The Office of the Keys: Jesus' Breath and Words

Sermon Midweek Lenten Pulpit Exchange

The Office of the Keys:  Jesus' Breath and Words (John 20:22-23)

This year our Lenten journey takes again to the cross of Jesus. And in following Him, we listen to Him as the Father commanded from the Mount of Transfiguration.  Our teaching for this evening concerns itself with the fifth part of the catechism, the office of the keys.  In fact it is this fifth part that will be the focus of this year’s catechism convocation being held here at Trinity Lutheran Church on Saturday, April 21^st.

To be more precise the fifth part of the catechism has two foci. The first is confession and absolution and the second is the office of the keys.  Other preachers will be proclaiming confession and absolution whereas our task tonight is to focus on our Lord’s established office of the keys.  So what is the Office of the Keys? 

The small catechism defines it as that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.

And where is this written?  This is what St. John the Evangelist writes in Chapter 20: And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (Jn 20:22–23)

 

Finally, what do you believe according to these words? I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better this is just as certain, even in heaven as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.

The office of the keys is the same as the office of the Holy Ministry.  Like any office this office includes with it both authority and responsibility.  The responsibility or the job description in this case is that of the confessor who hears confessions of sin and then pronounces Christ’s forgiveness or absolution while keeping confidential all that is confessed to him. The Holy Ministry is also responsible for the preaching, teaching, interpreting of the Word and administration of the sacraments .

The authority of the office comes from the Heavenly Father who grants it to the Son who calls His Apostles giving them the Holy Spirit. The Apostles in turn ordained Bishops and Elders, who we would later be called Ministers and Pastors, to serve the means of Grace of Justification to the priesthood of believers.

So we say can rightly that the Office of the Keys is a divine institution which is in turn given to the church. We can be certain that holder of the Office speaks in the stead of Christ as long as he speaks God’s Word and administers the sacraments according to Christ’s institution.  The Office of the Holy ministry is a necessary office for you, the priesthood of believers, to hear the declarations of being justified for Christ sake in order that you may be certain of God’s gracious will toward you. This creates trust or saving faith in your heart. 

The Augsburg Confession says as much in Article V, “ To obtain such faith (that is Justification through Christ Jesus, His death and resurrection) God instituted the office of the ministry,  that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel.  And the Gospel teaches that we have a gracious God, not by our own merits but by the merit of Christ, when we believe this. Condemned are the Anabaptists and others who teach that the Holy Spirit comes to us through our own preparations, thoughts, and works without the external word of the Gospel.”

Notice that we cannot by own reason or strength believe Jesus Christ or come to him by our own merits, it is the work of the Holy Spirit through the instituted Holy Ministry. And for the sake of good order He uses the church to call and ordain a man into the Ministerial Office who is given this responsibility and authority.  Article XIV states, “It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular call.” This is to help identify who God has sent and called to serve the congregation with the word and sacrament.

Christ endowed the office not the office holder with the spirit so it is not the man but the spirit of the office that speaks. He did this with the eleven when he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit.  Luther in his Table Talk writes regarding this text.

"From the passage, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive,’ etc. [John 20:22-23], some conclude that therefore only those who personally have the Holy Spirit are able to forgive sins. But this isn’t the meaning, for Christ gives the Spirit to the public office and not to a private person, as he had just said, ‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you’ [John 20:21]. Consequently he was speaking about those who had been called and who had the authority to preach, administer the sacraments, etc. When somebody has the authority to preach he also has the authority to administer the sacraments, for we hold that the sacrament is less important than preaching. On this account, under the papacy none was admitted to the degree of bachelor of theology except priests, and they already had the right to administer sacraments.”[1](No. 512: Authority of Minister Resides in Office, Not Person  Spring, 1533)

It is interesting to note the prominence Luther gives to preaching over the administration of sacrament. That if one has the authority to preach then he also has the authority to administer the sacrament. It was true that in the early church only the bishops were authorized to preach and administer the sacrament while the ordained priests administered the sacrament only.

Today many in our beloved synod violate this order by placing into congregations those who do not have a call and ordination, therefore lacking the proper authority, to preach and administer the sacrament in divine service. This sort of arrangement should and does create uncertainty in the congregation because it does not have Christ’s institution or the promise of the Holy Spirit with it.  It would be like a baptism without the Word or a Sacrament of the Altar with animal crackers and grape juice.  We are just not sure.

The office of the keys or the office Holy Ministry does have the promise of the Holy Spirit with it. The church understood this in the liturgy with the salutation and response, The “Lord be with you,” “and with thy Spirit.”  We have this in our Divine Service III Liturgy in the LSB and from page 15 of the TLH. Some of you may have wanted to respond with the more folksy, “and also with you” which we find in our other divine service settings. The Lutheran’s adopted this response from the Roman Catholic liturgical reforms of Vatican II in the 1960’s.

