Humility

 Luke 14:1-11

And it came about when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching Him closely.  And there, in front of Him was a certain man suffering from dropsy.  And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"  But they kept silent. And He took hold of him, and healed him, and sent him away.

And He said to them, "Which one of you shall have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"  And they could make no reply to this.

And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table; saying to them, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both shall come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.  But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.  For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

Sermon for The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity                       09/27/26

Humility

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It had to be a difficult way to live.  Jesus probably experienced the reality of modern celebrities way back then.  People were watching Him, looking for an opportunity to do Him in.  They were not merely content to wait, they were baiting the trap, setting up situations where Jesus would do something they thought they could use against Him.  They would quiz Him, hoping for a sound-byte that would serve them.  In our Gospel, they set a man in front of Him who was sick and just waited for Jesus to do something they could use against Him.  Our theme is "Humility". 

Not that the adversaries of Jesus had any.  They apparently had no shame either.  He is invited out to dinner at the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, and they set a seriously ill man in front of Him.  They knew that Jesus had this proclivity to heal, and I suspect that they wanted to use the Sabbath as a weapon against Jesus, if He should heal the man.

Jesus took the question directly to them.  He asked them, speaking directly to the head Pharisee and the Bible Experts who stood around him.  He said, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"   They could not answer – or they chose not to, and since they could not condemn that action in principle, they lost the ability to use it against Jesus in this situation.  So, Jesus healed the man.  Score one for Jesus.

But He didn't just leave it there.  They had put Him to the test, and He returned the favor.  He pointed out that what He had done was just common decency and concern, something that every one of them would likely have done, if the situation were just a bit different.  And He said to them, "Which one of you shall have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?"  And they could make no reply to this.  He pointed out that even if it were an animal, they would have rescued it.  There was no shame, no violation of the Law of God in rescuing one of their fellow-men from evil, even on the Sabbath.  Their silence speaks clearly.  Jesus was right, and even their test was wrongly conceived.

Their problem was their pride.  The word you probably hear used in such circumstances is "Hubris", although it is usually pronounced "Hyoobris."  They were the leaders, or so they thought.  They were the clever ones and They were to be respected and feared!  Their pride showed itself in the way they went about seeking the best places at the dinner.  The Greek doesn't actually say "at the table" because they did not use what we would call a table.  That is why the words were in italics in the text - which will all see when you rush home and read the text so you can review the sermon in your mind and not lose the thought of today's sermon too quickly.

They lay around the "table" on pillows.  The "important people" would have certain places where they would lay, and everyone else sought the good spots, close to the important people, where they would be able to participate or at least hear the conversation.  Jesus seizes upon the competition for the best spots and uses it as a parable about pride and humility.  The elements of the parable are drawn from the activities around them, but are extreme, to focus on the lesson.

He says to choose the lowest spot - the least desirable place, rather than going for the best spot.  If you choose the best spot, and someone more important than you, in the eyes of the host, arrives, you will be humiliated and forced to slink off to the lowest place, the place everybody avoided, and so it is the only one open.  Jesus says to choose the least desirable spot.  Then the host will see you, and invite you to move up, and you will have honor in the eyes of everyone else.  

Practically, does it work that way?  I don't know.  I suspect sometimes, yes, and sometimes, no.  But this is a parable - and everyone can clearly see the principle here.  Pride can lead to humiliation.  Jesus says, in fact, that before God it always does.  Humility avoids the pitfalls of pride - and can bring the delightful moment of what Jesus calls "exalting" when you are asked to move up.  Again, in the presence of God, humility is always rewarded.

But this is about the Gospel.  Within the Gospel, there is no room for pride.  We don't earn or deserve a thing.  Earthly position and human effort accomplish nothing, and holding them out as our rationale, our hope, or our sense of entitlement is pointless.  Not one of us deserves the invitation to the dinner which is eternal life.  If we don't just naturally belong at the dinner, our place at the dinner is also not ours to choose.  We may think that we are something, or that we deserve something – but we don't.  I think St.  Paul was pointing at this very thought in Philippians 3: "If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:  circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."

