11th Sunday after Pentecost - August 28, 2011

First thing, we’ve got to go back to last week’s gospel lesson. Last week, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And the disciples answer, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, maybe John the Baptist come back from the dead. And then Jesus ask them this question, “But who do YOU say that I am?” And this is when Peter says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” The question I want to ask before we tackle today’s gospel, is why Peter’s answer was remarkable.

Now first of all, we don’t know exactly why. (Jesus doesn’t explain his reaction to Peter’s confession.) But we can certainly look at the context and try to figure it out. For example, earlier in Matthew, when Jesus walked across the water, the disciples worshiped him, calling him the Son of God. Why is Peter’s confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” more remarkable than that? The only difference seems to be that instead of just calling him the Son of God, he also calls him the Messiah. What’s a Messiah? And would it be more important than saying that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the key, I think. What is a Messiah?

The Jewish people of Jesus’ time were well aware of how far their civilization had fallen. Once upon a time they had been big shots. They had had their own country and they had even controlled countries around them. They had been powerful and rich. This was the time of King David and King Solomon. Those were the glory years. But ever since, things had been getting worse. First, the kingdom had been split into two parts, the North and the South. Then they started fighting. Then they lost control over the countries around them. Then other empires starting knocking on their doors, demanding tribute. Then the Assyrian Empire conquered the north and dragged the people away in slavery. Then the Babylonian Empire conquered the south and dragged the people away in slavery and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple to boot.

Since that time, things had gotten better for a bit, when the Persians had allowed the Jews to go home and to rebuild Jerusalem (which you can read about in the Old Testament books Ezra and Nehemiah), but then things had gotten worse when Alexander the Great had come through and conquered them again. Then, for a little while, they had broken free from the Greeks, but before long the Romans had shown up.

For the Jewish people of Jesus’ time, history had been very unkind, filled with disaster after disaster. The current situation didn’t look good. The Romans were the most powerful empire yet and freedom seemed unlikely.

And this is where we get to the idea of a Messiah. The Jewish people of Jesus’ time were looking for a messiah, a savior, to save them. This messiah would be a king like David was a king, powerful and glorious. In fact, this messiah would be a Son of David, a descendant of King David. This is a promise that had been given to David after he had become king. (You can find this promise in the OT book 2 Samuel, chapter 7.) The people longed for the glory days of King David and were looking for the Messiah who would bring them back.

There were also some other ideas of what the Messiah would be like, but these ideas were similar. They all involved the idea that the Messiah would be powerful and that the Messiah would save his people by forceful action. These were the expectations of Jesus’ time. This is what people were waiting for.

So back to Peter’s confession. What he said was different than what the disciples had said before. He had called Jesus the Messiah. And here we need to make an important distinction between the titles, Son of God and Messiah.

The title, Messiah, is all about action. When people think, “Messiah” they are thinking about what he will do. The Messiah will liberate his people

The title, Son of God, seems like a glorious title, and it is. But we need to recognize something about it. It describes a relationship. It describes a relationship between Jesus and God the Father. It glorifies Jesus. It’s great. But it is missing something. The expectation of action. When people think, “Son of God” they are thinking about this relationship, not about what he will do. This is an important distinction.

So what Peter has done is put his finger on something that is at the heart of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Jesus is the Messiah and that means Jesus is here to DO something.

Now we move to today’s gospel lesson. In the wake of Peter’s confession, Jesus begins to teach the disciples what it is that he, the MESSIAH, is here to do. Peter and the disciples expect to hear something like this, “I must go to Jerusalem to claim my throne. I will take power from the tyrants and become your good and gracious king. I will drive the Romans out. I will overthrow the corrupt. I will re-establish true worship of God. I will establish Justice and Peace.” This is what Peter and the disciples are expecting from the Messiah. This is the definition of what the Messiah will do. This is the good news that they long to hear. This, after all, is what we hear at Christmas time when the lesson from Isaiah is read,

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a child is given; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it from this time forth and forevermore.” (Isaiah 9)

This is what the Messiah is going to do. He is going to establish his kingdom on this earth by establishing his power and authority, by taking control of the government, by becoming our king. That is how God will change things for the better.

Instead, Jesus says, “[I must] undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Jesus, apparently, does not know his own job description. It is not in the job description for the Messiah to suffer and die. That is nonsense. Worse, it is blasphemy.

Peter knows this very well. He knows that Jesus is getting it all wrong and so he takes him aside to set him straight, “God forbid it, Lord. This must never happen to you.” ‘Stop being so negative Jesus. You are God’s messiah and therefore bad things will not happen to you. God has a wonderful plan for your life. You will go and become king and you will establish peace and justice and true worship of God. These are good things. These are the things that God wants. Scripture testifies that these are the things that God wants. So don’t talk about suffering and dying. That is ridiculous.’

