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought He was a ghost. They cried out, ⁵⁰because they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

MARK 6:48b-50 NIV

Again the disciples’ imaginations were on overdrive. They thought Jesus was a ghost; what other explanation could they imagine under the circumstances?

And again Jesus’ word brought them comfort when their human imagination only brought them only grief. Their dream that Jesus had come to give them free bread pulled them away from Jesus’ cross. And now they must have thought that they were dreaming as a man was walking on water—only ghosts can walk on water and soon they would be surely be ghosts, too!

Oh, how our minds bring us grief with visions of gold and of ghosts, of power and poverty. What we need and what Jesus gives us is Himself and His dependable word.

²⁷But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” ²⁸Peter replied, “Lord, if it’s You, tell me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. He said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

MARK 6:48b-50 NIV

Peter heard the word of God, “Come.” By the power of that promise, he walked on water. It is easy to forget that Peter actually walked on water. But quickly his imagination took over and insisted on being listened to. The little voice in his head got louder and louder: “Peter, this isn’t happening. You can’t walk on water. Jesus can, but not you! You’re just a man, and He’s God! What would God care if you drowned?” And his dying imagination doubted Jesus’ living word.

IV.

I can’t picture it. Jesus walking on water. And not calm flat water—wind and waves. How do you imagine that? I’m always interested how film makers are going to portray Jesus walking on water, because you can’t. You can never get it right. Even if Peter was an adviser to the film, how does he explain to the special effects guys? He can’t. The Gospel writers don’t try to explain it either. They just say that He walked on the water.

What more impossible than walking on water? Dying and coming back from the dead. Jesus did that, too. He did it all so that when He comes near to you, you no longer need to be afraid. You are, so to speak, walking on water with Him. You are doing the impossible because you have received Jesus’ powerful and living Word. He tells you to come and by faith in Him you walk with Him.

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

Being Needed by God—A Precious Gift!

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

August 6, 2017

Matthew 14:13-21

Being Needed by God—A Precious Gift!

In the name of the Father

and of the ☩ Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

Crowds were always following Jesus. Even when Jesus tried to be alone to pray, they found Him. And most of the people who found Him were desperate. They were crippled, they were sick, and they had no where else to go.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.

MATTHEW 14:14 NIV 1984

But then Jesus’ disciples became afraid that the people that had been healed would be right back in harm’s way.

As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

MATTHEW 14:15 NIV 1984

Healing desperate people all day, Jesus had now allowed the food situation to become desperate. But this is how Jesus usually does things. He gives us impossible things to do. Baptize babies and make them alive. Tell sinners that they are sinners and that Jesus has died for them. These are things that should be impossible, but with God they happen. When He speaks through us, the impossible is done.

Jesus demands the impossible from His disciples: “You give them something to eat.” The men had just returned from their time of preaching and miracle-working. Jesus had sent them out and they had returned, filled with excitement and joy. But notice how quickly they had forgotten? They had healed the sick, but even more impossible they had forgiven sinners in the name of Jesus. Now Jesus asks them to get some bread, and they fall to pieces. How quickly they forgot!

How we quickly forget, too. You have come here today and you are hearing me speak about this account from Jesus’ life that has preoccupied my heart and mind all week. But others things have filled your mind with worry. How are the bills going to get paid? Will I pass my latest test? When is the baby going to arrive? Will I get my project for work done in time?

You probably won’t find an unmarked envelope stuffed with cash on the sidewalk. You might not get the answers to the test beamed into your brain. Jesus doesn’t usually send babies gift-wrapped on your doorstep. And you won’t turn on your work computer to find your project all done.

Instead Jesus uses people to do this, usually you. You work and get money to pay the bills. You study and pass the test. Moms have babies. You finish the project.

This is the way He does it.

And He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

MATTHEW 14:19 NIV 1984

He allows Himself to need His disciples, disciples who worried and disciples who forgot. And He allows Himself to need you, too. To get daily bread to His people, He uses you to work and cook and plan and sacrifice as you care for yourself and for others. What a dear and precious thing it is, to be needed by God Himself in this daily life!

But in one thing, indeed the most important thing of all, Jesus uses no middle men. He didn’t send His disciples or saints or the Virgin Mary to die on the cross to pay for all the evil indifference of the world. He sent Himself.

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