It doesn't matter who we are.  It is of no account what we are able to do, or what good things we have done.  Our sense of deserving is wrong, because it always overlooks our sins and measures our worthiness by the wrong standards.  In the Gospel, everything is gift.  Everything is Christ!  He died, not us, even though the sin and the guilt is ours.  He gives us undeserving people His life and His eternity and His love.  If we presume to claim a place, an honor, an importance even here in our little congregation, we claim something that belongs to Jesus, and it is His to bestow as He wishes.

Only true humility can see that and accept that.  True humility is to see yourself in the Law, and know that there is no way you can deserve what you so long for – God's favor, and salvation.  Our hope is not found in self-assertion, or self-promotion.  Our hope is found in humility - that is in repentance.  We have to be humble enough to see ourselves as we truly are and confess our sins and seek God's forgiveness.  Only when we take that lowest place at the dinner, can our Savior invite us to ‘come on up higher' and give us a place at the table of salvation.  Then we truly have honor in the eyes of all, not the honor of someone who thinks he is something, but the honor of being chosen, beloved, truly valued by God Himself, and made a member of the household of God and invited by one no less glorious than Jesus Himself to break bread with Him and eat at His table.

Then, in life, we go where He sends us and do the things He gives us to do.  Who we think we are isn't important.  What we want or what we think we may deserve for whatever reason is irrelevant.  Our very presence at the Supper is the delightful gift of our Lord.  Better the lowest seat in the kingdom of heaven than the highest glory in the kingdom of Hell.  Our salvation is all about Jesus.  He won it, and He gives it.  He forgives you all of your sins, and He calls you by name into His family and makes you are sharer in His glory both now and for eternity!

So what if life didn't turn out the way you had dreamed?  You have everlasting glory instead.  So what if you are bearing a cross you would rather not bear, a cross which you did not anticipate?  Jesus already bore the cross on your behalf, and He is giving you something important to do - but important in His eyes, not necessarily in your own.  Humility.  It is the state of those who know themselves, both as sinners, and as those who have possession of something that they just have no business having – the grace and favor of God.  But they have it because Jesus has seen them and invited them to move on up, and exalted them in the presence of all humanity.

When Jesus teaches the importance of the attitude of humility, He is not engaged in some abstract speculation on ethics.  In fact, while He was teaching it, He was already living it out.  He humbled Himself to be born human.  He humbled Himself to live among sinful men. He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  And therefore, by His stripes, we are healed!  So, when Jesus is urging humility, He is not just recommending a successful approach to social engagements, He is telling us how we may be like Him, and what it is that shapes the minds and the lives of those who will sit at table with Him at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb of God in glory.

So, your life is the gift of God, both here and now and in eternity.  It is grace and forgiveness and not deserving or self-chosen glory.  But you can only accept that, if you exercise true humility.  So, repent, and believe, and trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding (or preferences) In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.  The name of the game is "humility".

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

The Joy of Salvation

 Luke 15:1-10

Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.  And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."  And He told them this parable, saying, "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!'  In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Sermon for Third Sunday After Trinity                                                06/21/26

The Joy of Salvation

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Most of my life I have heard about the joy of salvation.  Of course, it is only natural since I sang about it almost every Sunday for a great portion of my life in the words of the offertory, drawn from Psalm 51.  I remember the popular slogans of my youth, "J is for Jesus, J is for Joy!"  There was a great emphasis on the joy the Christian life.  It was the first real challenge to my life in faith because, frankly, I didn't feel all that much joy.  I still don't.

Some people do, or at least they seem to.  They smile a lot and talk about the joy of the Christian life.  I used to feel cheated, when I heard about all that joy and felt so little of it.  Then I read.  I read the Bible.  I read Luther.  I read the Confessions, and slowly it all began to make sense to me.  Our life in Christ is not about joy right now - not the "tickles your fancy and makes you want to dance a jig" kind of joy.  Our life in Christ is promised to be a life of suffering like Christ, of the hatred of the world, and of our being faithful in all circumstances, good or difficult.