Peter has listened to what Jesus the Messiah has taught and knows in his heart that Jesus is wrong. Jesus is mistaken. Jesus must not suffer and die because that isn’t what the Messiah does. The Messiah comes and saves his people by becoming king. That’s the way it works. Except, that it isn’t.

“Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus says to Peter, “You are a stumbling block to me.”

Peter has understood that Jesus is the Messiah and he has understood that Jesus has come for action, to do something. He has even understood that Jesus the Messiah has come to liberate his people. But he has completely misunderstood how God has decided to accomplish this.

God has not sent his son, Jesus the Messiah, to take power, but to be crushed by it. This is what the Messiah will do, he will go to Jerusalem, undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. Yes, the Messiah is all about action. But the action is so very different than they expected.

And it only gets worse. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it......”

The whole point of waiting expectantly for the Messiah, was the hope of deliverance, the hope of freedom and justice right now, the hope that things would be set right, now. And in the place of this hope, Jesus is offering suffering, denial and death.

“God forbid it, Lord!” We had been hoping that you would come to make our lives better, and instead you are offering to make them worse! “God forbid it.”

Is this really how it works? Yes. In Jesus Christ, God made a decision to act for us.

God acts. Make no mistake about it. But his action will not be what the old sinner desires. The old sinner desires improvement. Peter wanted Jesus to go to Jerusalem and make things better. We desire for God to make us better, to sand off some rough edges, perhaps add some paint. The old sinner desires improvement. Make this world better, Lord!

But that isn’t why Jesus came. He didn’t come to improve us. He didn’t come to improve the world. He came to die. Peter didn’t understand this and we can see how Jesus set him straight. God isn’t working to make you a better person. That isn’t the point.

No, like Jesus, we have to die. That is the meaning of the cross. The cross that we pick up is not something that we are to carry around patiently as if that were the Christian life. Jesus didn’t carry the cross around. He carried it to the place where he was nailed to it and then he died on it. And so it is with us. Our cross is not a burden, but an instrument of our death, the death of the old sinner. We die in baptism and we die daily in repentance. We die to our own way of thinking. We die to our pretensions. We die to our dignity. We die to our own self-esteem. It is necessary that, like Christ, we die. For Jesus did not come so that we might improve a little.

Jesus came so that we could die with him...... And then BE RAISED with him. He came not so that we could be made better, but new. He came not so that we could have self-esteem, but so that we could have the dignity and purpose that comes from being a child of God. He came not to become the ruler of an earthly kingdom, but to establish his kingdom in the hearts of men, women and children who have faith in him.

You might say that Jesus rebuked Peter so sharply because he was thinking too small. Peter wanted a little improvement. Jesus came to make him a new creation. And so he comes for you. But know this; it will take a little dying.

9th Sunday after Pentecost - August 14, 2011

Upon reading the gospel lesson this week, two difficulties came into my mind.  The first one you can see on your bulletin insert, verses 10-20 are listed in parenthesis.  This is probably because they don’t seem to have anything to do with verses 21-28.  In those first verses he’s talking to a Jewish crowd about eating.  In the other verses, he heads out of the country and drives a demon out of a foreign woman’s daughter.  The one really doesn’t seem to have to do with the other. 

The second difficulty is that Jesus treats the Canaanite woman so contemptuously.  He basically calls her a dog.  It isn’t easy to hear those kinds of words in the mouth of our Savior.  Is there some explanation for it?    

As it turns out, everything in this gospel lesson fits together really well.  The two parts are like two parts of a puzzle and when you fit those two parts together, then it makes sense why Jesus treats the woman so harshly.  The first puzzle piece lays out an important teaching.  This is followed by the second puzzle piece which is a real life situation in Gentile country that illustrates the teaching for the disciples. 

Part I. Teaching:

Jesus tells the Jewish crowd, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”  Jesus is talking about Jewish dietary laws. If you look in the Old Testament, you will find all kinds of rules about what can be eaten and what can’t be.  Pigs, lobster and animals that aren’t killed or cooked in a particular way are off limits.  These dietary laws were important because they determined whether a person was “clean” or not.  Something or someone who was not “clean” could not be holy and could not even come into contact with what was holy.  Thus it was hugely important to eat the right things in order to be clean, because doing so had spiritual consequences.

