READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
1 Kings 17:8-16
Galatians 5:25-6:10
St. Matthew 6:24-34
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father
and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 John)
Who speaks you this morning saying,
“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?”
When Jesus says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock”, in Revelation 3, He is not dropping by for a spot of afternoon tea. Since He is there, physically at the door, that means this is the last day. He has returned. Times up. But what He has come to do, the verse goes on to tell us: “if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”. That Jesus is present, to eat and drink, is key.
Take a moment to ponder the miracle taught to us from the Old Testament reading. It is quite amazing that the three (water, jar, and jug) did not run out of contents, feeding three people for many days in the middle of a three-year drought. Which tells us, of course, that something more amazing is happening than just a miracle of flour and oil.
Indeed, the widow only receives Elijah because he speaks God’s Word, saying “Thus saith the Lord” and then, “What have you against me, O man of God”, accusing Elijah of letting her son die in verse 18. Though harsh, she still acknowledges his authority as God’s presence in front of her. And finally, after her son’s resurrection, she says, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24).
The widow’s belief from the beginning was that Elijah was God’s chosen and that what he spoke would come to pass. It was Elijah’s presence on the scene that made all the difference with the drought and with the son. It was God’s Word, present, by Elijah, literally visiting this widow, that was the real miracle.
Between Elijah being there and Elijah not being there is the difference between night and day. There just is no substitute for having a real person present to administer. You can send all the birthday presents and cards to your son you want, but if you aren’t at his party, it will never be enough.
Presence is extremely important. Unfortunately for Elijah, he is not omnipresent, can only save one widow and one son in one place, and will be taken away ending his career of miracles.
Later on in history, Jesus gets people’s hopes up, when He arrives on the scene. This is because He does similar work to Elijah. In St. Luke 7, Jesus also encounters a widow and raises her only son in the city called Nain (v. 11-17). Also similar to Zarephath, the people use just about the same response saying, “God has visited his people!”
In other words God is present in the midst His people. However, you must repent of the perilous sin of thinking that God is among us only in your heart, only in His spirit-ness, or only in the works you do. Was the widow’s heart going to bring her son back to life? Does your heart do that for you? Do spirits give us glory, food, or clothing? Do our works change anything about our faults and our faulty world?
We incorrectly hear Jesus in St. Luke 17:21 say, “behold, the kingdom of God is within you“ and begin to believe that faith is only a matter of the heart. That “Jesus dwells in me”, means that I can now produce the kingdom and righteousness of God by feeding myself, clothing myself, and not being anxious, utilizing self-help or self-medication.
Moses is our judge here as he recalls his argument with God in Exodus 33. At that part of history, the people had just received the commands from Moses’ hands, seen the fire and lightning on mount Sinai, and penitently drank water mixed with the remnants of the golden calf. This was a place of power and refuge. Why would they leave?
Moses expresses this in verse 15 saying, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here”. As if to say, God you must be one of those local spirit-gods, confined to one place. We should just build here, where you are. Sounds familiar: “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
The Lord disagrees. It is time for Him to go. Exodus 33:14 “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” and Zechariah 2:11 “And I will dwell in your midst”.
The walks in the Garden of Eden, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, and Moses and the prophets. All were pointing forward to God’s intent of dwelling spiritually and bodily with His people. You do not need to make excuses for God’s apparent invisible dwelling with you. He has come to dwell in the flesh.
Jesus Christ has come to dwell in your hearts, in His own body! A body within a body. He is not messing around with dreams or emotions. He comes among His people as One with His own words, His own thoughts, and His own presence. And He is present just as He intends and just as He promises to be.
In the face of all our doubts, God was made man and dwelt among us. In spite of all our unrighteousness, our dead sons, and our mocking of God, Jesus takes His own reasonable body and soul. He does not wait for any of our sin to show up violently in our bodies neither does He wait for any of it to be resolved.
