Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent - Invocabit - Mt 4:1-11

 

          Lent 1

                                                                                                Mt 4:1-11

                                                                                                3/9/25

 

            In Matthew chapter eight, Jesus stills the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  When he and the disciples arrive at the other side of the lake, they are in the country of the Gadarenes.  There our Lord encounters two demon possessed men who live among the tombs and are so fierce that no one can pass that way.

            When they see Jesus they cry out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now there are two interesting things about this.  First, the demons know exactly who Jesus is. They know that he is the Son of God.

            But the second thing is that they are confused.  The Son of God is here in the world, and yet it is not the Last Day.  They know that the Son is the One who will execute the final judgment – and that this will mean judgment for them.  They will be cast into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

            However, the Son of God is here in this world and that’s not happening.  He is not executing the final judgment upon them.  They perceive the power of Jesus.  The know that the kingdom of God – the reign of God - is present in him. They can’t resist him and beg, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” But they don’t understand what is happening because they don’t expect the Son of God to be here like this.

            We find a great contrast in our Gospel lesson today.  Here, Jesus encounters the devil. The devil is the ruler of the demons, and his understanding is very different from his minions.  He understands that the Son of God is in the world to carry out the Father’s will. And in the temptation of Jesus, he attempts to prevent this.

            Our text begins with the words: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” The word “then” is very important, because it connects our text back to what has just happened.  It tells us that this event must be understood in light of what has preceded.

            What has happened is that Jesus has been baptized.  Jesus, the sinless Son of God, submits to John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance.  The heavens are opened to Jesus, and he sees the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And God the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

            The Father declares that the man who has been baptized is the Son of God. He is Immanuel – God with us. But the baptism also tells us something very surprising.  The descent of the Spirit and the Father’s word that this is the One with whom he is well pleased identifies Jesus as the Servant of the Lord prophesied by Isaiah.  He is the One upon whom the Lord will place the iniquity of us all. He is the One who will walk the way of suffering and service as he takes the place of sinners – as he takes our sins as his own.  He is the One who will go to the cross.

            The Spirit had descended upon Jesus at his baptism. Now the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Jesus is the Son who is Israel reduced to One.  He fulfills God’s purpose for the nation and now faces temptation where Israel had failed.  He goes to the wilderness to be the obedient Son who carries out the Father’s saving will.

            We learn in our text that after fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry.  This is a reminder that while Jesus is true God, he is also true man.  He experienced the physical hardships that we do.  He became tired. He became hungry.

            The devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  Like the demons, the devil knew exactly who Jesus was.  But unlike the demons, he understands that Jesus is here to carry out the Father’s will – the work that he has just undertaken in his baptism.  He is here to serve. And so the devil tempts Jesus to use his power to serve himself.  He seeks to derail Jesus’ ministry by making him self serving, instead of the One who serves us.

            However, our Lord knows what his mission is.  He knows the Father’s will that has been set forth in Scripture.  And so he responds with words from Deuteronomy as he answers, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” It is God’s word that provides guidance for Jesus’ life.  Jesus would work the miracle of providing bread – but he would do it for others as he fed thousands. He had not come to serve himself.

            Next the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple.  He said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

            The devil tempted Jesus to force God to perform a dramatic miracle in the midst of the city. This is an action that would bring glory and acclaim to Jesus.  He even quoted Scripture as he used the words of Psalm 91 to justify the idea – words that we sang in the Gradual this morning.

            Jesus says in the Gospel of John that the devil is a liar, and the father of lies. He uses God’s word to promote lies by twisting it to his own purpose.  We hear this in our Old Testament lesson today as he misquotes God when he says to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  We find it in our text because when he quotes Psalm 91 he leaves out the phrase “to guard you in all your ways.”

            God would guard and keep Christ in the ways that he had set before him as the Servant of the Lord.  Jesus had come to walk in those ways – not in a way that he created for himself.  And so Jesus responded to the devil, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Jesus would not test God by demanding action that brought glory to the Son. Instead, he would walk in the way of service.

            Finally, the devil took our Lord to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

He said to Jesus, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  The devil offered Jesus the easy way to power and glory.  He could have it all, if he would just worship a false god.

            But Jesus was the obedient Son. He would not depart from God’s will.  He would not avoid the way of suffering.  And so he said, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came and were ministering to him.

            In our text, Jesus defeats the devil.  Our Lord overcomes him as he remains fixed on the way of service and suffering in obedience to the Father.  Yet this was not the end of the devil’s assaults.

After Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, Matthew tells us, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Our Lord declared that he would suffer and die to carry out God’s salvation for us.

