Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

St. Matthew 22:34–46

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today’s Gospel is a theological debate—a debate about Scripture and doctrine. It’s a debate between the Pharisees and Jesus. It’s a debate between those supposed experts in the Law and the very Gospel Himself: Jesus the Christ. Although, the Pharisees don’t recognize that’s who He is.

One of the Pharisees, a Law expert, asked Jesus a question to test Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? Pick a commandment Jesus, and then we’ll have some fun debating Your answer.” Jesus quotes Deuteronomy. After all, He is the One who gave them Deuteronomy. Jesus gives the perfect answer. He doesn’t play their game. He doesn’t just pick one commandment. He summarizes the entire Law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” There it is. The Law expert asked a Law question and Jesus gave him the perfect Law answer. Debate over.

Most people think this answer is really what Christianity is all about: love God and love people. Well, most people don’t think it’s quite that simple. More like, love God in your heart, on your own, keep your religion private. And don’t just love people or serve them, but accept them as they are, affirm them, celebrate them as they are, and never tell anyone they should change their ways. That’s not what Jesus says, but that is what our world says these days.

Jesus’ original answer is right though. Love God with ALL your heart, soul, and mind—nothing held back, no doubts, no other commitments. Give your all, your everything to God, and trust only in Him for this life and the next. Never avoid hearing His Word, never forget to pray, and never look for a solution or give credit anywhere else other than the Lord. And love your neighbor as yourself—again, nothing held back, no suspicions against other people, no favoritism for the people you like or feel close to. Everything you would keep for yourself, give that also to others. Never disrespect someone, never hurt someone physically or emotionally, never even think an impure thought about someone, never cheat someone, never talk about someone behind their back (even if it’s true), never even want something that someone else has. 

There’s the Law. The perfect demand from God. Love God and love your neighbor. The true Law really is that simple. But that cannot be what Christianity is all about. The Law cannot be the only part or even the main part of Christianity. Because as perfect as this Law answer is, it is impossible to do. The Law does not give life. The Law does not comfort. If you have broken even one of these commandments then the Law will only kill you and damn you to hell. Then the debate will really be over.

But Jesus isn’t finished with the debate. Jesus isn’t finished with these proud Pharisees and He isn’t finished with you. Jesus doesn’t finish with the Law. He has His own question, and it’s very different from the Pharisee’s question—about as different as Law and Gospel. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?”

First, let me explain that term, “Christ.” We call our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus is His name, Christ is His title. Christ is a Greek word that means, “Anointed One.” Greek is the language of the New Testament. God’s Old Testament people, the Israelites, didn’t speak Greek, they spoke Hebrew. And so in Hebrew the term for “Anointed One” is Messiah. So, Christ and Messiah mean the same thing. Our Lord is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. And that means He is the promised Savior, the One chosen by God the Father to save the world from sin. Now, of course, the Pharisees know all this, so when Jesus asks them, “Whose son is the Christ or Messiah?” They answer correctly, “He is the son of David,” that is a descendant of King David. But that’s really only half of the right answer. And so Jesus needs to teach these experts. Their debate might be over. But His Bible class is just getting started.

Jesus quotes from one of the Psalms of David: “How is it that David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls the Christ Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? If then David calls the Christ his Lord, how is he David’s son?” Everybody tracking with Jesus? The Pharisees, and all the Jews, and all Christians, know that the Christ, is the son of David, meaning He is a human descendant of King David. But in Psalm 110, David calls his descendant his “Lord.” And this Lord, this son of David is even going to sit at God’s right hand. David is worshiping his descendant. Kinda weird stuff. And the Pharisees aren’t sure what this means.

You Christians already know what this means though. Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed and promised Savior—He is David’s son and David’s Lord. How can that be? We learned the answer by heart in the Small Catechism: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Jesus the Christ is one Person with two complete natures. He is fully and truly God—the eternal Son of the Father. And He is fully and truly man—a descendant of David, the son of Mary. David’s God became a man, born from his own bloodline. Our God is a man: Jesus the Christ.

But our God did not come in the flesh just to repeat the Law to us. He did not become man just to answer the Pharisees’ questions and give us impossible demands that leave us suffering in hell. He came to be the Christ. The Father anointed and sent His Son to save us from the accusations of the Law.

The Christ had to be a true man. The Law was given for man to fulfill, so the Christ had to be a man in order to do what the Law commands in our place. The Law also demands punishment for those who break its commands, so the Christ also had to be a man in order to suffer in our place all the punishments of the Law that we deserve. The Christ had to be a true man so that He could die as the innocent sacrifice for sin.