He simply does what God does, that is be merciful, because He is merciful, and rescue sinners because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. That’s it. No stipulations, no prerequisites, no goals to meet. All is done without you, yet all is done with you in mind. Indeed, your life and body are more than food and clothing. They also require rescue.
Rescue, but not without your life and certainly not without your body. Rescue in your life and in your body. Just as with Elijah, it is not the miracle that is important, but that someone is there to perform the miracle. So now, in our time, it is no different. In order to seek first the kingdom of God, it has to be in a place that is able to be sought.
Jesus saying, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” in Isaiah 55:6 is unfair if He is invisible or just a spirit or only in our hearts, cuz I can’t go into your heart to find Him. This is why St. Luke doesn’t say, “the kingdom of God is within you”, but “the kingdom of God is in your midst”. Jesus is in your midst. In Christ, “Seek the Lord while He may be found” means “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved”.
The presence of Jesus’s Body and Spirit are necessary to fulfill and win God’s Righteousness, for you. In Word and Sacrament, you find the Lord. In Word and Sacrament, you find the kingdom. In Word and Sacrament, you serve God, not Mammon.
Ephesians 1 says, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses”. Christ is both God and man. Elijah and you, are just men. You could heal one son, but Jesus can raise them all. You can comfort one person, Jesus can comfort all.
You can only gather inside your own head, but Christ can gather all in His body, the Church. So you are gathered, unless you don’t believe. But there is no other place on earth where you can find God, find His righteousness, and find His Kingdom, for you. All is in the Son of God, given by the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament.
For this very reason, in our Collect of the Day, we prayed for the Church. We prayed for cleansing and defense. We prayed for safety and aid. We prayed for preservation, help, and goodness all through Jesus Christ in His Church.
And Jesus brings it. Here. He brings it all, but only in His Body. He does no work apart from His Body, just as the Spirit does no work outside His Word and just as the Father does no work outside His creation that pertains to your salvation. The Church is the only place to find God’s Righteousness and the Church is where that exact God-Man is gathered around. So y’all come!
Who speaks you this morning saying,
“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?”
When Jesus says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock”, in Revelation 3, He is not dropping by for a spot of afternoon tea. Since He is there, physically at the door, that means this is the last day. He has returned. Times up. But what He has come to do, the verse goes on to tell us: “if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”. That Jesus is present, to eat and drink, is key.
Take a moment to ponder the miracle taught to us from the Old Testament reading. It is quite amazing that the three (water, jar, and jug) did not run out of contents, feeding three people for many days in the middle of a three-year drought. Which tells us, of course, that something more amazing is happening than just a miracle of flour and oil.
Indeed, the widow only receives Elijah because he speaks God’s Word, saying “Thus saith the Lord” and then, “What have you against me, O man of God”, accusing Elijah of letting her son die in verse 18. Though harsh, she still acknowledges his authority as God’s presence in front of her. And finally, after her son’s resurrection, she says, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:24).
The widow’s belief from the beginning was that Elijah was God’s chosen and that what he spoke would come to pass. It was Elijah’s presence on the scene that made all the difference with the drought and with the son. It was God’s Word, present, by Elijah, literally visiting this widow, that was the real miracle.
Between Elijah being there and Elijah not being there is the difference between night and day. There just is no substitute for having a real person present to administer. You can send all the birthday presents and cards to your son you want, but if you aren’t at his party, it will never be enough.
Presence is extremely important. Unfortunately for Elijah, he is not omnipresent, can only save one widow and one son in one place, and will be taken away ending his career of miracles.
Later on in history, Jesus gets people’s hopes up, when He arrives on the scene. This is because He does similar work to Elijah. In St. Luke 7, Jesus also encounters a widow and raises her only son in the city called Nain (v. 11-17). Also similar to Zarephath, the people use just about the same response saying, “God has visited his people!”
