READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Ephesians 5:15-21
- St. Matthew 22:1-14
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father
and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.
Who speaks to you today, only through His Gospel, saying,
“‘Friend, how did
you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.”
Thus far from God’s Word, caused to be written that we may
hear of the wedding garment Christ provides to us. For in exchange, He took on
our sinful garments and ascended the cross. Likewise, it is only in the
preached Gospel that God offers the free forgiveness of sins, both to you and
to your neighbor and the world rages against this.
“Let the fighting men stop fighting this inhuman earth for
one hour and [we] will learn how much security there is”. That is none, except
in the Word of God. A quote from Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura Ingalls
Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame. What she means is that security is
not promised in this life or on this earth, unless its found in the promises of
Christ.
For the world is full of tragedy and disaster. You only have
to look a couple states away to find flooding and damage that no amount of
preparation could have stopped. These are the death throes of a world stained
by sin.
Though I would disagree that the earth is inhuman, in its
sinful corruption, it is rejecting life more and more until Jesus ends it. That
means that today, just as it was in the 1800s, life is a fight. And I have
quoted Ms Rose, because it is pretty near the mark of being the Martyr’s Motto.
The martyrs might have taken it a step further and say of
this world that there is nothing left for God’s Children. Since Eden closed its
doors, there is no garden to return to, no garden to walk alone in. The world has
no use for a loving God, thus the Christian is in a fight.
This is our Gospel today. The Friend without a wedding
garment is a martyr, though for the other side, seemingly. He stands up for
what he believes in. He does not change what he thinks. He even goes so far as
to bring himself in front of the opposition.
Though that is where he went wrong. “You will be brought in
front of governors and kings”, as in passive, says the Lord. You do not seek
your own martyrdom. Martyrdom finds you on the basis of the confession of
faith. We believe this, not to scare us, but to put martyrdom in its place. It
is what happens, but it is not what determines who is or isn't a Christian.
“You will be brought”. This Word of God leads us to our next
Reformation martyrs, the very first to die for the Evangelical message preached
by the Reformers: Jonny Esschen and Hank Vos. These two were young monks, of
the same order as Dr. Luther, Augustinian, and therefore were known by
Luther.
One day in 1523, Professor Luther stopped teaching his class
in Wittenberg for a moment to receive news from a messenger. “He began to cry
silently,” one of his students said later. The news concerned the two young
monks.
Their Augustinian monastery was in Antwerp in the
Netherlands and though Brothers John and Henry were still in the monastery,
they followed Luther’s teaching and taught it publicly. They had preaching
duties, and they preached the pure Gospel of justification by faith alone apart
from works, along with others from that monastery. The city’s people had been
coming in overflowing crowds to the monastery to hear their preaching.
That drew the attention of Jerome Aleander, who led the
opposition to Luther after the 95 Theses, and who wrote the condemnation of
Luther after his trial at Worms. Aleander then went to the Netherlands and
instigated the persecution of these monks who had turned Lutheran. No matter
what pressure was brought upon the monks, like the apostles in Acts 3 and 4,
they continued to preach Jesus with joy.
Soon their monastery was closed, then burned down, and all
the monks put into prison. Some escaped; Brothers John and Henry went into
hiding and eventually were found, arrested, brought to Brussels in chains, and
put on trial. “Trial”
They went to the inquisitors. They were given a chance to
live by denying the teachings of Luther. They said, “No, we will not retract
anything, we will not deny the word of God.” Their judges said, “We declare you
to be heretics, deserving to be burned alive.”
John and Henry were taken to the governing council and then
the executioner. When they were first bound to the stake, the executioners
waited half an hour, hoping their fear of death would make them retract the
faith they had preached. They responded by singing psalms. Their judges said,
“Become converted, or you shall die in the name of the devil.” – “No,” they
said, “we will die like Christians, for the truth of the Gospel.”
The fire was lit and the flames rose toward them. One of
them declared he felt at peace, “as if on a bed of roses.” The two said
together, “O Lord Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon us!” The flames burned
through their ropes; but rather than run free, one of them threw himself on the
fire, folded his hands and cried out, “Lord Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on
us!” They sang the Te Deum and the Apostles’ Creed, still confessing their
faith, until the smoke choked their voices. After four hours, they died.
