The 7th Command [Trinity 9; St. Luke 16:1-9]

Whom we hear today, speaking to us, saying,

“There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.”

Each command from God has two sides to it. The first is the actual act or commission. The second is neglect or omission. The first has you thinking about or acting out your sinful desires and the second is you not preventing it from happening to someone else.

So the manager who wastes his Lord’s possessions is guilty of stealing. Not only is he allowing the Lord’s goods to be mishandled and mistreated, but he is also holding them as not worth his time and effort.

This is not a new concept to the Jews. The very first Temple that was built by Solomon was great indeed, but it took less time and less material to build it than it took to build Solomon’s palace. Before that, the Lord sat in a tent, outside the comforts of the kingdom walls since Israel had conquered the place, some 100 years before, and had been in that tent since the time of Moses some 500 years before that.

Without even having to mention how the Lord’s creation is treated; in this way, God the Master is always the servant. The Servant God. The God who gives and is never repaid, or rather, can not be repaid. As your employer places his goods and his name on the line to hire you, becoming your servant, so the Lord, in giving you all good things, becomes your servant.

This is the proper understanding of how to fulfill the 7^th Commandment and, as I hoped you concluded, it is impossible. Since God can not be repaid, you can only take from Him. Whether you do so in good faith or with devious intent, you are a taker. The air you breathe; care to put a price on all you have used up to now?

You can see how, even if you do not steal or are never caught stealing, your entire life, it does not makeup for what you do steal from God. How unfair! How cold-hearted! But so very true. Whatever is under the whole heaven is God’s already. You have no claim on any of it.

Which is why it is only God Who can come and redeem, or buy back, what has been lost, namely, His things. Thus in our parable heard today, it is the Lord’s mercy that pays for all that debt, not unrighteous mammon and the manager being just a tool.

However, it is the shrewdness of the unrighteous manager that convicts us of our own sin. For, he is unrighteous and yet he comes to know his Lord’s possessions are worth what his Lord is worth and shows mercy with them.

Repent. The seventh command reveals an impossible debt piled up for you, but also a possible debt between you and your neighbor. You think you can repay God instead of helping your neighbor to improve and protect his possessions and income. You feel that if you just obey God, you won’t have to worry about taking your neighbor’s money or possessions and getting them in dishonest ways.

Yes, don’t steal from your neighbor. Don’t take his things by wrong or by show of rights. But also don’t presume that you can steal from God His glory of salvation or neglect the fact that He has already given you everything that is His to give in Christ Jesus.

God becomes a man in order that humanity might rob Him. Jesus opens Himself up to physical abuse and manhandling in order that He might give all of His possessions as an inheritance. In the abuse and death of Christ, we see the 7^th commandment for what it really is: a prophecy of a Savior come to serve sinners the forgiveness of sins.

You render to the Lord not one thing and that is a good thing! He could not be called the Father of all mercies if He required payment for anything He did for us. Knowing the 7^th command is not enough. Living for Him is not enough. The one thing you do for the Lord is to take.

Take what He offers. Take what He has to say to you. Take His washing of regeneration and rebirth. Take the faith given by His Word alone. Take His body and Blood. Take, take, take, because Jesus gives, gives, gives.

Jesus gives us God in a box; an infant shaped box at Christmastime. Jesus gives us a mighty king who grows up under His parents rule. Jesus gives us the perfection of all of God’s commands. Jesus gives us the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world on the cross and Jesus gives us His resurrected life.

The dishonest manager is praised because he shows us Jesus, bringing the kingdom of God to earth. He shows us that Jesus scatters and wastes His Father’s good upon undeserving sinners. This is because, like the manager demands of the debtors, Jesus does not pay us what we deserve.

When we are owed money, we are quick to send collectors and judges after our debtors, be they family or foe. When Jesus is owed justice and payment, He instead pays for it. “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, He says. Salvation is not bought with gold or silver or man’s works, but only by the Blood of Christ.

Do not seek to please God with payment of an amended life or good intentions. Instead pay attention. “…pay attention [to the Word] as to a lamp shining in a dark place…”. Sit down. Rest from your labors and receive the very Good things that Christ has prepared for you from the beginning of the world. All who work for their grace will be grieved. All who receive forgiveness from the pastor, as from the Lord Himself, will be comforted.

