Judging Christ [Trinity 26]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Daniel 7:9-14

• 2 Peter 3:3-14

• St. Matthew 25:31-46

 

grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
                  
Who speaks to you this Penultimate Sunday saying,

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory”

 
Thus far the Word of God, included in the Bible for us, to once again reveal the memory of God. That He has not forgotten His Promise and that He will keep it. When He returns, He will raise me and all the dead, granting eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is His eternal judgement, fulfilled on the cross, which He comes into this world to enact.
 
Far be it from us to recognize the importance of Jesus teachings today. We quickly pass by the main topic and move immediately to the judging, because we love to judge and we want to be sure we are on the right side of that judgement. Anytime we get to pass attention onto someone else’s faults, we’re all in!
 
The main topics are the first and last verses of the Gospel pericope. So easy. The first one, surprise surprise, talks about Jesus. His return for us, and how He is God of God on His Throne. The last verse is also about Jesus, how dare He, because it speaks of a righteousness given to those who believe. Just the fact that righteousness exists and is available is good news.
 
But today, Jesus breaks the cardinal rule: you shall not judge. If you are going to be a Christian or if you’re not going to be a Christian, you shall not judge. It seems that the whole world follows this one command from Jesus and that is usually the first red flag.
 
For if the world loves it, then there must be something wrong. Something wrong with the command? No. Something wrong with the execution. From God’s mouth to your ears is perfect. Its what happens in between your ears, that is the problem.
 
Whoever uses “you shall not judge”, is usually not interested in actual justice, but only self-justice. This is where the idea of “privilege” comes from. Our self-justice and self-righteousness can propel us to the heights of society. Our favorite mask is “I’m a good guy”, thus when any resistance is encountered, we pull out the “shall not judge” card and gain unparalleled sympathy points.
 
And that’s how today’s “christianity” works. If you disagree with me, I’m the one doing God’s work, not you, so you can’t judge me or everyone will laugh at you. Or, I’m born this way, so God must want it like this and you’re a meanie. Either way God is on my side, prove me wrong. This is how Jesus gets a pass for judging, because He’s on my side and agrees with me all the time.
 
And this works, as we all know very well these days. Yet this works, not only because no one has the guts to stand against anyone else’s “truth”, but it also works because it is God’s Word. And how can you be against that.
 
However, there is an expiration date on this “you shall not judge” card which is overplayed. The expiration date on it is the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. In other words, the card works great to suppress truth and God’s true religion…until He shows up.
 
And until He shows up, sinners will continue to use and abuse His religion. They will continue to be displeased with God Who is displeased with them, in their sin. In Jesus’s appearance in the past, He gives us chapter 25 of St. Matthew’s Gospel which holds the key to understanding sin and sinners.
 
Now you would think the key is Romans 3, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. Once again, a verse the world agrees on, with the same satanic, opposite effect. The real key verse is in this same chapter of St. Matthew, verse 24. Jesus reveals, “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’” (25:24-25).
 
The sinner does not have a problem with righteousness or justice. He completely understands the need to separate between those who follow the rules and those who don’t. What the sinner cannot accept is free mercy and how God accepts no man’s merits.
 
Repent! You have commanded the impossible, says the sinner to God, you have not given mercy, but knowledge and this I still have without You. You may be a tyrant, but with my knowledge I will find a way without You. You are my enemy, if you will not come around to my way of thinking. 
 
They do not know that a man must agree with this “enemy” and that this and only thus, this “enemy” becomes a friend and a Father (AE25:358). For He will not come around to our way of thinking and be changed for us. He will not take our side. He will have mercy, in spite of you.
 
“All of them curse me”, Jesus says, as was prophesied in Isaiah, “they will curse their king and their God” (Jer 15:10, Isa 8:21). Jesus gives us His revelation of His Word, regardless of what will happen to it. And what has happened is its abuse, suppression, and twisting of it. We have crucified His Word in the name of the knowledge of humanity. I remember a tree in the Garden of Eden named that…
 
Jesus has come to do His holy work and it is to show mercy. Similarly, the man who received the one talent should have rejoiced and we should rejoice with him in only receiving one. For it is in the forsaking of all works and all the things of the earth, that we find hope. Christ desires that we hope only in Him and His mercy and not in ourselves.
 
Though in the Gospel today, Jesus separates people one from another, Jesus first separated Himself from Life. And what will you have to be separated from? Your addictions? Your pride? Your self-righteousness? 
 
Why can’t you get rid of those on your own? Because they cling to you and comfort you. They have weaseled their way into your psyche and dopamine-hits such that you cannot help but trust them over God. Sin has rewired you in such a way to see God as the enemy and the devil as your best friend.
 
