St. Matthew 22:34–46
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The world has never really understood the Church. The world cannot really understand how the Church can talk about loving God and talk about people’s sins in the same breath. For the world, there is a disconnect: either you have your relationship with God, and all your other actions shouldn’t matter to much; or your actions do matter, but they don’t care about your God. More and more now, the world wants the Church to preach according to the world’s doctrine, preach against the sins that the world condemns, but they want the Church to stay silent when it comes to God. At least when it comes to the God of the Bible, who has His own Law. To most of the world, what we call God’s Law is just a list of outdated rules—a bunch of things the Church thinks you shouldn't do. And it doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you believe or love God.
The Pharisees who tried to test Jesus had some similar ideas. The Pharisees knew God had given plenty of commandments in His Law. So their plan was to get Jesus to pick a commandment. That way, whichever one He picked, they could come up with arguments about why He was wrong. They could just pick another commandment. To them, the commandments are a big list of disconnected rules.
Too bad for the Pharisees, Jesus doesn’t play their game. He doesn’t pick one commandment. It’s not even worth saying that He picked two. He summarized them all. He connected all those seemingly disconnected, arbitrary rules in a very simple way: “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.” I’ll admit Jesus numbers two commandments here. But first of all, He is not picking two out of a pile. He is summarizing all the commandments into these two. And even more than that, these two go together so tightly they form a unit. They cannot be divided, because on this unit hangs all the Law and the Prophets. The Word of God is summed up in this way: Love God and love your neighbor.
The Pharisees saw a disconnect between all the commandments of God as if you can play one off against another. Sometimes, we in the Church have also disconnected the commandments and applied them arbitrarily, picking on certain sins while ignoring others because of what was or is considered acceptable in society. But thinking of God’s Law in this way does give the world the impression that God’s Law is really nothing more than a bunch of random and oppressive rules.
Jesus sees things differently. The Law is not simply a bunch of rules—the Law shows us the will of God. And the will of God is this, that we fear, love, and trust in the one true God, that is we believe in the Holy Trinity; and that we live according to His Word and His plan, His order, in how we think, speak, and act. If we don’t believe in God, we sin. And if we commit other sins, we do not fully believe in God as we should, with all our heart, soul, and mind. Love God and love your neighbor. Faith in God and actions in ourselves and actions with others. These two commandments go together. Jesus will not let them be divided. On them hangs the Law and the Prophets. On this unit hangs the will of God.
So, the Law must be preached. The will of God must be shown from His Word. That means the Church must continue to preach about God and about sins. The Church must still tell people when their lives are contrary to the will of God, whether it’s in their thoughts, words, or actions. The Church must still call people to repent in order that the message of forgiveness can also be heard. The Church must still proclaim God’s Law and Gospel, even to this unbelieving world that doesn’t understand it.
Yet, how much can we really expect from the world? Time and again we are disappointed by the world’s rejection of God’s Word. While we must not let the Law fall silent outside the Church, because it still must be preached to unbelievers, we must also not let the Law fall silent inside the Church. To whom much is given, much will be required. Think of it this way: Who is worse, the child or the adult who steals from a store? Even though the child may know what he’s doing is wrong, because he is immature and doesn’t fully comprehend the seriousness of his actions, we can at least partially excuse his behavior. But the mature adult, who knows full well that what he has done is forbidden and consciously violates the law, we cannot excuse. And when it comes to God’s Law, we are the mature adults—us within the Church—not the immature children of the world. We are not ignorant of God’s Law and yet we violate it anyway. We are fully aware of what God says about sin.
Simply look at how well we attempt to cover up our evil deeds, deny them, sweep them under the rug. Over time, with enough practice, we can begin to convince ourselves that if we just stay quiet (and since no thunderbolt has fallen on us) we must be getting away with it. God must be turning a blind eye to our sin. This attempt to keep quiet and hide sin away is not only foolish, since God sees everything, but it is also dangerous, because it can make our hearts turn cold and hard, so that eventually we can’t even repent and then it’s too late for forgiveness. Lord, have mercy!