In other words God is present in the midst His people. However, you must repent of the perilous sin of thinking that God is among us only in your heart, only in His spirit-ness, or only in the works you do. Was the widow’s heart going to bring her son back to life? Does your heart do that for you? Do spirits give us glory, food, or clothing? Do our works change anything about our faults and our faulty world?
We incorrectly hear Jesus in St. Luke 17:21 say, “behold, the kingdom of God is within you“ and begin to believe that faith is only a matter of the heart. That “Jesus dwells in me”, means that I can now produce the kingdom and righteousness of God by feeding myself, clothing myself, and not being anxious, utilizing self-help or self-medication.
Moses is our judge here as he recalls his argument with God in Exodus 33. At that part of history, the people had just received the commands from Moses’ hands, seen the fire and lightning on mount Sinai, and penitently drank water mixed with the remnants of the golden calf. This was a place of power and refuge. Why would they leave?
Moses expresses this in verse 15 saying, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here”. As if to say, God you must be one of those local spirit-gods, confined to one place. We should just build here, where you are. Sounds familiar: “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
The Lord disagrees. It is time for Him to go. Exodus 33:14 “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” and Zechariah 2:11 “And I will dwell in your midst”.
The walks in the Garden of Eden, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, and Moses and the prophets. All were pointing forward to God’s intent of dwelling spiritually and bodily with His people. You do not need to make excuses for God’s apparent invisible dwelling with you. He has come to dwell in the flesh.
Jesus Christ has come to dwell in your hearts, in His own body! A body within a body. He is not messing around with dreams or emotions. He comes among His people as One with His own words, His own thoughts, and His own presence. And He is present just as He intends and just as He promises to be.
In the face of all our doubts, God was made man and dwelt among us. In spite of all our unrighteousness, our dead sons, and our mocking of God, Jesus takes His own reasonable body and soul. He does not wait for any of our sin to show up violently in our bodies neither does He wait for any of it to be resolved.
He simply does what God does, that is be merciful, because He is merciful, and rescue sinners because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. That’s it. No stipulations, no prerequisites, no goals to meet. All is done without you, yet all is done with you in mind. Indeed, your life and body are more than food and clothing. They also require rescue.
Rescue, but not without your life and certainly not without your body. Rescue in your life and in your body. Just as with Elijah, it is not the miracle that is important, but that someone is there to perform the miracle. So now, in our time, it is no different. In order to seek first the kingdom of God, it has to be in a place that is able to be sought.
Jesus saying, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” in Isaiah 55:6 is unfair if He is invisible or just a spirit or only in our hearts, cuz I can’t go into your heart to find Him. This is why St. Luke doesn’t say, “the kingdom of God is within you”, but “the kingdom of God is in your midst”. Jesus is in your midst. In Christ, “Seek the Lord while He may be found” means “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved”.
The presence of Jesus’s Body and Spirit are necessary to fulfill and win God’s Righteousness, for you. In Word and Sacrament, you find the Lord. In Word and Sacrament, you find the kingdom. In Word and Sacrament, you serve God, not Mammon.
Ephesians 1 says, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses”. Christ is both God and man. Elijah and you, are just men. You could heal one son, but Jesus can raise them all. You can comfort one person, Jesus can comfort all.
You can only gather inside your own head, but Christ can gather all in His body, the Church. So you are gathered, unless you don’t believe. But there is no other place on earth where you can find God, find His righteousness, and find His Kingdom, for you. All is in the Son of God, given by the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament.
For this very reason, in our Collect of the Day, we prayed for the Church. We prayed for cleansing and defense. We prayed for safety and aid. We prayed for preservation, help, and goodness all through Jesus Christ in His Church.
And Jesus brings it. Here. He brings it all, but only in His Body. He does no work apart from His Body, just as the Spirit does no work outside His Word and just as the Father does no work outside His creation that pertains to your salvation. The Church is the only place to find God’s Righteousness and the Church is where that exact God-Man is gathered around. So y’all come!
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