Thankfulness Is Returning to Jesus

14th Sunday after Trinity

August 28, 2016

Luke 17:11-19

Thankfulness Is Returning to Jesus

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

Lepers fall apart after a while. And after some time, a leper can't speak, let alone yell. So these lepers who met Jesus and called out to Him weren't too far gone. But they knew where they were going. Leprosy had no cure and it was a bad and slow way to go. So these ten lepers were desperate.

These lepers had no where else to turn. Jesus was their last hope. And so they got as close they were allowed and yelled, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Have mercy on us! Give us the opposite of what we deserve!”

And Jesus did. He healed them, all ten of them. He knew that only one would come back, yet He still healed all of them. And in this act, Jesus' mercy shines. He gives gifts even to those who don't say thank. He gives gifts even to those who don't believe in Him.

Sometimes we might be too quickly pile on in our view of the nine who didn't come back. We might hear Jesus' “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” as a disappointed parent after throwing a great birthday party . . . or college.

The nine did exactly what Jesus had told them to do. The real issue wasn't their failure to act thankful; it was their lack of saving faith. Jesus wasn't disappointed simply that they hadn't come back and bowed down to Him. We might think so if we picture Jesus as a bitter grandma who never gets thank-you letters after giving little Junior the latest smartphone.

The nine lepers heading to the Temple and its priests in Jerusalem actually would be making sacrifices to God. They would soon be saying thank you to God with offerings of birds and lambs.

The real issue wasn't their failure to act thankful; it was their lack of saving faith. The leper who came back did return because he was the type of person who loved writing thank you notes; he came back because he trusted that Jesus was the promised Savior from his sinful self-centeredness.

When you become seriously ill, it's difficult to not have your small world begin to revolve around you. Your family's schedule has to adjust to your needs; most conversations have to do with your sickness. People call to see how you are doing—if they remember, they'll ask about your spouse and kids.

Yesterday's leprosy isn't treated like today's auto-immune diseases. Lepers had no family support because they were sent away. They were outcasts. Yet still the temptation to self-pity must have been enormous. The desire to help other lepers in the leper colony must have been under attack: why help someone who will soon be falling apart and can't help you? Paying it forward doesn't work where everyone is disintegrating.

We don't know this leper's story before or after he met Jesus. But we do know that he was a sinner who was very sick. And Jesus cured both his body and his soul on that blessed day.

The former leper knew who Jesus is because there is only one who can speak and make it so: his Lord and his God. And from that day forward this blessed Samaritan used his voice doubtless to praise his Savior who spoke and saved him.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!

The Great Samaritan Sends Out Good Samaritans

13th Sunday after Trinity

August 21, 2016

Luke 10:36-37

The Great Samaritan Sends Out Good Samaritans

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

Everyone knows that they should help dying people on the side of the road—so why does Jesus tell this story?

He tells us this story because we forget who our neighbors are.

So who are your neighbors? Those who are in need, especially those you can hear and see. We learn this joyfully because Jesus is our Great Samaritan. He chose to make us His neighbors, and not just you and me, but all people, because He hears and sees all people. For us, the neighbors we help the most are those who we can see and hear, just like the Good Samaritan could hear and see the needs of the dying man.

This Samaritan in Jesus' story made a grand gesture to save this dying stranger, though he didn't intend to be grand. He simply saw someone in need—his neighbor—and helped him.

We can fall into the temptation and sin of grand gestures with our neighbors. Permit a couple of examples.

Busy working parents can save and plan a grand trip to an exotic location for their kids, when perhaps it would be wise to ponder if the time spent making the money to travel would be better spent with your kids at your non-exotic home.

As Good Samaritans, rescued by the Great Samaritan, we must ask how we can best care for our neighbors, who happen to be our kids.

Kids, we sin, too. Instead of saving and planning for a grand gesture of breakfast-in-bed on your mother's birthday once a year, what she would enjoy more is you picking up your dirty clothes once a day. She also would enjoy you cleaning up the kitchen, especially after making breakfast-in-bed for her.