Jesus talks in our text about joy over salvation.  He tells the parable of the Sheep that was lost and found, and the Coin that was lost and found.  It is a lesson about salvation and tells us about that joy.  Our theme, this morning, is the joy of salvation.

Before I go any farther, I want to be clear on this "feeling the joy" thing.  I have felt some joy, pure joy in my life over the faith.  For me, it is not a continuous experience.  It is not even a frequent thing.  Some people seem to have this on-going sense of wonder and joy of which they are conscious.  I want to do nothing to diminish that.  I don't want to be understood as discouraging it or judging it in any way negatively.  If your feel excitement and joy about your salvation, go with it and have a good time.  There is nothing even remotely wrong with feeling it.

According to all that I have been able to learn, however, most people don't have an on-going sense of joy in faith.  There is often peace, comfort in times of distress and fear, and a pleasant hope for blessings and life beyond death - but not too many people report joy as their constant companion in faith.  But some people tell us that we are supposed to feel it, and they (and others, at times) make many people think that they should be feeling it, and cause many people to wonder what they are lacking, and where they are deficient in faith because they don't have this constant awareness of joy.

One of the messages I want to deliver this morning is that there is nothing necessarily wrong with those who do not have that sense of joy.  The Bible does not promise it or command it, and Jesus tells us that we will have sorrow, suffering, and pain as our part in the Christian life.  What can be dangerous is the expectation of that joy, and the idea that we should be feeling it and if we are not, something is missing and we need to go out and find the feelings.  If mean, if you got ‘em, enjoy ‘em, but don't depend on them, and don't expect them, or make them the measure of true faith.  That expectation will betray you.  

The joy we will often possess is the quiet joy of the confidence that death is not the end, that we will see our loved ones, who also believed, again, and that our troubles are not outside of God's control or awareness, but we have a loving Father who will care for us, and that when the worst happens in this world, we have eternal life and peace and joy to look forward awaiting us at the end.  Not Yahoo! joy, but Ahhhhhh! joy.

The other message this Gospel lesson speaks of is the joy of salvation which has nothing to do with how we feel, but is the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.  The joy spoken of in our Gospel is the joy of God, and those who are His heavenly host, over the rescue of the individual sinner.

You might ask yourself at times, "How could God send His only-begotten Son to become one of us, to suffer and die in such an awful way."  Yes, He did it for us, and, yes, He did it for our salvation.  The cross is the sign of the love of God for us and of the payment Christ made for sins we have committed that we might be forgiven.  But how can anyone do such a huge and horrific thing?  This text begins to open the door to understanding, when we see the joy which God has over each and every one who repents.

We can understand the nature and the depth of that joy by thinking about the parable.  Imagine being a shepherd.  The sheep are not merely the job of the shepherd - not if he is a good shepherd.  They are his passion.  Sheep can be pets, as you get to know them, and they get to know you, and they are a form of wealth.  Sheep provided milk, and therefore cheese, and wool for clothing, and the very occasional meal of meat.  The more sheep you had, the richer man you were.  The man in the parable had one hundred sheep, and one of them was lost - a significant portion of his wealth and future earnings potential.  

When Jesus asked, "What man among you . . . ?", He indicated that this was not an unusual thing to do - probably not an unusual occurrence among shepherds.  He expected them to understand and maybe even feel the urgency of the search and the joy of finding the lost sheep.  We have each misplaced things of value and searched for them, and we know the relief and delight in finding them at last.  That delight and joy is the response of all of heaven over a single sinner who repents.  It is heaven's response because it is the joy of the Lord.