But Peter responds by taking Jesus aside and rebuking him as he says, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”  Peter’s worldly ideas turn his voice into that of the devil.  And so Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

During this season of Lent we are preparing to remember our Lord’s Passion – his suffering and death for us.  Even as he hung on the cross, the tempting voice of the devil could be heard.  Those passing by mocked him as they said, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

But Jesus was faithful to the very end.  He was the obedient Son who offered himself as the ransom for us all.  He received God’s wrath against our sin as he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  He served us as he died on the cross for our sins.

Jesus’ death appeared to mean that he was not God’s Son.  But St. Paul told the Romans that he “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Jesus was vindicated as the Son who had been obedient to the Father.  Christ had passed through death in order to defeat it and begin the resurrection of the Last Day.

On the mountain, the devil offered our Lord the kingdoms of the world and their glory if he would fall down and worship him.  Jesus rejected the devil and continued on the way that led to the suffering and death of the cross.  But after he had risen from the dead our Lord had his disciples meet him on another mountain.  There he declared to them that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  The way of obedience to the Father; the way of suffering had led to exaltation for Christ.  This is the exaltation that he possesses as the ascended Lord who is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the authority with which he will confront all when he returns in glory on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead.

In our text we see that Jesus overcame the temptations of the devil. He walked the way of suffering and service as he fulfilled the Father’s saving will for us.  Yet in his resurrection Christ has shown that this way of the cross leads to glory.

 Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  Christ calls us to follow him in the way of the cross. This means that we confess our Lord before the world by what we say and do.  It means that walk in the way of the Lord and his Word, and not in the way of the world. We do so, even when this draws the world’s rejection and contempt – even when it means that we endure hardship and suffering.

We do so by the power of Christ’s Spirit.  We do so in the knowledge that our Lord has already shown us where the way of the cross leads.  It leads to eternal life and glory with the risen Lord who has already walked that way for us.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

 

 

Sermon for Ash Wednesday -Mt 6:16-21

 

          Ash Wednesday

                                                                                                Mt 6:16-21

                                                                                                3/5/25

 

            Why are you doing it?  That’s what Jesus’ words in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount lead us to consider.  Our Lord begins this chapter by saying, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” 

            “Practicing your righteousness” means the way people live the faith – the habits and actions by which the people of God live because of faith.  Jesus takes up three different practices that were part of the piety of Judaism.  Just before our text he addresses the giving of alms to the poor, and prayer. Here in our text, he takes up fasting. 

            Jesus says that in each case, people should not do these things for the purpose of being seen by others.  They should not be done in a way that is meant to draw attention to oneself, and so gain honor in the eyes of others.

            So, people are not to make a show of giving to the poor.  Jesus says, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Believers are not to make a show out of praying in public. Our Lord says, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

            Christ says in our text: “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”  Jesus says that people should not try and call attention to the fact that they are fasting.  They should not try to advertise their pious behavior in order to get noticed by others.  Instead Jesus says, “But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

            Jesus’ words have sometimes caused Christians to question what we have just done tonight.  Ash Wednesday, of course, derives its name from the ashes that were just placed on the foreheads of many of the people who are here.  You will leave church wearing on your forehead a visible display of Christian piety.  When people receive ashes at a service during the day, they display the ash in form of the cross as they are at work or go to the store.

            God’s Word certainly teaches us that we are to practice the faith in ways that are meant to be seen by the world.  We confess Jesus Christ before others by what we do and say.  Christians wear jewelry such as a crucifix or a cross in order to confess faith in Christ.  Christians pray aloud before a meal at home and in public for the same reason.  The ashes on the forehead in the form of a cross confess that a person’s sins are forgiven because of Jesus Christ.  That is something we should never be hesitant to confess before the world.

            When Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” he is addressing the matter of the heart.  He raises the question of the true motivation for the action.  Are acts of piety done in order to confess Christ, or in order to call attention to ourselves?

            This matter of the heart becomes clear in the second half of our text.  There Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” 

Our Lord warns against seeking to gain treasures on earth.  He points out that the rewards of this world are all temporary and perishable. They can be destroyed or lost.  Instead, Christ says we should lay up treasures in heaven.  We should invest in those things that are eternal – we should focus our attention on the Means of Grace. We should seek to bring forth the fruits of faith by which we give thanks and glory to Christ.

Jesus explains the reason for this when he says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  What you treasure shows the true orientation of your life.  It shows what really matters.  Ultimately, the Lord sets before us the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods.”  Our actions tell the true state of our heart.  The things we value most; the things that occupy our thoughts the most; the things in which we invest the most time and money, these are our true gods.  As Christ says just after our text, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Our Lord reveals to us that we have a desperate heart problem.  He says later in the Gospel, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”  Ever since the Fall, these are the things that are inside of us. These are the things that come out in what we think, do, and say.

