Worthy [The Feast of St. Matthew]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Ezekiel 1:10-14

• Ephesians 4:7-16

• St. Matthew 9:9-13

 

Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

 

Who speaks to you today as always, only through His Gospel saying,

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

 

In our Lord’s words to us today, we hear it, at His bidding, to see God’s desire for mercy, fully accomplished and given in Jesus Christ, true God and true man. This should point us to the lack of merit and worthiness in ourselves, not just in a negative way, but a positive. Negative being poor, miserable sinners. Positive being, my worth depends on Christ and not myself. We apply this to life by giving and speaking to others about this worthiness Jesus offers to all.

 

Speaking of unworthiness, St. Matthew writes after the events in his gospel. Why is that important? It is important because he consciously chose to include the words heard today. Embarrassing words. Shameful words about himself. Anyone writing for posterity would not include these words, unless they added a caveat.

 

The caveat usually goes like this: yeah, I was bad and made bad choices, but when I turned my life around, I did good-er and am thankful for it. We quickly add the “good-er” part, because we want to make excuses for the bad parts and not be judged, essentially saying, “I wasn’t that bad”. And by doing so, we hope to fool God into looking past the sins of our youth, and agreeing with us.

 

St. Matthew had no such fantasies, no such caveats. He lays his life out there in the open and the horrid sins he committed before he was called, as he was recalling and writing about Jesus. He allows the words of the Pharisees to stand which place St. Matthew squarely in the party of the sinners.

 

The same sinners of whom the Lord spoke in Genesis 13, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord” (Gen 13:13). The same sinners of which Samuel was told to prophesy, “And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners’” (1 Sam 15:18). And from Psalm 104:35, “Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more!”

 

Hearing it directly from God’s mouth, of course the Pharisees would have that same opinion in Jesus’s time. It is simply a matter of justice and God is a God of Justice. If the sinner and his lawlessness were allowed into heaven for eternity, it would be hell. 

 

It would be no better than where we are at today, where the wicked fill their bellies and get away with murder, theft, and wars. There would be no point in promising heaven, no one would want to go, and God would be labelled a false god, not worthy, Himself.

 

There would also be no point in following or paying attention to anything St. Matthew wrote. How could you trust a man to claim to have written a gospel book with a past like his? Did you hear what he tweeted back in college?!

 

Repent. The United States’ favorite pastime is no longer baseball, but character assassination. Breaking the Eighth Command is your favorite hobby. You love to call into question the past of your opponents, especially when it has nothing to do with the issues at hand. Because if you can break their public image, you can break them. 

 

If you can call attention to them, then no one will pay attention to you.

 

If you point your finger, three point back at you…so just point with five and you’ll be golden. 

If Christianity were up to us, to build, to maintain, and to increase, there would be no Christianity. If our worthiness were up to us, we would forever remain unworthy. If Church were based on how well we portrayed it to others, no one would be Christian.

 

St. Matthew knew this and wrote his gospel book thus in order to teach just such a thing. We are disciples at St. Matthew’s feet and he preaches to us saying, “Look. If I were making it up, why would I character assassinate myself? Why wouldn’t I want you thinking so highly of me so that you say, ‘truly he was a righteous man, worthy of God’s pen’”? How am I going to fleece you of your cash, if I made a living fleecing others and you knew it?!

 

And Jesus knows it. Therefore, He teaches, “He who through faith is righteous shall live” (Rom 1:17). Jesus doesn’t want you to believe in yourself. Jesus doesn’t want you to believe in St. Matthew. Jesus wants you to believe in Him and His Worthiness. 

 

St. Matthew wants your faith squarely on the crucified shoulders of Jesus Christ, so he retains his sinful past to show that it was at the Word of Jesus that he left his lucrative, comfy lifestyle, to pick up his cross, and be hated and martyred for the Truth.

 

What the Lord did for St. Matthew, He can do for you for just 30 easy installments of 99.99. 

Or as St. Matthew actually said it, “the sick have need of a physician; the sinners have need of a Savior.” 

 

But a Savior cannot be worthy Who dirties Himself with sin, Who stands in the way of sinners (Ps 1:1), as the more-righteous-than-you Pharisees conclude. A proper Savior and Son of God does not enter in the path of the wicked (Prov 4:14). But Jesus does. And He does so in two ways.

 

First, He does not commit sin. We usually read those verses as speaking about us, not Jesus. And we have underlined them in our Bibles, in order to come back and do them…later in life, because its all about me! Jesus stands in the way of sinners by standing with sinners. That is, next to them, with them in their life, going to where they are. That is how we should read those verses.