Generally, shepherds were men.  Jesus told the next parable to make the point clear even to a woman.  A woman would often be in charge of the family resources around the home.  A woman without a man, in that society, would be absolutely without a provider, so here resources would be far more important to preserve.  The size of the coin is not particularly important, but it is one tenth of what she has.  Losing it, she sweeps and cleans and does not cease to search until the coin is found, and when she recovers it, it is a cause of joy and relief and celebration.  That is what the joy of salvation is, for God in heaven.

"God loved the world in this way", says John in chapter 3, verse 16 of his Gospel, "He gave His only-begotten Son that anyone that believes in Him should not perish, but have life everlasting."  And having loved us with such a love, He delights and rejoices, as does all of heaven, when His love bears such fruit that a man or a woman repents and believes, and fulfills the goal and purpose of the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Scholars debate whether the parables should be called the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin, or the Parable of the Found Sheep and the Parable of the Found Coin.  It really doesn't matter.  It is the explanation of Jesus for His taking the time to sit and fellowship with the sinners, the really unsavory people of His day.  It is the explanation of the great love of God for us that each of us, insignificant and weak and sinful as we are, bring such joy to all of heaven when we hear the Gospel, turn from our sins, and call upon God for grace and forgiveness. 

We are the weak and unsavory, over whom there is joy in heaven.  Each one of us was brought – one at a time – each in our own order and way – into the presence of God with joy.  The joy of salvation will one day be shared with us in a fulness we cannot comprehend right now, but today, we have reality of life here and now.  We have aches and pains.  We have sicknesses and troubles.  We have people telling us ‘doctrine doesn't matter', that ‘we are too picky about truth', that ‘there is no difference between the various religions because we all want to go to heaven, and we all believe in God in some way, and it is just a matter of insignificant particulars of doctrine'.  Besides, who knows which of us is right?

These are the tribulations and persecutions which we face today.  It could be better.  And it could be worse.  Our calling is not ‘to know all the answers to every question someone can dream up'.  We are not commanded to win every battle, or even understand why it is worth fight for.  Our call is to trust God, to take Him at His Word, and to be faithful.  We are to confess the truth we have been taught to believe, and know that when we do, and stand faithfully in His grace, God will do what needs to be done so that the joy of heaven will increase as one by one, sinners repent and find peace and forgiveness and life everlasting in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Don't look for the giddy ‘joy of salvation' that we hear much about in our society.  If you have it, enjoy it, but don't depend on it.  Depend on Jesus, and trust the Word of God even when life doesn't feel so good, and we are not having such a fun time.  No one said it was going to be easy, or that we would enjoy the ride.  God has only promised that He would make the journey down that narrow and difficult road that leads to salvation with us, and that when we arrive at our destination, we will find that it was well worth it to have remained faithful.

Peter, in our Epistle this morning, captured the same message:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.  Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.  And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Jesus explained in our Gospel His willingness to spend time with sinners by telling His critics of the joy of God over each one of them that repented.  He has that same joy over each one of us.  As we confess the faith day by day, we search with Jesus for the lost, and, God willing, now and then we are the tools of causing even more of God's great joy in saving us, poor miserable sinners.

To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

Setting Priorities

 Luke 14:16-24

But He said to him, "A certain man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.'  But they all alike began to make excuses.  The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'  And another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'  And another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'

"And the slave came back and reported this to his master.  Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'  And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'

"And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"

Sermon for Second Sunday After Trinity                                         06/14/26

Setting Priorities

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

"First things first."  That is the saying I have heard all of my life.  It is all about setting one's priorities.  For most of my life, the temptation has always been to do everything first but what needed to be done, and then to do that only when confronted by a deadline.  I have had a great deal of success managing things by facing a deadline - and I have often found it difficult to organize myself and motivate myself to do things before they needed to be done.  When I am really under the gun, I often find myself helplessly drawn to read a good book, further increasing the pressure to get things done.  One might suspect that I have trouble setting priorities.