And the Christ had to be true God. If Christ was only a man then He couldn’t take the place for all of us. Only God can pay the price for the sins of the whole world. Only God can take care of hell’s punishments for all eternity. The Christ had to be true God so that He could die for all and rise again for all.

So now, with this right knowledge about the Christ, let’s go back to Jesus’ first answer about the Law. He sums it all up: Love God and love your neighbor. He shows the unity to God’s Law. It’s not a list of random rules. And He shows that the Law has a unity of purpose: the Law accuses everyone. It tells everyone: You have fallen short. You have not loved God perfectly. You have not loved your neighbor perfectly. You have failed. You must be punished. Debate over.

But each of us has a little Pharisee law expert inside our hearts. We think we can keep the Law, that we can debate with God and prove our own righteousness. So, the Collect of the Day is a prayer against the little Pharisee inside each of us. This prayer admits the truth: O God, without You we are not able to please You. Without God’s mercy we have no hope. No matter how expert we think we are in loving God or loving neighbor, we are not good enough to please God. So the Collect continues: mercifully grant that Your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts. We need God’s intervention. We need His saving help. We need the answer to Jesus’ question about the Christ. We need the Christ Himself—the Messiah, the Anointed One, the promised Savior, who gives His Holy Spirit for our good.

This Christ loves you. And He actually loves you so much that He will not overlook your sins. He died for them, so He can’t just let you go on living with them. He paid the price for your sins with His blood of the New Testament. So, He calls you to repent, leave your sins, and trust in Him.

The Christ is the only one who kept the great commandments perfectly. He loved God His Father with all His heart, soul, and mind. He loved you His neighbors as Himself. He did what you cannot. He saved you to have you as His own. With the Christ your Savior, the Law debate really is over. He washed you and made you holy. And He fills you with His true body born of Mary, yet also the body of your God. The blood of the New Testament is poured for you from a cup into your mouth to forgive your sins. He gives you His Holy Spirit who directs and rules our hearts so that we want to do God’s commandments and we are able to begin doing them. Jesus is and does all of this for you.

Do not despair. Do not give up hope. You suffer some of the consequences of sin in this life, but none of it is the suffering of hell. Your sins are forgiven. The Law cannot condemn you or punish you because you are with Christ. And the suffering you have right now, this difficult life of struggling against sin, struggling to love God and love your neighbor—all that suffering, all of that struggling will be brought to an end. Because the Christ is David’s son and Lord—your human Savior and your Divine brother—and He is coming again soon.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

A few sentences and ideas came from Rev. David Petersen (Trinity 18, 2014; and Issues Etc. Interview, Trinity 18, 2015)

Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Proverbs 25:6–14

St. Luke 14:1–11

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It’s amazing how much humor, even sarcasm, is in the Bible, if you read it closely. I think Jesus is kind of mocking the Pharisees in our Gospel reading today. He’s not doing it simply to be mean, but He is convicting them of sin. Jesus had been invited to Sabbath dinner at a Pharisee’s house, and when He noticed how the other guests chose the places of honor, He told them this parable. I picture them jostling a bit, trying to seem polite, but also angling and quickly moving for the best stop around the dinner table. You know how that can be—we all think we’re rather stealthy, but people notice. Jesus certainly did. And then it seems like He smiles a little bit, and it’s as if He said, “You know, here’s a neat trick for how to get honor… Don’t push for the best seat because you might get kicked out by someone more deserving. But if you go to the lowest spot, then there’s a better chance your host will say, ‘Oh no! Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.”

I can’t help but think this “advice” comes off kinda sneaky, and not so humble (or someone can certainly take it that way). Which is why I think Jesus is having a little fun with them. Obviously, Jesus is not advocating that you should manipulate people and force them to parade you up before everyone so you get more honor. This is not actually practical advice. He is accusing them of sinful pride and false humility.

What He does is a bit like our hymn we just sang, which invites us, challenges us to save ourselves: Seek where you may To find a way That leads to your salvation… Or, Seek whom you may To be your stay, None can redeem his brother (LSB 557:1–2). The hymn does not want us to seriously look for another way of salvation or another Savior besides Jesus Christ. But it’s a rhetorical device: “Hey, if you want to, you can look for some other way to save yourself, but it won’t work.” Which is why the rest of the hymn lays out what Christ has done and how He is our only Redeemer. His parable is doing a similar thing.