Jesus is doing something amazing here.  He tells the crowd that it does not matter what you eat.  He is not tweaking the system or reinterpreting it.  He is turning on its head.  The Law says that what you eat matters a lot!  Jesus says that what you eat doesn’t matter at all.  We can see that this caused some controversy because the disciples say to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”  Of course they took offense!  Jesus is attacking their beliefs.

Peter now steps forward and asks for Jesus to explain this controversial teaching.  This is what Jesus tells him, “What you eat just ends up in the toilet anyway.  It really doesn’t matter.  Instead, what matters is what comes out of you, your words.  Because the words that you speak testify to what is really in you.  If you are full of wickedness, then wicked things will come out of you in your words, and this is what makes you dirty, not the food that you eat.”  We could put this in a different way.  “It isn’t the cover on the book that matters, but the content of the book.”

So, to take stock: Jesus has just overturned Jewish religious practice.  He has just told the disciples that part of what they have grown up believing is wrong.  It isn’t easy to be confronted with a new teaching like this.  It isn’t easy to adjust.  Sometimes we need to hear the same lesson in a new way, or see the lesson play out in front of us.  And this leads to our next section.

Part II. Object Lesson

This is when Jesus and his disciples head north, out of Jewish territory and into the land of the Gentiles.  According to the old way of thinking, they were headed into unclean territory where people don’t eat the right way.  Thus, according to the old way of thinking, the people that they meet will be unclean.  And I believe this is the reason for the trip.  Jesus is going to show them what the new teaching means in practice.  Or rather, an “unclean” Canaanite woman is going to show them what the new teaching means.  This will be an object lesson for the disciples.

So here’s the situation, Jesus and his disciples are walking along, minding their own business. Jesus isn’t teaching the crowds or anything like that; there aren’t any crowds; he is there on the down low, incognito. 

And then up runs this woman and she starts shouting at Jesus, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”  Now what we want to have happen is for him to take care of the problem right away.  But remember that his concern is for this Canaanite woman to teach his disciples an object lesson.  And so he ignores her and just keeps walking along.  She continues to shout and to make a scene.  The disciples just want Jesus to quick take care of the daughter so that the woman will go away.  After all, she isn’t an important person, she isn’t Jewish, she’s one of those unclean people, she is of no account.

But Jesus tells them no, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Is Jesus being serious?  Has he come only to the Jews?  I don’t think so.  I think he is inviting the disciples to apply the lesson that he has just taught them.  Do they do it?  No, of course not.  And that is why the Canaanite woman must teach it to them.  So here is the lesson.

First, the conventional wisdom says that she is dirty.  She is not a Jew, so she hasn’t been following Jewish dietary laws.  Therefore, she has been putting all kinds of things into her mouth, lobster, ham, bacon, etc...... that make her unclean.  Because she is unclean in the matter of food, that means that she cannot be holy or come near to the holy.

But the words coming out of her mouth are the following, “ Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.”  By calling him the Son of David, she is essentially calling him the Messiah.  The words coming out of her mouth testify to what is inside her.  And Jesus has just taught that it is what is inside of us and that comes out which make us holy.  And what is inside of her is faith.  She believes that Jesus is the Messiah and she believes that he can help her daughter.  There is faith inside of her which comes out in words.  This is what makes her holy.  It is faith that justifies.

The woman is the embodiment of the lesson.  She is the lesson in human flesh.  According to the old teaching she is worthless.  According to Jesus’ new teaching, she is clean and holy, because what is inside of her is faith.

To hear the harsh words which come next, we must understand that Jesus is drawing something out of her that she needs to say and something that the disciples need to hear and learn. 

“Lord, help me” she says.  Jesus replies, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  Ouch.  With those words, Jesus has laid out the old teaching.  The old teaching said that the Gentiles were the outsiders.  The old teaching said that only the Jews were God’s chosen people and they drew near to him by keeping the Law.  Jesus gives her this old teaching like a hanging curveball......

She replies with the new teaching and hits it out of the park, “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  “Yes, the Jews are fed first; they have received the teaching.  But God cares for us Gentiles too.  God provides for us Gentiles too.”  She speaks words of faith.  Before, being clean was only for the Jews, being close to God was for the Jews.  This was the understanding.  And this understanding was based on the Law.  But now Jesus has changed this.  Being near to God, being clean and holy is now based only on faith.  And what an example of faith she is.  There is faith on the inside of her that comes out in her words.  This faith is what makes her clean, what makes her holy.  This is the lesson that she has taught the disciples. 

So the basic Lutheran teaching that we can see from our lesson today is that the Law has been surpassed by the gospel.  It is faith that saves, not following the rules, not being part of the right group.  No, it is faith.