 

He enters the path of the wicked in order to reach the wicked, to talk with them, to reason with them. To discuss with them all that should be done about justice. What should God do with all these sinners?

 

Therefore, secondly, Jesus stands in the way of sinners and enters the path of the wicked in order to become sin and wickedness that He would be condemned, suffer and die with all sin of all time and regenerate us as righteous before God (2 Cor 5:21). He dives into the greatest and most wretched hives of scum and villainy in order to rescue those who need rescuing.

 

How else is He supposed to remain good and upright? As Psalm 25 says, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way (Ps 25:8). If He cannot talk to sinners, touch sinners, be with sinners, then they will be lost.

 

This is the love of the cross, born of the cross, which turns in the direction where it does not find good that it may enjoy, but where it may confer good upon the bad and needy person. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), Jesus says. (AE 31:57)

 

This is the love of the Word Made Flesh; of the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. That He Who was Most Worthy (Ps 145:3), Who is above all, and through all, and in all (Eph 4:6) was emptied, made Himself nothing (Phil 2:7) in order that you be full and complete and overflowing (Jn 15:11).

 

St. Matthew’s worth, then, was not based on his ability to keep up the appearance of a righteous, holy man. His worth was found, as Abraham’s was found: he “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6).

 

Dr. Luther said, “He is not righteous who works much, but he who, without work, believes much in Christ” (AE 31:55). In other words, the righteous live by faith. Faith is the lifeblood which justifies and makes right with God. And faith is a gift to those made worthy by the Blood of the Lamb.

 

The words "without work" should be understood in the following manner: Not that the righteous person does nothing, but that his works do not make him righteous, rather that his righteousness creates works. For grace and faith are infused without our works. After they have been imparted, the works follow. (AE 31:55-56)

 

Christ is our righteousness. Christ is St. Matthew’s righteousness and in Whom we are to believe, if we have faith in St. Matthew’s gospel. 

 

Christ is our worth. Our Confessions state it this way:

“worthiness does not depend upon great or small weakness or strength of faith, but upon the merit of Christ, which the distressed father of little faith (Mark 9:24) enjoyed as well as Abraham, Paul, and others who have a joyful and strong faith” (SD vii:71 ).

 

“For Christians who are of weak faith…troubled, and heartily terrified because of the greatness and number of their sins, and think that in this their great impurity they are not worthy of this precious treasure and the benefits of Christ, and who feel and lament their weakness of faith, and from their hearts desire that they may serve God with stronger, more joyful faith and pure obedience, they are the truly worthy guests for whom this highly venerable Sacrament [and sacred feast] has been especially instituted and appointed; as Christ says…”They that be whole need not a physician, but they that be sick”. Also “Him that is weak in the faith receives”…(Rom 14:3), for God has received [you]. For whosoever believes in the Son of God, be it with a strong or a weak faith, has eternal life (John 3:15)” (SD vii:69-70)

 

 

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Numbers 21:4-9

• Philippians 2:5-11

• St. John 12:20-36

Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

 

Who, once again speaks to you today, saying:

"While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. ' These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them."

 

Thus far from our Gospel reading, included in God's Word to tell us exactly where Jesus is hiding. It is important for Jesus to hide, because if He were among us as He was with the Apostles, we would simply take advantage of Him and turn Him into a figurehead for what we believe to be true. For this reason, God hides Himself on the cross in order that we find Him as the Crucified and Risen Savior.

 

Now, I know you know, because if you encounter anyone calling themselves "Christian" in the wild, they will speak about the cross, the cross, the cross. And although many "churches" are taking down crosses from their artwork and sanctuaries, it has always been understood as central to the Christian Faith.

 

From Pentecost on, the cross was both a revered symbol and a pejorative for believers and non-believers respectively. To not have the cross is to not have Jesus. So, we must ask the question: what does it mean to have the cross?

 

On this day, we especially bring focus on exalting the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not that we don’t every other day, but lets just say that if, today, you were to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem, or Rome’s Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, you would probably get to see a piece of the one, true cross. Possibly. Maybe. And that's the best explanation you'll get from them that believe it.

 

Allegedly discovered around 327 AD by St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great of Roman Emperor fame, newly converted to Christianity, she proved the truth of the true cross being found by letting a sick woman touch it. There were two other crosses as control variables. The woman touched the two fakes, and remained sick, but having touched the "real" one, she was healed. Thus far, the origin of today feast day.

