Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity - Lk 7:11-17

                                                                                     Trinity 16

                                                                                Lk 7:11-17

                                                                                9/19/21

 

          Funerals and funeral processions take place all the time.  Death is part of life in a fallen world, and so there are always people who have died and need to be buried. But that’s not to say that all deaths are equal in the response they evoke. 

When a person who is in their 90’s dies, there is often a small funeral.  Usually, someone who has reached that age has outlived most of their friends. Sometimes, they have outlived much of their own family.  The result is often a small funeral service attended by immediate family, and perhaps some congregation members who knew the individual when he or she was able to attend to church.  A small funeral procession then makes its way to the cemetery.

There are other deaths that because of the circumstances evoke a very large response from the community.  We have seen this occur recently in places like Logansport, IN and Wentzville, MO.  It has continued to happen in other locations around the country as the thirteen U.S. service personnel killed in the bombing in Afghanistan are returned home for burial.  Thousands of people have lined the route of the funeral processions in order to pay their respects to these Americans who died so young in the service of our country.

We learn about a similar circumstance in our Gospel lesson this morning. We are told that Jesus, his disciples and a great crowd were journeying into a city called Nain in southern Galilee.  It’s not surprising that a large crowd was following Jesus.  In the previous chapter, Luke reports, “And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.”

Jesus’ healing miracles and teaching attracted a crowd.  But as this crowd approached Nain with Jesus, they were met by another crowd that was leaving the city.  We learn in our text, “As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.”

Jesus met a large funeral procession that was leaving the city.  Luke’s description of the circumstances helps us to understand very quickly why this particular funeral procession was large.  A woman’s only son had died.  Her only son had died, and then Luke adds the information that she was a widow – her husband had already died.  We aren’t told explicitly whether the son was her only child, but that seems to be the implication.

The size of the crowd indicates that the community perceived the tragic nature of this death. Because of what the Old Testament teaches, the Jews of the first century considered children to be a great blessing. This woman had been blessed with only one precious son.  Her husband had died. Now, her son had also died.  This meant that she had no one who would support and provide for her.

In our Gospel lesson we learn that when our Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. The compassion of Jesus for those who are suffering because of the fallness of this world is a recuring theme in the Gospels.  The Son of God sees suffering and he is moved with compassion because he is love incarnate.  He is the Creator who knows that this is not very good. This is not the way things are supposed to be.  He knows that sin has caused what he is seeing, and he has compassion on those who are suffering because of it.

In response, Jesus did two very unexpected actions that at first seem to be completely inappropriate. First, our Lord said to the widow: “Do not weep.”  Now who in the world tells a grieving mother in a funeral procession not to weep?  And then Jesus did something even more shocking.  He came up and touched the bier on which the body was being carried, and those carrying the body stopped.  Jesus stops the funeral procession in its tracks by actually touching the implement that was being used to carry the dead body.

But Jesus had done these things because he was about to do something that would take away the widow’s weeping and cancel the need for a funeral procession.  Our Lord said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” Next Luke reports that “the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”  Our Lord raised the widow’s son from the dead. Then we learn in our Gospel lesson: “Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God has visited his people!’” 

In our text this morning, Jesus raises a young man from the dead.  His action prompts the people to say, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”  They are right. They also don’t understand what this really means.  And if we are honest, at times we don’t like what it means.

I had a professor at the seminary who described Jesus as “the great sucking sound of the New Testament.”  By this, he meant that Jesus is the fulfillment of an incredible multitude of Old Testament prophecies, types and themes – they are all sucked into him as the One who fulfills them in his life, death and resurrection.  We confess that Scripture is “Christocentric” – that is it is all centered around Christ.  But sometimes it is easy to overlook what this means.

Moses had announced Yahweh’s word when he said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers--it is to him you shall listen.”  God had promised a future prophet like Moses who would be part of God’s end time salvation.  Jesus was this prophet like Moses.  Like the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus announced God’s word to the people.  And especially in his miracles, Jesus’ ministry reflected the actions of some of the greatest and most notable prophets. We see this in our Old Testament lesson today because Jesus’ raising of the widow’s son repeats what Elijah did for the widow at Zarapheth, as he raised her son from the dead.  Many of Jesus’ miracles find predecessors in the miracles of Elijah and Elisha.