The gifts Christ freely gives are what we payback to God. The Cup of Salvation which you take and the Name of the Lord which you already possess. These are gifts to give to God or rather show that you have received them.

Jesus is God and His gifts, which can not be stolen, flow from the font, flow from absolution, and flow from the feast. The Divine Service helps us fulfill this command and prevents us from neglecting it. For you can not steal what is freely and abundantly given and you can not neglect something you have no power over and is offered all the time, to you, for free.

Amen.

You are holy [Trinity 8; St. Matthew 7:15-23]

The Lord Jesus Christ speaks, not just to His generation, but in history and to you today, saying:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

The wolves are cloaked. Hidden from your sight. Impossible for natural man to detect. As a duck blind blinds the ducks to the hunter’s presence, so also are you blind to the wolves. The blind leading the blind, as it were…

In an attempt to not fall victim to the wolves, or to become one yourself, you hear St. Paul’s words today and figure that if you just live according to the Spirit, and not the flesh, not only will you live, but you will be able to judge the wolves from the sheep.

You, however, quickly become bored with good works. You realize that not everyone is doing the works you are and you must make sure they know this. You judge them unworthy to receive Christ’s gifts by holding them in contempt.

In your own attempt to do the sheeply works God demands of you, you wolfishly devour them by one-upping God and instead do what you feel are better works. So, you prophesy, cast out demons, and do many mighty works.

These three flashy acts are the devil’s favorites, because if even one person supposedly enacts them, everyone flocks to them, throws money at them, and forms a cult around them. Yes, the Apostles did these things, but they, and they only, had the calling to spread the Church in this way.

So what are false teachers really after? It can not be the flashy works. They offer no camouflage for trickery and lies. What the wolves are really after is your holiness; your sanctification given to you by the Lord. Those who are already a part of the pack do not incite blood-lust quite like the justification through faith by grace for Christ’s sake.

The howl of the hunt is raised as Jesus opens your eyes in proclaiming the forgiveness of sins. In preaching Christ Crucified, the false prophets loose their camo as the light of the world falls upon them. Jesus is the wisdom of God and the wisdom of God sends His Son to suffer and die on the cross.

For in that event; in Christ dying on the cross, all righteousness is fulfilled. In this once-for-all, historic act that can not be undone, salvation has been completely accomplished. It can not be taken back, because time does not move backwards. Neither can it be undone. It is set in the stone of the past and upon that rock, true faith and the true Church are founded.

Returning to St. Paul’s words then, it is not enough to live in the Spirit, it is more important to be led by the Spirit. Works follow, but being led means you are listening and hearing the words of Jesus. Possessing the Spirit of Jesus commends you to God and gives His promised holiness.

And since your holiness is a gift from God, and is as eternal and unchanging as He is, it can not be taken away from you. No matter how many times you hear someone tell you, you need to be doing this or that to be a better Christian, you are called to the holiness of Christ. Regardless of life lived or works worked, you have it. It is already in your possession, for you are saved by grace alone.

Because this gift can not be taken from you, the false prophets desire it. They want to create doubt inside you, because they want you to reject this gift. This is the only way to lose it. Do you prophesy enough? Have you cast out your quota of demons? Have you extended God’s Kingdom? Are your works mighty enough? Do you even do any of this?!

Dear Christian, these are indeed godly works given to you to do, but a bad tree can not produce good fruit. The wolves love your works; to twist them and make you value them more than church, but they can not stomach the Word of God. Your faith is not based on your ability, but the ability of Jesus to rise from the dead.

Which means that now, your sanctification is happening. You are hearing God speak from His own, human lips and you guard and treasure the pure preaching of the Gospel. You give all of yourself to ensure that this is done among you, in a church. You sacrifice everything to make it to the correct administration of the Sacraments.

These are the promises God makes to you, in Scripture, and these are the promises you see right in front of your face. Your call to holiness is manifested in the words of the Spirit leading you to Jesus in the gifts of the Spirit, given and shed for you.