But I do not.  I know what is important, generally, and I always have my eye on the ball, so to speak, even if I don't seem to be paying any attention at all.  My seeming inattention is simply how my brain works and organizes things.  So far, I have never shown up for church without my sermon ready, the paper I was to deliver in hand, or my assignment incomplete.  If it sounds strange to you, how I approach things, imagine how it seems to me, since this is not a conscious avoidance thing.  It just works that way.

The people in the story Jesus tells have lost their sense of priority, or they have set their priorities poorly.  Jesus tells us this parable to focus on two aspects of the story - the ones who were invited, but did not come, and the response of the man who was giving the dinner to the casual disrespect of his invitation.  Israel was the invited guests, and the host is God, the dinner is salvation, and we are the ones along the highway and in the hedges, the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.  Our theme is Setting Priorities.

To be honest, the parable is not properly understood without the context of the entire chapter of Luke in which it appears.  Jesus is facing a test at the home of Pharisee to which He had been invited to eat.  They bring a man in to see if Jesus will heal him on the Sabbath.  Jesus asks them for their judgment in the situation, and they refuse to speak, so He heals the man.  Then Jesus explains His action by asking them about which one of them would allow an ox or a son to fall into a well on the Sabbath, and not rescue it or him?  Clearly, it is an issue of priorities: Sabbath Law or Ox or son?  Just as clearly, Jesus expects them to choose the ox or the son, but to say so might be seen as blasphemy, so they keep silent.

Then Jesus talks about humility.  He advises that they not seek the place of honor when invited to a dinner, but take the lowest seat, and allow themselves to be honored by being moved up, rather than shamed by being made to give the place of honor to someone else, and be humiliated.  Of course, there are risks with humility.  Your host might not see anything amiss in your taking the place of least significance, and then you will find out where you really belong, in his estimation.  The question is, which is more important, the place of honor with the risk of embarrassment, or the opportunity for recognition and honor with the risk of finding out that you do not merit any - but without the humiliation before others?  Again, it is a question of setting priorities.

Then Jesus tells the man who had invited Him that when he gives a luncheon, he should not invite family and friends, people he would like to impress who might also return the kindness of his invitation, but rather invite those who would have need of the invitation, and no means to repay his kindness - the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.  Jesus says that such kindness would be repaid by God at the resurrection.  This presents another setting of priorities - good times and good will here and now, or later with the Lord.

At this point in the narrative, someone spouts off with the seemingly out-of-place comment, "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  I have kind of puzzled over that for a while, but I never got too intense with it because it was the verse just before our Gospel text for this Sunday in the Church Year, and I was always wanting to preach about the invitation, and our gracious inclusion in the banquet of salvation.  Still, it was an odd interjection.  At first, I thought the person was crying out some odd praise of God and of salvation, but the more I thought about it, the less it seemed to fit.  Why say that now, in this place in the story?  And why, in seeming response to the outburst, does Jesus tell the parable of the banquet spurned?

Then it struck me.  It is just like when I preach about how rich we are, and how God gives us our riches for His purposes, and I get the sort of responses that say, 

"There is nothing wrong with my going on vacation, 

or owning nice things, 

or visiting my children in another state.  

When you preach about how we use our time or our things, Pastor, you make me feel guilty.  But I have every right to do with my life and my possessions what I please.  You can't tell me I have to do this or that to go to heaven." 

Of course, I cannot - and I really do not want to.  That would contradict the Gospel.

Jesus was talking about priorities, and confronting how everyone tends to deal with life, and with one another, and with God.  He was explaining how God looked at things - the divine values and priorities, and the guy who shouted out the "Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" was trying to excuse their priorities, and dismiss what Jesus was saying by saying "We are all going to eat bread in the kingdom, and no one is going to be unhappy to be there, so what difference does it make if do this or that, how we manage the little stuff, or how we treat the poor?"  It was a "Just get off our back!" kind of thing.  Being Jews, you know, the Chosen People, they knew they were going to go to heaven, and they really wanted to pay more attention to life on earth, right now, and worry about heaven once they got there.