As Good Samaritans, rescued by the Great Samaritan, we must ask how we can best care for our neighbors, who happen to be our parents.

The greatest king of Israel, King David, showed this Good Samaritan care, when he looked after the needs of a lame man who happened to be the son of his best friend Jonathan who was dead.

⁶When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” He replied, “At your service.” ⁷David said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” ⁸Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” ⁹Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. ¹⁰You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” . . . ¹³And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet. (2 Samuel 9:6-10a, 13)

Mephibosheth was a nobody. He was disable and worse, he was member of the former regime of dead King Saul. But David didn't care about that, and cared for Mephibosheth. A cynic might say that this was a wise public relations move on David's part: help out a disabled person, show what a caring guy you are. This wasn't PR. This wasn't a grand gesture. David looked out for Mephibosheth because he cared. David knew how much he had received from the Lord, above all the forgiveness of his sins. How could he fail to show mercy when God had been so merciful to him? David's grand gesture was rooted in Jesus.

You see, in order to save us from dying, Jesus did something grand: He died. Imagine every one of us dying on the side of a road. Your Great Samaritan finds you and instead of taking you to an inn or hospital, He sets up the cross that He was carrying. He raises it up right next to you and climbs up it and hangs there for you. He dies and then on the third day He comes back to life. And then He comes to you, not just with wine, but with water and bread, too, and raises you to life when He speaks to you: “Get up, for I forgive you in My name and in my Father's name and in my Spirit's name.”

As you have been shown mercy, getting the opposite of what you deserve, show mercy to those close to you and support those who give mercy to those far away. Show mercy to your parents and to your kids; use money to send out nurses, builders, and pastors who bring mercy to those who seem far away to us.

Dearly raised dead, we are alive in Christ. Jesus sends you out to show mercy to those who used to be dead like you and to those who are still dying in unbelief.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!

His Love That Did Not Move

The Marriage of Jonathan Hoback & Kim Lendt

August 13, 2016

Trinity Lutheran Church

Nicollet, Minnesota

John 15:12-14

His Love That Did Not Move

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

Dear Kim & Jonathan, what will your marriage be like? Will it be like Ruth and Boaz's marriage? Will it be like Hannah and Elkanah? Will it be like Noah and his wife's?

My prayer for you today is that your marriage will reflect the love of Christ for His bride. He described her as His dearest friend.

¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command. (John 15:12-14)

His bride is us, His holy Church, in which every member is His dearest friend. On the cross His great love for His friends led Him to lay down His life. He didn't become frustrated, decide that the relationship with His friends was literally killing Him, and get down from the cross as He easily could have done. So often we speak of love as being active. Here the greatest love of all did not move. Jesus stood, or rather, hung firm for His friends and sacrificed His life for us.

He stood firm and died for you, Kim and Jonathan, many centuries ago. And He baptized you, many years ago, and stands firmly beside you now.

Today you are getting married. It is good when friends marry each other, especially two friends of Jesus, but even though planning a wedding can be stressful, starting today your friendship and your love will be truly tested.

In the months ahead you'll get to know the real Kim and the real Jonathan. Maybe you already think you have a handle on who is a picky eater, who is messy, who turns up the TV too loudly, who is the night owl and who is the early bird. These little things and a million things like them will put your friendship to the test.

But there's more. You're about to promise to live with your friend until death, standing firmly beside each other in the little things and the big things.

When you sin against each other, it's a big deal. But God's mercy is even bigger. It might very well feel a little like laying down your life when as Jesus' friend, you know you need to repent and ask for forgiveness from your spouse. Be resolute and stand firmly up to your own transgression and ask your friend for mercy.

And the one sinned against, stand firmly by your friend in Christ and forgive them. Show your friend mercy, just as Christ pours mercy down on His friends.

Christ chose you to be His friends, and now you have chosen each other as husband and wife. You are creating a new Christian home, where Christ is the vine and you are His branches. Vines deliver life daily; the branches receive life daily.