The false prophets hate that your sanctification is so secure. The wolves loathe that the Gospel and the Sacraments can not be changed or destroyed and that by them, you gain the entire kingdom of heaven. The devil rages and howls because your only purpose in life is to receive the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus lived, suffered, died, and lives still today. Through the torturous cross, He has secured healing. Through His scourging, He has produced comfort. Through His fatal wounds, He secures life for you. In the world, the tree of life looks like the tree of death, good works look like bad works, and holy living looks like bigotry.

There is only one good tree: Jesus. The thorns, thistles, and bad fruit that only produce death were struck down forever on the cross. They are no more and the real thing that the false prophets, wolves, and the devil can not stand is the fact that, even if they were to kill you, you would live.

Your life is now hid in Christ. Others may not see it, but Christ has placed His name upon you and washed you clean. Life may be confusing, but Christ has given His Word to be proclaimed. All we eat and drink may be slowly killing us, but the bread of heaven comes down to set a table that never needs replenishing.

No mere miracle [Trinity 7; St. Mark 8:1-9]

(Preached at Luther Memorial Chapel, Shorewood, WI)

Jesus speaks to you all today, saying,

“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.”

How fortunate for those people back then! How wonderful a miracle to behold, having had nothing to eat for three days, then to be fed by only 7 loaves of bread and a few fish. What I wouldn’t give to not have to pay my own grocery bill each week. I would give much more in order that God would enact this miracle today, in front of me.

Yet, everyone continues to try and convince me that there are miracles everyday. That I just have to look hard enough, and I too, can experience the miraculous power of God, just like those 4000 did on a hill in Galilee.

However the miracles they bring to my attention are everyday things that happen to everyone else, as well. To be sure, it is a great miracle that God looks after me and daily and richly supplies me with all that I need to support this body and life, but what about my enemy? What about God’s enemies? Why are they also well fed and cared for?

The curse of the Law is written on more than just your hearts. It is etched into your bones and scratched into all of creation. You get hungry. You starve unless you don’t eat. This is a law as well. You must eat to survive.

Jesus could have done a lot better with this miracle. He could have made it ongoing. Each generation could be fed with the amount of food produced by this miracle. Starving children in China would be a thing of the past. World hunger would finally be eradicated and UNICEF be put out of business.

Because that’s what Jesus is really trying to tell you here, right? That social evil must be stamped out and providing free food for everyone is exactly how you crush corrupt governments and tyrants bent on holding sway over their people by starving them. If everyone had food, we could then move on to weightier matters, like world peace.

If only you could call on God for a food-multiplying miracle right now and not have it show up in just some metaphorical way. Jesus does do this and even places the onus on you. Jesus says, “You feed them.” Jesus says that its YOUR job to give them something to eat. If it is your job, why multiply the food at all?

Repent. Jesus puts the feeding of the poor directly into your lap. Jesus gives you His law in order that you follow it and exceed the righteousness of both the Pharisees AND the Scribes. You are impoverished in a land of abundance. You are poor in a land filled with riches and here, Jesus is performing a miracle 2000 years in your past.

Jesus fed the 4000 and the 5000, but He did not feed them in front of you. Jesus may be doing miracles everyday, but they are for other people to see and not for you. What is yours is something far greater than a miraculous feeding.

Jesus is God. Jesus is man. He knows what it is like to be hungry and can end world hunger with a single word, but that is not what happens. The greater miracle that Jesus gives to you is a feeding that, as often as you eat and drink, has no end.

For you are liberated and made free from the curse of the Law. Christ feeding the 5 and the 4 thousand points not to social justice, but to the final removal of feeding. Meaning, that which corrupts your body and soul, sin, death, and the devil, is removed by God Who starves for life on the cross.

This is because it is not physical hunger that destroys faith. It is not even witnessing a miracle that produces faith. “Food does not commendus to God”. It is not what goes into you that makes you clean or unclean.

What does commend you to God? The word of the cross which is the power of God for salvation. The more prophetic Word, more fully confirmed that you hear today, is what commends you to God, for by it you receive faith and by faith you believe.