In closing, consider this.  The Canaanite woman understands and confesses that Jesus is the Son of David, which means the Messiah.  Next week, you will hear in the gospel lesson that Peter confesses this very same thing; and he gets all kinds of credit for being the first one to figure it out.  But this Gentile woman has beaten him to the punch!  She has understood the new teaching of Jesus!  It is not the works of the law, the things that we eat and all that business that matter, but only faith in Jesus Christ which is in our hearts and on our lips.  Amen.

8th Sunday after Pentecost - August 7, 2011

Michael Jordan was the best basketball player of his era, perhaps of all time.  He led his Chicago Bulls to three straight NBA titles.  After taking two years off to play minor league baseball he came back and won three more NBA titles in succession.  He was an amazing player.  Aside from his on court talents, he was also did very well with endorsements.  Perhaps his most famous ad campaign was for Gatorade.  “Be like Mike” was the slogan.  The idea was to emulate Michael Jordan.  The idea was to be the best.

I want to be like Peter.  Peter is a faith giant.  Peter is the leader of the disciples.  Peter is Jesus’ right hand man, or it certainly can seem like that.  Nobody ever talks about Simon the Zealot, or James the Lesser.  We hardly know anything about them.  But Peter is always right at the center of the action.

Now fame is no reason to admire someone; I realize this.  But that’s not really what I’m talking about.  Let’s take today’s gospel lesson, for example.  Peter believed that Jesus was able to pull off the impossible.  He believed that Jesus could make him walk on the water.  I love that.  I wish I was more like that.  Instead, I find myself thinking about what is “realistic.”  I'm often more inclined to think that Jesus will work through more normal means.  If I were more like Peter, then I would expect bigger things.

Peter’s faith is impressive.  Climbing out of a boat in the middle of the lake, during a storm, in the middle of the night takes faith.  I wish I was more like that.  Instead, I find myself doing what is safe, what is comfortable.  I know what I want to believe, but do I really have the courage of my convictions?  Do I believe these things enough to step out of the boat and risk everything for them?  If I were more like Peter, then I would have the faith to get further out of my comfort zone; I would have the faith to take more risks.

Now all of what I’ve been talking about is how I’ve felt about Peter over the course of many years.  I’ve looked at Peter as an example, as someone to aspire to, as a spiritual Michael Jordan.  But the more I study the Bible, the more I begin to see that this isn’t such a great idea.

Take our gospel lesson for example.  Here’s the situation.  The disciples are in the boat in the middle of a storm.  And here comes a figure walking towards them on the water.  They freak out.  They think it’s a ghost – and that’s at least as reasonable as any other explanation.  After all, human beings do not walk across lakes (unless it’s Winter in Minnesota.)  So they freak out and they are afraid.

But then Jesus speaks to them, “Take heart.  It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  We have talked before about the power of words.  We have talked about how promises create faith in those who hear.  Well, these words of Jesus are powerful indeed.  They calm the disciples.  Except for Peter.  Instead of calming down, instead of receiving these words of peace, he flies off the handle and does something that is ridiculous and lacking in faith.  “Lord, IF it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  IF.  Give me a sign because quite frankly I don’t believe it.  Give me a sign because I don’t trust the word that you have just spoken to us.  Give me a sign to prove yourself in a way that won’t require a lick of faith on my part.”

Peter’s example here really isn’t so good.  He doesn’t believe the word that is given to him and he demands a sign.  And remember, this is after Jesus has just fed the 5,000.  It’s not as if Jesus hasn’t proven himself already.  Why doesn’t Peter have faith?    

Well, Peter is like the rest of us.  He is a sinner who has been chosen by God.  As one who is chosen, he is a mighty man of faith – and God works through Peter to accomplish many amazing things.  And as one who is a sinner, Peter is an absolute knucklehead.  Sin clings to him like white on rice. 

The interesting thing is that we can see both sides of Peter when he steps out of the boat.  When Jesus tells him, “Come” he somehow believes and Peter, the man of faith, begins to do the impossible.  But Peter, the old sinner, is right there too.  And before long, Peter begins to sink.  And he is left to simply cry out, “Lord, save me!”  And Jesus reaches out and catches him and saves him from himself.

So is Peter an example?  Well, in a way he is, I suppose.  He is an example of what a Christian is like.  He is an example of how our sin and doubt cling to us, even when we have heard Jesus give us a word of peace.  And he is also an example of what happens to one whom Jesus has chosen.  Peter can be the biggest fool in the boat; he can be a dead man walking, but Jesus his Lord has decided to save him.  And so he is saved.  And not only is he saved, but God does work through Peter for many years to come.  He makes him into a mighty man of faith.