Ironically, under the current Pope Benedict the Roman Church have reformed the liturgy once more and are returning to the  response “And with thy spirit”  along with returning to the original Nicene Creed language that begins with the words “We believe…” expressing the corporate nature of confession. But the phrase and “with thy spirit” or “with your spirit” recognizes the office and not the man who is before you.

The same goes for what the bearer of the office wears. The stole or yoke of the ministry and white alb cover the man so people are focused on the office of the ministry and the service of Christ and not so much the man.  The garments a pastor wears designates the office just like the robe a judge in a court room wears or a uniform an officer of the military wears. Salutes do not go to the man but to the office he represents which carries with it responsibility and authority.

This idea of the Holy Ministry is foreign to the American Evangelical church culture where the ministry is more about the man first and his particular gifts and the office is second.  Notice that Saddleback Community Church is more commonly known as Rick Warren’s church.

I looked up the website of Lakewood Community Church where it says by Joel and Victoria Osteen.  The picture of Joel and Victoria is very casual. It looks like an engagement picture. They are wearing nice clothes that you and I would wear.  There really is nothing in their clothing that distinguishes them from the rest of us.  We can look up to them and say I can and want to be like them.  They are just like you and I but as you get to know them you find them to be more and more extraordinary.

They like themselves and they want you to like them too. And so you want to learn more from them as to how to be successful. You see them as your life coaches to emulate.  Rev. Jeremy Rhode of Faith Lutheran Capistrano beach made this observation on Issues Etc. that these Pastors are like the actor Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks is everyone’s man. He seems very accessible. He makes you comfortable to watch. He is just like you and yet he is so much more. These are good qualities for an entertainer.

If the focus is on the man than it is not on Christ, if we have the office then we have Christ and we can avoid the pastor being a cult of personality that the church must depend on. When the Pastor falls in this scenario, so do the congregations.  These churches are constantly reinventing themselves. They split. They dissolve, and they pop up almost overnight.  We in the LCMS as battered as our congregations are, have very long tenures and we enjoy a stability that many would find enviable.  Why?  Because our cornerstone is Christ Jesus,  our foundation is the teaching of the prophets and the apostles.  From their successors in the office of the ministry repentance and forgiveness are preached.  The absolution is declared both corporately and privately and the sheep are being fed with Christ’s body and blood.  And we have the assurance that the Holy Spirit is using these means to create faith when and where He pleases. Being served by Christ, the priesthood of believers serve or minister to each other through their various vocations. There sacrifice of praise is found in the loving service of a parent to their child or of an employee to their employer or by showing honor and respect to those who our Lord has put in authority over you.

It is found in parents teaching their children the faith and telling your neighbors and co-workers about Jesus forgiveness. Yes even though you may not hold the office of the ministry you are still a member of the priesthood and when you share God’s word and forgiveness with your children and with your neighbor the Holy Spirit is functioning  in that Word.

In our vocations we do sin, sins of omission where we neglect to act and sins of commission where we trespass upon one another. We do act selfishly and we break commandments. So return to the Lord and confess your sins and God who is faithful and just will forgive your sins through His various means of grace.

News flash, even the men who serve in the office of the ministry need to be served by the office. They need to hear the words of forgiveness proclaimed to them, by their colleagues in the office, and by the members of their congregations. I personally avail myself of a confessor for individual confession and absolution. During my illness a Pastor ministered to me bedside. Hearing the words of absolution arrested my fears.

Jesus after he had been denied, betrayed, abandoned, beaten, forsaken, mocked, humiliated, crucified to death and rose victorious went to his fearful and unbelieving disciples and he declared “Peace be with you!” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”   I declare in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, Your sins are forgiven!”

Now may the peace passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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[1] Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 54: Luther's works, vol. 54 : Table Talk (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (90). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Tempted for You

SERMON LENT 1

Tempted for you

 James 1:12-18

Introduction: Every day we’re under temptation. From the lure of dark sites on the Internet, from the gossip we long to share, to the grudge we desire to nurse—our minds are not at peace. We’re at war with ourselves, with a sinful world, and with a deceiving devil.

As Luther taught us to sing, “With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected” (LSB 656:2). On our own we fail, “But for us fights the valiant One, Whom God Himself elected” (LSB 656:2).

You are not alone in your battle. Fresh from his Baptism at the Jordan, where the heavens were torn open, Jesus was driven out by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. Christ Jesus, your brother and your God, knows temptation. Even better, he endured it without a single sin. Without being ensnared. He was tempted for you!

