Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity - Mt 22:1-14

 

         Trinity 20

                                                                                                Mt 22:1-14

                                                                                                10/13/24

 

            From the moment that Jesus entered into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week he was in constant conflict with the religious leaders. They were indignant when they heard children in the temple crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” because of Jesus. They challenged him as they said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

            Just prior to our text, Jesus had told two parables which are directed against the religious leaders. At the end of the first, about two sons, he said, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”

            Our Lord then told a second parable about tenants at a vineyard. At the conclusion of this one he said, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”  And Matthew tells us, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.”

            In our text, Jesus tells a third parable.  After what has happened thus far, it’s not hard to guess the target of the parable.  He began by saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.”

            When Jesus refers to the “kingdom of heaven” he is talking about the reign of God.  Our Lord began his ministry by proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  When accused that he was casting out demons because he was in league with the devil, Jesus replied, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

            Jesus announced that the saving reign of God was present in him.  Our Lord tells this parable to describe what the kingdom of God – the reign of God was like at that time.  He said it was like a king giving a wedding feast for his son.  This would be a grand occasion.  Following the practice of the day, those who had been invited had already indicated they would be coming.  And of course they would be coming. After all this was the wedding feast for the son of the king!

            But then something strange happened.  The people who had been invited would not come.  So the king sent out other servants saying, “Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”  The king described how a rich feast had been prepared as he urged the people to come.  Remember, the people in first century Palestine rarely ate meat as part of their diet. This was going to be a grand celebration!

            However, the people paid no attention and then went off to their farms and businesses.  Worse yet, the people seized the king’s servants, treated them shamefully and killed them.  The people had disregarded and shamed the king and his son. They had offended the king.  The king was angry and so he took things into his own hands.  He sent his troops who destroyed the murderers and burned their city.

            With these words, Jesus describes how the religious leaders were responding to him.  Jesus was the Messiah sent from God.  In his person the saving reign of God was present for his people.  But the religious leaders had completely rejected Jesus.  They wanted to arrest him.  And soon enough, they would do so.

            Jesus says that this is what the kingdom of God is like.  It is not what we would expect.  We expect God’s reign to look mighty and powerful.  But Jesus has come to Jerusalem because God’s saving reign arrives in a way that is the opposite of our expectations. 

            Just before entering Jerusalem, our Lord had told the apostles, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” And then a little after this he said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

            Jesus brings the reign of God by dying as the sacrifice for our sins.  The sinless Son of God took our sin and received God’s judgment.  He died on the cross because you have false gods in your life that receive more time and attention than the triune God.  He died on the cross because you have angry thoughts that turn into angry words and action towards others. He died on the cross because you don’t defend your neighbor’s reputation, but instead join in passing on gossip.

            When Christ suffered and died in the darkness of Good Friday, it did not look like God was doing anything.  But then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead just as he had foretold. Because of the resurrection, we now understand the cross to have been God’s powerful action to reconcile us to himself. And in the resurrection we see that God has defeated death in Christ.

            God’s saving reign arrived in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And in the second half of the parable we learn about the gracious invitation to forgiveness that God offers to all.  Jesus went on to describe how the king said to his servants: “‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’”  Those who had been invited had shown they were not worthy by rejecting the king and his son.  Now the king sent the servants out on the roads to invite as many people as they could find.  Jesus said: “And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

            The Jewish religious leaders had rejected Christ.  Ultimately their rejection of Christ would lead the nation to receive God’s judgment as the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  But God’s saving reign was not going to be negated by their unbelief.  Instead, God extended out the invitation further.  Jesus’ words describe the proclamation of the Gospel by the apostles.  They carried it to Jews.  And prompted by God’s Spirit they also shared the Gospel with Gentiles.

            You believe in Jesus Christ because of this action by God to extend his saving reign to all people.  God has called you to faith through the work of his Spirit.  He has done this through his word. Peter said that “you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”  And God has combined this life giving word with water in Holy Baptism.  You have been born again of water and the Spirit.  Because of this, you are the forgiven child of God.  You have received God’s saving reign in Christ.