Back to that Gatorade ad with Michael Jordan, “Be Like Mike.”  It was a tremendously successful campaign.  But I can guarantee you that none of the folks who bought the drink ever ended up like Mike; Gatorade doesn’t have the power to do that. 

We, on the other hand, are already like Peter.  Warts and all, we are the ones whom Jesus saves.  And for many years to come, God will accomplish his work through us.  And God DOES have the power to make us mighty men and women of faith.

7th Sunday after Pentecost - July 31, 2011

I don’t want to beat around the bush too much this morning.  The way I see it, the gospel lesson about the Feeding of the 5,000 is fundamentally about two related ideas.  Jesus gives.  And we receive.  And I’ll say it again.  Jesus gives.  And we receive.

So here is how it plays out.  Jesus has just learned that his cousin, John the Baptist, has been murdered in particularly gruesome fashion by Herod.  Jesus had been teaching the crowds, but he gets in a boat and leaves to go to a deserted place in order to spend some time alone.  I think we can all understand this very human impulse.  We call it grief.  It doesn’t work out that way, though. 

When he lands at the deserted place, the crowd of people are there, having followed along the shoreline.  You might expect Jesus to be a little peeved about the situation, “Leave me be.  I need some time alone.”  But he says no such thing.  Instead we hear that “Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Jesus, the one who was mourning, the one who himself needed compassion, is the one who has compassion on the crowd.  He has compassion on them and he heals them.  He gives.  And they receive. 

This goes on for quite some time, apparently.  There are more than 5,000 of them, after all.  And Jesus gives and gives and gives.  And the crowd receives and receives and receives.  And finally, evening time is coming along; supper time is coming along.

His disciples speak up and tell Jesus that it’s time for all these folks to go back to town so that they can rustle up something to eat before it gets too late.  And then Jesus says something that really makes no sense at all.  “They need not go away; YOU give them something to eat.”  You give.

Now this would seem to run contrary to one of the two main points with which I started the sermon: Jesus gives.  And we receive.  It seems that in this instance, Jesus is telling the disciples to give.  So what gives?

Well, what happens after this command?  The disciples are able to cobble together all of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish before they come to the end of their abilities.  That is all of the food that they are able to produce.  It turns out that their resources are very small.   This is a problem.  It seems that they cannot do what they have been told to do.  They cannot give the crowd enough to eat, because they do not have it.

But the question I have is this: What is the actual problem?  Is it that the disciples weren’t able to produce enough food to feed everyone?  No, I do not think that this is the problem.  

The problem is that the disciples have failed to understand the nature of giving.  When they look inside themselves for something to give, they find very little.  When they look only towards their own resources, they have next to nothing to give, and the nothing that they have quickly runs out.  The disciples do not understand giving.  They do not understand the truth: that it is Jesus who gives and we who receive.  Because he commanded it, the disciples assumed that they must become the givers, that they must produce something or find something in order to give it.  It does not work this way.  For it is Jesus who gives.  And we receive.

So how then, are they going to be able feed the crowd?  Is Jesus mocking his disciples when he tells them to do something that they cannot do?  No, he is not mocking them.  He is teaching them.  He is teaching them that it is He who gives and they who receive.  And in order for the disciples to give, they must receive; for it is not they who give, but Jesus who gives. 

So Jesus takes the disciples’ nothing (the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 fish) and he gives them an abundance.  And he gives the crowd this abundance THROUGH the disciples.  Five thousand and more are fed that evening not because the disciples dig deep and give what they can, not because the disciples have inspired people to share, but because Jesus Christ, miraculously and powerfully, gives through them.  Jesus gives.  They receive. 

And what of us?  How do these things work today?  It is still our God who gives richly and abundantly.  And it is we who receive.  But aren’t we supposed to give?  Aren’t we commanded to give?  Why am I avoiding saying that?  Because I wish to proclaim something to you this morning.  And I’m going to use something that the Apostle Paul once wrote in order to say it.  This is what he said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  He was saying that the life that was in him, the righteousness that was in him, was not his own; but it was Jesus Christ. 

In just the same way I say to you, “It is no longer I who give, but Jesus Christ who gives through me.”  For this is the lesson from our gospel this morning.  Though the disciples were the ones who handed out the bread; it was Jesus Christ himself who was giving.  He was giving through them.  And so it is that he gives through us too.

So receive this blessing in his name:

May you receive until your cup overflows.  And may God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit - bless your neighbors through you.

6th Sunday after Pentecost - July 24, 2011

Our reading this morning from Paul's Letter to the Romans is a magnificent portion of scripture.  It is full of the gospel, like the sun is full of light or like the sea is full of water.  There is a cascade of promises that come one after the other, all building in a magnificent crescendo.