Jesus' response said, in effect, that might be true for those who are going to heaven - but how do you know that you are going to make it?  Jesus took the presupposition which lay behind the man's statement, and showed him the truth about it and what it meant.  Israel - as individuals, not as the entire nation - lived more or less just as the man had asserted.  They lived like so many of us twenty-first century Christians live today; taking God and eternity for granted, and making the most of the day we live in, but according to the purposes of the flesh, not according to the purposes of God.

The moment came - and it is never at convenient time that it comes - and the call went out, the dinner is ready, everything is prepared, come to the feast.  But those invited - the Chosen People - found themselves too wrapped up in the affairs of life to heed the invitation.  The one was busy with land he had purchased.  The next was occupied with oxen - five yoke of ‘em.  The third was newly married.  Who could deny them the right to business, wealth, or family?  Surely, they had every right, and it was all God-given, so no one could say it was evil gain or something they ought not to have or ought not to be doing.  Still, when the call to the dinner came, the dinner took second place to the other things.

Was the dinner less important to them?  I don't think so.  Did they not care about the dinner?  I would guess that is not true either.  It was just a matter of priorities.  Israel had gotten so wrapped up in living in the blessings of God that they lost sight of both the Giver and of the purpose of the gifts.  The land, the oxen, and the wife were more real and more urgent to them than God and salvation.  They didn't say they didn't want God or eternal life, they just wanted them on their terms and when they were ready.  They had forgotten that love and hate in the sight of God is not the same as it is in our thoughts.  With God it is a matter of setting priorities, and anything preferred to or more urgent than God means you love that thing and despise God.

Because they found everything more urgent and real than God and faith and salvation, they were found to be unworthy - and God went out and dragged the socially unworthy in and gave them the banquet.  You and I are those blind, crippled, lame, and worthless people who just happen to have stumbled into the riches of eternal life and salvation.  We did not find it or choose it, but we were found in the hedges and the back-alleys of life and compelled to come in.  That is the grace of God.

Jesus prepared the feast of salvation by His death on the cross for our sins, and dragged us into the dinner hall without asking for our consent.  See, the banquet rests on the table before you this morning!  Here is life and salvation, forgiveness and peace, and resurrection and joy.

Of course, now that we have become the chosen ones, we also run the risk of taking it for granted, and finding other things more exciting - and more urgent - and more pleasurable, and skipping the meal anyhow.  But this parable does not tell you ‘to beware', it tells you of the wonderful grace of God in bringing you into this banquet of life and salvation, so that you may rejoice and give thanks!  Still, we can see what ‘taking it for granted' can lead to, or rather, lead away from.

It is about setting priorities.  The argument about priorities is not with me, or with Jesus.  It is an argument with your flesh.  God will not be put in second place, and salvation will not wait for you to exercise your perfect rights as an American to have and to do and to go and to enjoy.   If there are more urgent things in your life, well, then there are more urgent things in your life.  We ask nothing you cannot freely give or do.  The Lord loves a cheerful giver.

But remember, while everyone in heaven is going to be delighted to be there, not everyone who thinks they are going will be in heaven.  Those who take it so much for granted that they can count other things more precious or more urgent run the risk of finding that the call to the banquet that they were waiting for came while they were busy with something else - too busy to come to the banquet.

Look at what you've got.  Count the blessedness of being dragged in, unworthy though we are, to the banquet of Salvation.  Give thanks, and keep your wits about you.  You are chosen for something you don't deserve, but you really want and need.

 Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.  He who does not love abides in death. . . .  We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  . . .  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

These Things They will Do

 John 15:26-16:4

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, and you will bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

"These things I have spoken to you, that you may be kept from stumbling.  They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.  And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me.  But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."

Sermon for Exaudi Sunday                                           05/17/26

These Things They Will Do

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Today is the Sunday between the Ascension and Pentecost.  It marks the period of time between Jesus removing His visible presence from among His disciples, and the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  In my mind, I liken this to that time in a race when the starter is crying out, "on your mark . . . get set . . ." just before he fires the starter's pistol to begin the race.

