Faith, The Gift [Trinity 16]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 1 Kings 17:17-24

• Ephesians 3:13-21

• St. Luke 7:11-17

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 to you all this morning saying,

“Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ’God has visited his people!’”

 
So Jesus produces fear. Bet you never saw that coming. Yes, He produces a two-fold fear. One fear for sinners, for when they see the dead raised they cannot help but cower. Not only is God real, but He can undo the only real power they have: to kill. The second fear is for believers, for when they see the dead raised they cannot help but bow down in the dust. Not only is God real, but He can undo the only real power over them: death.
 
Thus, Jesus raises the only child at Nain and gives him back to his mother. And St. Paul, from the Epistle, prays that you do not lose heart over such suffering and death, as if those things could cancel each and every Promise God has made to you. They can’t, but you believe they can. This is why you must notice and remember St. Paul’s words when he prays for you. 
 
When he prays, he doesn’t pray for you to have your best life. He doesn’t pray for your bank account, or even that you be strengthened in power to overcome sin and the devil. Notice and remember that St. Paul prays for you to have strength and power enough to have Christ dwell in your hearts through faith. 
 
Faith is the most important and in your sin, you are too weak for it. St. Paul’s prayer flies in the face of our own prayers, because we usually pray for strength and then rejoice when we do it ourselves. St. Paul’s prayer is important for 2 reasons: 1) because it seems to be a coincidence that only able people are gaining strength from God through prayer and 2) faith in Christ trumps even having your loved ones rise from the dead.
 
To address the glaring coincidence, Father Spangenberg, a pastor from Reformation times, writes a satirical letter from these false apostles St. Paul is writing against, in Ephesians. The false apostles say, 
'Behold, Paul preached and professed great things about being sent by Christ Himself, and doing more than all the other apostles. And you gloried in him so much, and stuck to him as if he alone were of any worth. Where is he now? How can he help you now? He is sitting in Rome, not only condemned to death by the Jews but also in the hands of the Emperor Nero the tyrant. Haven't we told you for a long time that he would end up like this? It seems to me he has lost that boast that he used with everyone.
If this doctrine were right, God would not have let him suffer such things.” 
 
Now, I put it to you that there is not one person, not one, spoken of in the Bible that, when God drew near to them or began to visit them, they did not suffer. From Adam to you, when God draws near, He brings His demand for repentance and therefore feels foul. 
 
This is easy pickins for these false teachers. They teach that since God wants good for you, that that will always translate into the kind of good that you like. In this case, St. Paul would not be suffering and the widow’s son would not have died. But because you did not confess Jesus as Lord sincerely, you suffer. Maybe you should reconsider this Christian thing, because the man you follow isn’t so chosen, after all.
 
As always, return to the Word. We have already shown that each man or woman God came near to in the Bible suffered because of it. Which of them were given victory, or success, or anything positive that lasted for longer than 2 minutes?
 
Even both widows, after receiving their sons back, had a moment of joy, but what comes after? I thought I told you to clean your room? Why aren’t you helping around the house? Didn’t I say stop hanging around with those people? Why don’t you call me once in awhile? How much to get you out of jail?!
 
You know what? Maybe its every other parent, except you, that has the perfect children, the perfect house, and the perfect faith in God. 
 
St, Paul slaps you in the face: Do not let this offense frighten you, that even though God promises good, we cannot see it. If we are taken captive, suffer anguish and affliction, or find glory or shame: abide in what I preached to you, which you know is God's Word and the Gospel. 
 
Repent. You are not perfect. You are not even Instagram perfect. Those false teachers are just Jews in disguise, repeating the same, tired accusations against Jesus, heard in St. John 8: “Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” (v. 52:53)
 
St. Paul answers it this way: I am nothing (2 Cor 12:11). So how does one, who confesses he is nothing, gain strength and confidence in favor he cannot see or even measure? Christ is everything. That is how.
 
To the world, Christians’ cross and suffering are worthy of mockery and scorn. Worse than that, we beat ourselves up, when it comes to tribulation, because we think God hates us and hangs the cross over our heads, just as He does to criminals. The worst is when our pastors fall in some scandalous way. 
 