There are eight promises that I count: 1) The Spirit helps us in our weakness. 2) The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans to deep for words. 3) For those who love God all things work together for good. 4) For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, called, justified, and glorified.  That is to say, he finishes what he starts. 5) If God is for us, no one can be against us. So no one can be against us! 6) The Father gave us Jesus, and will therefore also give us all things. 7) No one can put us on trial because it is God himself who has justified us. Nor can we be condemned by anyone because God is the only one who could condemn. 8) Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Any one of these promises all by itself would be great and wonderful good news.  All of them together is extravagant.  And yet that is exactly what Paul is writing.  

And here I would like to take a step back because it's easy enough to miss out on something important.  Paul is writing to small house churches in Rome.  It's about twenty years after the death of Jesus.  The Christian faith has been spreading, but it's a very small fish in a very large Pagan ocean.  These small Roman churches to which he is writing have undergone persecution.  And they are so vulnerable.  They are so vulnerable since they live right by the lion's mouth, right at the heart of the Pagan Empire, Rome.  

And the promises,...... the promises seem vulnerable in a place like Rome.  Paul promises that there will be no one to condemn.  Really?  Jesus himself was condemned to die by a Roman government official.  How can Paul say that there is no one to condemn?  

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"  How about the entire weight of the Roman world, the largest empire the world had ever seen?  

"God will give us all things?"  All things?  What about protection?  What about safety?  

It might seem like Paul is ignoring some rather obvious difficulties.  But he's not.  The persecution and the danger is right before his eyes.  He writes, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."  So how can he declare these promises in such a situation? 

In his Letter to the Romans, Paul is laying out a long theological argument.  At the heart of it is this: In baptism, you are joined to Jesus Christ in his death.  Then the Holy Spirit raises you up and makes you a new creation.  So, Paul teaches, you are the Old Sinner AND you are the New Creation: two distinct persons.  We tend to get caught up in loads of old sinner stuff, but God is concerned with the new creation, the new person that is creating.

Here is how this applies.  Paul is declaring these promises of God not to the old sinner, but to the new creation. 

The old sinner would hear these promises and laugh out loud.  The old sinner is going to look at the situation that the little Roman churches are in and say, "Wait just a cotton pickin' second.  There's danger all around!  There’s tons of condemnation.  These promises are too good to be true."  The world often looks at the promises of God in the Bible and says, “Show us the proof.”  There is no proof.  And these promises are not for you who have no faith.

The new creation, on the other hand, lives by faith.  The new creation isn’t interested in the supposed evidence, but clings to the promise.  And so what happens is this, "for those who love God (that is, for those who have faith) all things work together for good."  There will be persecution and hardship and so on.  

• But the one who lives by faith will know that the Spirit is interceding for them.
• The one who lives by faith will experience that God is giving them everything they need.  
• The one who lives by faith will be certain that God will bring them through it all, that they will never be separated from Him, no matter how bad things might seem.

They don't believe this because the evidence points that way.  That’s not the way faith works.  They believe it because they have heard the promise.  And then a great and glorious thing happens.  Even in the midst of hardship, these faithful ones are sustained by their Lord.  They are given more than they need to overcome great tragedy and heartache.

In the case of these Roman churches, here is what happened.  The Emperor Nero came to power in the decade following Paul’s letter.  There was a terrible fire that consumed much of Rome.  There is an old tale that may or may not be true, that Nero himself lit the fire to clear land for his own construction projects and that as he looked out over the blaze he played his fiddle (hence the expression “to fiddle while Rome burns”).  To defuse public anger, he blamed the Christians for having set the fire. 

In the ensuing persecution many Christians were killed, including, we think, the Apostles Paul and Peter.  Christians were burned to death as human torches.  They were let loose in the Coliseum to be eaten by lions.  And yet, the Roman Christians continued to believe the promises.  And they continued to endure.  They kept sharing the good news.  They kept serving their neighbors.  And the amount of people coming to know Jesus Christ and his promises continued to grow in spite of great hardship.

Why?  Because for the new creation, the one who lives by faith, these promises are very real.  And God faithfully keeps them.

In our own day and age, in northwest Iowa, there isn’t anything like the persecution that the Roman Christians endured.  But that does not mean that these promises aren’t for us.  They are!  For we too have been baptized into Christ’s death and raised up as new creations, as people who live by faith.  And these promises from God will bring us through every hardship and God will bring us safely home.  I mentioned at the beginning, that these promises formed a kind of magnificent crescendo.  This crescendo arrives at that last promise and it is with that word that I want to close today,

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Amen.

