Second Sunday in Advent - Populus Zion

Romans 15:4–13

St. Luke 21:25–36

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

Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “Pandora’s box.” It comes from an old story by the ancient Greeks. The story goes that Pandora was the first woman. She was created by the Greek gods, and each one blessed her with a talent or quality. Aphrodite gave her beauty. Apollo gave her music. But Zeus gave her curiosity, and along with it, He gave her a box and told her never to open it. Pandora was then sent by the gods to live on earth and be married to her husband. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not stop thinking about that box—wondering what was inside. At last, her curiosity got the better of her and she had to take a quick peek.

But the moment she opened the lid, a whole swarm of miseries flew out and escaped: Greed, Vanity, Slander, Envy, Hatred, Distrust, Gossip—they all flew out and escaped into the world to plague and torment mankind ever since. But, thankfully, Pandora snapped the box shut just in time. Because at the very bottom of the box, Zeus had put Hope. And if Hope had flown out it would’ve been quickly destroyed by all those evils. So, the story says, even though there are many miseries in the world, Hope has not left us completely.

This old myth from the pagan Greeks has some similarities with the Bible, but God’s Story is so much better. The first woman, beautifully created by God, certainly had a hand in bringing sin and misery into the world. It wasn’t exactly curiosity that drove Eve to take the forbidden fruit, but it was a desire for something that wasn’t supposed to be hers: a desire to be like God. However, Adam, the man, was ultimately the one responsible. And Eve hadn’t been set up by God, like Pandora was by Zeus. The Lord wasn’t playing games with them. He commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and warned them if they disobeyed Him they would die. But most importantly, it wasn’t up to Adam and Eve to keep Hope alive. It’s not up to us either. Our Hope is not trapped in a box and it won’t fly away.

Our Hope is the Lord Himself, the true Son of God. The Bible’s story about Hope is not that luckily Hope got trapped with us, but that Hope willingly, lovingly came down to earth and became a man. The story of Christmas is that Hope was born of a woman, a little baby in a lowly manger. And here on earth He suffered all the sins and miseries we have unleashed on the world. He bore it all and put it all to death on His cross. And then from the grave He rose again. Not trapped in a dark box or a dark tomb, our Hope is alive. He lives and reigns over us and with us, so that all our lives are filled and covered with Hope. Our Hope for life and peace and blessing cannot be disappointed or taken away no matter how many evils attack us, because Jesus lives. Our Hope lives.

Now, it might seem like 2020 is a real Pandora’s box. It seems like this year has just been letting loose one miserable thing after another. And we might be tempted to wonder if Hope has escaped our reach after all. Has hope been lost? I’m afraid it has for many people, especially for those who do not know Jesus Christ. We might say “I hope things get better soon,” but in our hearts and minds we doubt they will. Coming to the end of the year, with still so much unknown, we might be feeling the dread that things will never get back to normal. 

And the truth is we don’t know what 2021 will bring. We can “hope” that it will be better, but we really have no guarantee. Hope is not our prisoner or slave that we can bring it out and magically make things better whenever we want. But real Hope, the Hope of Jesus, is still with us, and it is far better than anything we might dream up for ourselves. Christian Hope is not for possibilities. Christian Hope is for a certainty.

St. Paul had much to say about hope in our Epistle reading: Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Christian Hope comes from the Holy Scriptures. This passage from Romans is paraphrased for us in one of the prayers we often use and will pray later in our service: Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your Holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.

So, Christian Hope does not come from human myths or human strength or human determination. It comes from the story of God’s promises: the history of His people and how He keeps all His promises in Christ. As St. Paul wrote: Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy… And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse, that is Christ, will come, even He who arises to rule the Gentiles; in Him will the Gentiles hope.”

Jesus fulfills God’s promises of salvation for all people, Jew and Gentile. And hearing the account of Jesus’ life and work we can also be confident that God will keep His final promises: the promises that our Lord forgives our sins, that He will come again to save us, and raise us up to everlasting life. God’s truthfulness is the basis for our Hope. In Jesus we see and hear that God is faithful to His promises. We can count on Him.