To all this abuse we may answer, “It is for this very reason that I know that this doctrine is right and God’s Words”, because the devil, the world, and my sinful nature fight so hard against it. 
 
Only the abuse, suffering, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ produces eternally good things. St. Paul is adamant, he suffers for you, for the Church. He is not suffering for Jesus, as in gaining points with Jesus. He is suffering because his Savior has suffered and baptized believers are imitators of Christ.
 
Jesus prays as St. Paul prays. He says to St. Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Lk 22:31-32)
 
Jesus is sifted like wheat by sin, death, and the devil. His faith did not fail and He returned from the dead to strengthen us. To strengthen us by giving us faith, that is, renewing and regenerating us in order that we once again be able to possess the Image of God.
 
Jesus is the only Son Who cries out in the midst of possessing our fear. “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus does not learn fear for our sakes, He experiences His own for our sakes. He experiences it and makes it irrelevant to those who believe in Him, simply at His Word: “Do not fear”.
 
Do not fear, because at Christ’s Word you are forgiven for your sinful fear. 
Do not fear, because at Christ’s Word you are given eternal life, where there will be no more suffering or death. 
Do not fear, because you have been granted Faith in the Crucified which gives you access to peace, strength, and power.
 
Peace to perceive, with godly wisdom, that all God does He does for your good. Strength to endure this corrupt world and your own corrupt bodies, and win out, in Christ, no matter what God places in front of you. And power to believe, power to receive Christ, power to be made a Christian through means.
 
This is the true power and strength of a Christian: to remain faithful. It is not ability or inability. It is not courage or fear. It is not length of life. Christ’s ability, courage, and life are the gifts He freely gives in His Church, in order that, when we become unable, Christ will raise us up once again.
 
Suffering brings and creates more than hope. It brings God’s work of forgiveness into your lap, good measure, pressed down, and overflowing. Notice the “pressed down” part. That is, by Word and Sacrament, God gives His work through His Son, by His Spirit so that you can find help in a man.
 
First, the God-man, Christ. Second, the men He chose to send, His Apostles. And third, the men they Called and Ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry after them. Yes, these men remain sinners. Yes, these men may offend you. But the Ministry is not theirs. The Word is not theirs. The Sacraments are not theirs.
 
Just as life is not death for this young man and his mother, because the faith once given in the Word, is able to become flesh and raise this young man from the grave. His faith saved him. Faith is key. Not blind faith, but active, living, and informed faith. Even though the body which houses it may be dead, your faith saves you.

Blessings of God [Trinity 15]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

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?”
 
And, “God shall bless us”, says Psalm 67 (v.6-7) and even though today’s Gospel seems to present blessings we have to earn, it is not so. God is a God of blessing. It is His nature to bless. He will do so regardless of what we do. However, today Jesus makes a distinction between the believer and the unbeliever. Being a slave to Mammon gains anxiety and worse, evil. Being a slave to God, to Christ, gains contentment.
 
This is how we see the world. Our sinful worldview is a struggle between anxiety and contentment. And in that struggle, the world benefits from you being an all-around decent human being. The world has already figured out, being a decent human helps more than just yourself, but also the people around you and the rest of the world.
 
“A little kindness goes a long way” or some junk like that. And its true and you can see it and test it. Being kind to others sparks in them some kindness…sometimes. And it gets passed on…but not always. This low rate of success produces anxiety. Some people will even mistake kindness and reliability for privilege and cause even more anxiety. They don’t realize that their continuous sour attitude towards others is what pushes them away, not any sort of made-up privilege.
 
The Law of God is the law of the land. Because the Law of God is the Law of the land, being content with your lot in life is considered valuable, even among those who don’t believe. “Duh”, you say, but not so fast. You see, even though the world may value this trait, it does not promote or teach it. 
 
When you walk into a meeting for a corporate hostile takeover, you will not find contentment valued, but anxiety. When you come upon a protest group, or listen to a podcast, or turn on the TV all that is held up as worthy is anxiety. 
 
This is why, when a Christian comes on the scene, he is able to offer clarity because his values have been properly ordered under God. The Christian, or I should say, Christianity makes the world a better place, as opposed to any other religion, by truly bringing God’s blessings to the table. Not by their own virtue, but by the virtue of God’s Promise to bless. 
 