Funeral for Alvin Edwin Heeren

Today we gather to remember Alvin Edwin Heeren and to grieve his loss. Today we gather to hear a great mystery. Today we gather to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Alvin and I arrived at Plymouth Manor on the same day this past February. I had just arrived in town and Alvin had just suffered a stroke. It's fair to say that I was more glad to be there than he was. I think it was really tough on him. But he was always willing to join the group of us who gathered to sing hymns, confess our sins, pray, read scripture and receive Holy Communion. There were days when I had to wake him during the service so that he could receive the bread and wine, but he was there.

And then a while back, I was told that the prognosis for Alvin wasn't good, that he didn't have too much longer to live. Upon hearing that, I fully expected that he would be downcast when I saw him next. Gladys, Ida and I met in the room with Alvin and, lo and behold, he was as happy as a lark. I had never seen such a sparkle in his eye. He continued come for worship and communion and each time he had that sparkle in his eye and a grin. I was happy to see so much more life in him. But it seemed a mystery to me. The coming of death seemed to bring life into Alvin.

On Thursday morning, I received a call from Plymouth Manor informing me that Alvin had taken a turn for the worse. Gladys and Ida were in the room with Alvin when I arrived. Before coming, a scripture had flashed across my mind and as I saw Alvin in bed, having trouble breathing, it seemed that this was the very word that needed to be spoken. "May I share something with you?" I asked. Opening the Bible to Galatians I read, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Alvin was letting go of life, and yet by faith, we knew that before us on that bed, was Jesus Christ himself, living in Alvin. Here was a great mystery. How can it be that Christ lives in us? How does this happen and what does it mean? There is an answer to this mystery, though it remains a mystery.

Many, many years ago, as a very young child, Alvin Heeren died. In this very church, Christ Lutheran, he was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And in those words he was joined to the death of Jesus Christ. And this was very good news and the people rejoiced. Now how can this be, that the death of young Alvin might bring joy? Here is the answer, according to St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." The people that day rightly rejoiced because Alvin had been given a promise, the promise of life eternal and they rejoiced that day because through death Jesus Christ came to live in Alvin.

On a day like today, it seems far too much to rejoice while we still grieve. How can we rejoice when one we loved so dearly has died? Even so, even so, we rejoice. And surely this is a mystery too. Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, you gave your Son to this world that he might suffer and die and through his death, kill death. He became sin and was crucified so that sin itself would be crucified. He was given over to the power of the Devil and so broke the Devil's power. And you raised him up victorious over sin, death and the Devil. Father, it is a mystery to us how victory can be gained through defeat. It is a mystery how life can come through death. It is a mystery how the righteousness of Christ is reckoned to us. And yet this is so. This is the very thing that you reveal to us in scripture. It is the very promise that you give to us in baptism. For all the baptized who have gathered here today, strengthen in us faith in your promises. Assure us that it is not us who live, but Christ who lives in us. Amen.

5th Sunday after Pentecost - July 17, 2011

Back in May, Wayne came over to the parsonage with his roto-tiller and dug up a patch in back of the parsonage so that I could plant a garden.  I put in some zucchini, tomatoes, basil and a few other things.  And then things got busy.  I went up to MN for a class on pre-marital counseling; we had Vacation Bible School; I presided over my first wedding.  All this time, in the back of my mind I was thinking, “I’ve got to get back to that garden.”  But we were getting plenty of rain and I was tired and it just didn’t happen.  Finally, I went back there to take a look.  It wasn’t pretty.  All the things that I planted were still there, surrounded by a robust crop of weeds.  I’ve been weeding for a month and I still haven’t gotten them all out. 

In our gospel lesson today, Jesus tells us that we don’t have to weed.  (And that’s plenty of reason to love Jesus, right there.)  But it’s a curious thing.  It isn’t quite what one would expect.  The motto of our church organization, the ELCA, is “God’s work, our hands.”  That sounds an awful lot like we’re supposed to get out there and get to work.  And yet, that’s not at all what Jesus says.  So let’s take a look at the Parable of the Weeds.

A recurring concern in the New Testament is how it can be that evil exists alongside the good.  If God is good and if God is powerful, why does evil continue?  That is the concern that is addressed in our gospel lesson today: “why are there weeds alongside the wheat?”  A further concern is this: What do we do about it?  Do we get in there and start pulling weeds?  Or do we do something else?  Jesus has two answers for us today, one which he delivers to the crowd, who is the audience for the parable, and the other which he delivers afterwards to his disciples, in private.