So, when it comes to Christian Hope don’t think of it in the human way, like: “I hope next year is better… I hope the vaccine works… I hope things get back to normal…” And never say things like: “I hope I go to heaven… I hope God forgives me…” As if you don’t know, as if you’re not sure! Christian Hope is not for possibilities. Christian Hope is for a certainty. When we say “Hope” as Christians we are saying: “I know this is what my God will do.”

St. Paul wrote: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. If God gives you this Hope, then you know it’s good. He is the God of Hope, so when He gives you Hope He gives you Himself, the very Son of God your Savior. This is for certain. Jesus cannot be weakened or destroyed, and so your Hope will not be disappointed or lost.

This Hope is also what we are praying for in our Collect of the Day: Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds. Three of the Collects in Advent are known as the “Stir up” Collects. On the First Sunday, we prayed, Stir up Your power, O Lord. And on the Last Sunday in Advent we ask that again: Stir up Your power, O Lord—Come on! Act! Show Your power! Save us!

But today we pray, Stir up our hearts, O Lord. Get our hearts going! Wake them up and direct them to the right things! We are asking that God would agitate our hearts and shake them up, not so that we would panic or despair, but so that we would not be satisfied by this world of sin, misery, and death. Wake up our hearts, O Lord, so that we would not get too comfortable here or look for salvation in earthly health or possessions or a life of ease. But shake our hearts awake so that we would look to You for our answers, for security and comfort, peace and rest. Stir up our hearts, O Lord, so that we do not have our hope set on keeping what’s here for now, but that we would put our hope in what is yet to come: Your only-begotten Son.

With our hearts rightly stirred up, hoping in Jesus our Redeemer, then we are enabled to serve God with pure minds. Each morning we can rise with the sign of the holy cross and know that our God and Savior will be with us, will protect us and guide us. And each evening we can go to our rest with the sign of the holy cross, knowing that our God will forgive us and bring us to eternal life with Him.

With hearts stirred up by Hope, we can live our days without fear, no matter how many miseries come flying at us. We are immortal in Christ, our risen Lord—far more glorious than any Greek god or goddess, or anything else man can dream up. We are sons and daughters of the living God. We are going to rise from the dead. And with hearts stirred up by Hope, we can see that not-so-distant future: the ending of this miserable world and the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. So, straighten up and raise your heads with hope, because your redemption is drawing near.

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.

Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity

Proverbs 8:11–22

Philippians 3:17–21

St. Matthew 22:15–22

Christ the King on His throne - Ravenna, Italy

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

Jesus is not like a politician. The Pharisees noticed that too: “Teacher, we know that You are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and You do not care about anyone's opinion, for You are not swayed by appearances.” He says it like it is. He speaks the truth even when it’s not popular. He doesn’t run with the rich and famous. He’s honest, impartial, and sticks to His convictions. But the Pharisees’ compliment has hidden barbs to catch Jesus on their hook. They’re hoping He will put His foot in His mouth. They’re hoping He’ll do some of that straight-shootin’ talk against the Romans and their taxes. And then, Jesus will get arrested and executed all on His own, and the Jewish leaders won’t have to do a thing.

But Jesus does not get caught in their trap. Not because He’s such a slick operator, but because He really does only speak the Truth. The Pharisees had no idea just how right they were: You are true and teach the way of God truthfully. Jesus is the Truth. All Truth finds its goal in Him. He is the Creator of all Truth. And so also, He, along with the Father and Spirit, is the source of all Goodness, and all Beauty. The Holy Trinity gives meaning to our lives and to this entire cosmos. All questions are finally answered by the God who made all things, the God who has no beginning and no end, the I Am. And no political factions, no man-made ideology can box Him in.