Jesus takes His parable from the Proverbs, which we heard earlier in our Old Testament reading: Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. Just as Jesus wasn’t giving practical advice for guests at a dinner party, the Proverbs should not be read as only practical advice for good living. At least, that’s not their only or primary purpose. It is of course true that God’s Law and ethical instruction based on that Law are good and good for you. Those who work to keep God’s Law will have a happier, more satisfying life than those who deliberately break it. However, that cannot be the only intention behind the Law or the Proverbs or any “advice” in Scripture, because we know from experience that no one, no matter how hard they try, can keep the Law perfectly; and Scripture shows us that it is impossible for us to make ourselves righteous enough in God’s sight. So, while the Law, the Proverbs, or Jesus’ parable do instruct us in proper conduct and true humility, at the same time, they are also exposing our sins—particularly in this case, showing and accusing our pride. 

But the Law also never gets the last word in Scripture. In that parable Jesus told, there is a deeper spiritual lesson hidden there for us who believe the Gospel—those who have the secret of the kingdom of God revealed to them. Jesus is the One who rightfully held the highest seat at the heavenly Father’s banquet table. And yet, He was the One who was removed, and put into the lowest place. He was humiliated beyond our imagining by taking on our sin, being mocked by His enemies and abandoned by His close friends, and by suffering the eternal wrath and hell of God while hanging naked and forsaken on the cross. 

And He did that for you. His humiliation means your forgiveness, your worthiness, your exaltation. He was removed to make a space for you as the Father’s honored guests. And you can hear the gracious invitation: “Friend, move up higher.” But having been moved to the lowest spot, Jesus was also vindicated as the true innocent Son, the Holy One. He was raised up back to life, back to the front seat of honor, not for the sake of His ego, but for the glory of God—that God may get glory for Himself by serving and saving sinners. That is how our God wants to be known, how He wants His name glorified: that He is the God who forgives sinners and raises the dead.

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The One who truly humbled Himself and so was exalted is Jesus Himself. But as His Christians, we are to apply this to ourselves as well. And so knowing the Gospel, we are able to return to that instruction that the Law offers.

There are at least three parts to real humility. First, we should be humbled by the knowledge that we are nothing. We are empty. Before men we are just one in a billion, doomed to go the way of all flesh, to return to the dust. And before God, apart from His grace, our lives are ruined by sin. We have nothing to offer Him. While this aspect of humility is objectionable to the world, I think most of us Christians recognize it’s true. After all, we sincerely confess, I, a poor, miserable sinner.

The second part of humility: we should be humbled by patiently enduring wrongs. Now this is much harder to do, and we may even struggle with wanting to do it. We know that we should act humble—we shouldn’t brag about ourselves and we don’t like arrogant people. But it’s much, much harder to not stand up for ourselves when we are wronged. Yet, our Lord Jesus tells us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:38–39).

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t care about justice and truth, especially when it comes to defending our neighbors. But we spend so much energy, thought, and time worrying about the wrongs done against us or how we’ve not been properly recognized for our deeds, because we think we deserve better. We are proud—we think we deserve honor and good things in life when all we truly deserve is death and hell. We all fall into the trap of feeling sorry for ourselves and saying, “I’ve got such bad luck.” That’s the proud thinking that I’m so significant that the whole universe must be conspiring against me. This is vanity. Instead, we should learn how to suffer with patience, trusting that God will act to save and vindicate us.

The third part of humility is that we should humbly submit to all people. This is also really difficult for proud sinners, but as Christians we are called to be servants to everyone. Love your neighbor as yourself. Or Jesus also said, Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them (Matthew 7:12). That’s the opposite of how most people think. We are not to treat others in the same way they treat us. We are to treat others the way we would like them to treat us, even when they don’t.

Now, this instruction in humility is very convicting and difficult for us. But think of how Jesus practiced such true humility. He submitted to all people even though He was more powerful and intelligent than any of them. He submitted to His earthly parents, to Pilate and the authorities. And of course, He submits to His heavenly Father and does His will. Jesus also patiently endured wrong: false accusations, mocking, undeserved torture, and wrongful death. No one has ever suffered injustice the way He did. And yet, He did not complain—He bore it gladly while He trusted His Father to care for Him. And Jesus, who was truly equal with God, worthy of the highest honor, He emptied Himself, and counted Himself as nothing.

Not only is Jesus our greatest example in humility, but as we already noticed with the parable, Jesus humbled Himself for our sake. He did that so that we who are empty might be filled with His goodness; so that we who should be brought low might be brought up to where He rightfully sits, exalted to sit with Him in His glory. It’s true that we are prideful, arrogant sinners, each in our own way, but we will not be severed from the love of God because of what our Savior has done for us:

My heart’s delight, My crown most bright,

O Christ, my joy forever.