We are eager to downplay the presence of sin in our life.  But Jesus, the holy Son of God, leads us to a true diagnosis.  He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” Our Lord says that it is not merely the action of harming another that is sin, but the presence of angry thoughts.

Our Lord says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Adultery and sexual immorality occur not simply by the physical act.  Sexual sin occurs when we look upon the opposite sex with lustful desire and intent.  And of course, this is the case anytime we choose to view pornography.

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance which begins Lent - a season of repentance. During Lent we prepare to remember the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We prepare for Holy Week which will culminate on Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a tomb.

Paul told the Colossians that in Jesus, the Son of God, we have redemption – the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus died on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He was the sacrifice that has given us forgiveness before God.  As we prepare to remember this death, we confess the reason why Christ died for us.  We repent and confess our sins.  We admit our sins before God.

Just before the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us that Jesus took up residence in Capernaum as the base for his mission work. Then we read: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Jesus called people to repent. He called upon them to confess their sin to God.  He did so because in Jesus, the kingdom of heaven – the reign of God was at hand.

Our Lord begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Christ describes those who are blessed – those who are receiving God’s end time salvation.  Who are the ones who are blessed in this way? They are the “poor in spirit.” They are the spiritually poor – the ones who know that they are spiritually destitute; that they have no spiritual resources of their own.  They are you, as you confess your sin before God.

But Jesus says that the spiritually poor are blessed “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  You have received God’s saving reign because Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and then rose from the dead.  Christ’s Spirit has called you to faith through his Word and Baptism.  You have received the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

In yourself you are a sinner.  But because you have been baptized into Christ, you are a saint in God’s eyes.  You are a holy one because of Jesus’ death for you.  You are justified – already now you know that the verdict of the Last Day will be not guilty.  St. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Repentance means that we confess our sin to God, and receive forgiveness through faith in Christ.  But that is not all it means.  Repentance also means that now we turn away from that sin.  When the John the Baptist preached repentance, he said, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” 

We return to our baptism in faith for there we died with Christ, and by the work of his Spirit a new man comes forth to live before God in righteousness and purity.  Paul told the Romans, “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.”

And so Paul told the Colossians, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” He reminds us that we have put off the old man with its practices and have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Because this is so, Paul tells us what we should seek to do.  He says, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

On this Ash Wednesday we repent. We confess our sins before God.  We confess that we are the spiritually poor.  And then we receive God’s forgiveness as we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us.  We rejoice that we have received the reign of God. We are justified. We are saints before God.  And then by the power of Christ’s Spirit we turn away from that sin as we live in Christ.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

           

  

 

 

                                                                                                                       

 

Sermon for Quinquagesima - Lk 18:31-43

 

         Quinquagesima

                                                                                                Lk 18:31-43

                                                                                                3/2/25

 

            The disciples don’t seem to have a clue here at the end of Luke’s Gospel. They are obtuse – oblivious to what Jesus’ real mission is.  In the previous chapter we learn that people were bringing even infants to Jesus that he might touch them. However, when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  Apparently, they thought the Lord was too busy or too important to give his attention to these little ones. But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

            In the next chapter, when they are in Jericho and about to conclude the journey to Jerusalem, we learn that Jesus told a parable “because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.” The disciples think that when they get to Jerusalem, God’s reign is going to appear. They think that the victorious end time action of God is going to take place as God restores the kingdom to Israel. 

            This expectation helps to explain what we hear about in the first half of our text this morning.  Jesus has been on a journey to Jerusalem.  Luke tells us in chapter nine, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  In Luke’s Gospel, this final trip to Jerusalem is a significant feature. On a number of occasions the Gospel writer provides travel notices – statements that remind us that the things that are being done and said are part of this trip to Jerusalem. For example, we hear in chapter thirteen, “He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.”

            We learn in our text that Jesus took the twelve and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

            Our Lord acknowledged their impending arrival at Jerusalem.  He told the disciples that everything written about him by the prophets would be fulfilled. But rather than describing glorious victory over the Gentiles, Jesus said that he would be delivered over to them. They would mock him, and insult him, and spit upon him.  They would torture him by flogging, and then they would kill him.  But then Jesus added, “and on the third day he will rise.”

            This was not the first time Jesus had said that he would be killed.  In fact, it is the third time that Jesus has stated this fact.  But the disciples don’t understand.  We learn, “But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”

            The disciples did not understand that Jesus would suffer and die.  We learn that their expectation was that Jesus would arrive in Jerusalem and the kingdom of God would appear immediately. They do not understand God working through suffering and death.  They want immediate glory and victory.