To answer their question about taxes, and to crush their schemes against Him, Jesus speaks the Truth: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. So, there are earthly authorities established by God. First, He establishes the authority of parents in the 4th Commandment. And then through parents, He establishes the government. The family is the building block of society. And so just as there are fathers in the home, there are also “fathers” for a nation. And we are to obey these authorities established by God in this world. Romans 13, which we confessed from the Table of Duties in the Catechism, spells this all out. And so, if something belongs to the earthly government, it should be given to the earthly government: Taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed (Rom. 13:7). Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Give to the civil government what is expected. But what exactly is expected and what exactly governments should be doing, well, that can get a little complicated.

C.S. Lewis, the British and Christian scholar and author, especially of the classic children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia, had this to say about the real purpose of government:

“The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden—that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time” (Mere Christianity).

In other words, if the politicians are not serving real people, real families, real human interaction, then they are a useless waste. What’s the good of a party platform or a political agenda if it doesn’t protect what is actually good and decent about human life?

Good government is an earthly gift from God. But then that means it should not promote and protect its own ideas and goals. Good government should promote and protect other earthly gifts from God: stable families, peace between neighbors, punishment for criminals, good roads, defense against foreign enemies, protection for beautiful places, natural resources, and good jobs for its citizens. Really, government is to be concerned with the simple things of earthly life. It does not have the answers to life’s greatest questions. It cannot provide meaning and direction for people’s souls. That is God’s job, and He does that by working through His Church and in the Christian Home.

Earthly rulers can learn wisdom from God if they would receive it, like it’s described in Proverbs 8, where Wisdom herself speaks: “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. By me [wisdom] kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly" (v.15–16). This is not describing fickle politicians who say whatever they have to in order to get elected. Wise rulers must understand how this creation actually works, the nature of things. They practice prudence, planning for the future. They are open to learning and correction, and they are able to discern between truth and falsehood. They hate what is evil, and they love what is good.

In this way, a wise ruler, a good government is after a very simple goal: to understand the reality of this world as God created it, and to protect everything that is true, good, and beautiful in this world. As C.S. Lewis summed it up: family, friends, a book, a garden—these are human things, things connected to the earth, and the home, and the life of the mind. These are “permanent things”—meaning they don’t come and go with passing fads or political movements. We, and our government, should be concerned with these foundational things—things rooted and living in God’s order, the institutions of His creation: marriage, family, community, church. And these things should ultimately point us to Christ, the Author of Life, the Architect of this Creation, the One who gives meaning to the world and to our lives, the One who is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty Himself.

And so, please pay attention to this next part: you’re not going to save the “soul” of America by voting. We will never truly change our country for the better from the top down. The heart and soul are not found in the State, but in the Home and in the Church. If the Home and the Church are weak or have lost their way, then the State will also be weak and, worse, evil. The baptismal font and the altar are far more important than the ballot box. What’s far more important than who you vote for, is how you vote with your time and commitments in your home and church. If we are so concerned about elections or government mandates but we don’t want to pay attention to the Word of Life or eat and drink that Life’s Body and Blood, then we are wasting our time.

This also means that we can be loyal, respectful citizens to our governing officials, even if we do not obey their every whim. You must only give to Caesar what is his. And Caesar, the government, does not own your mind. Government officials and boards do not have the right to teach you or your children their own definition of right and wrong. They have no business micromanaging every bit of your life. You are allowed to decide what’s good for you and your family, within reason, using wisdom, and prudence, and discretion—using God’s Word to guide your thoughts and actions.

There are plenty of busybodies running around, and running for office, who want to use the power of the government to control people, all the while claiming they’re doing it for our own good. To quote C.S. Lewis again: “Those [tyrants] who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” They only have eyes for this life and they are proud of their sin. But they stand condemned and this life doesn’t last. As St. Paul said, their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 

These include people who think politics and elections are the most important thing. It’s their god. That’s why they scream and cry like their whole world is ending when their candidate is defeated. People were wrong to react that way to the presidential election four years ago, and people would be just as wrong to do so this time, depending on how the election gets settled. Regardless of who gets sworn into office in January, that sort of panic and despair can’t be our reaction. We simply cannot care about it that much. 