So as true branches of the true Vine, receive Jesus daily. Remember the day He baptized you. Speak aloud the words of Jesus in your home to each other and to the other branches with which He may bless you. Come to church and receive His preaching and His sacrament for the forgiveness of your sin.

The end of all things is near, and getting closer every hour, every day, but this is the fruit that will last.

Even when married life together is difficult,

as it was with Hannah and Elkanah,

even when it is peaceful and filled with joy,

as it was with blessed Ruth and Boaz,

even when it just a matter of surviving,

as it was with faithful Noah and his family on the ark,

take heart, dearly beloved, that Jesus, Your dear friend, stands firmly beside you. He laid down His life for you. As you stand firmly with each other, He stands firmly beside you.

☩

In the Name of Jesus.

Jesus' Mercy Justifies the Bad Guy

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

August 7, 2016

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus' Mercy Justifies the Bad Guy

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

Who's the bad guy in this story?

¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ ¹³“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me—a sinner!’ (Luke 18:10-13)

So have you figured it out. . . . Yes, it's you. It's us. We are the bad guys who look at others and say, “I'm not like other people.” Maybe you think this at church. Maybe you say this at Wal-Mart. You definitely look around at home and say this.

We see others and judge them, not out of care or mercy, but in self-rightness. We think we are better than others. It may be when we are putting our offerings into the offering plate. It may be when we are cleaning the house. It may be when we are playing video games while others make supper for us. Few, if any, of us are fasting in the name of Jesus, but we are just as judgmental as that bad Pharisees in Jesus' story.

This Pharisees is like many of us today. They think that if they do extra credit, the Great School Teacher in the Sky is going to give them a gold star. In the time of the Old Testament the Lord had commanded fasting . . . once a year. This Pharisee was doing 100 times more than what the Lord had commanded. Wow! The Lord didn't require that your tithe, your ten percent offering, include the small herbs you had: mint, dill, cummin, rue. But this scrupulous Pharisee went big on fasting, but even paid attention to the little things: he gave a tithe of everything he got. He didn't cut corners with God. And he wanted everyone to know it, perhaps simply (putting the best construction on it) to inspire others to follow in his footsteps of godliness.

But he was trailblazing his way to hell. Notice how Jesus conspicuously doesn't mention the Pharisee in connection to being saved.

“I tell you, this one [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other [the Pharisee]; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)

He was a bad man going to hell because he was so “good”. He trusted his own acts of righteousness instead of God's mercy. Remember to whom Jesus told this story.

He told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else (Luke 18:9)

We trust ourselves. We look around and despise those who aren't as visibly good as us. We are unjust.

Repent! I forgive you for your self-righteousness, thinking that you are better than others, in the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I forgive you for thinking that you aren't self-righteous, that this doesn't apply to you, in the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And so we are the bad guys, but in Christ we are forgiven and made good in His sight. He makes us just. We trust in His mercy. We are alive in Him.

And now our fasting is not done to get His extra credit, but to His glory. Our offerings aren't a competition with others or a bribe to God, but instead a careful and cheerful gift back to the Giver of all that we have.

And the greatest gift and good work you have is the promise of Jesus received into your ears from your pastor's mouth, as the Catechism explains: Confession has 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.

This is us, just like the tax collector. We are the bad guys, but Jesus speaks to us and makes us just and good in His sight.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!

He Doesn't Weep for You

Tenth Sunday after Trinity

July 31, 2016

Luke 19:41-42

He Doesn't Weep for You

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

Jesus wept. It is not surprising that He cried, for He is true man, but when He wept. Earlier He had wept as He approached the tomb of His friend Lazarus (John 11). We understand weeping on the death of a friend.

But today's weeping was in the middle of the Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem. He was on the donkey, people were shouting His praises, and the whole world was at His feet. Perhaps the Devil's offer to give Him control of great cities of the world returned to His mind, but He still refused. He still chose the suffering of the cross, instead of glory and painless pomp, because He agreed with His Father, “Thy will be done.”

So in the middle of this spectacle, He begin to sob. He has heard and seen the destruction of this great city before it happens. Indeed the pace of the terrible news today is quickening. Death and destruction are daily in the news. And when the news and the sounds and the images reach our eyes and ears, we are moved to sadness. We may even weep for strangers we do not know and for the places we've never been.