The people were also right when they said, “God has visited his people!”  That is what happened in Jesus Christ, as God the Father sent his Son into the world.  Filled with the Spirit, Zechariah prophesied about Jesus when he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.”

          Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus Christ the incarnate Son was God visiting his people to bring them salvation.  Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit at his baptism. Then at the synagogue in Nazareth he read these words from Isaiah and declared that they were true of him: “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.”

          Jesus’ ministry fulfilled these words as he proclaimed good news – the Gospel. He fulfilled this as the blind received their sight, the lame walked, lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, and the dead were raised up. These were the kinds of actions that prompted the crowd to follow the Lord. They were the actions of a prophet – of the end time prophet like Moses sent by God.

          Yet while we think about prophets as mighty figures who worked miracles, we easily overlook another aspect: the prophets suffered; the prophets were killed.  Moses suffered the burden of constant complaining and attacks by the people of Israel. Jesus said the Pharisees, “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.”

          Jesus acknowledged that he was a prophet, and he was very clear about what this meant for him.  He said: “Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”  Jesus Christ showed that he was God visiting his people by miracles that helped others.  Yet the greatest act of his visitation was something that did not look miraculous.  It happened as Jesus died on the cross in order to win us forgiveness.  His enemies mocked Jesus on the cross saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

          Jesus was the saving visitation of God by staying on the cross for us.  Now this is not the way we would have done things.  We want Jesus the prophet who works miracles of power, not the One who dies in weakness and shame on the cross.  Beyond that, we want a Jesus who works in overwhelming power today before those who reject the Gospel, not one who works through the Word, and water, and bread and wine.  We want a Jesus who gives us a life free from hardships, difficulties, and suffering, not One who works in the midst of those things as he crucifies the old Adam in us and forces us to trust him in faith.

          But the cross was God’s way of doing things.  On the road to Emmaus Jesus said, “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?” Then in what is our Learn by Heart Scripture verse for the month we learn: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” 

          In today’s Gospel lesson we learn of how Jesus raised the widow’s son at Nain from the dead.  The resurrection performed by Jesus pointed forward to Jesus’ own resurrection on Easter. But his resurrection was different because it was not simply a return to life.  It was instead the resurrection of the Last Day – the transformation of his body to one that can never die again.

          The resurrection of Jesus on Easter is the demonstration that the cross was the not the absence of God, but instead his saving presence for us.  Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, our sins are forgiven.  Because Jesus has risen from the dead, death has been defeated and our Lord will raise and transform our bodies on the Last Day so that they can never die again.

          And now, the resurrection of Jesus means that we trust and believe God’s saving power is at work through his Word as it is preached.  We trust and believe that in the water of baptism God gives us a share in Christ’s saving death and washes away our sins.  We trust and believe that Jesus’ word causes bread and wine to be his true body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.

          Because Jesus Christ has died on the cross and then risen from the dead, we are able to trust and believe that God still loves us and is at work in our lives in the midst of hardships, difficulties, and suffering.  We know that his Means of Grace are the way he forgives and strengthens us as he works out his purposes in our life. We can trust that this is what God is doing, because we have already seen him work in the way of the cross through his own Son. We know that the cross was the not the end.  Instead, on the third day the great prophet rose from the dead, and the saving results of his visitation continue now for us through the Means of Grace as we look for the his final visitation on the Last Day.

           

 

   

 

             

 

   

    

 

Holy Cross Day

 

Today is Holy Cross Day.  Holy Cross Day commemorates the cross of Christ and the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that was built over the site of the crucifixion and tomb.  Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, was believed to have found the original cross on September 14, 320.  In conjunction with the dedication of Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Constantine made the festival day official in 335.  The day is called “The Exaltation of the Holy Cross” in the Eastern churches and the Roman Catholic church.  In the Byzantine church is it one of the twelve great feast days.

Scripture reading:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.  For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

 

Collect of the Day:

Merciful God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, was lifted high upon the cross that He might bear the sins of the world and draw all people to Himself.  Grant that we who glory in His death and resurrection may faithfully heed His call to bear the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity - Mt 6:24-34

                                                                                      Trinity 15

                                                                                Mt 6:24-34

                                                                                9/12/21

 

          About a month ago, our dishwasher died.  It had a good really good run – after, all we had it for fourteen years.  So we accepted the fact that we needed to get a new one.  The problem was that in the fourteen years since the old one had been installed, the expected practices for installing a dishwasher had changed.  Before it could be installed, we had to have an electrician install a separate electrical outlet for the dishwasher. We also had to have a plumber change out the soldered copper fittings for ones that allowed the use of the new dishwasher water feed that screwed on.

