Sabbath Rest [Trinity 17; St. Luke 14:1-11]

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Jesus speaks to you today, in your hearing, saying:

“One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.”

There was another Sabbath when the rulers of the Pharisees were watching Jesus as scrupulously as they are watching Him in today’s Gospel reading. Yet, on that Sabbath they were watching a giant stone, instead of a Body, but the Body they were so intent on was behind the stone so…

Their disappointment was as palpable that day as it is today. But before you throw stones at them, carefully look at your glass windows. You are also disappointed in what Jesus says today, because Jesus is telling you that you would leave your ox or son in the well and that you would rather exalt yourself, than be humiliated.

Before you cry out in the name of civil sensibilities, let me remind you of your sinful nature which you only believe to be under control, because you can walk about as a good person in other people’s eyes. It is not under control. It controls you.

If you have other oxen, you would leave one in the well, because the cost of hauling it out would be greater than leaving it in. It is just an animal after all and that is just good business practice. And depending on if you are rich or poor may influence your decision, because it may be worth it to go get that ox.

But Jesus doesn’t just leave it at an ox, He adds a son, which is almost a ridiculous addition, if you think about it. How can you compare a son to an ox? Yet, to our sinful nature, neither of them is as important as our own self-righteousness. And this is the point. We would rather keep our private covenants we think we have with God, than to do anything else, such as an act of mercy to someone weaker than ourselves.

The Pharisees deem it against the Law of God to do any work they say on the Sabbath, even holy deeds such as rescue and healthcare are within the realm of the forbidden, Sabbath acts. This is a big problem, because it is true. God demands only rest on the Sabbath. Yet He also demands mercy. So which command do we follow and which command do we break?

Repent. When Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit, he was pulled out by enemies, not by friends, and was sold to a far off country, making it as if he were dead to his family. Moses was placed in the seat of honor in front of the people of Israel and they did nothing but plot his demise.

You are no different. When you come up against the perfect Law of God you are bowled over and crushed under its weight of perfection that it demands. In order to soothe yourself, you pick a little piece of it, work hard at it so that you accomplish some small feat and declare yourself holy. And you retain this holier-than-thou state at all costs.

But this is not enough, just as it was not enough for the Pharisees to observe the Sabbath day by the book. They thought that by knowing the book as perfectly as they could, they would find life, but instead they used it against others. Really, they and you had no choice. Sin would let you live no other way.

It is only in Jesus’ ridiculous addition, that there is a glimmer of hope. Last week there was also the dead son brought forward to us as a lesson and here it is no different. Jesus is the Son that is tossed into the well and left as an offering against these Sabbath laws.

When the Jews persecuted and convicted Jesus, they were doing it all in the name of the Good, right, and holy Law of God. Not because God demanded it, but because sin twisted God’s Word to demand it. Because Jesus claimed to be God Himself and god is no man, that is blasphemy. They put their own holiness over the Son and threw Him into the well of hell.

But God bore all that sin. He gladly went and sat in the lowest place, the place reserved for those guilty of the sins of the world, and hung there till He was dead. On the cross, the sin for pitting God’s Word against God is paid for. The sin of wanting holiness and favor instead of mercy and love is atoned for.

The Good Son, Who is God and man, not only heals on His own Sabbath Day of Rest, but also takes on all the impurities of sin and death as His own, falling under the curse of His own Law, and yet rising from the curse, punishment, and death of it.

Sin is not just doing the wrong thing. Sin is not just a mistake made here or there or every once in awhile. It is a fatal sickness that every single person is afflicted with. Thus, the Sabbath is not a day of Law, but a day of Gospel. A day where we rest and God works, for Jesus says to the sin-wearied soul, “I will give you rest”.

As we see in the Resurrection of Jesus, the entire world is resting from the horror that had occurred on Good Friday, yet it is a new day where the Law is no longer in the way of salvation. Though it wasn’t in the first place, Resurrection Sunday is now the day where you can rescue son and ox and still be leading a holy life in faith. Sunday is now the day that you can heal and do good works and still be considered Christian, in faith.

For in commemoration of that Sunday, we believe that Jesus descends from His own exaltation in heaven to dwell in humility, in our flesh. He comes to bring rest in this way, because He not only freely gives His life for us, taking the lowest seat in our place, but He also brings us into the Sabbath rest in His Church. This is because true rest; true Sabbath rest comes in the belief that God came to save you in Word and Sacrament.

It is the Work of God that accomplishes your salvation, that sends Jesus to earth, that causes Him to suffer and die in your place, and raises Him again on the third day securing salvation for all you believe and are baptized. It should be no surprise then, that He continues to save people in the same way: by His works.

The Lord does not care what day of the week it is, He is going to come to you and rescue you from your sins. He is going to jump down into that well and take your place in order to boost you out of it. He is going to create a washing of renewal and rebirth and regeneration to save you. He is going to set His table before you for the forgiveness of your sins.

It is in this humbling knowledge that you are humbled. Not by your own work, but in the face of all that God has accomplished for you. Therefore, when you bring one for baptism or remember your own, or when you approach the Lord’s Supper, you are reminded of two things: the first is that you don’t deserve to be there and the second is that you do deserve to be there.

You don’t deserve to be at the table because you did nothing to get here. In fact you did everything to be excluded from here. Yet as you gaze upon the torn body of Jesus Christ, you hear Him say to you, “Friend, move up higher”. He says this for His Name’s sake, because He has suffered and died to atone for the sin of the world.