Not wealth nor pride Nor fortune’s tide

Our bonds of love shall sever.

You are my Lord; Your precious Word

Shall guide my way And help me stay

Forever in Your presence. (LSB 557:4)

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Most of these ideas came from Rev. David Petersen’s Issues, Etc. interview on Trinity 17. He credits the three points on humility to Thomas Aquinas.

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

St. Luke 7:11–17

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Son of God became a man—a human. And even though He did not have original sin and He did not commit any actual sin, He still lived a very human life. His life encompassed all our highs and lows, our joys and sorrows, growing and aging. He is the ultimate representative of all human life from the womb to the tomb. So, we also see in His life, that Jesus is present and active at very human events—milestones in life. He attends a wedding at Cana and He attends a funeral at Nain. The Gospels tell us that Jesus raised at least three people from the dead, including Jairus’s daughter from her deathbed, and Lazarus from his sealed tomb, four days after his death. But here at Nain, Jesus is at the funeral service itself, and He interrupts the funeral procession by raising this widow’s son. So, since this episode is unique with Jesus being at a funeral, I think there are at least three things we can learn from this miracle about Christian funerals.

First, we start with what seems obvious: Jesus is there with His crowd, His disciples and others following Him. But we need to realize what it means that Jesus is there. Luke tells us that when the Lord saw the grieving mother and widow, He had compassion on her. But Jesus is not just another mourner or a sympathetic onlooker. The compassion of Jesus is deeper and stronger than earthly compassion. When we say Jesus is there, we mean nothing less than the Lord who became a man and would die for the sins of the world and rise again. His godly compassion was for sinners who cannot save themselves. His compassion was driving Him to the cross where He would suffer death in order to cancel our debt and destroy death forever. The Lord’s compassionate presence means more than just feeling sorry or a gentle pat on the arm. The Lord’s compassion means He will act to save. He will act by dying and rising again. And while He’s on His way to the cross to accomplish our salvation, His compassion also compels Him to display that salvation by His miracles, especially by raising the dead. His godly compassion, for this widow and for the world, gives a foretaste of the resurrection by this young man. Here at Nain we get a picture of what the Lord will do for all of us, a display of what all our funerals are preparing for.

The first thing we learn is that the Lord Jesus is there with His crowd, and so, He is here at our funerals too. Wherever His Word is read, He is present with His compassion. And so, in response to His presence, we confess our faith in Him. This means that the Christian funeral is a church service. Our chief focus, even at a funeral, is the worship of the one true God—the God in our midst who has compassion for us, who died for us and rose again to give us victory and open heaven for us.We hear His Word and call upon His holy name in prayer. The funeral is not merely a time of remembrance and our focus is not on the deceased. Our focus is on our Savior, as it always must be. And so, we confess our faith in our Savior, and we confess the faith of the deceased. We give them a voice one last time, speaking aloud the faith in which they died. More important than what the person did, is what the person believed.

So, the compassionate Lord Jesus is there at the Christian’s funeral. He’s there with His crowd, all the other brothers and sisters of the family of God. We gather as the Church to confess our faith and the faith of the one who died. This also means, that if you can, you come to the funerals of your fellow Christians. It’s not just for their family and friends. Whether you knew them well or not, you are their brother or sister in Christ. You need to be there too.

The second thing we notice from this miracle is that Jesus speaks good words. First, He speaks a good word to the widow: “Stop crying.” He is taking away her tears and He’s going to take away the reason for her tears. It’s not that the poor woman is wrong or sinful to be crying at the funeral of her only son—nothing could be more natural. But when Jesus is at work, hope is born anew, and tears can be wiped away. His powerful, living Word brings relief, comfort, peace, and joy. Jesus’ word does what it says. So when He says the good word, “Stop crying,” then she wants to stop, indeed she does stop, because He is giving her new hope, new joy, and new life. 

Then Jesus speaks a good word to the dead son: “Young man, I say to you, arise.” By His Word, by His speaking, Jesus shows that He is the Lord over life and death. As the Holy One, who died the innocent death in payment for sin and then rose victorious from the grave, He and He alone has the authority to awaken the dead and grant them everlasting life. He can wake up the dead more easily than we can wake up someone from sleep. Jesus’ word does what it says. So when He says the good word, “Young man, I say to you, arise,” then immediately the dead man sat up and began to speak. The young man is not a ghost or zombie, but a real man, body and soul together, fully alive once more, reanimated by the living Word.