Jesus is the “man” who remained steadfast under trial and therefore in his resurrection received the crown of life! Best of all, Jesus gives you His victory, as St. James explains in today’s Epistle.

IN CHRIST, THE CROWN OF LIFE IS YOURS.

Our battle against temptation is underway—and every day (vv 13–16). Why are we in this daily battle? Is God tempting us?

Did you know that there were Rabbis in James’s day, and some religions in our day, that teach God is the author of temptation and evil. Absolutely not! God cannot be tempted. He tempts no one (v 13). James says unequivocally, “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.”

God does, however, allow us to live in the world that Adam and Eve and we, too, have polluted with sin, a world where trials come.

So who if not God, who is tempting us?

We are tempting us (v 14). Like Adam after his fall, we like to blame others for our sin. We make ourselves out to be the victim.

Today, we try to shift the blame to others for our temptation and sin: It’s the fault of my parents, my poverty, my wealth, my youth, or my ill health. They’re to blame, not me.

 No, rather James writes, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (v 14). Jesus teaches that the desire to sin begins in our own hearts and minds driven by our own passions.

Some televangelists today want you to listen to the still small voice in your heart for direction and God’s will. They teach that you have the divine seeds within you and you just need to be still and listen.  But this is not God speaking but rather the religious old Adam who still claims and seeks to be like God. We look in upon ourselves for divine guidance we will find only death.

Jesus says,  “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”  (Mt 15:19) 

So the enemy is from within. If you want to know God’s will look to His Word in the scriptures.  Perhaps you find yourself in St. Paul’s predicament, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my member another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7:21–24).

Is temptation really that big a deal? Yes, because death is the result. James tells the awful consequences of letting our sinful desires and passions lure us: “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (v 15). “Do not be deceived” (v 16).

Instead, find freedom by repenting and turning away from your excuses, your blame, your sin, and your sinful desires and turn instead to something outside of you, Christ for you.

Christ overcomes temptation, sin, and death to give us the Father’s good gifts. The Father of lights never changes (v 17). The sun, the moon, and the stars, which the Father created, are reliable, but he is even more reliable.

The Father constantly delivers good and perfect gifts, especially his Son, who came down from the Father of lights. In Jesus’ wilderness journey, we see the perfect gift of his sinless life.

In the command to sacrifice Isaac and the ram’s death in his place, the Father foreshowed his Son as our sacrifice—the good and perfect death, enduring the death we owe for our sin (Gen 22:1–18).

The Father gives you new birth into Christ (v 18). By the Word of truth, the Gospel, you are born into a new life. The perfect life of Christ has now been given to you! You are now first fruits of God’s creatures. That is, out of all the world, you who are born from above by Baptism and the Word of God are his harvest forever. He continues to feed and sustain your life in Christ by giving you every perfect gift: His Word, His Baptism, His absolution, Christ’s body and blood, and finally, deliverance from this broken world.

The ultimate gift of the Father through Christ, then, is the crown of life (v 12).

Conclusion: The daily battle against temptation and our many losses are deeply discouraging and frustrating, but do not lose heart. Jesus has defeated the evil one for you. He paid your debt. He lived without sin. He put Satan in his place. Jesus won, and he gives to his people the spoils of His victory, the crown of life.

Save Me Because of Your Unfailing Love (Psalm 6)

SERMON: Ash Wednesday 2012

SAVE ME BECAUSE OF YOUR UNFAILING LOVE (PSALM 6 )

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for tonight is the Psalm for Ash Wednesday, Psalm 6.

Lent in many ways is a journey. We journey with our Lord to the cross and deal with the forgiveness of our sins. Each week we will hear a portion of the reading of the Passion story of our Lord, and we will reflect upon our Lord’s death and what that means to sinners like you and me. That reflection is a familiar part of Lent.

It would be easy to make a journey like that as far as the journey goes,  a trip down memory lane, a stroll through the story of Jesus’ death. But Lent in the Church really has two focuses: First, it is a time to reflect on Christ’s Passion and death. Second, it is a time of learning and spiritual renewal through the Word of God. In the Early Church it was during Lent that those preparing for Baptism received their final instructions in the faith before being baptized. So what we will be doing this Lent is hearing about Christ’s Passion and death, and about what that has to do with who we are as Christians who need Confession and Absolution.