In this way of the Church, the Sabbath is made for us. In this way, the Lord’s Word is fulfilled when He said, “I have come not to be served, but to serve” and also “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man”. These two Scriptures come together in the Lords Supper and make sense there, as they do no other place.

Likewise, we can now include healing on the Sabbath and retrieving your son from a well, in those Scripture passages that are fulfilled in the same way, as well. For it is not Jesus that needs healing and retrieving, but you. And no truer medicine on earth can be found than the Body and Blood of the Son of God, given and shed for you.

Prosperity gospel [Trinity 16; St. Luke 7:11-17]

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Jesus speaks today, saying,

“And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her,‘Do not weep.’”

If this woman of Nain had just done enough of a deep cleansing of her life and trusted God more, she would have been able to keep her son. Or, if she had given more of her life over to Jesus, her son’s death would not have hurt as much as it did. And if she had just “let go and let God”, He would have taken care of her son better.

Of course I’m being facetious, but this is what a lot of Christians make the Bible say. I label it the Prosperity Gospel. What that means is that the Gospel, or grace or peace or any gift from God, comes only if you are able; only if you can do things that seem biblical or godly to prosper.

The satanic misunderstanding comes to us that very first time we accomplish something on our own. And there is nothing wrong with setting goals and achieving them in life! It is good to want to keep a clean house, to want to keep a job, to want to do better. The satanic lie comes in when we attribute this to what God is doing in our lives.

The Prosperity Gospel is when our actions are confused with God’s actions, because God is invisible. We can’t see God work, but we know He’s there, so it must be that God’s work is done by me. That the kingdom is advanced every time I get to work and accomplish something. If I succeed, that can only mean God did it through me, right?

Now, no one will admit to teaching a prosperity Gospel, or if they do they will quote Jeremiah where they say God says that He has plans to prosper you. (Jer. 29:11)

Meanwhile, this mother at Nain had a family, she was able to feed and care for them. Making sure they had what they needed to live. She did her best to teach and to nurture her family and care for her home. All this she attributed to God’s plan to prosper her, because as we know, she succeeded in those works.

Then she became a widow. Life became a bit hard and not as prosperous. But time heals all wounds and she still had her son. Death is just a part of life after all, she said. It hurts, but God will watch over me and get me through it.

Then she became childless. Prosperity was not even an after thought. Now God was against her in every way. Her life had been emptied. She had nothing. No one. Her means of prosperity were exhausted. The only thing left to take from her was her own life and now that was not even worth all that much.

God had removed all that her hands seemed to have accomplished. It seemed like all that her hands created and watched over had been built on sand and were now washed away. But sand is meant to be washed away. Prosperity cannot stand in the face of death.

Here is the lie within this Prosperity Gospel: you don’t need Jesus to do it. You especially don’t need Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross to accomplish anything in this life. Washing dishes, raising a family, keeping a job, being a good neighbor. All of this appears to have nothing to do with God or the Bible because all of it can be done by anyone, even those who don’t believe anything. When Alexander the Great or Babylon took over most of the world, they did it as unbelievers. And what happened to them? They also died.

Repent. The end of all our endeavors, no matter how worthy or holy, is death. There is nothing that will make it out of this world alive, much less is God going to reward us or demote us for how well or how poorly we do with what we have in this world. Our widow from Nain is our example.

But God’s Word stands as absolute truth, so we must revisit Jeremiah’s words with a new hope. The same hope that marches towards this shattered woman as she marches towards the cemetery. Though a young man lies dead in the bier, another young man stands awake and alert, reaching out to prove that God is not a liar.

Here is what the rest of Jeremiah says in that same section: The Lord will punish those who do not listen to His Word. He is sending sword and famine on the people of Israel. But this is also when the Lord exiled almost everyone to Babylon. He did it. He spread them out, but He promised to gather them back in.

“This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

The Lord exiles His own people to Babylon; meaning the place where sin, death, and the devil reign. But notice that He does not simply call us back or allow us to come back on our own, He comes Himself to bring us back. Why does He need to come Himself? Can’t we just carry ourselves? Ask the young man in the bier.

Jesus comes to earth to bring the prosperity of the Lord to all people. And the prosperity of the Lord is not earthly prosperity. It is death and it is resurrection. It is the loss of the earthly and the gain of the heavenly. It is not the death of this widow’s son, but the death of the Son of God. True prosperity offered by God is death and resurrection.

And the place where the Lord gathers is not a Mediterranean coastland, but a Body. The Lord banished His people from the Divine Service, not a geographic location. They were sent to a place of fasting from the Lord because they had neither Temple nor sacrifices. They were relieved of everything they could do on their own in order to reflect on who it was that was really acting.

Because, as we now know after the Resurrection of Jesus, it doesn’t matter if there is a Temple, or sacrifices, or geographic locations. Eternal prosperity resides in the nail pierced hands of Jesus, thus that is where He places us. He hides us in His wounds of earthly failure in order for us to gain heavenly success.

It is Jesus that serves us His success in the Divine Service. It is Jesus’ works and actions that save and prosper, not in an earthly sense, but in a forgiving and redeeming sense. Its not that the widow of Nain should have happily offered her family up to death, if she had enough faith. Its that she should have been ready to entrust them to God’s care until they meet again and live the rest of her life in that hope.

So, while our works do show that God loves us and is active in this world, they only do so by faith and faith does not love any works except those that give eternal life and rescue from sin, death, and the devil. Those prosperous works of course, being only those of Jesus Christ.

11th Leper [Trinity 14; St. Luke 17:11-19]

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