So, the second thing we can learn is that we want Jesus to speak His good words at Christian funerals. The word “eulogy” literally means “good word.” And you’ve all probably heard many eulogies where the grief-stricken family and friends try to say a lot of good words about their deceased loved one. And you probably know some of these words are true and some not so true, maybe exaggerated, maybe chosen to get a laugh, or maybe chosen to tug at the heartstrings. And you’ve probably seen some eulogies fall apart because the grief is just too hard to bear for the speaker. Decent eulogies can be full of good memories that are worth sharing, but they’re usually more effective in their proper place, say, in the easy, informal setting of the funeral luncheon, not the sacred, reverent setting of God’s House. 

As Christians at a funeral, we don’t really need the eulogies from family or friends. What we need is a eulogy from Jesus—good words from our Lord. What we need to hear is not so much what we think of the deceased or what we remember, but we need to hear what the Lord says of them. This is why the pastor preaches a sermon. He might use some specific examples of how the Lord worked in that person’s life, and how they expressed their faith in word and deed. Funeral sermons aren’t pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all. But the chief focus of the funeral sermon is still on what the Lord said and did for that person: that they are baptized, forgiven, and sanctified by their Lord. They were given new life through the Word and Sacraments, and now their souls are at peace in heaven with God. The funeral sermon echoes the good words that our Lord Jesus spoke at Nain. Through the sermon our Lord speaks to us right now: “Stop weeping. There is forgiveness for sin. There is life that triumphs over death. Have hope.” And the sermon points us forward to what the Lord will say and do for the deceased and for us on the Last Day: “I say to you, arise.”

So, this brings us to the third thing we can learn: Jesus raises the dead. We’ve already said this several times, but now we should apply it to our situation. That funeral at Nain was cut short—they never made it to the cemetery. The casket bearers carried an empty casket back into the town. And the widow did not have to return to an empty house. Life returned with the young man and things happily went back to normal.

But Jesus has not promised that our funerals will be canceled. Our bodies and the bodies of our loved ones are laid to rest in the ground. And after the lunch is finished, the leftovers are packed up, and the flowers are collected, grieving widows or widowers, children or parents, they have to go back home and see the empty chair or bed that their loved one had occupied. Life goes on, but not back to normal, because someone is missing.

And yet, Jesus has promised to raise us from the dead and give us everlasting life when He returns. By raising the young man at Nain, Jesus demonstrated His power over the grave. He gave a glimpse of what He had come to do: defeat sin and death, forgive sins, and bestow life. Jesus gave a picture of what all our funerals are pointing towards: the Last Day, when all the dead will be raised, and those who believe will live with Him forever. Here is the ultimate reason we have a Christian funeral: we gather in hope for what the Lord has in store for us. This is confident, certain, sure hope—not wishful thinking. Christian hope means that we know it even though we cannot see it. We wait, we expect, we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

We know Jesus is going to do this for us, not just because He did it for a few people in the Bible. But we know Jesus will raise us because He is risen and we are bound to Him. He came out of His grave and He cannot leave us in ours any more than He could’ve left His body in the tomb. He is our Head, we are members of His body.

So,Shall I fear, or could the Head 

Rise and leave His members dead?

No, too closely I am bound 

By my hope to Christ forever; 

Faith’s strong hand the Rock has found, 

Grasped it, and will leave it never;

Even death now cannot part 

From its Lord the trusting heart (LSB 741:2–3).

When we confidently say, “Christ is risen!” that is the guarantee that we shall rise as well.

So, in a Christian funeral we gather in hope for the resurrection to come. And especially, we go out to the cemetery to lay a member of Christ’s body into his or her resting place. And when I say “We,” I mean that we, the Church, the Body of Christ should go out to the grave. It’s not just for the blood relatives or earthly friends. Come out to the cemetery and lay down your fellow Christian to rest in peace. Mark their grave, and remember that you also are dust and to dust you shall return. But also tuck them into their bed, commending their body into God’s keeping. This is also why Christians bury their dead, planting their bodies as seeds that will be brought to life again at Jesus’ return. And this is why cremation is not a very Christian practice, because we don’t try to hide death or pretend that death is a good thing. Death is the enemy, but it’s a defeated enemy. And the body that sleeps for a little while in the earth, will be awakened again. God is not done with your body. He has more in store for it.

So also, when you go out to the cemetery (at the funeral and later on), rejoice at death’s defeat. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Laugh to scorn the gloomy grave 

And at death no longer tremble;

He, the Lord, who came to save 

Will at last His own assemble.

They will go their Lord to meet, 

Treading death beneath their feet (LSB 741:7).