What more is there to say that that? Not, “God, give me another chance…” Not, “God, I really didn’t mean to…” Not, “God, I promise to make it up to you…” Just confess the sin, pull it out from under the rug, and get it out in the open. Stand naked before God, and say the only thing there is to say: "Lord, have mercy! I have not kept Your Law."
And your Lord wants to give mercy. He doesn’t delight in the death of a sinner. He delights in being merciful. Jesus even tried to lead the Pharisees to this mercy. Before they had a chance to come up with another question to stump Jesus, He asked them a question. But when our Lord asks a question, He’s never trying to trick or humiliate the person—He’s trying to teach them. “Whose son is the Christ?” The Pharisees answered correctly, “The Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior, he is the son of King David.” Although that’s only part of the answer. Jesus points out that in Psalm 110, David called the Christ his Lord: “The Lord God said to my Lord, the Christ, ‘Sit at My right hand…’” So if the Messiah or Christ is David’s son, why would he call Him “my Lord”? The Pharisees didn’t believe the answer even though it was staring them in the face. Thanks be to God we have and believe the Scriptures which teach us the answer: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior, David’s son and David’s Lord. He is true man and true God. And this is who He is all to save you from your sins, from you're breaking the Law.
The Pharisees thought the Christ would be great because he would be the son of David the King. He would lead their armies and set up his kingdom on earth. Jesus teaches us that the Christ is great because He is the Son of God come down to earth and made man to suffer and die for sinners. David’s Lord became David’s son. The God-Man, Jesus the Christ, came to show mercy on sinners. He died and rose and has received the throne given to Him by His Heavenly Father. And now He reigns, still David’s son and David’s Lord, all so that He can give mercy to you.
Your prayers of Lord, have mercy! for breaking His commandments are heard at that throne. And the King who sits on that throne has nail marks in His hands and feet and a spear mark in His side. He received those marks for you, in your place. He shed His blood for you, in your place. That blood—descended from David, descended from Adam, the same kind of human blood that runs in your veins—that blood was joined to the Son of God. And offered to the Father as a perfect and holy payment for all our sins, all the commandments we have broken.
Our Lord is a man so that He could be judged by His own Law, just like we are. He is the only man to ever love God with all His heart, soul, and mind. He is the only man to ever love His neighbor as Himself. He didn’t deserve the Law’s punishment. But He paid our debt in full. So the Law’s judgment no longer applies to us. The thunderbolt has fallen but not on us. It fell on Jesus the Christ—not a mere man, but the Lord Himself, so that we may go free. All that happened on the cross is still true with Him on His throne. He is the King of mercy and love. He hears you and He forgives all your sins. And He gives you gifts so that you may begin now to love God and love your neighbor; so that you may begin now to turn away from sin and strive to do His will; so that you may begin now to receive eternal life from Him.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA, and Immanuel, Charlotte, IA
Ephesians 4:1–6
St. Luke 14:1–11
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Who can say that they have it all figured out? Who knows what’s really true for everyone? Shouldn’t we be humble enough to admit that when it comes to God and faith we might be wrong on some things? None of us are perfect. We might have our opinions, but who are we to say what’s right for everyone? After all, Jesus said: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And St. Paul said that we should live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. So, who really knows what’s right? Who really can say what’s true?
God knows. God says. What God speaks is the Truth. His Word is truth (John 17:17)—another quote from Jesus. God has it all figured out. So that means we can also know what is right and speak what is true when we know and speak God’s Word. If we get our teaching, our doctrine, our ideas from God’s Word, then we can say with confidence, “I know the Truth that is true for everyone.” And that is actually real humility.
The world doesn’t see it that way. When we claim to know and speak the Truth, the world sees us as prideful. But it is really the opposite. The world is guilty of the worst pride when they ignore God’s Word, when they pretend that He’s not clear, or when they twist and redefine what He says to suit their own ideas. This is real arrogance. This is from the devil.