We cannot render unto Caesar our whole heart and mind, body and soul. Government, politics, the news—it cannot be the center of our world, or the end of our world, or drive our every opinion and action. Not if we are Christians. We have the real God, the living God. We belong to Him, and we do render unto Him our body and soul, and all we have. Render to God the things that are God’s… Well, that’s everything. Jesus is no politician. He is our King. And soon, He will bring us to Himself, and make His kingdom known to all.

In times of crises, our leaders are fond of saying things like: “We will get through this,” and “We’re all in this together.” It sounds nice, but it’s not really true. Sadly, we don’t all get through it. Some people don’t make it through the crisis. And even if we all did make it through this one, there will be another crisis after it. Of course, it’s good for earthly rulers to encourage their people in perseverance. But we’ve got to keep in mind that this earthly encouragement falls short and it fails in the end. We cannot trust their word, the way we trust God’s Word. We do not render our trust unto Caesar.

Jesus is no politician. He makes promises and He always keeps them. Fear not, little flock, He says, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). The kingdom is ours: we who are baptized in the King’s name, and eat the King’s food; we who call upon Him in trouble and praise Him for His blessings and His great deeds of salvation. We will get through this, whatever it is, even death. We are all in this together with Christ, because we are all in Christ. We don’t rely on human resilience or government strategy or health departments. Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. He forgives our sins, and He promises to raise us up on the Last Day. Our citizenship is in heaven, and the King is on His throne. And there, with Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit, we have a home and a country that will never be taken from us.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity

Philippians 1:3–11 

St. Matthew 18:21–35

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant - Rembrandt

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

Peter asks for some practical advice, but he sure doesn’t get it. He wants to know how many times do I actually need to forgive the same person? What if he keeps doing the same thing again and again? How patient do I need to be? The answer he gets is not very practical. It’s not even very straightforward. I do not say to you seven times, but seven times seventy. I think we all know Jesus well enough that He didn’t mean that you only have to forgive someone 490 times, and then call it quits. The following parable shows that.

No, Jesus is being a bit difficult here. He will not let Peter off the hook. He will not let us have forgiveness figured out in such a way that we can control it, limit it, ration it. The answer to the question, “How often must I forgive someone?” is this: You keep on forgiving others as you are forgiven by God. Jesus establishes a principle here, and He’s not interested in exceptions.

You are forgiven, so you must forgive. This can’t be surprising to us if we take the Lord’s Prayer seriously: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And immediately after giving His disciples the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, He gives the same principle He gives at the end of this parable: For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:14–15). To put it another way, if you live in the forgiveness of sins that God gives, then you will also share that forgiveness with others.

This is how the kingdom of heaven works. It’s like a man, a king—that’s Jesus. And this King likes to get accounts settled. He’s a bit weird. Moneylenders don’t usually want to settle accounts, they want to keep their debtors in debt. But this kingdom of heaven works by the King’s extravagant superabundant grace. So extravagant, that He forgives the debt of 10,000 talents. Let’s convert that: one talent was an amount roughly equal to 20 years wages for a laborer. So, 10,000 talents is worth 200,000 years of wages. We are talking billions of dollars. No human can spend or waste this kind of money. This is a sum only corporations and governments can imagine. There is absolutely no way this guy can pay this back to his king. But the King has the authority to forgive the debt. And this King has compassion on the man. Frankly, it’s all astounding. The King forgives the debt, which means He covers the cost Himself, and He releases the man from slavery. That’s the Gospel. 

But then this ungrateful servant, who has everything—he’s practically made a peer of the king. And he wants more. He thinks he deserves more. He goes out looking for it, and finds a man who owes him. This second servant owes the first one a debt of 100 denarii. One denarius was about one day’s wage. So, 100 is about 100 days wages—about 4 months salary. It’s a significant debt, but not one impossible to pay off. And it’s definitely not significant compared to what he had been forgiven. This selfish servant is not a true son of the King. He does not belong in this kingdom that works by forgiveness. So, he is thrown into prison and he will never get out.