            However, we must also note that we have not yet reached the end of the parable. Jesus tells of how when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.” The king said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” The man was unable to give an answer.  Then we learn that the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

            The parable closes with an unexpected turn of events. There is no evidence that any kind of special “wedding garment” was worn for a wedding, or was given to those attending.  Instead, people wore the best clothes that they had.  So why was this man thrown out of the wedding feast?

            Here we must recall the king’s statement about the first group in the parable who refused to attend. The king said that “those invited were not worthy.” We have seen that religious leaders were not worthy because they rejected Christ.  They did not believe in him.  Now we find that this individual is no longer worthy to remain at the wedding feast.

            Our Lord’s words warn us that it is not enough to begin in faith.  It is not enough to have once been in the faith.  Instead, we must continue to walk in faith, believing and trusting in Jesus Christ. 

            The way of faith brings forgiveness and eternal life.  It brings peace with God and joy.  But that does not mean it is easy.  Jesus causes divisions in the world.  Faithfulness to Christ and his word will put us in challenging situations.  Our Lord said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

            Jesus calls us to a faith that puts him before everything.  Yet he does so because by his death and resurrection he has already given us everything.  He has given us forgiveness, peace with God, and resurrection on the Last Day. 

 

Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity - Mt 9:1-8

 

          Trinity 19

                                                                                                            Mt 9:1-8

                                                                                                            10/6/24

 

            The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has developed a worldwide reputation for excellence in medical care.  It is known for its work with cancer, along with cardiology and heart surgery. One billion dollars worth of research goes on the at the hospital each year, and so its staff includes experts who deal with rare conditions.

            Because of its reputation people from all fifty states, and one hundred and forty countries come to the Mayo Clinic each year for treatment.  They make the trip because in this world there is nothing more significant than one’s health.  It’s hard to live well and enjoy life when you don’t feel good.  What’s more the threat of death prompts people to do anything possible in order to find help.

            In our Gospel lesson this morning, we learn about several men who are willing to go to great lengths in order to help their friend regain his health.  They bring the man to Jesus in the faith that the can heal him.  Jesus does, but in the course of doing so Christ shows that he had come into the world to provide far more than physical relief.  He had come to address the root cause of all that is wrong in our lives, and in our life with God.

            The beginning of Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus’ ministry included two activities.  We hear: “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.”  First, Jesus taught and proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom – the good news that God’s saving reign was present in Jesus.  And second, Jesus demonstrated the presence of this reign by healing those who were sick.

            It’s not surprising that this drew a great deal of attention.  Matthew goes on to say, “So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.”

            We learn in our text that Jesus had just returned to Capernaum from another part of the Sea of Galilee. When he arrived, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.  These individuals were determined to help their friend. They physically carried him to Jesus.

            Yet we learn that they were motivated by more than care for the paralytic.  Our text says that Jesus saw their faith. They believed that Jesus could heal the man.  And when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”

            This is probably not what the men who brought the paralytic expected to hear.  They brought the man for healing, and instead, Jesus forgave his sins.  Yet in doing so, our Lord demonstrated that he had come to address the root problem of all that is wrong in this world.

            God created man in his own image.  He created us to live in perfect fellowship with him.  We knew God as God wants to be known, and we were able to live perfectly according his will.  God created us as creatures who are a unity of body and soul.  He made a very good creation in which we were to live our bodily existence.

            However, tempted by Satan, Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  They brought sin into the world.  This sin ruptured the fellowship that man had with God. Man lost the image of God, and was no longer able to live according to God’s will.  Instead, he was a sinner who faced God’s wrath and judgment. 

            But for man, the spiritual and physical cannot be separated from one another.  God had told Adam that if he ate of the true of the knowledge of good and evil he would die.  And so after Adam ate of the tree he told him, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

            Sickness bears witness to the presence of sin in our life.  From the moment that we are born, we are always in the process of dying because we are sinners. Yet we were not meant for death.  Instead, God created us for life.  And that is why God sent his Son into the world.