            We differ very little in this regard. When it comes to the life of the Church we do not want suffering and the cross. Instead, we want immediate success.  We do not want the Gospel to meet with rejection.  We do not want to see people fall away from faith in Jesus Christ – and remember, in last week’s Gospel lesson, the parable of the sower, Jesus tells us that this will happen. We do not want to face opposition from the world – the sense that we are going against the current as we seek to live according to God’s will.

            And what is true of the Church, is also true of us personally.  We do not want to experience suffering and the cross.  We do not want illness and financial challenges.  We do not want to see loved ones and friends experiencing difficulties.

            It is not just that we don’t want these things. Of course we don’t.  It is that these experiences become sources of doubt.  We begin to question God.  The old Adam in us raises the question of whether God really is there; of whether he really does care for us.

            The disciples did not understand. They were blind to Jesus’ mission and purpose.  But as Jesus drew near to Jericho he encountered another person.  This man was blind and was sitting by the road begging.  When he heard that a crowd was going by, he asked what was happening.  When he learned that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

            We do not know how the man had learned about Jesus.  But he had a clear belief about who Jesus was.  He addressed him as “Son of David.”  He called upon him as the One who was the Messiah sent by God – the descendant of David who fulfilled God’s promises.  He begged Jesus for help as he said, “Have mercy on me!”

            We learn that those who were in front rebuked him.  They told him to be quiet.  But instead, he cried out all the more,   “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  He kept calling out for Jesus, the One sent by God, to help him.

            Jesus stopped and commanded the man to be brought to him. When Jesus asked what the man wanted our Lord to do for him, his request was very simple: “Lord, let me recover my sight.”

So Jesus replied to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.”  Immediately, the man could see, and he followed Jesus glorifying God.

            This morning we encounter a contrast between the disciples and the blind man.  Jesus tells the disciples what is going to happen in his ministry, and they are blind to it – they cannot understand, and in fact have a completely different expectation.  Jesus encounters the man who is physically blind, and he sees Jesus with a clear and certain faith that trusts in the Lord.

            In our text Jesus says to the disciples, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.”  Jesus declares that the events of his life are a fulfillment of what the prophets had written in the Old Testament.

            Christ had already made this assertion at the beginning of his ministry.  He went to the synagogue at Nazareth on the Sabbath. He was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled it and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” Then Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

            Jesus announced that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. He was the One upon whom the Lord had placed his Spirit.  He had been anointed with the Spirit at his baptism to give recovering of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.  Jesus’ action of healing the blind man was a demonstration of this fact. 

            Jesus had come to set at liberty those who are oppressed.  He had come to free us from the oppression of sin and death.  Jesus’ healing miracles show that he was the presence of God’s reign that was reversing the ways that sin has warped and twisted this world.  Yet his ministry was directed at more than the evidence of sin’s impact.  He was here to deal with sin itself.

            The holy God judges and condemns sin.  God had sent his Son into the world as the One who would receive the judgment in our place.  Anointed by the Spirit, Jesus had been set apart to fulfill this role, just as Isaiah had prophesied.  The suffering and death of the cross was the means by which Christ won forgiveness for us. As the apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

            In our text, Jesus predicts his suffering and death.  But he also says, “and on the third day he will rise.”  On Easter, God raised Jesus from the dead. By his death on the cross Jesus won for us the forgiveness of sins.  And in his resurrection, he defeated death.  He began the resurrection life that will be ours when he returns in glory on the Last Day.

            When Jesus died on the cross, it appeared that he had been abandoned by God.  It seemed that God was completely absent.  But the resurrection of Jesus demonstrated that God had been at work in the midst of the cross. After his resurrection, Jesus said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

            The presence of the cross and suffering in the life of the Church, and in our own lives, does not mean that God is absent.  It does not mean God has ceased to care.  We know this because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God worked through the cross to give us forgiveness.  We see this because God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead.

            God continues to work in the way of the cross.  He does so because it is the means by which he crucifies the old Adam in us.  He turns us away from ourselves and towards him as we see that we have help in no one else.  He takes away our false gods – the ways that we make this world and life more important to us than God.

            By his Spirit he leads us to greater faith – to trust and believe in him.  In the midst of things we don’t understand, we believe and trust in the same way as the blind man in our text. We call out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  We continue to turn in faith toward Christ for in him we have assurance that God’s love is certain and sure.  We find hope that God is at work in the midst of the things we are experiencing.  We do because Jesus died on the cross in fulfillment everything that is written about him by the prophets. And then, God raised Jesus from the dead.