Now, if all this bothers you, I would say that’s actually a sign that you are a Christian. You know you have been forgiven. You know that your forgiveness cost the Son of God His life, His blood. And you know that your King has commanded you to forgive others. But you also know that you struggle with doing this. If you are not bothered by this because you think you’re so good at it already, then you are deceiving yourself. It should bother us because we don’t live up to it. We don’t forgive others the way we have been forgiven. And we must confess that sin too. We still need forgiveness ourselves. We are forgiven, but we are not without sin.

Yet, Christians strive to forgive. And we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and we decide to forgive, and we try to stop the feelings of bitterness and vengeance in our hearts. So, put your grievances in God’s hands because he’s the only one who really can forgive, and he wants to forgive all sinners, including you. And we want what He wants. Our forgiveness for others doesn’t cause God to forgive us. But it is a sign, a fruit, a good work that we Christians must strive for. And at least, we make a beginning at it.

But what about some practical advice? What do we do about people who sin against us in extreme ways or do it again and again? Well, that really has to be given on a case by case basis. We deal with persons in the Church, not policies. God and His Church deal with actual flesh and blood, sinful yet redeemed, weak yet desiring-to-do-better people. 

Still, I will say a little about how the principle gets applied. The teaching of Jesus is that you keep on forgiving others just as God keeps on forgiving you. But there are three estates, three spheres of life, and forgiveness gets handled a little differently in each. In the State, or Civil realm, there are still consequences to sin and wrongdoing, even when the person repents and is forgiven. The debt may be forgiven by God but there is still a debt to society. In the Church, forgiveness is given freely to those who repent and want to do better. But the Church and her ministers must not knowingly forgive unrepentant sinners. If they do, they make a mockery of God’s forgiveness. Now, the estate of the Home can work in both these ways, freely forgiving while also recognizing consequences. Ideally, the home is where we work on helping sinners with their habitual sins or addictions. The absolution never means their sins just go away, as if it never happened. People with destructive desires need to be kept away from situations that would lead them into temptation. Children should not be rewarded for sin or allowed to deliberately continue it. And habitual liars cannot always be trusted. Some restrictions have to be in place to keep sin under control.

But the individual Christian must forgive. It’s not your job to retain sins and withhold forgiveness when someone is unrepentant—that authority belongs to the Church and her ministers as they speak for God. It’s not your job to punish or look for vengeance—that’s the job of parents or the government. For the individual Christian (apart from holding one of those offices), your job is to forgive, as hard as that might be. Your job is to pray that God would help you to forgive the one that wronged you, and then let the proper authorities do their jobs.

Forgiveness and patience for others is the way we are meant to behave as Christians. You are not perfect, not in this life, but you are making a beginning. And your fellow Christians are also making a beginning. They’re not perfect yet either. This doesn’t excuse anyone’s sin or shortcomings, but it does teach us the need for patience with others, the need for charity, and the need to be generous with our forgiveness, as our King has been so insanely generous with us.

This year in particular should teach us the need for forgiveness, patience, and charity. There have been many disagreements, lots of stuff can turn nasty on your Facebook feed, or at work or church, or even with your family. There have been many controversies that can quickly turn people against each other. Who should you vote for? Should you wear a mask? Can the news be trusted? You can disagree, but be charitable towards the person. Be patient. And let forgiveness rule the day.

In the Epistle, St. Paul rejoices at the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel. That word “partnership” is really the word “communion.” And where is our communion or unity in the Gospel meant to be seen most obviously? At the Holy Communion of our Lord’s body and blood. That body and blood that forgives your sins and unites you with your King, is the same holy food that forgives your brothers and sisters in Christ and so unites you with them. Let there be no division or bitterness between us. Let us make our beginning in this holy life of love that Lord has called us to. And, as St. Paul said, I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.