Take a look once again at Psalm 6, which we prayed a few minutes ago. This is a psalm of David belonging to a group we call the penitential psalms. The word penitence or penitential is related to another very Lutheran word: repentance. What is repentance? Repentance is turning away from your sins and turning to Christ for forgiveness. Repentance, then, is ultimately a gift from God, because only God can turn the sinners heart toward Him. It reminds me of Luther’s words about Baptism in the Small Catechism:

What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

This process of contrition and repentance is daily, not once. Law and Gospel. Sin and forgiveness. This is the cycle of the Christian life. That is why we continue to repent and receive absolution. That is why we go to the Lord’s Supper week after week. It is about living the Christian life, not simply knowing right answers.

This is what God is going to teach us in the penitential psalms. In Psalm 6 David begins by lamenting that it seems like God has abandoned him. Law. God is angry with David, and so David prays that God will have mercy on him because he is weak and troubled.

Where does this start for you? What does this tell you about God? Well, it first of all tells you that God hates sin, and that when you sin, God hates you. Does that sound harsh? You bet! God’s Law is very harsh. As the psalmist writes in Psalm 5, “You hate all evildoers” (5:5). The Law doesn’t wink at sin. You and I try to wink at sin. Yes, our sin is bad, but let’s just ignore it. This is like saying, “My cancer isn’t that bad; it’s just on the top of my skin.” You can’t ignore sin. Sooner or later it will dig in and do it’s work of destruction.

But let’s go on to verse two of Psalm 6. David prays that the Lord will be gracious to him and heal him. Like blind Bartimaeus, or the Canaanite woman, David is not going to let God off the hook just like God won’t let David off the hook. You see, David knows God’s true character. He hates for a time but loves for eternity.

Now think again about the effect that this sin has on David. He is faint, his bones are in agony, his soul is in anguish. He even cries out, “No one remembers You when he is dead. Who praises You from the grave? (cf. v. 5). David is afraid for his very life. Worn out from groaning, flooded with tears, eyes, weak with sorrow, fail because of all his foes.

David’s picture in Psalm 6 of the effect of sin is profound and even painful. It’s a picture that makes you squirm. It makes me squirm. I don’t like to talk about my sinfulness or think about it. I would much rather think of myself as a basically nice person. I’m a Christian, and that means all this sin talk is for someone else. But remember, David was also a Christian. David grew up in a household that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Sin isn’t just something that unbelievers have to deal with and address. I think sometimes in the Church we can get the mistaken idea that sin and forgiveness is for the bad people, but that the Christians just praise God because He’s so great. Well, that’s a false comparison. The angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents. That means you.

There is hope. That is the message of Psalm 6. No matter how messed up your life has become. No matter how far down the path of sin you have trod. No matter what nightmares trouble you and pain you have caused to yourself and to others. God is merciful and forgiving. He hates the sinner for breaking the Law, BUT because of Jesus Christ, God loves the sinner even more. He loved you so much that His Son, Jesus, went to the cross and died for you. God hates the sinner, and He took all of that wrath out on the cross. God’s unfailing love will put you back together when nothing else can. Only God can scatter your enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Only the mercy of God in Jesus Christ can turn your life around and remake you in the waters of Baptism. Only God has given His Son in a Holy Meal to feed you and forgive you.

This Lent we are taking a journey together. We are taking a journey together to the cross of Jesus Christ. On this journey we are going to learn about God’s mercy for lost sinners like you and like me. We are going to hear about God’s gift of forgiveness that He gives in confession and absolution. For some of you, this will be a journey that you’ve taken before many times. But for most, this may be a new journey, or at least a new path on this same journey. Confessing your sins, not generically but specifically, is a hard thing. So hard, in fact, that many will never even try it. But I am here today to hold up God’s gift of forgiveness to you, and everything He has to give in His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer (cf. Psalm 6:9). In the name of Jesus. Amen.[1]

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[1] Peppercorn,  Rev. Todd “God’s Forgiveness”  CPH 2011

A Glimpse of Glory

Transfiguration Sunday

Sunday, February 19, 2012

“A Glimpse of Glory”

Mark 9:2-9

This year’s National Football season has been called the season of the Quarterback with so many terrific performances.  Ironically one of my favorite quarter backs, Peyton Manning sat this season out because of a neck injury and it also appeared from their play that his team the Colts also sat out the season winning only 2 games and losing 14. The only consolation is that Indianapolis hosted the Super bowl and Peyton got to look on as his younger brother Eli defeated his arch-rival Tom Brady.

 

The real story though was rookie quarterback Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos.  Tim is notorious, as the media paints the picture, for wearing his faith on his sleeve.  When the starting quarter back for the Broncos was injured and it appeared the Broncos season was headed toward the bottom. In steps rookie Tim Tebow, leading his team to six straight victories and a respectable season of 8 wins and 8 losses and a place in the post season play offs.