It was July 1, 1523. They were the first Lutheran martyrs:
the first to be killed for refusing to deny Jesus’s Scriptural teaching of
justification by faith alone. That is, they refused to don the cloak and tunic
of the mad, sinful world and were ejected from it the only way sinful man knows
how: murder.
In response to God bringing new life to this dying world,
bodily, sin , death and the power of the devil reject it. They reject it
because it is not how we do things around here. They reject it because it
hasn’t been approved by the brass. They reject it, because if they accept, then
they have to confess their own sins of being wrong up till now.
Of course we sympathize with the persecutors and we must
repent of this sin. We become so inflexible and unloving that we believe what
will fix everyone, excluding me, is a good old fashioned crusade. You believe
with hard hearts and believe that persecution and suppression extends the
kingdom of God.
But take heed lest ye fall! Acts 5 says it beautifully, “…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!… So
the Apostles left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name (Acts 5:38-41).
This is first said of the persecution and murder of Jesus.
The world was quick to condemn Jesus, because He offered hope and solutions,
but at the cost of Confession. He offered joy and peace, but at the cost of
your inflated social status. He offered salvation, but you first had to believe
that you needed to be saved from a world that rages against the faith.
And to prove that to you, Jesus wore your body. He was like
you in everyway, except without sin. He so pleased God that all grew jealous,
because they thought God was pleased with them. But, in His Body, God revealed
the price of truly Loving God: crucifixion.
And everyone could tell that Jesus was clothed differently.
He was not fearful, He was not concerned with being honored by the mighty, and
He did not pay attention to man-made rules. Jesus was concerned about
Justification by Faith alone, wore it on His sleeve, and that’s how He was
caught.
You see, since the days of Noah, there has been a party
going on. Sure, God would show up every now and then, but it was not our days
and it was not in front of us. So, “they were eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage…and…were unaware“ (Mt 24:37-39). There has been a
worldly wedding feast going on.
Thus it was at the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus. He found
His creation celebrating and when He entered to join, He found they were
celebrating the death of God and their overcoming of Him by reason. When Jesus
shows up, it is a surprise. Is it true? Is He really God?
They cowered a bit, but realized nothing was happening. No
smiting, no thunder, no fire. Not only that, but Jesus was a man. Jesus was
wearing a godly garment to an ungodly party. He was clothed in God’s own
Righteousness and was therefore ruining the party. They bound Him, took Him
outside of the city, and crucified Him.
This seemingly heroic act, on the part of sinful humanity,
only proved one thing: that God’s Word is True and all men are liars and we
should distrust them wholly. This was also the greatest fault of Johnny and
Hank, to trust in God solely, such that now the act of murder hangs over the
oppressor’s heads, instead of the faith they thought they flaunted.
Dr. Luther wrote a ballad, so moved he was, called “A new
song now shall be begun”, as in the Gospel has begun to bear fruit once again.
In it, he sang, “Out from this world they both have trod;
Their heav’nly crowns they cherished; Like any pious child
of God, For His Word have they perished.”
In our Old Testament reading, verse 5, Isaiah prophesies, “Behold,
you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know
you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of
Israel, for he has glorified you.” That is, the religious establishment may
be comfortable, but God is calling those established by His faith, not by money
or vote.
On top of that, if you find yourself sinning to keep God’s
church on earth in order, then maybe you should step back and re-think your
life’s endeavors. What glory is there in creating martyrs? What glory is there
in having to resort to murder because you could not convince someone with your
“better ideas”?
There is none. But for Jesus and His Gospel, there is no end
to His glory, even in the grave. Not only has He given clear and bold
confessions of Faith on earth, but He has taken His godly garments into the
grave and back out again. He has run rough-shod through all the embattlements
of death and hell, defeating them at their own game.
Thus, the way to Life is open. Whether it is reached by
Jesus returning and taking us there directly, or through the Christian’s grave,
now sanctified by the Tomb of Christ.
“Do not get drunk on the wine of this world” but be filled
by the Spirit. This world will chew you up and spit you out without a second
thought. Best to be filled with the Gospel, Body and Blood, so that when you
are confronted with it, you recognize it immediately. And when you don’t find
it around you, the freedom from the guilt and condemnation of sin for Christ’s
sake, is the first thing off your lips.
The world is not idle in its corruption, but neither is
Christ. For you will be brought in front of the Judge’s seat, clothed in
Christ, and will live with Him by His side for all eternity. This, no raging of
the world, physical or spiritual, can take away.