          These arrangements took some time, and so we were without a dishwasher for two weeks. For the rest of the family, this concept came as a bit of a shock. They had never known life without dishwasher.  Amy and I had experienced it – we didn’t have a dishwasher in the settings we lived during vicarage and seminary – but it had been a long time since we had lived that way.  I was reminded of how the conveniences of life become something that we then consider to be “normal.”  We think of them as something that is a necessity in life.  And so when they must be repaired or replaced, the unplanned expense becomes something that bothers and stresses us.

          Now perhaps you don’t have a dishwasher, and so at this point you aren’t feeling all that much sympathy for the Surburgs.  So let me add this: Wednesday we learned that our washing machine has died and needs to be replaced.  Clothes do have to be washed, and I doubt that there is anyone out there who washes their clothes by hand.  We all use washing machines.  And so you can probably understand that we viewed this as an essential but unplanned purchase.  Needless to say, Amy and I were not happy about a second large expense in the course of a month.

          In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus tells us not to worry because our heavenly Father will provide us with the things we need to live.  He teaches us that our worry regarding the things of life reveals a deeper spiritual problem about whether God is truly God in our life, or whether wealth is a false god.  And Jesus doesn’t say anything about dishwashers and washing machines – a point to which we will return.

          Our text is part of a new section in the Sermon on the Mount. And while our reading begins at verse twenty four, the start of this topic really goes back to verse nineteen, and so we will pick things up there as 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 viewing the things of this world as our treasure. After all, they are things that do not last and can be lost.  Instead we are to live in ways that lay up treasures in heaven – ways that are guided by God’s will and the eternal outcome of life with him. And then Jesus provides the reason for this as he says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  That which we consider to be our treasure – that which we view a being really important – is where our heart is.  It is the thing to which we are really committed.

          Next our Lord says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”  This statement is based on the ancient idea that light and sight came out of the eye.  The way we live shows what is in us. It reflects our true spiritual state.

          Then, in the first verse of our text, Jesus drives home the point he has been making as he says, “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.”  When it comes to wealth and money, there is no middle ground.  Either God is your Lord, or wealth is your lord. Either wealth and money drive the priorities and decisions of our life, or God does.

          Jesus says that God must be our Lord, because, of course, he is the only true God. Since God is our true Lord, Jesus then proceeds to set forth in very practical terms what this means for our life.  He says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” 

          Our Lord says because God is our God, don’t worry about what you will eat and drink, and what you will wear. He says don’t worry because God will provide you with this.  He uses two examples to illustrate this.  First he states, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” God provides food for even his smallest creatures. If he does that for them, how much more will he do that for us, the ones who have been created in his own image?

          Next Jesus speaks about clothing as he says, “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”  God arrays the flowers of the field in beauty – flowers that soon perish and are gone. If God does that for them, how much more will provide clothing for us, his highest creation?

          After illustrating his point with these two examples, Jesus returns to his main thought as he says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”  Of course, the reality is that we are not anxious about any of these things.  What we are worried about is whether we are going to be able to have enough money to take that vacation. We are worried about those credit card bills that arose as we bought all that stuff we had to have and did all those things that just had to do.  We are worried about whether we will have enough money to retire so that we will be able to live the kind of life we want to live.

          Our worry reveals again and again, that wealth is our false god. We allow wealth to be our lord.  And here’s the thing about wealth – it’s a relentless lord.  Wealth rules us with the constant pressure of diminishing returns.  As I mentioned earlier, Jesus doesn’t say anything in our text about dishwashers and washing machines.  He also doesn’t say anything about cars, computers, smart phones, big screen tv’s, surround sound systems, or streaming video services.

What these all have in common is that they are exciting when we first get them. But once we have them they become “normal.”  They become things that we consider to be necessary.  And they become sources of stress because they all cost money.  We have to maintain them, upgrade them, and replace them.

Our Lord says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” 

The first thing Jesus’ words in our text do is that they cause us to confess. We know that we focus on the wrong treasure.  We know that we allow wealth to be a false god that rules our life.  We must confess this sin. It is something that we must confess daily, because we live lives in which the old Adam is constantly drawing us back to the wrong treasure; to the lordship of this false god.