In this hopelessness, the ruler of this world is judged, in your place. In the midst of our self-righteousness, the Righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, apart from works (Rom 3:21). Outside our abilities and judgements, Jesus is made man, suffers, and dies beneath the judgement of God and of sinners, having been found guilty of all sin for all time.
 
Afterwards, evidence came to light that Jesus was atoning for other’s sins, with no sin of His own. Thus, He was raised from corruption to incorruption, from mortal to immortal. As God, Jesus was sinless and yet able to pay for the sins of the world as if they were His own. This we call the Great Exchange.
 
This Great Exchange we are a part of, because He has given up His Spirit to us. We could in no way believe in Him, come to Him, or agree with Him on anything, with our own reason or strength. We cannot love the things which God loves unless we have the love and will and Spirit which He has. For if there is to be conformity in the things to be loved, there must also be conformity in the feeling of love (AE 25:359).
 
Christ is the Key to making a friend and Father out of the One True God, for us. And He shows up, in the flesh, to show us that we are the goats. Every. Single. One of us. The goats who despise the things of God, knowing Him to be a tyrant and only rewarding those on His side.
 
But goats become lambs in the Great Exchange, when the sins of man are exchanged for the Righteousness of God. Thus before the charity and the hospitality and the kindness of men, the charity, hospitality, and kindness of God must be handed over and crucified.
 
Jesus shows up and declares His judgment: not guilty. The sinners rant and rave, “but muh prophesies, muh exorcisms, muh good deeds. Are they nothing to You, O great God?!”
 
Blessed be the Name of the Lord, they are nothing. They are as nothing compared to the Glory that has come, that will come, and that comes today. Dear Christians, since we have such a great high Priest, we do not have to wait for the last day, for most things to be revealed to us, especially what we’ve been talking about today.
 
For Jesus shows up, Body and Blood, in Church today, declaring His Judgment. Those goats treat God’s Divine Service as they treat everything. But the Sheep hear His voice and follow. They follow to Confession. They follow to Absolution. They follow to the washing of renewal and rebirth. They follow to the Lamb and His Supper. 
 
They rejoice to see His Day. And that Day is the Day He overcame death and the grave to bring His righteousness to us. We agree, our sins deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. And we agree again that those sins have been washed, cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. 
 

Worldly fraud, Christ's Faith [Trinity 25]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 32:1-20

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

• St. Matthew 24:15-28

grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

Who speaks to you in today’s Gospel saying:

“And if those days had not been cut short, no man would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

The world is not to be trusted. Only the Word is worthy of faith and trust. And while the goodness faith has given us wants to find trust in this world, too, we must not be fooled. One, into a false sense of trust, and two, to not give trust when it is asked for. This is God’s Word for us today, both heavy and light. Heavy for the wrongs we will endure and light because they come to an end.

This should point us to the Promises made by God to us, which are not fraudulent and are the only sure and certain things in this life. Christ desires us to receive those Promises from His hand, Body and Blood, that we may know for certain he is true to His Word.

What is the Christian to do when facing a world of corruption, after making his vows not to be corrupt? He really has only two options, either recapitulate and become “of the world” once more, for, as the Lord says, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own;” (Jn 15:19).

The other option is to suffer this world’s unpleasantness, refuse to participate in lies and fraud, and be light in a world of darkness. As He continues, “but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”.
What does our sin do with light? It hides it under a bushel, blows it out, sets it away with false lights to lessen its importance.

As we dwell on our Lord’s words of false christs, false prophets, and false signs, we must believe and acknowledge that these will all come through men. That we will encounter these things, not just in spirit, but in bodies, in flesh and blood. This is why Jesus speaks of actually going out into the wilderness or going in to the inner rooms. There is spiritual fraud and physical fraud, in the life of a Christian.

Fraud we know all too well. Since man was given the ability to speak, he has discovered the ability to lie. In our days we have no-call lists that don’t work, spam blockers that don’t block, and propaganda that keeps propagating.

The frauds call on your godly nature and hide some sort of truth deep in their words to confuse and subdue you. You are only strong when you disagree with their positions and values. You are weak when their values appear to align with yours. Save a tree, save a planet, do good in the world.

It is the “good” that blinds you to facts. And that apparent good is this: if you believe in it, it can’t be all bad. You extend your self-justification to those whom you see as “teammates” and they turn out to not be teammates at all. The turn-coat nature of the fraud is encouraged in phone calls, emails, TV, and online interaction.