When the media wanted to talk to him about football, Tim instead talked about Football being a platform for thanking His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and talking about the Hospital he is helping to finance and build in the Phillipines.  The media did not take too kindly to this and neither did much of the public.  With cameras pointed at him Tim puts a finger in the air after making a touchdown or he takes a knee. Even though other players have done this in the past, this action now has a name, Tebowing. Now it seems if anyone else does it they will be ridiculed in the same way.

When I first saw him do it and how the media was covering it I had mixed feelings about this sort of witness.  My first thought was, is he promoting a theology of Glory. Is he saying that God is on the side of the Denver Broncos? Is God against the teams or the defender that Tebow just burned with a completion or ran by with a touch down? It becomes the same problem that occurred but more extreme when Christian soldiers battled and killed soldiers in Europe from the middle ages through WWII. Does God pick sides?  Does he bless some and not others?

If we think that honoring God will make us successful then we are getting the wrong impression and are deserving of criticism.

Rather, we know that from the scriptures this is not true, our Lord rains and provides sunshine for the good and evil alike.  We also know that the Apostles did not boast in their success but in their weakness and in their defeat.  However we also as Christians do give thanks also in times of plenty and in perceived success.  We acknowledge where are daily bread comes from. Tim has never said that God chose his team over the other although we do not know for sure what he prays as he is kneeling.  Perhaps a reporter should ask him that.  Is he praying for a victory? Is he just praying that he can do his best? Isn’t praying to do our best what we all would want as we work in our various vocations.

As soon as Tim speaks after the game tweets fly that both lambast and defend him. Late night comedy shows make it a habit of ridiculing Tebow and perhaps accusing him of things that are not so true.    Even after the season it seems that ESPN Sport Center, because he is so controversial, is now bringing him up in connection with rookie NBA sensation Jeremy Linn of the NY Nicks. One CBS poll showed that 45% believed that Jeremy Linn’s sudden rise in success was due to divine intervention. 

Even if we are unsure whether these athletes are operating under a theology of glory at least it appear the media is. The media will say anything whether it is true or not to sell advertising.  And it certainly is interested in stirring the pot through omission of facts and misinformation whether it is sports or politics. The greatest hate mongers in the world are in the media.

The culture does chafe at the idea that there is a God and that God picks sides.  To say that God picks sides is worth criticizing but what really get’s the culture upset is the witness that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that we are sinners, not good enough for God and Heaven and that Jesus Christ and his imputed righteousness is our only salvation. 

It is good that Tim publically acknowledges and thanks God and specifically, Jesus Christ and that this has resulted in his altruism his concern for others to the point of building a Hospital overseas. But it is the witness that Jesus died for him and His sins and that of the world’s that the Holy Spirit will use to create saving faith in those who listen. It will also create at the same time more hatred, criticism and resistance.

Jesus at the time of his transfiguration was facing resistance and intolerance. Even though Jesus alleviated much suffering, healing diseases and casting out demons, He was doing it at inappropriate times like on the Sabbath.

What He did was considered work and he even caused those he healed to break the man-made civil code surrounding the Sabbath by asking the formally lame to pick up their beds.  Most scandalous of all, Jesus was forgiving sins. This was blasphemy in the minds of the Pharisees and Scribes. Only God can forgive sins, ironically they were right they just could not conceive of God taking human form, God incarnate, en-fleshed in Jesus. 

Jesus must have looked unremarkable. Or perhaps it was just the familiarity. Jesus had grown up in front of them a child and now a man. Familiarity they say breeds contempt. Jesus also it appears himself was keeping his purpose and mission a secret. He healed but he told those he healed not to spread the word about him but they did it anyway.

Likewise Jesus told the disciples, Peter, James and John not to speak about what they had seen on the mountain until after He rose from the dead.  What? What was that? Jesus was headed for death.  That ran counter to the beatific vision these disciples had just witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration. The veil was removed and the divinity of Christ shown through His humanity. With Jesus’ transfiguration we see a glimpse into the glory that is to come.  Jesus becomes brighter than any light and his clothes turned bleach white. He literally shows himself to be the light of the world. He is accompanied by two of the most respected prophets of the Old Testament both received into heaven already in bodily form, Moses and Elijah.

Then we have the appearance of the cloud. The same glory cloud that engulfed Moses on Mount Sinai but this time it engulfs Jesus and just as His baptism that began His ministry and the season of Epiphany we hear the Heavenly Father speak, “This is my Son, Listen to Him.” And then there is only Jesus.

This glimpse of Glory was short lived because its purpose was to prepare these Apostles for what was to come, the cross.  There is no victory apart from the cross. There is no forgiveness of sins apart from the cross.  The scandalous and embarrassment of the cross was necessary for Jesus to endure so that He may stand in the place of all sinful man.  Receiving what they what we deserve. 