 

In the ensuing years, basilicas and chapels were built to house other pieces of the true cross so they could be venerated and their true powers offered to the faithful that kiss and touch them, all quite apart from Jesus of course. They are under lock and key and guard so that no one steals them!

 

But why? If they have the power to heal, why are they not in constant motion around the world, healing those in hospitals and war-torn countries? Why are they not free and available? Not that such things mattered to medieval parishioners, because they trusted their pastors. They trusted them to teach that, relics?, why not? God can do anything He wants, right? Even imbue whatever He wants with His holiness anytime.

So what are we doing in Church, today? Why aren't we all relic hunters, trying to piece together God in this world in order that we have His Real Presence? We need to run after God, apparently. Where is He going this time? Maybe a phone booth in San Dimas, CA? We need to jump after Him. Maybe He's surfing the Jet Stream?

 

Regardless of my due or undue sarcasm, for the Christian the cross is central to faith and we get that from the faithful in the Old Testament. For the faithful in the Old Testament, God was not just everywhere doing anything He wanted. He promised to be somewhere in order that those who were there would encounter Him.

 

The promise was to leave a sign, or mark, to show where the Lord would be doing His work and continuing that work to the end of the age. It was not going to be a mark that would perish such as something made of wood that decomposes over time. The Lord says to Noah that the sign He gives will be forever, to all future generations. If Jesus wanted His actual cross to be that sign, we would have the whole thing, now. He is not weak.

 

The promise was the Sign and yet we look for signs and wonders elsewhere. The difference being that one sign is the Lord's Sign and the others are things we play with in the dirt, the relics, whether they are Apostles' finger bones or enough slivers of wood to build an Ark. We find it easier to trust in those things we can handle and touch, than in the promises of God.

 

We are so weak in sin, that we are like the Israelites and the serpents. Once bitten, we'd look to the sign of the bronze serpent, be healed, and go off to get bit again and love every minute of it. We'd feel as if we really are part of God's plan. If God wants to heal me, then I'll just go out and make myself sick. If God wants to forgive me, I should go out and gather as much sin as I can in my life, so He can forgive me bunches.

 

Dear Christians, you do not have to go far in life to find sin crouching at the door. But at that same door knocks the true, promised sign sent to rescue from such a deadly predicament.

 

At the start of this sermon, though I quoted Jesus hiding Himself, our clue is to where Jesus will show Himself. In verse 33 of the Gospel today, Jesus speaks to show us where He will be, that is what kind of death He was going to die.

 

In showing, He gives us the sign and Moses foretells it. The "pole" on which the bronze serpent was hung, was literally a sign. The sign of the bronze serpent is, not just that it hangs on a sign, but that the very thing that poisoned and threatened death, was the cure.

 

When the people looked upon their poison, they were reminded of their sin. The snakes were only there to punish according to the Law they had broken, that is despising the Lord's Supper that He had given to them in the desert.

 

Though looking at their punishment, they are saved by grace, made well again by looking at the very fate that should have been theirs. That is, suffering the consequences for their own sinful actions.

 

But they didn't. And they wouldn't. Instead, the stiff-necked people that the Lord brought out of Egypt would continue to be favored and blessed, only out of Fatherly divine goodness and mercy.

 

Continuing with the sign, Jesus also showed us the sign. The bronze serpent was just the pre-game, for no creature, great or small, nor any man redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him (Ps 49:7). And yet, the poison of the bronze serpent was taken into Jesus.

 

That is, the poison that leads to death: sin. With His life, Jesus became sin Who knew no sin. That is, He took all the poison that was killing His creatures into Himself, "they will look on Him Whom they have pierced" (Jn 19:37), and be saved. Not by the person, word, and work of the wood, but by the Person Who ordained that wood to hold Him up at His last breath.

 

The mark, the sign, for Cain was the cross. The sign for Noah was the cross. Every other sign and image was forbidden to Moses except this one: the cross on which hung the sins of the world. No other mark was given to the Chosen People of God, in the Old Testament, which signified the covenant between God and man.

 

Because no other mark is up to the task of signifying the reconciliation of God and man. The cross is, at once, the sign of our condemnation and the sign of our redemption. At the same time we see Jesus, unjustly condemned to death because of our sin, we also see the definite plan and foreknowledge of God at work (Acts 2:23).