Jesus is both timeless God and a Man in time. He knows the news of Jerusalem's destruction before it happens. He knew that in forty years the Roman army would set up siege works and surround the city, in response to a war of independence started by the Jews.

Their war didn't go well. Their city was destroyed, the massive amounts of people were killed, women and children, too, and the Temple was demolished, save for the western wall. Imagine if the British had won and decided to show us who was in charge by burning Philadelphia and Boston and New York. We would weep.

Jesus wept for this city, that so often had rejected His preachers. In the past He had sent men like Jeremiah the prophet to warn them of the destruction that was coming, if they did not repent and return to His promises. He told Jeremiah:

⁴“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “‘When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? ⁵Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. ⁶I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle. ⁷Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:4-7)

And the majority of those who heard Jeremiah rejected his call to repent and trust in God's requirements. What are these requirements? Keeping the commandments and save yourself through following God's rules. No. Christ fulfilled the rules for you. He loves God with all His heart and soul and mind and He gives us this love to His own people.

We trust in our received righteousness that Jesus gives us, even though we are continually stubborn and hard-hearted. We are very much like the Jews of Jeremiah and Jesus' time. We go our own way like a charging war horse in battle. Instead of listening to the Master on our saddle, we go our own way. Do our minds wander at church? Do we feel that we are doing God a favor by even coming? Were you forced or bribed to come to church? Do I even bother to think about the sermon or prayers or the hymns I hear on Sunday morning? Do I find time to binge Netflix, but can't set aside five minutes for reading a few stories about Jesus' life?

So yes, we are more stupid than storks and other birds. Let us weep for ourselves; let us be ashamed of our sin.

But Jesus doesn't cry for you. He weeps not for you because you will never die. And if you die, for His sake you will live forever. He cries for the Jerusalems and the Bostons and the Rios and the Nices of this world, those living in all these cities who go their way and blind themselves to Jesus. So He weeps and so may we over these lost souls.

But rejoice! He doesn't cry for you!

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!

Parable of the Shrewd Manager

Ninth Sunday after Trinity

July 24, 2016

Luke 16:1-9

Parable of the Shrewd Manager

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

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (Luke 16:8)

There once was a rich man who had hired a manager to take care of his money. But after some time word got back to the master that this manager was wasting his money.

So the master called in the manager and asked him, “What is this I hear about you?” He was hoping that his manager would panic and spill the beans. But the manager keept cool. Like a seasoned suspect in police custody, he didn't say anything. So the master gave up and told him that he's fired. He wanted the manager to turn in his paperwork and get out.

The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ (Luke 16:3-4)

The manager analyzed his situation and realized that he needed friends. And he came up with a plan to make some friends fast.

So he called in each one of his master’s debtors [one at a time].

He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

He replied, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’

The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’

Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

He replied, ‘A thousand bushels of wheat.’

He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ (Luke 16:5-7)

These debtors were renters on the master's land. They paid their rent with goods like olive oil and wheat. The manager knew that as long as these renters still thought that he was the manager, he could act quickly, giving them deep discounts to their rent, and show himself and his master to be compassionate and caring.

So here's the rub. The master is stuck. The manager has returned the books, as requested, and it's quite possible that they both can hear cheering down in the village. It's a celebration in honor of their kind and generous master who has slashed their rents. If the master fires the manager now and then reverses the discounted bills (which the master had ever legal right to do, since the manager had been fired when he made the changes), the village will speak of the master as the old cold man in the big house on the hill who only cares about money. So this is what the master did.

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. (Luke 16:8a)

The master was impressed by how well the manager had analyzed his situation, determined what he needed most in the world, and then acted and boldly. The manager had also trusted that his master would honor these deep discounts. The manager knew what he would do.

And so Jesus ended His story and got to His point.