          The second thing his words do is that they give us a true understanding of what God has actually promised us.  Remember, Jesus was speaking to people in first century Palestine.  He was speaking to people who knew none of the conveniences that we take for granted in our lives.  God has only promised to give you food and clothing.  He has only promised you daily bread -the things that are necessary to support life itself. He may bless you with far more than that.  But when those things aren’t there, or he takes them away, he is still being absolutely true to his word.

And finally, Jesus points us to what must be out true focus. This is the one thing that provides forgiveness for our sin of having wealth as a false god.  It is the one thing that promises eternal and lasting treasure.  He says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

With these words, our Lord points us to himself and his saving work for us.  Matthew tells us that Jesus began his ministry by saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Jesus announced that in his person the kingdom of heaven – which is just a more Jewish way of saying “kingdom of God” – was present.  Shortly after this Matthew adds, “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.”

The Son of God entered into our world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  He came to bring God’s kingdom – his reign – as he reversed all that Satan, sin and death have caused.  He came to bring God’s righteousness, which we learn in the prophets and the Psalms is God saving action to put all things right.

All of Jesus’ ministry pointed toward the single great action by which he accomplished this – his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.  Our Lord came to defeat sin and win forgiveness by dying as the sacrifice in our place.  He came to drink the cup of God’s wrath against our sin – our every sin by which we treat wealth as a god.  Jesus said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Jesus did this as he died on the cross of Good Friday.

But the incarnate Son of God had also been sent to defeat what sin brings to all people – death.  On the third day – on Easter – God the Father raised him from the dead.  Jesus’ resurrection has defeated death.  In Jesus’ resurrection, God has begun the resurrection of the Last Day. He will bring its consummation when Christ returns, and raises and transforms our bodies to be like his. 

We seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ.  We seek it by returning daily to our baptism in faith for there we were baptized into his death. There we were buried with Christ. Through baptism we receive the forgiveness Jesus has won.

But baptism does more than that.  In baptism the Spirit has given us rebirth and renewal.  The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead – the same Spirit by whom God will raise us from the dead – is already now at work in us.  He gives us strength to put to resist and put to death the old Adam. There are many different ways he does this as we reject the false god of wealth.

One very obvious way this takes place is in the offering we return to God.  God blesses us with daily bread – and so much beyond that.  The question then becomes how much of that we return to him in thanksgiving for his gift. The false god of wealth says that we need to hang on to all that we can.  The new man in Christ responds by always looking to return more – especially as that offering keeps pace with blessings God gives.

In our text today, Jesus tells us, “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 warns us about the false God of wealth, and assures us that there is no need to worry.  God who provides for the birds and the flowers will certainly give us what we need to live.  Jesus promises, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Yes all these things will be added. But in seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness as it is present in Jesus Christ and his Means of Grace, we know that we have forgiveness, salvation and resurrection – the treasure that will never be taken from us.   

 

 

       

 

         

       

 

 

               

         

 

Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity - Lk 17:11-19

 

Trinity 14

Lk 17:11-19

                                                                            9/5/21

 

          During last year, many of us came to know isolation in a way that we had not known it before.  The Covid lock downs that were implemented in the spring of 2020 were originally supposed to be brief – they were supposed to “flatten the curve.”  But instead, as we know, they dragged on for much longer.

          During that time, we were not able to gather together here at church for the Divine Service.  School was cancelled and students did not have the opportunity to be with each other.  Nursing homes and assisted living facilities were locked down so that family could not visit, and in some settings residents were essentially confined to their apartments.

Many people who have health conditions felt the need to be especially careful.  They lived in their homes and apartments, and limited interaction with the outside world to a bare minimum.  Families didn’t see each other for their normal visits.  Sometimes this was because both sides felt the need to maintain isolation – at other times it was because only one side felt this way.

The lock downs were aimed at maintaining public health.  But an unintended consequence of the lock downs was the impact they had on public mental health.  The isolation and loneliness led to a rise in depression.  This was tragically evident in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  What is surprising is that the group that reported that the highest experience of loneliness and isolation were older teens and young adults.

Last year’s lock down gives us a better understanding of what the ten lepers in our Gospel lesson experienced in their lives.  As I have mentioned in the past, when the Bible speaks of “leprosy,” we are never sure exactly what kind of condition it is describing.  It’s unlikely that this was the leprosy that we have known in the modern world. Instead, it was probably a whole range of skin diseases and conditions.