The Gospel is perfect for this day.  It records the words of Jesus during His last great discourse with the disciples before the Passion.  This is a warning and a promise, and none of it was spoken to us, directly, but to His disciples who were soon to be promoted to Apostles - from ‘students' to those who were the "Sent Ones", sent out to bear witness to what they had seen and heard and to spread the Gospel.  Our task this morning is to take these words, aimed squarely at the disciples, and see what they actually teach us.  Our theme is "These Things They Will Do".

Jesus warns the disciples about troubles that they will face.  He says that He warns them "that [they] may be kept from stumbling."  It is easy to understand this.  They have followed Jesus.  He has cared for them, and shielded them from all of the dangers and troubles that might have happened to them.  They may not have understood or even seen the providential care of Jesus for His disciples, but nothing happened to them.  He fed them and led them around the whole of the once "promised land".  They had enemies, and there were all sorts of local issues and parties, just as there are today in the middle east - just different parties, but the same old hatreds and animosities.  The disciples never seemed to have been confronted by them.  None of the enemies of Jesus attacked them physically - or seemed to have any success in shaping public opinion against them.  Jesus simply gave them a few years of peaceful instruction, as He modeled the faith and showed them how they were to live once He was gone -- without telling them in advance that this was what He was doing.

But now they were about to be cast out on their own - Jesus was going to die and rise again and ascend and leave them to be His witnesses.  He was going to take His visible presence from them, and withdraw the providential care that gave them such peaceful times with Jesus.  He was not taking His care away from them, but things were going to change, and God knew about it.  In fact, it is all part of God's plan.  Jesus told them, "They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.  And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me."

This meant that they were going to become targets of hostility for those Jews – the ones who were supposed to be God's people – who did not believe.  That part applies to us too.  The specifics that Jesus spoke of really only fit the first Christians.  I have never been cast out of a synagogue, nor would it bother me if I were.  I don't believe the stuff they teach in their synagogues anyhow, and I have no emotional attachment to them, either.  The disciples did.  The first Christians all - or nearly all - came from the synagogues.  Being thrown out of the synagogue was almost like ending life as they knew it.  It was extremely painful, and came with broken relationships, lost friendships, and hostility from those who should have been, and once were, friends.

You may have sampled some of that community gossip.  Those who were called fellow members of the congregations, suddenly became hostile to us, unwilling to take the time to come to worship, and seemed to want nothing more to do with us.  And the reason for our sorrow is pretty much the same as the reason for the hostility of the synagogue toward the disciples - "And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me."  It was doctrine.  They did not believe what we believed, and they rejected both us and our faith.

Jesus had to tell the disciples that this was coming because they were likely to be tempted with the idea that just because they worked for the Savior, things were going to go smoothly (as they had up to this point), and God would pave the way before them.  He would, of course, prepare the way before them, but not by removing obstacles like the hatred and violence of the world.  That remains - and in fact, that is a tool in the arsenal of God for getting the world's attention, and demonstrating His power, and our weakness, and making converts in the most unexpected of ways.  The early church even had the proverb, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."  Their patient endurance, with so little evident power, made many sit up and take notice, people who only understood the unbridled use of power and who could not comprehend what might lie behind patience and forgiveness and stubborn goodness such as they witnessed in the Apostles.

We are not witnesses.  We never saw Jesus.  We are confessors.  We confess what we have heard and believed.  We speak what God has spoken to us through His Word and through His called speakers - preachers.  We confess with the Church what those original witnesses bore witness of - and to.  We confess that Jesus is the true Son of God, come down in human form and having taken on human nature on our behalf.  We confess that Jesus kept the whole will and law of God, where all mankind has failed, and having earned and rightly deserved eternal life, has suffered and died in our place, and for our sins, and on our behalf.  His death on the cross is ours, taken for us to meet the justice of God against our sins.  That is what those first witnesses bore witness to.