So, its not just morality and good feelings. First and foremost, it is God’s work. Second is the fruit of His work: morality and good feelings…sometimes. This is the reason for Jesus bringing up the separation between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Mammon, or civil life.
 
In the civil realm, the Christian is valued for his morality, but his morality is not his strong suit, of which he is often accused. Its a suit that doesn’t even fit, if only because we are still anxious and still worrisome, even after being told that the Eternal God has His mind on the things our life and body need. 
 
Repent! Those things, that “daily bread”, God grants even to all evil people, not to be fair and balanced, but to teach that the Lord’s Kingdom will be distinguished from the civil kingdom. “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7) and man’s “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9)
 
In other words, the Kingdom of God is hidden. But, if it is hidden, how are we to seek it? I assume none of you possess some sort of dimensional sword that can tear open time and space in order to reach where God’s Kingdom is. No, it can only be reached through suffering, through the bearing of the cross, as our Crucified Savior has already said.
 
Righteousness can also be found, somewhat, on earth, but the problem is we are to seek “His Righteousness”. That righteousness, that standard to which God conforms, is Himself. God is righteousness. The bad news is you are not God, so you will never be “His Righteousness” and will always miss the mark and will always miss the Kingdom.
 
Is this cause for despair? Only if you are seeking your own kingdom of works and reason, for the Lord is coming to judge works and reason in His Righteousness says Psalm 96:13. God’s Righteous Kingdom, to the sinner, means judgement and death. Yet, He also speaks of a Promise saying, “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).
 
Not actual kissing, mind you, but an intimate marriage. A union of the Righteous Kingdom that comes to judge all flesh and the peace which passes all understanding. A reconciling of sinful hearts to the Heart of God. 
 
It is into the midst of this impossibility, of a union with perfect heaven and perfectly corrupted earth, that Jesus steps. Not, mind you, as some sort of political or ethical inquiry, but in His own Body and Blood. In order to show and to teach that it is only the Blood of God that contains the Righteousness of God and it is only the Blood of God which gives the Kingdom of God.
 
Anxiety. Contentment. What do they accomplish? There is a futility there. A futility of sin that hounds and drags us down, every step of the way. So we are to live by the Spirit, says our Epistle reading. We are not Spirits. It is the Spirit of God alone Who lives by the Spirit. 
 
Into the Righteous Kingdom of the Father, the Blessed union of the Son, and the New Life of the Spirit, we are baptized. The glorious fact about baptism is not that it is some magical hooey that is more powerful than God, and makes Him do things He may not want to, but that God chooses to make His promise in the union of water and the Word. It is His will.
 
And it is His Word that says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn 11:25-26). The Word that says, “Baptism now saves you” (1 Pet 3:21). The Word that says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
 
Jesus Who knew no sin of His own, but made our sin His own, makes us the Righteousness of God, in Him. In His righteous holy, innocent suffering and death, He takes away the curses of sin and leaves only blessings. In His Kingdom, which is His and His alone, He secures peace married to righteousness. Meaning, in Christ the wrath of God is absorbed in full and the peace of God overflows in full to those who believe the words and promises of God.
 
Which are these Words and Promises of God?
Christ, our Lord, says in the last chapter of Mark (Mk 16:16) : “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that does not believe shall be condemned.”
 
Jesus is the source of the Christian’s blessing on earth. It is not merit based, neither is it apparent all the time, but it is grace-based. You are not able to tell who has more just by looking at their adherence to certain codes or standards of living. Solomon was so cared for and favored by God, yet the lilies out shine him. Why? Because by grace you are saved and blessed.
 
Jesus is both God and man. He is not Mammon, who demands earthly progress, earthly success, and earthy remuneration for his blessings. Basically, all your hard work just attributed to him, thief. 
 
Jesus is both God and man in order that He can make His Way known through which we may please God. Not earn His blessings, mind you, but believe and have it counted to us as righteousness, walking in His Way of the Cross. 
 