 

From Pastor Gerhard of 17th c. fame: "We should interpret that fact that Christ was willing to give up His spirit on the wood of the cross as an announcement of His intention to restore what Adam had broken on the wood of the forbidden tree. For the first Adam has stretched out his arm to the forbidden tree-trunk, thereby bringing death upon all his descendants. Here the second Adam stretches out His arms on the timber-trunk of the cross and brings to us life and salvation. Here the fathers draw upon the fact that Noah, along with his [family], was sustained in the ark during the time of the flood (Gen. 7), and the Wisdom of God had thus helped him by means of an ordinary wood timber (Wisdom of Solomon 10). Thus this wood of the cross given to us as a secure little ship in which we can be preserved from the flood of divine wrath. The Lord God directed Moses (Ex. 15) to take a tree or timber and place it in the bitter water so that it might become sweet. Thereby it is signified that Christ's cross is able to take away the bitterness of death and every misfortune. (2 Kings 6) As the children of prophets wanted to fell some trees, the iron [head of the ax] fell into the water. Then Elisha cut off a piece of wood and plunged it into the water; thereupon, the iron floated to the top. The entire human race had fallen into deep, eternal damnation and was unable to rescue itself. Christ, the heavenly Elisha, came with the wood of His cross and lifted us up again. In Ex. 14, Moses struck the Red Sea with his staff so that it would divide and the Israelites could escape from Pharaoh. With the wood of His cross, Christ made it possible for the spiritual Israelites to travel through the Sea of Tribulation and to be rescued from the hand of the hellish Pharaoh." (Johann Gerhard. An Explanation of the History of the Suffering and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. 239-240)

 

When we hide Jesus in our churches, we lose Him. He is an afterthought to our reason and experiences. When Jesus hides in our churches, it is in plain sight and He hides in order that we find Him doing His own work, speaking His own words, and being His own person.

 

Jesus hides on the cross so that we cannot take Him off, meaning, now all our faith and belief must deal with and center on His work there. We must flee to His crucifix when we wish to see Jesus, we must flee to His excruciating and humiliating crucifixion if we wish to be exalted, and we must flee to His sacrifice there if we wish to live with Him.

 

Jesus has already made His suffering and death on the cross the crux of the matter. We receive His service offered to us there. Not as we interpret it, but as He ordained it. And He has ordained that we find Him, Word and Sacrament, just as Moses, all the prophets, and all the saints found Him: lowly, granting rest, and lying in our hands.

 

In this way, we are given the Light. To have the cross is to be crucified with Christ. That our puffed-up sins are crucified in this life. That our entire life is cruciform, taking up our cross, daily dying to sin and rising to new life, and following Him, having to find Jesus in Word and Sacrament.

What the super-spiritualists hope for in superstitions, the Word made flesh gives in Word, water, bread, and wine.

 

God's Kingdom, today [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 to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
 
Who, once again speaks to you today, saying: 

“seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”

 
Thus far our word of the Lord, spoken to us that we may hear of His Kingdom come. He reveals His Kingdom to us to know and believe that Jesus is all in all, that the kingdom has already come, and is already doing its own work. Thus, us finding it and leading others to it is as easy as “going to church”.
 
Of utmost importance, it must be made very clear to you, that to seek the Kingdom of God is to seek death. For, if Jesus inaugurates the kingdom with His own suffering and death, then you are at least chasing after the death of Jesus Christ, if not becoming more Christ-like. As we are commanded to seek the Kingdom, so also are we commanded to proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns.
 
This doesn’t mean that we have to go to our graves in order to seek the kingdom. We can find it just fine in this life, as the Lord says “Seek the Lord while He may be found” (Is 55:6). That’s our first comfort: that the Kingdom can be found. It sounds funny to mention that, but if the Kingdom is not available, no amount of searching will yield results.
 
So what is this kingdom we are to search for? You can do a quick Google search and gain thousands of videos and essays on the subject. And just about most of them will want you to look for a physical kingdom on earth. They will teach that there is a future king, Jesus, Who will rule it. They say that there will be territory, the new earth. That there will be laws, but they will just be the old laws, the Lord’s Commands and that there will be subjects.
 
But please note: it will be a future king, it will be tomorrow's world, it will be eternal laws, and it will be subjects to be determined, maybe not us. All in the future. Nothing for today because there is no way to know, right? There is no way to know who is God’s elect and who is not. There is no way to know when the new heavens and the new earth will arrive. There is no telling when Jesus will come back.
 
So what makes a kingdom to the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh? Uncertainty. Uncertainty and forever chasing after a carrot on a stick. Always tomorrow. Always a promised reward, but never delivered. 
 