At Christian funerals and at Christian graves, we take a lesson from the happy crowd at Nain. Even though we still wait for the Last Day, we glorify God. We sing and we proclaim the resurrection.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

            He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Galatians 5:25–6:10

St. Matthew 6:24–34

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

With Sunday School and Catechism Class starting back up, it might feel like a new beginning. And maybe it is for you and your family—it’s certainly a good time to make a new beginning at being connected to God’s Word at home every day and at church every week. But of course, school and sports, have already been going on for a while, and jobs are always there demanding our time. It doesn’t take long for the day and the week to get filled up.

In our Epistle, St. Paul has this admonition for us: “let us not grow weary of doing good and sowing to the Spirit, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Jesus also gently rebukes us, “O ye of little faith.” And to prove we lack faith, the main theme of the Gospel today is the word we all need, but we all dread: Do not be anxious! Do not be anxious, parents and teachers in the first weeks of school. Do not be anxious, farmers getting ready for harvest. Do not be anxious, while the troubling news headlines keep coming. 

Why are we so anxious? We think that we must worry about food, drink, clothing, cars, practice and games, gossip and politics, because we are trying to serve two masters. We are trying to serve a heavenly Father, while on the side also serving Mammon—that is all earthly things, the riches and cares of this life. But when Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and Mammon,” it’s not so much a command as a statement of reality: you can’t do both. It’s impossible. Trying to serve God and Mammon only produces anxiety. So, why would you gladly drive so far and spend so much time and money for things that do not last, but struggle to come here to the very fountain of life?

Now a Christian can use Mammon for good, but a Christian cannot serve Mammon—at least, you cannot serve Mammon and remain a Christian, not for long. You cannot let the riches and cares of this life be your priority, your first concern. You will know when that has happened when the things of God fall into last place: your prayers, your devotion with the Bible as a family, your ability to talk about life and this world as if God’s creation or Christ’s resurrection mattered, and most important of all, your participation with this congregation in the Divine Service. When you catch yourself saying that you have no time for these things—in your home or at your Church—that is because you are devoted to Mammon, and are despising God. No one can serve two masters. So, do you try to fit or cram God and His Word into your busy schedule, or do you form and press your busy schedule around God’s Word? 

When you serve Christ, you can use Mammon rightly. But those who serve Mammon always press Christ into its service. And since that never works, Mammon ultimately pushes Christ out. The true definition of “despise” isn’t just “hate intensely.” It also means to care so little for something that you hardly bother with it and it hardly bothers you. Very few Christians come to really hate God. But you know many who simply care less and less, until finally they have no interest in hearing Christ and being part of His Church. Most people drift away slowly and then never return. Do not forget Jesus’ parable of the sower, how that seed that grew up among the weeds was choked by the riches and cares of this life. If you are serving Mammon, you will soon have no use for Christ. 

Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. For servants of Christ, every good gift of God (including earthly things) may be received with thanksgiving and put to their proper use. We also know this to be true because St. Paul, in the Epistle, gives a command from God about one very specific use of your money: the one who is taught the Word must share all good things with the one who teaches. The “teaching” word Paul uses here is actually, catechize. The one who is catechized in the faith must share all good things with his or her catechism teacher. 

You probably don’t want to hear me preach about this, and I don’t want to either, except God’s Word forces it: it is the duty of a Christian to help keep their pastor alive. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:14, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. Here in Galatians, Paul even adds this warning: Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. Now that’s also a warning for the teacher—there are many preachers who know how to preach this verse “better” than I do, and get all the money and perks from their job. But this is also a warning for the congregation—that the worker deserves his wages.

Paul chooses this word “catechist” for ministers on purpose. The pastor is not a serviceman, marrying and burying people on demand for a fee. He is not a witchdoctor, practicing magic to solve everyone’s problems. Nor is he insecure, just hoping for people to come to his special thing he’s doing so he can feel loved. The pastor is a teacher and a preacher. He brings the Word of God and speaks it into your ear, convicting and rebuking sin with all of God’s truth, but also delivering what you cannot find anywhere else: the forgiveness of sins and the verdict of judgment day. 

If you have ever had a good and faithful teacher of God’s Word, a genuine pastor to the flock and a father over God’s household, then you learned from his example that money was the smallest part of it for him. He probably begged you more for your time and perhaps for your efforts than for your money. That is also at work here in our Epistle. Just as Mammon is more than money, the good things to be shared with your pastor and teacher are more than “payment” for his “work.” They are also your time and effort at hearing God’s Word and being a part of His Church.

This is how you sow seed in preparation for reaping a harvest. Jesus said you cannot serve God and Mammon. Paul said the same thing: you cannot sow to the flesh and expect to reap from the Spirit. You cannot be devoted to earthly things that fail and become corrupted without you failing and being corrupted yourself. As Jesus also said, the one who keeps his life will lose it; but the one who loses his life for My sake and for the sake of the Gospel will keep it forever. 