Look at our Old Testament reading. The widow, whom Elijah blesses with his presence, is not even named. She is not one of the rabble, but one of the thousands of generations to whom God shows His love, without any merit or worthiness in them. What was her work in all that? To despair and die? No, to receive. Elijah came to her, spoke to her, gave to her the infinite blessing of Word and Sacrament.
 
That is how we name these Promises of God we find in earthly means: Sacrament. Today, its baptism. Christ, clothed with wounds, clothes you with His righteousness. Christ ingests sin, death, and the power of the devil and you digest His true Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins. Christ is made anxious to give you His contentment in His Church of Promises.
 
So we receive His blessing with thankfulness. When someone says its a joy to work with you we say “thanks be to God”. When someone says nice save, or good catch, or you are an amazing person. “Thanks be to God”.
 
Likewise, when people say I’m so sorry for your loss, or you don’t deserve that, or that’s horrible; Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God because He gives blessing especially when life doesn’t. Because He gives blessing precisely where you are at in life regardless of your mindset.
Because He blesses in the midst of suffering just as our Lord and Savior on the cross proves for us.
 
In the Cross of Christ, Job’s words hit home: “Should we accept the good from God and not accept the bad?” (2:10). We accept both, because His hand that sends me sadness will turn my tears to gladness. He knows how best to shield me. For after grief God gives relief, my heart with comfort filling and all my sorrow stilling.

Rejected, dead Messiah [Trinity 14]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Proverbs 4:10-23

• Galatians 5:16-24

• St. Luke 17:11-19

 
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 to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice”

 
And also the words from our Introit: 

“Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of Thine Anointed”. 

Anointed. In Hebrew, the Old Testament language, “Messiah”. In Greek, the New Testament language, “Christ”. Far from being Jesus’s last name, Christ is one of His titles and it means “chosen”; Chosen of God.
 
We praise God for His Messiah, His Chosen, His Anointed Who has come to give victory to Israel’s people. In today’s Gospel, it is victory over the weakness of the body, getting sick and catching diseases at the drop of a hat. This, Jesus does immediately and mediately. First in healing the Samaritan, showing He is God, and then suffering, dying, and rising again to secure health for him for all eternity.
 
Our Introit has spoken to us of God’s Anointed and how we want God to look at His Face rather than our own, but who is He? Who is the Messiah and why did the Jews not recognize Jesus as Messiah?
 
Above all, the Messiah will be a human being, says modern Jews. Not a god, demi-god or other supernatural being.
It has been said that in every generation, a person is born with the potential to be the Messiah. If the time is right for the messianic age within that person's lifetime, then that person will be the Messiah. But if that person dies before he completes the mission of the Messiah, then that person is not the Messiah.
 
Just in case you were all wondering what kind of Messiah they are waiting for. And if you caught it, they are not waiting. For even if he is the messiah, but dies, then there is no messiah. Worse, if he is born at the wrong time, no messiah. If he breathes wrong, eats wrong, or even claims to be the messiah, there is no messiah. Always in the future, never the past, and absolutely never in the present. In other words, never coming.
 
Immediately, sinful man cuts off any and all forms of the Messiah. Why? Because we are of two minds. We want fulfillment of prophecy, but we want it done our way, that is, to suit our private tastes. Today’s Scientites do the same thing. When observing the world around them, they first rule out any possibility that something supernatural is acting and then say they have proven God doesn’t exist.
 
If you deny, outright, that the supernatural exists, then you cut off all that understanding, you lose knowledge. You throw it away even before any of that evidence has a chance. Similar is the Jewish messiah, or any other religious messiah for that matter. If you set the standard bar so high, that your description of the Messiah contradicts itself, then there will never be a Messiah that you will like.
 
This was Caiphas’s problem at Jesus’s Maundy Thursday show trial. As Jesus said, all of His works proved Him to be Who He claimed to be, Gods Chosen, but because He didn’t say the right things for Caiaphas, God’s chosen high priest, he condemns Him.
 
In fact, there are only two types of messiahs in the unbelieving world: god and human. 
 
The god messiahs couldn’t care less about the work they have to do. They may help here and there, but they are so capricious and sporadic that they may as well stay away, for all the good they don’t do and they have no skin in the game. The human messiahs are weak and die before they accomplish anything meaningful and usually leave behind a small cult that commits atrocious acts, in their name. The opposite of what we were hoping for.
 