Hannah sang against this in her prayer with all humility: Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed (1 Sam. 2:3). Hannah knew, and she warns us, what God thinks of those who proudly go their own way, ignoring what He says. But in pride, the world usually tries to force things its way.
This is especially obvious when it comes to unity in the Church and the Holy Communion. The worldly minded (whether they hold membership in a church or not) would like to make everyone take Communion together so that it looks like we’re united even though we are not. They want to force a show of unity based on their own ideas of unity, fellowship, and love. But think of how prideful it is to act like we can be more welcoming than Jesus, or to think that we can be more understanding than the Holy Spirit. Some people would like to see forced communion with everyone so they can prove by our “unity” that we are the Church, as if the Church or unity within the Church is something we made up and can control. And you can have the same error among some of us, if you think that Closed Communion is just the LCMS policy. Thinking that we only commune with members of fellow Missouri Synod congregations is just our policy, just our backward way of doing things—that is also taking the view that the Church and unity are things we create and control, not God.
But the Church is not something we made up. So also the unity of the Church is not something we make happen. We confess: I believe in the one holy Christian and apostolic Church. I can’t make something that I believe in. I can only believe in things that God makes. The Lord Jesus Christ died for His Church and shed His blood for her. From His pierced side came water and blood, and with that water and blood He cleansed and created His holy Bride. The Church is her Lord’s body and He is her Head. The whole Church lives by His death and the whole Church lives in His now risen body. So indeed, only God makes the Church and her unity.
St. Paul said: There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. One body, one Faith—so with the one Lord there is one Church made by God the Holy Spirit. And St. Paul said that we should be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That means true Christian unity is made by the Holy Spirit as He joins Christ’s members in the one living body. The one united holy Christian Church is created where the Holy Spirit is working through His Word, through the Holy Scriptures. This means that even though we cannot create the unity of the Spirit, we can maintain it, as St. Paul said. And we do this by paying attention to the Scriptures. We maintain the unity of the Spirit by paying attention to the Holy Spirit’s teaching. We listen for the unity of His doctrine. We must first receive and keep that unity, what we believe, teach, and confess from the Bible. Then, and only then, can we rightly commune with those are united in God’s doctrine.
I’ve said this before, and I really mean it when I say that I want all people to be able to come to the Holy Communion. I want everyone to have real communion, real unity with God and His Church. And that means having unity in doctrine, unity in God’s Word, agreeing with and repeating what the Holy Spirit teaches. And this goes for all of us, regardless of where we hold official church membership. Only if we have that unity in our teaching, in our faith, only then can any of us come to this altar and take together our Lord’s Supper. If we don’t want to hear what our Lord says, then we can’t have what our Lord gives. Maybe I should repeat that: If we don’t want to hear what our Lord says, then we can’t have what our Lord gives. But in humility, we listen to our Lord’s life-giving Word. We accept it and trust it, and so we are made one with Him and with one another, and so made worthy to eat and drink His holy body given for us and His precious blood shed for us.
So, listen again to Hannah: Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge. Real humility means saying what God says, believing the knowledge that He teaches. Listen again to Paul: Walk… with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Receive and keep the gift of unity where and when the Spirit gives it. And of course, that doesn’t mean we go around yelling at people who hold false ideas. Listen again to Jesus: We are not putting ourselves forward, trying to sit down in a place of honor by claiming that we are in the right. As those who know the Truth that comes from God, we are not claiming to have it all figured out on our own. I don’t claim that any of it comes from me. Truth comes from the Lord.
Last week, the Rev. Dr. Norman Nagel, a beloved professor at our seminary in St. Louis, was taken to rest in the arms of Jesus. He has been one of the most influential teachers for me, even though I was never in his class or able to meet him on this side of the resurrection. But as I prepared for this sermon, I was reminded of a story he told once: Someone comes complaining to the pastor, arguing with him about something in God’s Word. And the pastor politely responds, “Don’t take it up with me. I only work here.” When we speak the Truth from God, we are not representing ourselves or our own ideas. We only work here. We only speak what the Lord has given us to speak.