A theology of Glory says you can have it now, if you honor god, if you ask god for it he will oblige because you are a relatively good person. A theology of the cross shows that we are not entitled to God’s goodness and mercy yet He delivers it to us anyway. Delivered through the preaching of the word and the sacraments both very humble and unremarkable in their means but effective due to God’s promise attached to them.

The Father says,” listen to Jesus.”  He is headed to Jerusalem to suffer and die for your sins but He will rise again defeating sin, death and the devil.  There is no resurrection without death. This is something we must all consider. As a colleague and friend Pastor Matthew Payne says, “Remember, that in the end, we win!”  Yes we will win but victory is through the cross, through Jesus.

Touching the Untouchable

Sermon Epiphany 6
Touching the Untouchable
Mark 1:40‐45

Our Lord commands us not to misuse his name in the second commandment. We are not to use his name carelessly or to wield it with a power God does not authorize us to use it for. We do not use it to condemn others or things. We are also not to use it too swear or make vain promises or take vows we intend not to keep with it. Violation of the command also occurs in churches where His name is used to teach falsely about Him. Any teacher who is a false prophet breaks this commandment and will be liable to the fires of hell, so preaching, teaching and how we pray, that is, how we conduct our public worship services have eternal consequences. But in the positive we are commanded to use God’s name to call upon it in every trouble pray, praise and give thanks. This is not an optional thing. Prayer is commanded. It is Law. It is something you are required to do. It is a discipline that disciples of Christ do. And even though you are required to do it, it does not save you.

I make this teaching point because the protestant churches of the radical reformation use prayer as a means of grace as a way of receiving forgiveness. Since they deny the objective gifts of God, his baptism, his absolution, his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, they rely totally on their subjective ability to believe in God and this results in the aberration of the sinner’s prayer, which by the way depends on the false teaching that it is Jesus in your heart that saves you at the expense of Jesus declaring you objectively forgiven.

So if prayer does not save us why bother praying? Another way to look at it is not only must we pray but we get to pray. Our heavenly Father through his Son Jesus Christ tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear Father. We pray to him because he promises to hear us and answer our prayers. Who else can we go to in our time of trouble? “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” We pray to God because He is the one who saves us. Prayer directs us away from seeking help and comfort from things other than the Lord. In prayer we acknowledge who are help comes from and when we pray with God’s Word it actually shapes our prayers therefore it shapes our wills and conforms them to the Lord as we die to self and the new man comes forth.

This takes us to our Gospel text this morning. Jesus is on the move. He has just left Capernaum and is now preaching and casting out demons, evicting Satan and His minions throughout Galilee. Despite Jesus request that the people stop talking about his miracles and silencing the demons who wish to make his identity known, word gets out. Leprosy was a fatal disease, highly contagious, and rather nasty. Left untreated, leprosy can be progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Extremities can become numb or diseased as a result of secondary infections; resulting in tissue loss causing fingers and toes to become shortened and deformed, as cartilage is absorbed into the body. Lepers were considered both physically and spiritually unclean. This means that they were segregated from their families and unable to go to the temple to sacrifice. By law they had to call out to warn people who came close to them that they were lepers. No one accept another could touch a leper. They were untouchable. There was no cure for leprosy so there was no hope.

The secret of Jesus had gotten out. The Leper heard of the miraculous healings that Jesus had accomplished in Capernaum. The Leper did not stay clear of Jesus or warn him to stay away. Instead , he approached Jesus, he knelt before Jesus and implored Him, saying, “If you are willing you can make me clean.” The Leper was praying to Jesus. There was no one else he could go to but to the creator himself. The leper was calling upon Jesus in His time of trouble and tribulation as the old hymn says He was taking it to the Lord in prayer. In Jesus response we see what sort of God we have. We know that Jesus does His Father’s will. The Son’s the Father’s and the Spirit’s will are the same. He has compassion and pity on that which he has created. God is not cause of Leprosy, He did not cause evil and it’s sinful affects and damage to come into the World. The leper just because God created Him was not entitled to the healing he asked for. In fact there was no mention on His part that he thought he was deserving. He simply in desperation makes the request. Where else could he turn too but Jesus, God incarnate, standing before Him.