Whatever the exact physical condition, the impact on the individual was devastating.  Leprosy made a person ritually unclean according the Law of Moses. Contact with a leprous individual made that person ritually unclean as well, and a lengthy process was required to reverse this.  Lepers were not able to worship at the temple. Because they brought uncleanness to any whom they touched, lepers were not allowed to live in the normal settings of family and village.  Lepers were truly isolated and cut off from every day life.  The only company they had were other lepers – other individuals who were experiencing the same suffering. 

In our Gospel lesson we learn, “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance 

and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  Everything about this description fits with what we know about how lepers lived in the first century. Lepers couldn’t work a job to earn a living.  They were dependent on family, friends, and alms provided by strangers for their food and sustenance.  In order to receive these things, lepers stayed near villages, but of course, could not be in them.  Lepers had to cry out “Unclean, unclean” in order to warn away others. They couldn’t approach other people, and instead had to cry out to them from a distance.

          The ten lepers in our text stood off at a distance and cried out. They said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  In the Gospels we learn that the healing miracles of Jesus were a central feature of his ministry.  Reports about these miracles spread far and wide.  When the lepers became aware that Jesus was approaching the village that they lived near, they stood of at a distance and called upon him.   

Their cry was a remarkable example of faith. They said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  The lepers called Jesus “master.”  In Luke’s Gospel, only the apostles use this term to address Jesus.  This tells us that they approached Jesus in true faith. 

And their plea was very simple: “Have mercy on us.”  This phrase means, “Help us!”  They approached Jesus.  They called him master in faith.  They pleaded for his help.  Their words acknowledged that they were totally dependent on him.  Their faith was comprised by two key factors. First, they believed that Jesus was willing to help them.  Second, they believed that Jesus had the power to help them.

Luke reports: “When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  The priests in Jerusalem were the ones who had the authority to declare a person clean – to authorize that a person no longer had to live as a leper. 

It is very important and pause to think about what is happening here. This is not like the event reported in the Gospel of Matthew in which a leper came to Jesus and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”  On that occasion we learn that Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper, saying, “I will; be clean.” And then immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Instead, in our text, Jesus tells ten men who are still lepers to go and show themselves to the priests.  The lepers started out on their way to Jerusalem because they believed Jesus’ word.  Nothing had actually happened yet. They still had leprosy.  Yet because Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest, they obeyed his word. They trusted his word. They believed his word.

Next Luke tells us: “And as they went they were cleansed.”  The Greek grammar here is absolutely clear.  When they started out for Jerusalem, they were still lepers.  It was only as they were making the journey that they were healed.  Jesus’ word provided healing, but it did not do so immediately.  Instead, there were moments when the lepers had nothing more than Jesus’ word of promise.  Yet because they believed in Jesus, they trusted his word in the absence of immediate results.

The experience of the ten lepers in our text speaks very directly to what we often experience in our life.  There are times when we know God’s promises of love and care, but all that we can see are the problems, the challenges, and the hardships that are not going away.  When this is the case, we are faced with the temptation to doubt God. We are tempted to doubt God’s Word and wonder what good it does us.  We are tempted to get angry with God.

As we think about this experience, and how we react to it, we need to stop and pay careful attention to the first verse of our Gospel lesson. There Luke writes: “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.”  This is one of a series of repeating statements in the Gospel of Luke, that are usually called “travel notices.”  They call our attention back to a key fact: Jesus is making his final trip to Jerusalem. 

In chapter nine we read, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Much of Luke’s Gospel takes place as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. On three different occasions, our Lord tells the disciples about what will happen when they get there.  Just before entering Jerusalem, Jesus said in the third of these, “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.”

Jesus Christ is journeying to Jerusalem for the final time.  There he will be taken up on the cross. On the night he was betrayed, our Lord said, “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”  Jesus quoted Isaiah chapter 53 and applied it to himself. Though he was the sinless Son of God, Jesus died on the cross to fulfill these words: “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 died in order to win forgiveness for us.  But as he had said, on the third day he rose from the dead.  When the women went to the tomb early on Easter morning, the tomb was empty and the angels told them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And Jesus wasn’t only taken up as he hung on the cross.  The risen Lord was with the disciples for forty days, and then he was taken up as he ascended into heaven – as he was exalted to the right hand of God.