And that does mean we must not be shy to speak what God tells us to speak. We do it with humility and gentleness and patience, but in the end we must still do it. That is really how you humble yourself. You stop your own ideas and you just repeat what God says. And it’s not hard to know what God says. You don’t need a special insight or secret knowledge. The Holy Spirit tells you. It’s all laid out clearly in His Word. He’s got it all figured out. This is what we sang for, calling on the Holy Spirit in our Opening Hymn: Lord, by the brightness of Your light In holy faith Your Church unite (LSB 497:1). The Church belongs to the Lord. The Holy Spirit makes the Church and He unites the Church. It’s all His doing, not ours. And He does it all by His Light—His Word, which is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path (Ps. 119:105).
This prayer for the Spirit and His Word only shines out even brighter in stanza two:
Come, holy Light, guide divine,
Now cause the Word of life to shine.
Teach us to know our God aright
And call Him Father with delight.
From ev’ry error keep us free;
Let none but Christ our master be
That we in living faith abide,
In Him, our Lord, with all our might confide (LSB 497:2).
The Holy Spirit is the only one who can teach us the right way to know God. Only the Holy Spirit can give us the ability to call God our Father. And only the Holy Spirit can keep us free from error, from false doctrine, from the pride of our own ideas. The Holy Spirit brings us to Christ, so that Christ is our only Master, so that we are not masters of ourselves. Only then can we be humble and confident: humble when it comes to ourselves and our ideas, but confident in what God says is true.
This can be difficult when so many in the world want to challenge us and prove us wrong. So, we pray to the Holy Spirit for comfort, for strength, and for courage, to rely not on ourselves, but to trust that the Holy Spirit has it all figured out for us in His Word. Let us pray:
Come, holy Fire, comfort true,
Grant us the will Your work to do
And in Your service to abide;
Let trials turn us not aside.
Lord, by Your pow’r prepare each heart,
And to our weakness strength impart
That bravely here may contend,
Through life and death to You, our Lord, ascend.
Alleluia, alleluia! (LSB 497:3).
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA and Immanuel, Charlotte, IA
St. Luke 7:11–17
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Luther’s great Easter hymn, Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands, has this line that has always fascinated me: It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended (LSB 458:4). That strange and dreadful strife happened over the course of a particular three days. But for some reason I always pair the words of that hymn with this scene outside the village of Nain.
I imagine a country road, just after sunrise, and coming down the road from the town is a funeral procession: mourners and pallbearers dressed in black. Weeping had tarried through the night. The widow kept vigil by her son’s lifeless body. Maybe there were a few other kind women to sit up with her during the long dark hours. But now it was time to go out to the cemetery. And leading the procession I picture Death himself.
Then coming up the road from the opposite direction is quite a different procession. I picture it full of color, laughter, and joy. And leading this procession is the Lord of Life. And then the two processions meet. They stop. It’s as if all creation holds its breath—what will happen? Which one will give way? All you can hear in the still morning air is the soft weeping of the widow. It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended.
But Luther’s Easter hymn and our Scripture reading go on:
The victory remained with life,
the reign of death was ended.
Holy Scripture plainly saith
that death is swallowed up by death,
its sting is lost forever. Alleluia!
The dreadful silence was broken by the Lord’s strong and compassionate words: Stop weeping. Young man, I say to you, arise.
Most of us have joined in a procession out to the cemetery. Most, except for maybe the very youngest among us, know the pain and tears of losing a loved one. Only some of us know the grief of burying a child. The ordinary progression of things is that children are supposed to bury their parents, not the other way around. I’m not sure if there can be a sharper pain or more bitter tears than that of a parent who has lost their child. Perhaps that has something to do with our Lord’s compassion on this tormented mother. Of all the thousands of people that surely died during Jesus’ three-year ministry, He only raised a handful of them. So, for His own good purposes He came to this grieving woman and showed His compassion to her.