            Jesus had forgiven the paralytic’s sins.  This was a remarkable action, and it did not go unrecognized. We learn, “And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’” 

            All sin is committed against God.  When David sinned, he confessed to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”  We sometimes lose sight of this fact.  Our sin is not the breaking of some abstract rules.  Instead, sin is an affront to the almighty God.

            All sin is committed against God. And only God can forgive sin.  The scribes understood this very well.  And so when Jesus forgave the paralytic’s sin they accused him of blaspheming. They accused him of arrogating to himself an authority and power that belonged only to God.

            Jesus knew their thoughts and said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?”  Jesus’ question moved in two different directions.  On the one hand, it is easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” because, unlike rising and walking, no one can verify whether the action has taken place.  But on the other hand it is more difficult to forgive sins because this is the true root cause of all that is wrong in the world.

            Yet after asking his question, Jesus proceeded to state: “‘But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’--he then said to the paralytic —‘Rise, pick up your bed and go home.’”  Then the man who had been paralyzed rose up, and went home. We learn that when the crowds saw it they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

            Jesus healed the man and in so doing demonstrated that he did have the authority to forgive sins. He had the authority to do so because he is the Son of God who entered into the world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  Jesus’ inherent authority is something that is recognized by others. When our Lord had completed the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us, “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

            As the Son of God, Jesus had the authority to forgive sins.  But in order to deal with the problem of sin as it effects all of humanity something final and complete was needed.  In Matthew’s Gospel we learn that Jesus’ healing ministry points us towards this.

            In the previous chapter, Matthew tells about Jesus’ healing ministry as he recounts: “That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.” Then the evangelist adds: “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.’” 

            This quotation is from Isaiah chapter 53 which talks about the suffering Servant. At his baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as God the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Jesus is identified as the Servant of the Lord at his baptism.

At his baptism Jesus took the place of sinners and began his way to the cross, for the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah is the suffering servant. The Son of God had entered the world in order to provide the ultimate and final answer to sin.  Sin is sin against the holy God. It evokes his wrath, and as the just God requires his punishment.

Jesus Christ took on the role of the suffering Servant to receive God’s judgment against our sin. Isaiah said of the Servant, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus Christ received God’s judgment against our sin on Good Friday. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as he drank the cup of God’s wrath. The One who worked miracles for others, did no such thing for himself as he remained on the cross until death, and he was then buried in a tomb.

Jesus died on the cross as the suffering Servant who won forgiveness for us. But the complete defeat of sin required more than forgiveness. As we have seen, sin produces death. Jesus Christ died. But then on the third day he rose from the dead. He defeated death as he began the resurrection of the Last Day.

In our text we see Jesus heal the paralytic. Our Lord didn’t heal everyone who was sick in first century Palestine.  In the same way, our prayers for healing are not always answered in the way we want today. But in his resurrection Jesus has begun the healing that all will receive. Christ will return in glory on the Last Day and will raise us from the dead. He will give us resurrection bodies like his own that can never get sick or die again. Paul told the Philippians that “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

Our Lord calls us to live as those who have already now received his saving reign. We have been given the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit in Baptism. Jesus teaches us to love God above all things, and to love our neighbor as our selves. He tells us to live in ways that the demonstrate Christ in the world. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Where we stumble; where we fail, we have the comfort of knowing that Jesus gives forgiveness to us. In our text Jesus says to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven.” The Lord who died on the cross and rose from the dead to win forgiveness continues to speak these words to us.

In Holy Absolution the crucified and risen Lord speaks through his called servant and says, “I forgive you all your sins.” This gift that takes place at the beginning of the Divine Service is available for you as well in a private setting where you can confess specific sins that bother you, and where you can hear this Gospel word spoken to you as an individual.  Jesus forgives repentant sinners now. And at the resurrection of the Last Day he will give us the healing so that we never again know knows of sin, sickness, and death.