By faith you believe that, not only did Jesus feed 4000, but that it has to do with His suffering and death. All that food had to come from somewhere and where Jesus gives His body and sheds His blood; that is where this feeding truly comes to fulfillment.

You may be the hungriest person on the planet, but if Christ is not revealed in the Bible for you, you are done for. You may be the most satisfied person on the planet, but if Jesus is not feeding you, you are lost.

And this is the power of God’s Word. That you hear of Jesus, on the cross, rising from the dead, and feeding you still today. That this miracle is not just a metaphor or a demand for the ending of world hunger, but it is a call to return to the Table that the Lord spreads in front of you; of which you only hear in the Word.

Dear Christians, this is why the Church and her Divine Service do not attempt to reenact this feeding. Simply because it is in the Bible does not mean we need to copy it verbatim. The Divine Service, by the power of the Holy Spirit calls you by the Word.

The Word calls you to baptism, not in the Jordan, but in water and the Word. The Word calls you to the Gospel, so you might hear and believe that Jesus is the Christ of God. The Word calls you to the Sacrament of the Altar, not to an upper room in Palestine, but to the bread and wine; the flesh and blood; the meat and drink that promises eternal life.

The true importance of this miraculous feeding and every other miracle in Scripture is to point to the Creator of all things, hanging on a cross. The reason the whole world is not fed, is because Jesus does not just care for the body, but for the soul as well.

It is all well and good that you have food on your table, but that is not the Lord’s Supper. Neither is every puddle and every written word a pathway leading to salvation. But where the Word is and the element promised in the Word is, there is Scripture fulfilled in front of you.

Regardless of whether or not you came to service full, Christ feeds you His holiness. Maybe you are starving and will not get your next meal for days. The Body and Blood of Jesus care for you to eternity. You are fed. The entire world is fed through Jesus, but the true miracle is that He comes today, to feed even me, the free forgiveness of sins.

Church and state [Trinity 6; St. Matthew 5:20-26]

Who speaks to you all today saying,

“Come to terms quicklywith your accuser while you are going with him to court…”

Jesus today is talking about civil court and civil authorities. Come to terms quickly with your accuser in order that you not end up in prison for ever. St. Paul puts it this way, you should prefer to be wronged and defrauded (1 Cor. 6:7) rather than let anger and strife escalate among you.

Yes, Jesus and St. Paul are talking about affairs in the Church, among the believers, but the same should go for everyone else you interact with as well, regardless of their beliefs. This is explained by the doctrine of the separation of Church and state, which was a church idea, not an American one.

There is no Old Testament Israel anymore. That disappeared when Rome destroyed the Temple for the last time in the first century A.D.  There is no blessed nation that loves the Lord. There is no blessed nation that blesses the Lord’s people. The U.S.A. has never been or will ever be, one nation under God, in the way that the Bible talks about it.

Although the Mormons say differently, there is no Temple in America. Though the Mohammedeans desire it, there is no Mecca here. No matter how much the government wishes it, there is no divine call to worship government officials.

Let’s face it, Israel didn’t want a theocracy. They didn’t want it so much, that they preferred exile in Babylon and Roman rule rather than keep God’s laws. The USA does not want that either. Though the USA founding fathers had some shred of religion, they never demanded worship, they demanded freedom.

They fought because they believed that liberty and rights come from a creator, rather than a ruler, which no other country has ever affirmed or done. The USA, from its conception, was purposefully intended to afford its citizens freedom. Again, which no other country has ever done.

But what have we done with our own country? Are you still free? Do you live in a free society when the gov’t listens to your phone calls? Are you free when you need fishing, gun, and driver’s licenses? Are you free when your beer brewed at home can not be sold and the amount able to be brewed is restricted?

Are you free when you are limited to 6 withdrawls from your savings account per month? Are you free when you can be put on a no-fly list without due process? Are you free when you are forced to spend more on taxes than you do on food, clothing, and housing combined? 

The USA has also become a country that hates God’s Word and His churches. Its flag has become a symbol of all these things. Most of us are oblivious to the extent of government encroachment in our lives and yet, with over 1,000 TV channels on your television, you think you are free.