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, because this alone satisfies and lasts. Mammon, riches, fame, business and busyness, health and athleticism, and work—it does not care for you. God cares for you. The things that “make the world go round” do not satisfy, because they can never tell you when you’ve gotten enough, when you are done. Jesus Christ says, It is finished. He has satisfied the Father by His Blood, and His righteousness is yours by faith. That is why you have such a loving, gracious heavenly Father who knows what you need. He cares for you far more than sparrows or lilies, because He has valued you at such a price: the price of His own Son’s righteous blood. 

So, do not lose heart. Do not lose faith. Do not be consumed by the riches and cares of this world. Put your money where your mouth is. More important than that, put your time where your mouth is. Seek first His Word, His gifts, His communion and His people. Sow your time, your efforts, even your wealth into faith toward God and love toward the neighbor—especially those of this household of faith. Press your good things into the service of Christ’s Word, His Kingdom, and His righteousness. Use your good earthly things to advance the Gospel and benefit your neighbors. Don’t do it in the abstract, but in the concrete. If this is “your church,” have a vested interest in it. Spend the time. Expend the effort. Yes, open your wallet proportionally. But first, for the sake of Christ, make being taught your priority! And God promises you shall reap every good thing that He has for you. 

Anxiety will multiply when you trust and serve everything that makes the world go ‘round. But faith in Jesus Christ is never misplaced. Dearly beloved household of faith, focus and order your life around the Kingdom of God and Christ’s righteousness delivered to you in the Gospel and the Holy Sacraments. Because then you are focusing on something that does not end, does not fail, and can never disappoint you. Be free of all anxiety, for no sparrow falls without your Lord’s knowledge—and you are worth much more than many sparrows. You are worth the death of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. And as the Father has sowed this death into your hearts by faith in His Word, He will also reap you back from the dead alive on the Resurrection Day. Do not give up. 

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

This is adapted from Rev. Sean Daenzer, Trinity 15 (2018).

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

St. Luke 17:11–19

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last week, we heard Jesus tell a parable about an unlikely helper: the Good Samaritan. A man was attacked by robbers and left for dead, and while his fellow Jewish countrymen, a priest and a Levite, passed him by and would not help, a Samaritan came along, had compassion, and took care of the man. A Samaritan helped a Jew—very unlikely.

And today, we hear about another unlikely person: the one leper who returns to give thanks to Jesus, and he was a Samaritan. Ten lepers ask for mercy, ten lepers are healed, but only one returns to praise God. A Samaritan, a foreigner, worshiped Jesus—very unlikely.

So, what’s so unlikely about these Samaritans? Well, the simple answer is that Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along. But their hostility was far older than most family feuds. Their animosity goes back hundreds of years into the Old Testament. After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel was divided. The northern tribes rebelled against the southern tribes and so two kingdoms were created. In the South, you had Judah and Benjamin, with their capital at Jerusalem with God’s holy temple. And these people eventually became known as Judeans or Jews. In the North, you had the other ten tribes, led by Ephraim and Manasseh, and their capital was at Samaria.

The northern kingdom, also known as Israel or Samaria, became incredibly wicked. Their kings set up idols for the people to worship, sacrificing to foreign gods and blaspheming the Lord. Again and again, the Lord sent them great prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, and Hosea, but the kings and the people would not repent. And so finally the Lord had the Assyrian Empire conquer and destroy Samaria. The Assyrians killed and scattered the northern Israelites. They also drove other foreign peoples into the land of northern Israel who intermarried with the remaining Israelites. Their descendants, living in the ruins of the northern kingdom are the people known as the Samaritans. 

These Samaritans held onto parts of their Israelite faith, and retained the Books of Moses, but they also incorporated foreign superstitions. They also sided with the enemies of the Jews in several military conflicts. The strangest thing was that they built their own temple on Mount Gerizim in Samaria, claiming that this was the proper temple for the Lord, not the temple down south in Jerusalem in Judea. For these reasons, the Jews, their distant relatives, despised the Samaritans, they looked down on them. In the words of John’s Gospel, Jews have no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9). This is why the Good Samaritan was an unlikely helper, and why it was unlikely that only this one Samaritan leper came back to worship Jesus.

Now, with this miracle of healing the ten lepers, we need to get one thing straight first: all ten are healed from their leprosy. They ask Jesus for mercy, for help, for healing. He tells them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests,” which was required by the Law of Moses to verify the healing. And all ten lepers listen to Jesus, set off to see the priests, and on the way, all ten are healed by His Word.