Repent. This is the endless cycle of your unbelief. In regards to the Messiah, the top two offensive things that cannot possibly be, if there is a Messiah, are 1) that He must “rest in the tomb” and 2) that He must be rejected by you, not just Jews. We cherry pick the verses in the Bible and say, when we talk of the Messiah, it is only victory on the Last Day.
 
It is true that God speaks of His Messiah in terms of victory and it seems to be only earthly victory, such that we expect a king or military genius to accomplish. But, that would only be true if we ignore the verses which directly mention the Messiah. 
 
Some of those report that He must be rejected. Where does Jesus prophesy this about Himself? The first place is one we all know in Isaiah 53, “He was despised; He was rejected of men.” But that is not the only place. In Psalm 118:22 He is to be rejected by His own people: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
 
With this guilt-ridden accusation, of course the Jews would reject this Messiah. Who wants to be the generation that rejects God’s Chosen?? The godly Pharisee, Gamaliel in Acts 5, says it best: “So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these [Christians] and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (5:38-39)
 
Numbered with sinners and tax collectors and lepers and those with unwashed hands, Jesus is crucified between two thieves. He touched the unclean and the dead, which is haram. Nothing could redeem Him from those transgressions of God’s Law, unless He is the Righteousness of God, manifested apart from the Law. Which He is.
 
Another of the Messianic prophesies is to die, or rest in the tomb. Hopefully you know right away how this prophesy would offend anyone of any movement. There is no victory in death. Your followers need you alive to accomplish their goals. However, since Jesus is the Lord of Life, He can die and yet remain alive. He can suffer and yet sustain the universe. He can walk among the dead, remaining clean, because what He touches comes back to life.
 
Oh yes, it was the will of the Lord to crush Him (Isa 53:10), to kill and to make alive (Deut 32:39), but why should this be offensive? Aren’t you a part of the “Jesus is everywhere” crowd? It is not so hard to comprehend that the Lord walks among the dead and in hell. As the Psalmist states, “where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!” (139:7-8).
 
There must also be a rest in the tomb, not for Christ’s sake, but yours. So that, just as “God rested on the seventh day from all his works” (Heb 4:4), so too does “there remain a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” (Heb 4:8-10)
 
This is the offense. That before I can believe, before I can accept, before I can choose, God dies. And He dies to bring me to life. And He brings me to life, not to choose, but to witness His great work of salvation where He dies instead of me and I rise with Him to eternal life, that eternal Sabbath at His side.
 
This is the offense. That my own reason and strength rejects God with all its sinful might, not choosing the things of the Spirit of God, but my sin (1 Cor 2:14). But God did not wait for my consent. He chose to be rejected and condemned. Thus it is part of the eternal plan that I reject Him, see my sin, in order to see my Savior.
 
And in His work, He brings me to Him, where I find rest and mercy shown to my unmerciful self, and He will say to The Rejected, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God”. (Hos 2:23) He speaks salvation to me first.
 
The Messiah comes to be chosen of God. He comes to work and reap the fruit of His work. He does not come to hire us as workers and wait for us to get it right. He gets it right first, then invites us in. He finishes the job, then grants us rewards. He does all the work and, as God’s Chosen, finds His work validated and approved. Your work is not approved. Jesus’s is.
 
This is the true offense of God’s Messiah. That He comes to do His own work, quite separate from yours. He comes, in the flesh, to do work for fleshy people in fleshy ways. You can disagree or argue with Him about how He did it, but it doesn’t change the fact that His work is Spirit-filled, Body-filled, and how He wants it done.
 
If you have a problem with how He came to fulfill His own prophesy, you can take it up with Jesus in His Body and Blood. If you have questions as to how He is able to do such great things through earthly means, then you can approach His Throne in prayer. If you cannot comprehend His work in this world, then you can find His Church, live out His life there, and discover it for yourself.
 