The state is a world of laws. There is no mercy under the government’s rules. You can feign allegiance, but as soon as you fail to bow down at the proper time or fail some federal litmus test, you will be outed.

Repent. The state is not fit to rule, much less is it fit to extend the kingdom of God. Our trust can not be in princes, they are but mortal, prone to sin the same as you. Your government is more than happy to take responsibility from off your shoulders.

Caring for the poor, caring for your children, holding all the guns, hoarding all the money, dragging you to court. Your brother deserves more than that and Jesus says as much. Not only does Jesus command it, but He also shows you how to do it.

Jesus becomes the criminal for you. Jesus is wronged and defrauded. He took the form of a slave to save everyone from sin, death, and the devil. He exercised none of His divine freedom to make His life easier or His suffering bearable.

Yet, this criminal action is what saves you. Your civil action saves you for a moment, but not without great cost to you. Jesus acts in a way that affects eternity, in that now that He has passed from death to life, He baptizes you into His accomplishments.

In the grace of Christ, the Christian is not only free from sin, death, and the devil but any and all earthly powers. There is no obligation or hold that anything on earth has on you. And yet, in the gospel heard today, Jesus tells you just the opposite. You are to appease civil authorities for the sake of your brother’s conscience.

You who are strong in the faith are not to despise the weak. You are to stake your reputation and life on the fact that Christ also died for your neighbor, even if he is dragging you to court. Has not our Lord suffered similarly? And you, a student, is not above his Master.

In the face of this, the Christian offers only what Christ offers: mercy. Even though we will be dragged before kings and councils. Even though the Name of Christ is blasphemed, we work towards the mercy and dignity afforded to everyone in the cross of Christ.

The difference between church and state comes down to mercy. You can not legislate anyone into belief anymore than you can legislate law-breakers to obey the law. The government has no business making laws concerning religion, unless of course, it wants to start its own. The Church has no business creating the kingdom of God on earth through elections and lobbying. Although you are a responsible citizen and a participant in this republic, this is not what Christ died for and it is absolutely not what He lives for.

What Jesus lived and died for, indeed, what He intended even before the foundation of the cosmos, was a created people free from all shackles. Christianity, from its inception at the beginning of all things, was intended to save through the promise of the coming Messiah. No other religion was created this way, much less has offered such free and wonderful freedom.

In light of God’s unlimited atonement, the state has nothing to offer you. In the revelation of the Lord unconditional election in Christ, laws and elections matter little. Your present suffering under republicans and democrats, war and taxes, is nothing compared to the glory that awaits you.

You are free. Though you live in both the Church and the state, you are free. Though you are still subject to your neighbor and the laws of the land, the Son has set you free. His declaration of your dependence upon Him is absolute. But His declaration is not over 1,000 pages of “who knows whats in it till we pass it”.

It is the simple proclamation that baptism now saves you. It is the easy on the ears, “faith comes by hearing”. It is the easy to swallow, “given and shed for you”. No extortion. No slight of hand. No double meanings and only one election. In the world you will have trouble, but takes heart, Christ has overcome the world.

St. Peter: the rock; the author [St. Luke 5:1-11]

In the Gospel heard today, you hear Jesus speaking to you saying,

“On one occasion,while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God…”

There is no getting around it. As much as we want to disagree with our Roman Catholic friends, St. Luke puts St. Peter front and center, today in the Gospel. He is the rock, the leader of the 12, and spokesman for them. In hearing Jesus, St. Peter is now to become a different man in order to witness a greater miracle than just catching a bunch of fish.

This greater miracle is not going to be a mountain-top experience, its not going to be a personal revelation, its quite possibly not even the resurrection of Christ Himself. No, the greater miracle is smaller than all of that. It is simply the conversion of a sinner by hearing the Word of God.

That’s right. Hearing the Word of God is a miracle, in and of itself. No other God in the history of the world has ever held conversation with man face to face, made good on His promises, and doesn’t change. And, St. Peter, like this crowd, did just that: heard the Word of God.

In the first place, when sinful Peter hears the Word of God, he is self-secure. Just before this event, his mother-in-law was sick, but Jesus healed her. St. Peter had heard the Word of God, seen Him in action and yet continued on in life as if nothing had happened.