Why? Because the fraud does not have to pay for his words. There are no consequences for him simply speaking and offering a deal to you. No laws are broken, no crime committed, and nothing can be done about it, because you agreed to it.

That’s the evil in every sin and temptation. Something wonderful is presented to you wrapped in shiny goodness and self-value, yet upon opening is anything but what you thought you would get. This is the falseness that finds you in these last days. It may not be as flashy as an “anti-Christ”, but the motives are the same. To whittle away your faith, bit by bit, until nothing remains but despair, and you agreed to it in your sin.

Before this, even Moses warned of these frauds. In Deuteronomy 13, he specifically teaches of those doing miracles and wonders in order to defraud and teach to go after other gods. The solution he gives is not cleverness on the people’s part, or anti-fraud laws, but a return to the Word of God.

A return to the Word is necessary both in Church and in your daily lives when dealing with frauds. Not because of some superior morality you find there, to conquer your foes. Or even because, like magic or holy water, it banishes the evildoer. But because a return to the Word is a return to the Body and Blood of Christ.

The fraud finds most of his plans ruined if he must show up and prove himself in his own body. This is partly because he must now pay the consequences of his words with actions. He must show up, prove his lies, and put his reputation on the line. Show me, don’t tell me.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). To warn us of coming things that would attempt to remove faith from us, Jesus was made man. To ultimately destroy those plans and purposes of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, He suffered, died, rose again, and gives you His Church.

In Christ, all justice is meted out, according to God’s Will. There is no justice or noble, lost cause left undone in the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The injustices done to us in this world are just shadows and ripples left in the wake of satan’s defeat. This is what little power is left to satan and his demons.

And we should learn from it. We should know its going to happen and, since we cannot even tell a real salesman from a fake, in our sin, then we should expect to fall victim to sin and temptation here.

We fraud and are defrauded in our own sin. What will keep us steadfast until the Last Day?

The fight against fraud is the same fight against sin we face everyday. Don’t take anyone’s word for anything over the phone, over email, or from a stranger. Likewise, don’t take any fraud of miracle, wonder, or “good” at face value. Judge these and all things according to the Word.

We can even give thanks for the fraud and dishonesty in the world. For one, we can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly. And two, we can use it to be reminded of God’s Promise to us for our good. He will not defraud or be dishonest with us and instead causes it to do His Will.

If you remember the story of Jacob and Laban in Genesis chapters 29-31, Laban commits fraud against Jacob. Even though Jacob’s name means deceiver, Laban is the one deceived. For 20 years Jacob was deceived, yet still worked honestly and honorably. And after that 20 years, God allowed Jacob to take the best from Laban, enacting justice in the end.

Jacob waits for a blessing from the Lord and for the Lord’s justice. And it comes to pass.
No greedy man ever escapes the vengeance of God. Indeed, they perish because of the growth and increase of their property, which is why we pray against such temptation in the Litany. For they grow only to be cursed and destroyed, not to be blessed. Therefore as often as you see a greedy man, you see a man perishing and ruined. (AE 5:373)

Our prosperity is tied up with Jesus. It may be that we live comfortably in this life. Or not. But since Christ has done all things well, and He has done all things well for us, we need neither fear nor accept the fraud of this world. Even if we think we’ll miss out on something big, we have the bigger promise of prosperity: the Kingdom of God.

Jacob is not the deceiver, neither is God deceived, Who made him. It is satan that is deceived and it is our sinful nature and death that Jesus defrauds on our behalf. They may have their way for our short lifetime, but they are ending.

Indeed, the victory has already been won. Jesus says, “Take heart, I have overcome the world”. Fraud is not God’s invention, so we don’t have to fear it is His work against us. “Goods, fame, child, and wife let these all be gone”, we sing. And we can sing because we receive a hundred-fold back to us, in the end.

The wicked have their reward now and it will be exhausted by the time the Lord returns. Those who store up treasure in heaven will have it for eternity. For our Lord takes the fraud upon Himself, which is why revenge is not an option. Forgiveness is the only option.

Fraud put God at risk, Jesus’s fraud is written, scored into His body. In Christ, God shows His strength by taking responsibility for the fraud, though it was sin and not His, and overcoming it. “Can you rob God”, He asks in Malachi 3:8-9. He continues: “Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me.”

And since this is true, then Jesus’s Church is the only real place. Do you need a noble cause to support? Then support your Church. Do you feel everything and everyone is a lie? Then support the Promises of God in Word and Sacrament. Will no future be secure, no matter how much land, time, or money you give to this or that cause? Christ is the Cause and Creator of all things and His effect is the forgiveness of your sins.