Monday, November 6, 2023

Death's Conqueror [Trinity 24]

 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
  • Isaiah 51:9-16

  • Colossians 1:9-14

  • St. Matthew 9:18-26




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:
“Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you.’ And instantly the woman was saved.”
 
Thus far from our Gospel reading today, which is included in God’s Word to give us heart, to give us courage in faith alone. Jesus is death’s Conqueror and Faith’s Giver and He does not leave us in the face of death or even in death. Holy Scripture points to God’s Will for us, on the cross, that we may remember we are mortal and live a life of forgiveness.
 
With the passing of All Saints Day and having glanced into heaven and the promise that waits for our arrival, the Church turns towards the Last Day, in these final Sundays of the Church Year. Not that we haven’t been staring down death all the Sundays of the Trinity Season, but today’s staring contest is a little different.
 
Death is the last enemy to be defeated and we have yet to face it. We feel we get close when our loved ones die, but facing it ourselves is on a whole different level. This is the lesson we learn from today’s two women in the Gospel. One died young, the other had to watch her life slowly drain from her, day after day. 
 
This we must face. It cannot be avoided. No matter the good days, no matter the bad days, when the Boss says its time to go, its time to go. That’s true and yet not true. God did not create death and He does not use it in that way. He uses death, allows death we should say, in order to accomplish His Will. That is all that matters. His Will. His Honor. His Name’s Sake.
 
This Will, Honor, and Name are all so mysterious for us. In our sin, we fail to see God and anything He is doing. At best we interpret His action through the lens of our own actions, which is a poor, sinful measure to use. This leads to misunderstanding and unbelief because if God is all powerful, why doesn’t He end all the unpleasantries today? Just like that.
 
Listen to the hint the Lord gives us in Ezekiel 36 (v.22-23), “Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”
 
Through You. Now we can take this in a few ways. The simplest way would be to chalk it up to miracles. That Jesus proves He is God by performing magic healings and feedings and counselling sessions on us, people. Technically, that is “through you” because He is using bodies to show His power. So, “through the miracles performed upon man, I vindicate my holiness”, or something like that.
 
However, not everyone received a miracle from Jesus, which would amount to His holiness not being very much. Another way would be to see that the Lord takes His own Body. “Through you” could also mean that God is going to do His work, but as a man, subjecting Himself to the same limitations. 
 
This is closer to the truth, because now God is doing the work Himself, not just through proxies. He has taken on our flesh and a reasonable soul, that is He is just like us in every way. He is doing the work behind a mask, we would say. A mask that allows Him to live among us without the mountains melting and the seas boiling.
 
A third, less truthful way to understand it, at least by itself, would be to believe that God has left the work to us. That somehow Jesus finished most of the work, but left some loose ends for us to figure out and tie up, proving that we are true followers of His Word. Less truthful, but still some truth in it.
 
Jesus takes a fourth way. Jesus does perform miracles, but they are not offered infinitely. Jesus does work in His own Body, but that is still “through God” and not “through man”. He also does allow His Name to stand upon our foreheads in baptism, but we are poor representatives of God.
 
While all these are in action, in Christ, the fourth Way is all of those, but most importantly, Jesus vindicates and creates His holiness through sinners! His rule is not an Iron Fist of mandates, but the meek and mild Gospel. His Way is the Way of the Cross, the bearing of the sins of transgressors, rebelling against His Will, His Honor, and His Name in order that He win them all back! 
 
Repent! It is not clean work. The Lord’s Will is to create things that are Very Good, as He said in the beginning. His honor is to hand all things over to us as caretakers, and He stakes His Name on this transaction, even going so far as to call us “His People”, such that, the real tragedy of sin is: when we commit it, we are publicly declaring that God would sin.
 
Therefore, it is with these same sins that Jesus heads to His bout with death. He does not shoot miracles at sin and death. He does not just use a stand-in to get the work done for Him, neither does He leave it up to us to face such impossible opponents.
 
The weapons He employs and the armor He dons are what have been corrupted by sin, death, and the power of the devil. He is not super-shiny, He is super-bloodied. His tools of salvation amount to betrayal, fatal scourging, injustice, dishonor, unbelief.
 
This is what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ takes to the cross and grave in His iron grip and when He rises on Easter, they are no longer with Him. Though they are of no use to you, your sin, your death, and your siding with the devil only aided God’s work of salvation. Super-backwards, right? 
 
Now, before you get any funny ideas, we do not sin to make the Gospel abound even more (Rom 6:1). There is no such thing. For all those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is no more death in Him. There is no more sin in Him. Therefore, there is no more death or sin in you. The Gospel, grace, cannot abound anymore than it already is, in you, in Christ. 
 
You are all on your way to the Last Day, therefore we must gird our loins and keep our lamps burning, as our Lord says in St. Luke 12 (v.35). It is only our lamps of faith that enlighten our eyes to see and our ears to hear that our cries are directed to the Arm of YHWH. The Arm Who made us worthy to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (Col 1:12) as our Epistle taught.
 
You have been saved, not just made well. That is, the Light of the World has shone light upon you, in your darkness, and has also fed you His Light in His Body and Blood, so that now the Light shines in you, as well. This light is the light of your inheritance. You are a descendant of darkness no longer. 
 
The Church of the Holy Spirit Calls out to you. The Gospel He speaks delivers you from darkness, suffering, and death. And even though those were key to purchasing salvation, that was only for God. For you, there are no such things. For you, you have been given the Kingdom. For you, you have the garment of Christ. For you, you have the touch of Jesus in Word and Sacrament. 
 
His Word and Sacrament He keeps in His Church and these things guide you and keep you within His Will, Honor, and Name. For it is the Will of God to save you. It is the Honor of God to forgive you. It is the Name of God that names you: Saint.
 
Through our Gospel heard today, the Church wishes to say: Look, just as the Lord healed the sick woman the instant she touched His garment, so will it be on the last day when all diseases and suffering will suddenly disappear. And as the maiden was awakened from death by the mighty word of Christ, so will the dead rise up from out their graves and shine with the freshness of youth. 
 
When we visit a cemetery, we could well say in the words of our Savior:
They who lie here in their graves only sleep. What till now we have called death is but a sleep.
Yes, let us believe firmly in the resurrection of the body.
 

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