It is the risen and ascended Lord – the One who has all authority – who calls us to trust in his word.  In faith the lepers started out to Jerusalem when nothing yet had happened.  We can have faith in God’s promise of love and care in the mist of challenging circumstance because we already know what has happened.  We trust Jesus’ word because we know it is the word of the risen and ascended Lord who loved us so much that he died for our sins in order to give us forgiveness.

The lepers are a great example of faith.  When the opportunity presented itself and Jesus came to their village, they lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  Jesus still comes to us, and unlike the lepers we don’t have to stand off afar. 

Immediately after our text the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come.  Our Lord answered them: “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”  Jesus was telling them that he was the presence of the kingdom of God – the reign of God – in their midst.

The risen Lord is still the presence of God’s kingdom in our midst.  He speaks his Word to us in its different forms – all of which call us to trust and believe in him.  He does this in the word of Scripture as it is read and preached.  He does this through Holy Baptism and Absolution.  He does this through the Sacrament of the Altar as he gives us his true body and blood, given and shed for you. Through this word the Spirit strengthens us in faith so that we can continue to believe and trust in the midst of all circumstances.

And lest I ignore the second half of our text, it is this word that also causes us to return praising God and giving thanks for the salvation he has given us in Christ.  We give thanks that because of Jesus we have forgiveness and eternal life.  We give thanks that because of Jesus, we know that we will share in his resurrection on the Last Day.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

             

 

 

 

Commemoration of Gregory the Great, Pastor

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Gregory the Great, Pastor.  One of the great leaders in Europe at the close of the sixth century, Gregory served in both the secular and sacred arenas of his era. As mayor of Rome, he restored economic vitality to his native city, which had been weakened by enemy invasions, pillage, and plague. After he sold his extensive properties and donated the proceeds to help the poor, he entered into full-time service in the Church. On September 3, 590 A.D., Gregory was elected to lead the church in Rome. As Bishop of Rome he oversaw changes and growth in the areas of church music and liturgical development, missionary outreach to northern Europe, and the establishment of a church-year calendar still used by many churches in the western World today. His book on pastoral care became a standard until the 20th century.

Collect of the Day:

Almighty and merciful God, You raised up Gregory of Rome to be a pastor to those who shepherd God’s flock and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people.  Preserve in Your Church the catholic and apostolic faith that Your people may continue to be fruitful in every good work and receive the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one  God, now and forever.

 

Commemoration of Hannah

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Hannah.  Hannah was the favored wife of Elkanah, the Ephraimite, and the devout mother of the prophet Samuel. He was born to her after years of bitter barrenness (1 Sam 1:6–8) and fervent prayers for a son (1:9–18). After she weaned her son, Hannah expressed her gratitude by returning him for service in the House of the Lord at Shiloh (1:24–28). Her prayer (psalm) of thanksgiving (2:1–10) begins with the words, “My heart exults in Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord.” This song foreshadows the Magnificat, the Song of Mary centuries later (Lk 1:46–55). The name Hannah derives from the Hebrew word for “grace.” She is remembered and honored for joyfully having kept the vow she made before her son’s birth and offering him for lifelong service to God.

Collect of the Day:

God the Father Almighty, maker of all things, You looked on the affliction of Your barren servant Hannah and did not forget her but answered her prayers with the gift of a son.  So hear our supplications and petitions and fill our emptiness, granting us trust in Your provision, so that we, like Hannah, might render unto You all thankfulness and praise, and delight in the miraculous birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Commemoration of Joshua

 

Today we remember and give thanks for Joshua.  Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, is first mentioned in Exodus 17 when he was chosen by Moses to fight the Amalakites, whom he defeated in a brilliant military victory. He was placed in charge of the Tent of Meeting (Ex. 33:11) and was a member of the tribal representatives sent to survey the land of Canaan (Num 13:8). Later, he was appointed by God to succeed Moses as Israel’s commander-in-chief. He eventually led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land and directed the Israelites’ capture of Jericho. He is remembered especially for his final address to the Israelites, in which he challenged them to serve God faithfully (Josh 24:1–27), concluding with the memorable words, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (24:15).

 Collect of the Day: Lord Jesus Christ, Your servant Joshua led the children of Israel through the waters of the Jordan River into a land flowing with milk and honey.  As our Joshua, lead us, we pray, through the waters of our Baptism into the promised land of eternal life with You; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.