But we don’t know what kind of faith the other nine had. They had some kind of faith that Jesus would heal them because they listened to Him and did what He said. But having been healed, they did not go back and thank Him. This is worse than rudeness or ingratitude. The nine had faith as far as the healing was concerned, but not beyond that. They sought this benefit from Christ, but they did not receive Christ Himself through this benefit. For these nine, the healing was the object of their faith, but for the one who returned, the healing was the means for him to go to the true object of faith: Christ Himself. For those nine Jews, the healing led them away from Christ, but for the one Samaritan, the healing led him back to Christ.

We know that the Samaritan had true faith because Jesus says so: “Your faith has saved you.” Our translation says, “Your faith has made you well,” and it could mean that, but that’s not the point here. The other nine lepers were all made well, but Jesus says this one had faith and so was saved. Not only was his skin cleansed and his body made whole, but his sins were forgiven, He was justified, he was reconciled back to God through faith in the Christ who would make atonement for his sins. And this unlikely Samaritan shows his faith in Christ by his worship. When he was an unclean leper, he had to stand at a distance and cry for mercy. But now, cleansed and forgiven, he comes near. Praising God with a loud voice… he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. This Samaritan, who had been taught to ignore the Jews and disregard their worship, he comes back to this Jewish rabbi and worships Him as the true Lord of Israel, the God incarnate, his Messiah, his Savior. While the other nine Jews took their healing and missed their Messiah, this Samaritan recognized Him and worshiped Him.

This account calls to mind another interaction Jesus had with a different Samaritan: the one we know as the woman at the well. When Jesus met this woman and asked her for a drink, she was shocked that He, a Jew, would talk to her, a woman of Samaria. And in the course of their conversation, she also brought up the question of worship. Where was the proper place to worship the Lord? The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “Our fathers the Samaritans worshiped on this mountain (Mount Gerizim), but you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You Samaritans worship what you do not know (because they have made up their own traditions); We Jews worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews (meaning the Messiah will come from the Jews, from the House of David). But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” (John 4:20–23). True worship of God is not done in a certain location or temple. The true worship of God is faith in Jesus Christ. What Jesus explains to this Samaritan woman, the Samaritan leper actually does: he worships the Father in spirit and truth by going to Jesus and recognizing Him as the Messiah and Savior.

So, we neither worship on Mount Gerizim in Samaria nor on the temple mount in Jerusalem. Neither being a Jew nor a Samaritan counts for anything in God’s sight. All have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. All who believe in Christ are one in Christ. And so, yes, this does mean that Christians worship the Lord anywhere. In fact, it’s not enough to say that we CAN worship Him anywhere, but that we MUST worship Him EVERYWHERE. This is not an excuse to skip church. This is not an excuse to say, “Oh, I worship God in my fishing boat, or on my tractor, or at home.” That’s beside the point. All of our life, every thought, word, and deed, should be done in praise to God. And because we know this is not the case, we don’t do this, we must never stop returning to Him, throwing ourselves at His feet, and crying out for mercy. And He never stops giving mercy to those who trust in Him.

But even more important than where we worship, is that we learn from this Samaritan leper what worship really is: it is going back to Jesus, recognizing Him as our Messiah and Savior. First and foremost, this means we go to where He is and receive from Him the gifts He has given to His Church. Worshiping Jesus by faith means that we trust His Word in the water of Baptism and know that we are covered by His righteousness, we have been crucified and raised to new life with Him, and we are adopted as the children of God. Worshiping Jesus by faith means that we pay attention to His Word: we read it, listen to it, learn from the preaching and teaching of the Word. Worshiping Jesus by faith also means that we hear the Word of God that forgives our sins, and with that Word of God ringing in our ears, we want to do better, we try to do better in living a holy life. Worshiping Jesus by faith means that we go to the Lord’s Supper, falling down at Jesus’ feet, trusting in His Words, eating and drinking His body and blood for the forgiveness of all our sins.

Dear Christians, you are neither Samaritans nor Jews. You have a new mountain and a new temple where you worship the Lord. You have come to Mount Zion, the Church of God, and you worship the Lord in the temple of His Son, the holy body of God incarnate, right here in your midst, your Messiah and your Savior. Like the one leper who returned to Jesus, you praise God with a loud voice and give Him thanks. Like the one who had faith in Jesus, you hear the Lord say to you, “Rise and go your way; your faith has saved you.”

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Some parts were informed and inspired by Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, pp.271–279 & 701–703.