For in a confusing, yet joyful and holy twist to spite sin, death, and the power of the devil, Jesus doesn’t just become the Messiah, He is the Messiah for always, but unites us to Himself so that we are also Chosen of God, in Him. He promises in St. Matthew 25, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (v.40)
 
In Jesus, the True Messiah is found. One that is neither god nor man, but both, 100% each, all the time. He is the perfect Messiah. Better than all the burden we put on Him and all the misinterpreted prophesy we swallow, Jesus takes both realms and joins them in Himself, beyond our wildest imagination. 
 
So that when He trots around the region of Mediterranea, doing Godly work, He can offer it as proof of His chosenness, as Nicodemus says, “no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (Jn 3:2), especially coming back from the dead. 
 
In taking on humanity completely, Jesus also gives God a face. Therefore, from our Introit, to ask God to look upon the face of His Anointed, is to ask God to crucify the Son of God, Jesus Christ. To blot out our sins that they might not count against us. To reconcile us to the eternal grace we were made to receive. 
 
To gain us entrance into the courts and tabernacles of God, finding that in Christ, we are numbered with the righteous, the holy, the innocent. That even now in the portico of His heavenly Bride, which we gather in today, we find the feast already begun, the wrath already abated, and our seat already paid for.
 
For Jesus is God’s anointed, Who took on our sin. He was taken outside of the city to be crucified, as was commanded (Lev 4:3, 12) and placed upon the wood of the cross. His Blood sprinkled upon us and our children, better than the blood of Abel, better than a billion military victories, better than a return to earthly power. 
 
Better because in this Blood of the Anointed of God we have redemption, grace, and forgiveness, as He said, “this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:28)
 

Imprisoned for Release [Trinity 13]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 2 Chronicles 28:8-15

• Galatians 3:15-22

• St. Luke 10:23-37

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 to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead”

 
This being the 13th Sunday after Trinity, “unlucky” may be one word we would choose to describe this Jew who decided it was a good idea to go down to Jericho, despite the dangers. Yes, I do not give him the benefit of the doubt. He may have been having a bad day at home or he may have been distracted by family and personal struggles, but regardless he knew the dangers, left unprepared, and reaped what he sowed.
 
This preferred action of the sinful human race is genetic, along with the quickness to fall into such obvious traps. For I am convinced, through Dr. Luther, that the Fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, was just as quick. I believe that immediately after the words “and God rested”, Eve held forth against the Serpent and the devilish meal ingested, giving paradise a whopping hour of existence. Maybe.
 
Just what do we find in our own lives? The same attributes. Quick to anger, quick to dumb decisions, quick to do everything that we will regret later. The funny part is, we know beforehand exactly what will happen if we choose these poor paths and still do it anyway! We call that the “heat of the moment”, as if naming it gives us an excuse for it happening.
 
Do we call our Jewish man from the Gospel unlucky? It looks as though we are the unlucky ones. But unlucky is also just an excuse for us. And excuses are used to hurt others and protect ourselves from any sort of responsibility. 
 
This makes us worse than the priest and the Levite, from the Gospel reading. In fact, this puts us on par with the robbers, those who have no thought to whom their actions hurt and make rash decisions based on their need “in the heat of the moment”. 
 
Repent. No matter what you do, you are accountable for your actions and no one else. Your favorite pastime is to find a scapegoat and modern medicine loves to cash in and help you do so. You blame parents, fate, or some feigned systemic oppression. You even blame God, but never in your wildest dreams would you think of pointing your finger at yourself.
 
This is the “imprisonment of sin” Jesus is speaking of, in our Epistle reading for today (Gal 3:22). The last penny you claim ownership of will be required to just post bond. Then, released with nothing, what will you do? What will you give to God? What will you give to your neighbor? With nothing, you will end up back in prison, preferring sin to struggle, and start the cycle all over.
 
 Worse than the robbers, we now take the role of the left-for-dead-man, unable to even accost our neighbor for survival as a robber. 
 
 Now the weight of St. Paul’s words are truly felt in our bones when he says: “I know that nothing good dwells in me” (Rom 7:18). Even the Holy Ten Commands of God which were given and written by God’s own finger, brought only sin and death (Rom 7:10). The walls of the prison are thick and the bars unbreakable.
 
 Turns out, when God wrote the 10 commands, a second time, for Moses, He began as He always begins: with the Gospel. The first time it was, “I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex 20:1). I did that for you before you did anything for me.
 