The parable is this: the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who sows good seed in his field.  But an enemy comes along and puts in a whole bunch of weeds that resemble the wheat.  When they come up, they look the same.  It isn’t until the wheat starts to show its grain that anyone can tell that the field is full of weeds, because the weeds don’t have any grain.  The servants want to yank the weeds out, but the landowner says, “No, you’ll only destroy everything.  Just let them grow and I’ll sort it out later.”

So then, in the parable itself, the primary reaction to the discovery of the weeds is “Leave the weeds alone.”  Trying to yank them out will only cause damage to everyone. 

Now this is not the kind of answer that a religiously committed person would expect.  It seems too passive.  Maybe even a bit lax or lazy.  Shouldn’t we be at work trying to make this world holy?  Shouldn’t we be getting all tough with evil?  Shouldn’t we be showing how much we love God by making the world good, instead of evil?  One might expect the landowner to say something more like this, “Get out there on your hands and knees and get to work!  Do not allow the good to be overcome by the evil.  Fight the Evil One so that you and the field in which you grow is pure and undefiled by weeds.”  And certainly this way of thinking has been very prominent in our history.  For instance, this way of thinking was the driving force behind the abolition of slavery and the prohibition of alcohol, to name two examples.  When we think this way, we are trying to make the world conform to what God has said is good.

And yet Jesus says, “leave the weeds to grow beside the wheat.  Someone will take care of it later.  You’ll only damage people if you try to fix the problem now.”  Why would Jesus say that?  I’m tempted to say that he knows just how clumsy we would be in trying to do good.  That all of our goodness and enthusiasm would lead to more harm than good.  And this may be true.  It certainly has been the case that good intentions in the supposed service of God have gotten loads of people killed over the centuries.  And in our own time when we often funnel our good intentions through our government, we’ve made loads of people dependant on various programs...... because we were trying to help. 

I think that’s all true, we can certainly make a mess of it when we get going with our do-gooding, but that’s not the main point, I don’t think.  Instead, consider this.  We are not the owner of the field.  We are not the landowner.  We aren’t even the servants.  In this parable, people are either wheat or weeds.  The field belongs to the landowner.  And he owns the wheat and he owns the weeds.  If there’s a problem, he’s the one who is going to take care of it.  And in fact, that is exactly what the parable says.  The landowner says, “At the harvest time, I will tell the reapers......”  That is the first message that Jesus conveys with the parable, “The world is mine, not yours, mine.  And I will do as I please.  I will take care of it.”

Now, just like last week, the gospel lesson skips over some verses to get to the explanation that Jesus gives of this parable.  You should be curious about what we are skipping and you should look it up when you go home.  I’ll skip them without comment.

After those verses, Jesus is alone again with his disciples and they ask him to explain the parable.  He explains the various elements in the story: the owner is Jesus himself, the enemy is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age and so on.  But then, instead of focusing on the present, like the parable does, Jesus concentrates exclusively on the future.  He does not comment on the need for patience; he doesn’t explain further about how the wheat and the weeds will exist side by side in the world.  Instead, he focuses on the end of time, the harvest. 

He does this for a very particular reason.  He is saying one thing.  But he is saying it in two different ways.

Here is the first thing he says: Evildoers will be gathered up and punished.  Evil will not continue to exist in the kingdom of God, but will be entirely removed.  Jesus says this very clearly.  That is the first thing.

The second thing is this: he tells his disciples that, “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.” 

The two things, taken together, amount to this: “This world is mine, not yours, mine.  And I will do as I please.  Is there evil in my kingdom?  Yes, and I will take care of it.  Not only that, I will bring my righteous ones to me.  I will make that decision and I will do that.”

So the point of the sermon so far is that it is God’s field.  And as much as we might think differently, it is not ours.  We are not the ones in and amongst the plants; we are the plants. 

Now I can imagine some of you saying, “Well this is all fine and dandy.  We appreciate a nice story about your vegetable garden.  And it’s good to hear a little about a parable.  But none of that matters if I’m a weed.  I want to be the wheat!  But quite honestly, I feel a bit weedy.”  Maybe I shouldn’t put those words in your minds.  Instead I should say these are my thoughts.  I look at myself and I think, “not good.”  And I’m not talking about years ago when I didn’t do a very good job of living.  I’m talking about these days.  I look at myself and I look a bit weedy.  How can this parable possibly be good news?

It’s good news because Jesus isn’t asking you to examine yourself and make a decision.  He’s the landowner.  He’s the sovereign Lord of the Universe.  It is him who makes the decisions, not you, not me.  And he looks at you and he says, “You are a righteous wheat plant because I say so.  I have given you this promise in baptism and there is nothing more to be said.  At the end of time I shall gather you up to be with me in the kingdom of my father.  And you shall shine like the sun!”