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So, Jesus speaks to us today in His Penultimate Gospel and
says,
“Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate
people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
Two weeks ago, I mentioned how the Soviets had jumbled the
work week for its citizens, keeping them guessing when the next day off would
be in order to frustrate gathering on the Lord’s Day and thus suffocating
Church. It turns out, life wasn’t so different under Roman Rule either as we
will discover today, continuing our discussion on the Lord’s Day.
Moving into the second and third centuries after Christ,
we find a Church under threats of persecution, not from the Empire itself, per
say, but from false accusations of disturbing the peace from the people. People
who were easily offended by this “new” religion would start a riot,
blame it on the Christians, and, to keep Roman peace, Roman authorities would
put the Christians to death.
So it is that we come to the holy, roman week consisting
of 8 days of work and a 9th day of holiday celebration, or rather, every ninth
day was a holiday. The Romans took their national religion very seriously and
their “peace of the empire” even more seriously. Since the Jewish,
now Christian, week worked in 7’s, you can see how this turns into a point of
serious contention and a battle of the gods.
Once the Lord’s Day landed on any day of work, it would
have been impossible for the Christians to stop working in order to attend the
Divine Service. And even if it happened to land on that 9th day, they were not
allowed to miss the Roman holy day celebrations, on pain of death. You could
have your own religion in the empire, but you must pay homage to the Roman gods
or the empire will fall and it will be your fault for not praying.
“You shall have no
others gods” is the commandment that frustrates the “peace of the empire”
and gets the Christians martyred. See the false, roman gods can do nothing to
keep their names holy or do their will on earth. They are idols. They “…are silver and gold, made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but
cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be
like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Psalm 135:15-18)
Since idols are idle, the romans must act in their stead,
carrying out what they think is their will, cleansing the earth of any lack of
worship. The Christians, in observing the Lord’s Day, had picked a fight with
the most powerful nation on earth and declared war to find out which god is the
Lord.
The Sunday that we so casually and flippantly celebrate
was bought and paid for in much blood. Many thousands were martyred for the
faith, during these first few centuries, simply because they went to the
breaking of the bread, the Apostles’ doctrine, and the prayers, instead of
being caught dead in any state religious celebration. Even though most of the
Church was “underground”, this did not prevent bloodshed.
And that’s another thing: what exactly was this gathering
on the Lord’s Day that prompted such ire from the state and such dedication
from the Christians? Was it worth it risking life and limb to simply get
together for a bit and encourage one another and have fellowship? Ridiculous. These
Christians were risking life, property, and liberty all for the chance to
commune with Jesus. These were holy masses that were being celebrated, each
time, not fellowship time, not carry-ins, and certainly not meditation time.
Sacrifice was made and necessitated all in order to
celebrate with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven at the
Lord’s Table on the Lord’s Day. Why do you think the sheep are so surprised in
the Gospel reading for today? Surrounded by sin and evil and death on every
hand, when was it that they finally found time to do the works that Christ is
claiming that they did?
The world separates, divides, and discriminates. The sheep
were fighting a war against the world, a war that they did not win, but got to
benefit from its victory. One of the reasons the sheep are so surprised to be
praised by Jesus is, because the world would not let them celebrate the Lord’s
Day in peace. They were harassed on every side, day in and day out, to turn
away, to not go, to give up breaking the bread.
They were not going to make it on their own strength. The
real divider between the sheep and the goats is faith. Faith that looks at this
horrible, hard life; sees that it is quenched on every hand; finds it a never
ending struggle to be a part of church and yet still believes. Believes to the
point where it knows that it is not its actions that count, but Christ’s
actions.
So the Church and the State engage in war. If we just look
at the Roman empire , we know who won that
battle, for the Church still stands, but the empire does not. Was it superior
fire-power? Was it genius strategy? Was it overwhelming numbers that gained
Christians the victory?
Faith is counted as righteousness (Rom. 4:22) and the
righteous shall not be moved (prov. 10:30), promises the Lord. Not only that,
but the Righteous One shall never see corruption (Ps. 16:10). He Who dies
serving the Lord in sincerity and truth, will not make His bed in Sheol,
neither will He be cast aside.
As our Introit proclaims, the Lord saves, the Lord hears,
and the Lord delivers. He does so through he Word of the Cross of Christ,
faithfully proclaimed every Lord’s Day. So, the winning strategy against the
empire, the state, and the world is to sit our butts down in the Lord’s Church,
believe in His Word, and know that not only is His death and resurrection the
ultimate weapon, but they are the ultimate gift for us.
Every other religion in the world must act “in holiness”,
never really knowing what the outcome will be. So they are busy making war
against everything. The Church is at rest, letting God fight the war, because
the war is won, even without our fanfare.
“And these will go
away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Being
righteous is not how much peace you can keep, or how many riots you can start
for God. It is about being righteous. And Jesus says that, in order to be
righteous, you must be perfect, and in order to be perfect you must be God.
And in order to be like God, you must be baptized into the
Body of His Son. The Righteous One Who knew the corruption of the world’s sin,
with all its raging and war, and still claimed it as His own, suffering and
dying and descending into hell with it.
The struggle of the Church is the struggle of Christ with
sin, death, and the devil. The victory of Christ over these false idols is
given to the Church for free. It is handed out in the form of Word and
Sacrament. The call to “fight for God” is the call to “take and eat; take and
drink”.
Now, in Christ, the Lord’s Day is a celebration of victory
won and victory freely given. The world has not figured out that the war has
ended, but the Christian knows and thus he is able to sit in a pew and let God
work in him, knowing full well the power of Word and Sacrament over and against
all others on earth.
You are also a part of this struggle and war, but the Lord
has seen fit to bring you into the victory feast to wash you clean of your
wounds, to comfort and encourage you, and to feed and strengthen you. Not so
that you become a Church-superman, but so that you remember the death your sin
has wrought and believe the atonement Christ has made for you.
In the Land without a Sunday, there is no hope for the
people. Fully dependent on earthly success and earthly rulers to make anything
out of life, their despair when works and state fail them. For on Sunday, the
Lord conquers all. The constant remembrance of that fact angers satan and his
ilk to no end.
But even if the world was full of devils, all eager to
devour us, we would not tremble or fear, because Christ fights for us. The
Victor, the Valliant One, the Crucified. He that gains every victory fights for
you. He that neither slumbers nor sleeps baptizes you. He Who shows up every
Sunday, communes with you, in order that you may believe and out-live all
warfare.
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