Jesus is willing. Jesus could have just said the Word and the leper would have been cured. He did this with the 10 Lepers but in this case Jesus, as he did with Simon’s mother‐in‐law touches him. He touches the untouchable, he cleans the unclean. The law stated that touching a Leper made you unclean. But Jesus is God’s Law. Jesus is God’s Word. Jesus being the ultimate in clean cannot be sullied rather his touch makes the unclean, clean. It is not enough for us today to hear God’s word even though we know that faith comes by hearing and therefore our salvation is delivered but he, Jesus, touched you through the waters of baptism and made you clean. It is the Word of God combined with the water that touched you a born to die unclean sinner and before God has now made you clean.

Likewise since you on a regular basis still dirty yourself and make yourself sick with sin, His touch is felt in the hands of the Pastor as he places them on the penitent sinner’s head and pronounces absolution. Yes, He touches you with his very flesh and blood that you consume with the bread and wine at the altar. See now how he answers your prayers for help, your prayers for deliverance, your prayers for forgiveness. Jesus is not satisfied with simply speaking to you from a distance but He has instituted His sacraments so that He may stay in touch. Jesus says to his disciples, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Without the touch of Jesus, the Leper could do nothing. He could not offer sacrifices at the temple. He cannot serve his family or his neighbor. And so it is with us, without Jesus’ touch we receive in hearing His forgiveness and receiving His sacraments we too can do nothing when it comes to bearing righteous fruit.

It is this same compassion and pity that Jesus gives to us that we then give to our neighbors. It is this same undeserved forgiveness that we extend to the undeserving. It is the same touch from Jesus that enables us to reach out to those considered by our culture and society to be considered untouchable. The compassion that Jesus shown drove him back out into the wilderness. Jesus offered himself so fully to His creation that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s had no shelter from the elements and no place to lay his head. This is the compassionate Lord that we call upon in our time of trouble. He will hear you. He will answer your prayers by sending His word. He will touch you with the mystery given through the bread and wine and the touch of the pastor’s hands given with the word of absolution. Now the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jesus Offering Himself to His Creation

Epiphany 5
Jesus offering Himself to His creation
Mark 1:29-39

This morning’s text from the Gospel of Mark begins where it left off last week. As you recall Jesus was in the synagogue, Jesus was serving people with the word when His sermon was interrupted by man with an evil demonic spirit. Jesus with a word silenced the demon that identified Jesus as “the Holy One of God” and was cast out revealing to us that Jesus has the power to defeat Satan and his minions. In today’s text Jesus and His called disciples leave the synagogue in Capernaum after the service to go to the house of Simon and Andrew. Perhaps like many of you they were looking for some refreshment after the service. However when they arrive at the house to find Simon’s mother-in-law lying in bed sick with a fever. Simon and Andrew immediately spoke to Jesus about her and Jesus went to her, and offered himself too her. He took her by the hand. The fever left (aphayken) her and He raised (aygeiren) her up. In response she began to serve (diaykonei) them.

There is a lot more to this text then first meets the ear. The epiphany moment in our text is that Jesus reveals his divinity by curing illness. Jesus in His life is offering himself to His sin ridden creation. The psalmist writes, “The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:2‐3) Jesus our Lord is showing mercy and compassion. He does not complain. He hears the need and He meets it. Here we have in a few short the relation of Christ and his church. The Greek word used “left” as in the fever left her also has the meaning of forgiveness. Jesus was also forgiving her sins and this is why the fever left. Why the effect of the curse was reversed. Later Jesus would not only heal a paralytic but more importantly He would forgive the His sins (Mark 2:5). Our gospel writer Mark is
already preparing us with the double entendre vocabulary for that story.

Likewise the Greek word used to lift her up (aygiren) is the word for raise. This word would also occur in Mark 16:6 where the young man dressed in white presumably an angel in the tomb said to the amazed women. “…do not be amazed. Jesus the one you seek who has been crucified. He is risen (aygerthay) He is not here; Behold the place where they laid him.” (Mark 16:6) Once again Mark uses a word which will have a much richer meaning by the end of his gospel. It is not simply a raising but a resurrection. The grave could not hold Jesus due to His sinlessness. Jesus forgives the sin of Simon’s mother-in-law and she rises from her potentially near death experience. Jesus raises her. Just as he will raise you and I on the last day, forgiven of our sin you will not remain dead.

This is foretaste of the resurrection on the last day. It is also a reflection to what happens to us in our baptism, where we are crucified, buried, and raised with Christ. Where the old Adam is drowned and the new man comes forth, a new man that serves Christ in His kingdom. We see this in response of Simon’s mother‐in‐law. As soon as she is forgiven and raised she begins to serve, she begins to minister, she (diaykonei’s) them. Listen to Luther’s explanation of the 2nd Article of the creed in the small catechism after Jesus has purchased with His holy and precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. These things He does so that we may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteous innocence and blessedness. Our justification, our forgiveness results in service (deaconia) to our Lord and to our neighbor. And this service is done within the vocations we are given.