Besides, Jesus has already told us what an earthly kingdom is like anyway. When Israel first wanted a king for sinful reasons, the Lord said this:
“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.  And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.  He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” (1 Sam 8:11-18)
 
Hmmm. That sounds familiar…
 
In any case, this is the result of kingdoms on earth and this will be the result were Jesus to return and, instead of ending it all, decides to hang out on earth for a thousand years or so. But that's a human kingdom, you say. That would never happen if Jesus were king of it. 
 
Have you ever asked Jesus if He wanted to be king? Some wanted Jesus to be king. First it was a large crowd in John 6 and this happened, “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself” (v.15). Jesus said, “Nope”.
 
It also happened again in Acts 1, as Jesus Ascends to the Right Hand of the Father. The Apostles say, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v.6), and Jesus is like, “Nuh-uh” (v.7)
 
Jesus appears to avoid the kingdom and yet we have this Kingdom of God spoken about and promised by Jesus in the Old Testament, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom [forever]” (2 Sam 7:12) and “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits”, from St. Matthew 21:43.
 
We begin to understand the Kingdom when we quit trying to take center stage in it. Oh we want the Kingdom, but only if we have a special seat. In our sin, we want Jesus to rule an earthly kingdom, because then we’re the chosen ones and get to wage God’s holy war against our neighbor to make sure they submit, or else.
 
Seeking the kingdom and God’s righteousness is not the new holy Crusade against the people you don’t like or who don’t look like you. In fact, you would make God’s kingdom to be so holy and so righteous, that not even Jesus would be welcome. That’s how sin works. “Come let us kill the Son and take His inheritance” (Mt 21:38)
 
“Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground”, says Amos 9:8, “except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob;”
Even if there were an earthly kingdom, it would not help you. In fact, we are living in the days of our earthly kingdom and this current year is what it has wrought.
 
No, no. When the Lord speaks of His True Kingdom, He speaks in prophesies such as “Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand, the Kingdom has come upon you, and is in you”, as in already present, at least in Jesus’s presence, when He was saying those things. 
 
When we turn to the Old Testament, funny enough, He is even more blunt. Psalm 103:19 says that His kingdom rules over all. Now, a kingdom can’t rule, the King rules. Why is He playing? Finally, Obadiah speaks truth and says, “The Kingdom is the Lord” (1:21).
 
The Sabbath is not greater than Jesus, in order that we hold His own creation against Him and falsely condemn Him to death. The Law is not greater nor is the Kingdom greater than Jesus. When Jesus comes to preach the Kingdom, He is doing nothing else but preaching Himself. 
 
Thus, the work of the Kingdom is death. Death and Resurrection. When we seek the Kingdom, we seek these things, because this is what the Kingdom has suffered and died for. The Kingdom was made man in order to be found by men. Any other kingdom would remain lost and out of touch, for it would be spiritual and we are far from that, in our sin.
 
And in order to find that Kingdom on earth, we find the work of the Kingdom. Or rather, we need to find where the Kingdom is working. Where He is calming anxiety. Where He is clothing the poor and giving daily bread. Where He His toiling to make you valuable and add eternal hours to your span of life.
 
In Christ, the work of the Kingdom is taken out of our hands and exchanged for rest. Though we are a part of the work, the True Work of the Kingdom is so much more than enforcing laws. For one, we cannot bring the Kingdom of God down to earth because it is already here. It came, it saw, it conquered before we knew it. Christ is victorious from the grave.
 
And another thing, the true work of the Kingdom is belief. St John has told us, “these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:31). The sinner cannot make himself believe any more than he can cause himself to be born, born again, or raise himself from the dead. 
 
Jesus, by grace, through faith, for His sake, gives us His Holy Spirit. If you are praying for the Holy Spirit to come into your life, you already have the Holy Spirit. The natural man does not love the things of God (1 Cor 2:14). But, the man who is born again, by grace, loves the Kingdom, hears His voice, and follows. And the man who is born again has died in Christ and been raised in Christ.
 
So, you seek death in order to seek the kingdom? You have been baptized. You seek new life in the kingdom? You have been baptized, raised with Christ. You seek holiness, peace, and purity in the Kingdom? Then you seek Christ and His Word and Sacrament, which is that godly life that we lead, here in time. And it is the godly life, lived in Word and Sacrament, that prepares us for eternal godly life, which is fully ours in Christ Jesus, today. 
 
“Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law” (Rom 3:21)
“Now we have been justified by his blood” (Rom 5:9)
“Now We are God's children” (1 jn 3:2)
“Now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2)
 
Now, today, we are in the Kingdom, for Jesus is the Kingdom and what He says, goes. And what He says and what goes is the forgiveness of sins received in His Church.