 The second time, there was more: “The Lord arrived in front of [Moses’] face and preached, ‘The Lord is God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation’” (Ex 34:6-7).
 
Then Moses worshipped and God went on: “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord” (Ex 34:10).
 
The marvel is that God arrives in the flesh. He locates Himself, able to be found quickly and fully. The Lord arrives for our Jewish man and sees him when he cannot see. He comes to him when he cannot move. He works for him when he cannot work. He binds him, carries him, and purchases him, not from slip ups, or mistakes, or bad decisions, but from the sin and death that produces such things inside and outside of him.
 
And he is resurrected. He may have been half-dead according to the robbers, the devil, and his sinful nature, but he was all dead to the Lord Who arrived on his behalf to raise him up. When the Lord arrives, He arrives physically, face to face in order to help and befriend in the body. When the Lord speaks, He speaks physically, vocal chords to vocal chords. The Lord comes to have mercy on whom He will have mercy, that is, to those dead in their sin.
 
 Just as He came to this Jewish man, to bind up His sin and death, so does He also arrive today in front of our faces, just like our Good Samaritan. Not that He’s just a nice guy letting everyone do whatever their heart tells them, but that He is a Good Guy. And a Good Guy does not leave their friends half-dead or even all dead.
 
 But they bring them back.
 
Thus, our only, true, and Good friend is Christ. Who, Himself, left His heavenly Home, to bring redemption to sinners. To make His way in the land of robbers and thieves. It was no public road He went down, but His own, private road. Created by Him, sustained by Him. 
 
 The badniks, not only usurped ownership of the Lord’s Way, but also blasphemed the bodies of His creation, the bodies of the dwelling place of His Holy Spirit. On top of that the people He chose, those whom He spoke to and sent, were not willing to do bad or good. He looketh for some to have pity, but there was no man, neither found He any to comfort Him (Ps 69:20).
 
 The Lord came, He saw, He had mercy. In place of the evil robbers, He was crucified between two robbers. In place of the do nothing “holy people”, the Lord came to show pity in Body and Blood. In place of death, the Lord gives His own life in order to secure eternal life for those on whom He has mercy, bringing them into His Inn of His Incarnation. That is saving them by oil and wine: His holy precious Word and Sacrament and His innocent, suffering and death.
 
 In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we see our sin and we see our Savior. In it, we do not find the instructions for getting rid of sin. Only the Faith preached to get the Savior into us. In our sinful rush, we choose sin without fail, and fall into the same traps over and over again. 
 
 In Christ’s righteous rush, He chooses our sinfulness, falls into our traps, and suffers our dire consequences in our place and for our sakes, such that we are freed from our robbery-ness, our priest-ness, our Levite-ness, and our half-dead-ness. Not free as in they are no longer around, but free as in, when they do come around, they come around and face us, their conquerors, in the forgiveness of sins.
 
The Law that imprisons all things, finds completion in Christ, and instead of condemnation, the Promise of Faith is given to all who believe. And even though the earthly prison, consequences, and death remain, Jesus has removed them as obstacles in the way of God’s own righteousness, for you.
 
 Instead of unlucky, now we are lucky, or I should say blessed and chosen. And even our unluckiness, or luck, cannot not take us out of the loving hand of Christ. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor robbers nor priests, nor Levites, nor luck, nor bad decisions, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39).
 
 And He accomplishes this right in front of your face, just as He did with Moses. He has mercy and He shows mercy, by arriving in His Church. The mercy, compassion, and purchasing power of God is found nowhere else except in Christ, our Good Samaritan, Who arrives on the scene with eternal medicine straight from heaven, able to heal forever, and poured out on us generously through His Spirit, onto our heads and into our hands and mouths.
 
This Word and Sacrament is given to us on earth, so that when we stumble and slip headlong into arrogance and wickedness (Ps 73:2-3), we also stumble and slip onto God’s mercy in His revealed Church on earth. In this gift from the Holy spirit, we are continually with Him, in and through all things. He holds our right hand. He guides, counsels, and afterward receives us to glory (Ps 73:23-24).
 
For though Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, you are imprisoned to be released, so that the Promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.