For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (Luke 16:8b)

Unbelievers are more shrewd than us. They analyze their situation, they determine what they need most in all the world, and they act boldly and decisively to get it. So many unbelievers say they want to be rich and then they get busy making money. Everything else comes second. Others want to save the world from pollution or hunger or immorality and then they commit their lives boldly to that end.

Unbelievers are consistent, but they have based their analysis on false assumptions. They think that the things of this world are the most important things in this life. They are wrong; they don't see the big picture.

Believers have the big picture. This world is temporary; it will end soon. Jesus is coming back, hopefully today; until He returns, He is with us now through His Gospel Sacraments.

So all the money we have now isn't ours. It is on loan from Jesus to us to use wisely. Like the manager of the story, we are taking care of someone else's money. Like the manager of the story, we often mismanage our Master's money. We assume that the money we have is ours to make ourselves comfortable and happy. It is truly a miracle that knowing how we treat God's money, worshiping the gift, instead of the Giver, that Jesus still gives us money.

Jesus gives us brains and hands and bodies to make money through our work. This money is put into your care for a short time. (Just think of how many $20 bills will go in and out of your purse in 80 or 90 years.) So use your money shrewdly. Analyze your situation, determine what you need most in the world, and then act boldly.

Our situation was grim. We are sinners who were born hating Jesus. We thought that everyone around us should worship and serve us. But then everything changed, when your Pastor baptized you and spoke you into life through the Words of Jesus: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And he keeps on bringing Jesus to you every Sunday: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is using the pastor's voice to say, “I love you.”

Everything looks different now. We look around shrewdly and see not people who should serve us, but neighbors we get to serve. We get to use “our” money to take care of them. After the receiving of God's forgiveness together, there is nothing less important than caring for the physical needs of others. And so we act boldly and decisively to take care of them.

So look around and be shrewd. First, analyze your situation. You are a forgiven baptized soul whom Jesus has entrusted with many gifts and some money. Now determine what is most important in all the world: receiving Jesus for the salvation of your soul. Now act boldly and decisively with this joy with the promise of Jesus ringing in your ears:

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:9)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!

Buying without Money Sounds Like the Gospel

Eighth Sunday after Trinity

July 17, 2016

Isaiah 55:1

Buying without Money Sounds Like the Gospel

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

We never hear of Jesus selling anything. We might assume that He sold furniture as a carpenter in order to care for His mother, but during His ministry we never hear of any selling on His part. He gave His life as a ransom for many, but He never sold Himself.

Indeed Jesus is the opposite of a seller. Sellers aren't trusted because they so often bend the truth or omit it. They might play on your greed and exploit your lust. Now there are honest salesmen and when you find one, you treasure him like an honest auto mechanic, but the expection proves the rule.

But Jesus doesn't sell. He is the honest Man. We note how often His listeners go away disappointed or even angry because He doesn't tell them what they want to hear. He doesn't bend the truth to sell Himself to them; He doesn't leave out part of who He is to suit His audience. Instead He gave them what they needed, which was the truth, the whole wonderful truth.

He is the God's Servant, who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. He came to die; He came to rise. He came to feed us with Himself.

And so He calls out to us:

¹“Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without cost.

(Isaiah 55:1 NIV 1984)

Dearly beloved, come, buy without money. But how do you buy without money? You might think of buying on credit, but then you still need to pay. The bill is still due, and usually means you end up paying more in the end. You might think of payments in kind: you don't have money, but you can work off your bill.

But Jesus says buy without money. He rejects our payment schemes: He doesn't need your money and your hard work isn't enough to pay the bill. The bill is massive. All your sin, arrogance, false humility, doubts, lust, and greed, and more.

So Jesus' solution is to pay your bill for you. Without gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent sufferings and death. Simply put, buying without money is the Gospel, Jesus' death and resurrection paid for you and credited to you.

Buying without money isn't really a thing. Attempts to make it real always involve a trick. But Jesus dying for you is no trick. Indeed buying without money, getting something for free, is the definition of a GIFT.

So, come, buy His Baptism for you.

Come, buy His word of forgiveness.

Come, buy His holy body and blood.

All without money, effort, or goodness from you, because it is ALL from Him.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!