In an essay entitled, “The congregations role of mercy in the community” our current synodical president Matthew Harrison poses the question of the role of mercy in the congregation. We know for instance that the primary purpose of the church is to proclaim the Gospel to witness which includes the administration of the sacraments. We also know that when we gather together that we respond in prayer or liturgy. But does the church have a corporate responsibility to perform acts of mercy and compassion for its community.

Is this relegated to the individual Christian in his or her vocation or do we relegate this work to social agencies or one of the 120 LCMS Recognized Service Organizations that work beside the church? Based on texts in Acts Rev. Pres. Harrison does make the case that congregations should directly come to the aid of the widows, orphans and others who had need in their midst. The offerings collected would be distributed by called deacons for this purpose so that no one would go wanting. Later St. Paul would receive collections from the Greek congregations to assist the suffering mother church in Jerusalem.

James the bishop of Jerusalem writes in His epistle. What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? (James. 2:14ff.) The idea that congregations are directly responsible to work together to show mercy and compassion seems to have gotten lost through the years and delegated to para‐church organizations. If we as a congregation are working to provide mercy directly then we can focus it on local needs and we can be make sure of where it is going.

This week many learned for the first time that Komen’s “Race for the Cure” a fundraising organization that raises money for the worthy cause of breast cancer, grants money to “Planned Parenthood” an organization that performs legalized infant murder. Supposedly “Planned Parenthood” writes prescriptions for mammograms and this is how they got the grant. We need to be careful as to how we show mercy so that it is not at the expense of the innocents. Rev. Pres. Harrison paints a scriptural vision of what our church is to be about. We writes, “Does the church have a role of mercy in the community? I believe it does. Is diakonia a fundamental part of the church’s mission in this world? I believe it is. In fact, I’m convinced, on the basis of the New Testament, that there is a threefold reality in the life of the church as church. All three hang inseparably together.

The church must be about proclamation of the Gospel of Christ (martyria). In fact, to the extent that any mission of the church ceases this proclamation of the vicarious atonement of Christ and salvation by grace through faith, or alters this definition of the Gospel, it ceases to be Christian. Second, the church must be on about worship (leitourgia). Proclamation produces faith in Christ, and draws the faithful into the full sacramental life of the church. Wherever the church would have a “mission” or endeavor that is not clearly flowing from, to and connected with altar, font and pulpit, that mission is sectarian at best, and non‐Christian at its worst. Third, wherever the church breathes in the blessed Gospel and sacraments, it cannot but exhale mercy and love toward the neighbor (diakonia). Diakonia is as much a part of the church’s iife as good works are a part of the life of faith. This applies to Christians both individually and collectively. Wherever these three realities of the church’s life are not functioning in balance, there is a truncation of the church’s life, and a diminution of its mission.”

President Harrison goes on to say that the neglect of congregations showing mercy and compassion within the congregation and without has stifled our mission of proclamation. I had a conversation with President Harrison one day in September when I was in the Hospital. I spoke to him about some of the troubles we were having as a congregation. One of the programs he suggested is a program called “Gospel Seeds.” One of the facilitators of this program is Rev. Carlos Hernandez. Carlos is a native of Monte Bello so he is familiar with this community. Gospel Seeds is a program that equips congregations to reach out into its communities by assessing unmet needs and then either through grants from the synod or working with local agencies try to meet those needs. It involves doing a neighborhood survey ask people what this community may be lacking.
In the process our neighbors see Trinity as a congregation that is interested in her community. The goal at this point is not to share the gospel although they may bring up a spiritual need in which you can leave information and offer to pray for them. It is really low key from a witnessing stand point but I believe it can help our congregation learn about its community and it is an opportunity to practice mercy and compassion.

Rev. Hernandez is willing to come on Tuesday February 21st at 6:30p.m. to present this program to our council and to members interested in outreach and practicing mercy as a church. I just need to give him the word. Our Lord followed the pattern of proclamation, prayer and service in offering himself to you and all creation. He proclaimed the good news of the coming kingdom in the synagogue and prayed and then he served Simon’s mother‐in‐law on a Sabbath. At evening the start of the new day people brought their sick and their demon possessed family members to Jesus and He had compassion on them, forgiving them and healing them. Early in the morning he went out into a desolate place for prayer and then back to the business of proclaiming the good news in other places. Following our Lord this is our cycle too, to hear the proclamation, to pray the liturgy in response and to then go out and serve our neighbor. You who has forgiven and raised to new life. Oh Lord may adorn the grace and mercy that you give us to show mercy and grace to others. Amen.