Then we also confess that God raised Jesus from the dead, because those first witnesses saw it, and spoke with the risen Jesus.  We confess that His resurrection shows us that the death of Jesus has been accepted in our place and for our sins, and that it was sufficient, so that now we are forgiven and we stand in the good will and favor of God (we call that "grace").  We confess that there is nothing for us to do to earn our salvation - Jesus did it all - and that we fail to qualify to even start to work out our salvation, because we are sin-filled, and sin-corrupted, and fall short of the glory of God before we can even start.  We also confess that even our coming to faith is not possible for us by our own wisdom or will-power, but God must call us to faith and cause us to believe, and that He does so by the preaching of the Gospel.

It is those things, human weakness and corruption, and divine power and grace, that cause those who should be our brothers in the faith to respond to us with hostility and rejection.  Some of them want to be able to earn and deserve something of their salvation for themselves - and the idea that they cannot insults them and infuriates them.  Others want to claim that at least they chose the right path, they "decided for Jesus", and the doctrine of divine monergism - that God alone works faith in us against our nature and beyond our abilities - causes hostility in their hearts towards us.  The Law of God strikes hard and enrages us.  Most of the Protestants we know cannot accept a God they cannot understand, so the Sacraments, and the durability of the incarnation - that Jesus is always and everywhere fully and truly human even now, with His body and human nature still with Him wherever He goes - is unreasonable to them, and our stubborn confession of those truths makes them angry.

No matter which way we turn, we face the hostility of those who call themselves Christians, but do not believe what we believe.  They have another Gospel, and believe in another Jesus.  Please understand that I am not saying that those of other denominations are not Christians.  I cannot look into their hearts and judge that.  I can only look at the Gospel they proclaim, and say that it is not the same Gospel which we confess.  Individuals in these other bodies may  - and some surely do - believe exactly what we believe about Jesus and salvation, just as we have all encountered Lutherans who are not Lutheran - who do not hold to what we teach and confess, and believe something entirely different, but still call themselves "Lutheran".

But the doctrines of works righteousness, and the doctrines of decision theology, and the doctrines which place Christ in heaven, as to His human nature, and deny the very possibility of forgiveness in either Sacrament, or of the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Lord's Supper - these doctrines are unbiblical, and unchristian.  They paint a picture of God and of Christ which is unlike our Savior, and they hide the comfort of Christ and the hope of salvation from many that believe them.  As Jesus said, "they have not known the Father, or Me."  

And they will reject us, and try to marginalize us, and often when they have the power, they will try to drive us out of the church.  They will do so with the complete conviction that they are right, and that they are serving God and God's truth.  Of course some will not count God in the picture - they will be convinced that they are serving "truth" and "all that is reasonable" and that they are fighting "superstition"

We have the Helper, that Jesus promised - the Holy Spirit.  And Jesus warns us of the truth of the hostility of the world to our confession, through the warning to the disciples of the hostility of the world to their witness.  It still applies by extension.  "But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them."

Jesus wanted them to know that when they came upon these pains and sorrows and troubles, that it was to be expected.  Nothing was out of order.  Suffering is part of the confession.  We share in Christ's righteousness, so we also share in His suffering.  Ours has no redemptive quality, but it does carry some power, by the will of God, in confession, and speaking to the mind and hearts of the unbelieving world.  And since we are Christ's, we should know that this is coming, and, as Peter put it in His first epistle, chapter 4, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation."

When the pain comes, and people turn on you, and speaking the wonderful good news of Jesus gets you into trouble, or your friends and even your family turn away from you, you may be tempted to be confused, and wonder why this is happening.  Jesus warned the Disciples, and through their warning He warns us - it is coming.  Expect it.

  Knowing that pain is coming doesn't change the pain, but it explains it - and it is for your strengthening and comfort that Jesus tells us about it.  These things they will do.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)