He said to her, Stop weeping. That sounds so offensive to us, helpless people. Can you imagine saying that in the line at the funeral home? But what can we really offer the grieving mother or father? What can we do besides hug them and cry with them? Most of the time, the words we try to muster are woefully inadequate, if not downright unhelpful. As awkward as it might feel, we might actually try just using the words of Scripture the next time we go to a wake. We might say something like: “He was baptized and God has him in His hands.” Or, “We’ll see her again in the resurrection.” Or something as simple as, “The peace of Jesus be with you.” Our made-up words definitely won’t help, so we might as well speak God’s Word.
Jesus just says, Stop weeping. He says God’s Word. His Word. And He is not being mean—He has compassion on her. He is not scolding her or telling her that her tears are wrong. Her tears are right. Mothers should not have to bury their sons. Actually, no one should be buried, no one should be taken. Death is not what God originally intended. It comes as His punishment for sin. It is not what Jesus wants for this young man, or that weeping mother, or for us. And so He tells her to stop weeping because He is going to make things right. She won’t need to weep anymore because Jesus is going to return her son to her. He is going to give life to the dead. That is what Jesus does.
He is the Lord of death and life. This is true, not only because He is God, but because He is a Man. And from Nain, this Man, our God, went on to Jerusalem where He suffered death. He became like all men, subject to death. He took the punishment of all sinners. He suffered the pain and the tears. His soul was torn from His body, that means He died. He died our death—the death of sinners—in order to conquer death. Holy Scripture plainly saith that death is swallowed up by death. Our death, including the death of that young man, is all swallowed up by the death of Jesus.
And with the reign of death ended, the true King arose. His soul and body was reunited—a living person. This Man, our God, stepped out of our grave and now He lives and reigns forever. That is why Jesus can say Stop weeping and Young man, I say to you, arise. That is why Jesus alone can say that and actually make it all happen.
And of course you know when Jesus achieved all this: on a Sunday morning. On a Sunday morning He rose from the grave. That’s the day of the week forever marked with the victory of life over death. And that’s why Christians made it the practice to come to church on Sunday. It is the day of Resurrection. Not just the annual celebration of Easter, but every Sunday is Resurrection Day. Every Sunday morning is Easter morning. In the ordinary Sunday Communion liturgy the pastor sings, It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who on this day overcame death and the grave and by His glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life (Common Proper Preface). This is the Day that the Lord has made. Sunday is the Day that the Lord has made. This is the Day of our Lord’s victory over death. And that means Sunday is the Day of our victory over death. Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24).
Now, it’s still okay for Christians to cry in church. Even on a Sunday. It is okay to miss our sons, daughters, parents, and grandparents, even as we gather on a Sunday to celebrate the resurrection. It’s okay because we do not grieve without hope. On Sunday, we are celebrating our Lord’s resurrection, and the resurrection that is coming for our sons, daughters, parents, grandparents, and for ourselves. I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. We may still weep for now but we have hope. For it is here on Sunday, the Resurrection Day, that your Lord meets you and says to you once again, “Stop weeping. I forgive you all your sins. My peace be with you. Take, eat and drink My body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. And wherever there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning (Ps. 30:5). We are still waiting for that final Sunday morning. The widow of Nain had a taste of it, because her dead son sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. I can only imagine how the silence was broken as those two processions mingled together, laughing and singing, praising and glorifying God.
On that final and greatest Sunday morning—that final Resurrection Day—the Lord will meet us like He did at Nain. Death’s reign is done, so the silence of death will be broken, and the funeral procession will finally be stopped for good. And the Lord of Life will say, “Stop weeping. I say to you, arise.” And indeed heaven and earth, all creation and all believers, will shout and laugh and sing for the joy of that morning.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Preached at Trinity, Clinton, and Immanuel, Charlotte, IA