He is secure in his sinful ways and wishes not to depart from them. He wishes to retain his sin and love them and can not take comfort in the love and grace of God. He is thankful for the restoration of his mother, but believes nothing more needs to be done that he can’t do himself.

In the episode of the great catch of fish, St. Peter is called directly by Jesus, but he is only awakened. In this awakened state he begins to believe, but now knows there are things he must do.

The first of which is to repent of his sins, of which he begins to find too many. In one way, the large number of fish caught reveal to St. Peter the large amount of sin that he has, for he has toiled all night in search of all his sin, by his own hands, and has come up with nothing.

This pattern does not end for St. Peter with him following Jesus at the end of this reading. He remains in this awakened state even when the dawning of Easter is upon him. Throughout the gospel, St. Peter continues to hear that his sins are abominable and condemnable. He continues to learn that dregs can not satisfy an hungry soul.

They do give a sense of tumbling recklessness, where anything is permissible, but that is not peace. They do feed your imagination, giving you misplaced senses of awe, wonder, and majesty, but they offer no refreshing hope of conversion. 

Jesus reveals to us what it means to not only be truly awakened, but also truly converted and St. Peter shows this to us. Acknowledging Jesus as true God and true man, believing He is crucified and risen for the salvation of the whole world, and that the Call of St. Peter has something to do with all that, is the point.

It is no coincidence that Jesus has 2 boats, 2 testaments, and 2 natures. It is not background story that water and boats appear again and again in all of Scripture. Jesus is at certain places at certain times to reveal sin to self-secure sinners and also to reveal their Savior and He does so through St, Peter and the Apostles.

It is not the way St. Peter acts. It is not the way he works. It is not the great example of faith that he displays. The only purpose St. Peter, or any other man in holy Scriptures, is there is to hand down the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to you.

Prophetic Scriptures are defined by two things: 1) they tell of a promised Messiah in every word and 2) they are written by the prophets. The Apostolic Scriptures are similar yet they differ in two small points: 1) they tell of a Messiah that is here now and 2) they are written by the Apostles.

From the creation of the world, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to catching a bunch of fish, Jesus has declared that what these men write down is holy. And just to make sure that point sticks, He becomes a man, Himself, and speaks as a man, even though He is also fully God.

For the sinner, God is not approachable. If we can not get near to God, there is no point in Him helping us do anything. If we can not speak with Him, there is no point in Him speaking to us. If we can not commune with Him, then there is no point to any protection or forgiveness He offers, because it would all mean nothing.

That is only if God were far away. In Christ, God becomes near. God does not just observe and interject here and there at random. In Jesus, God interacts and intercedes, physically. There is no call for you to be a fisherman, not catch fish, and then have God give you a great big catch, even metaphorically, in your life. In Jesus, God is speaking, men are hearing and are writing it down in the Spirit.

The reason you know what Jesus is telling you, and that it is in the Bible, is because you are hearing His Word and what He is teaching is that faith comes by hearing; hearing the Word of God, only: Scripture alone. No other revelation is acceptable. In no other place, except the Bible, is God handing out salvation.

Even the fish get it and much to our shame, they are the first to respond in this scene. First, there were no fish. Jesus spoke, then there were fish. You were caught in the Gospel the same way. First, there was no Church, but by the preaching of God’s Word, today the Church is practically full.

And on the Last Day, you will see that the Church is completely full. Not because St. Peter went fishing one day and certainly not because you had a vision. The Church is filled and God’s Kingdom is extended when His Word is preached and the Sacraments are administered according to it.

This is public knowledge. The Lord never spoke to someone privately and if He did, it was written down. Not too private anymore. Never believe a private revelation unless it is the Words of Scripture. The Prophets and the Apostles died to get them to you in order that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

You hear the Word of God and you see it fulfilled in the open. The Christ suffers and dies, He rises again three days later, and He makes it so the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. Period. No commas, no additions, no editing. Salvation is found in no man, except the God-man, Christ Jesus, and only in His Word: the Holy Bible.

Logs and specks [Trinity 4; St. Luke 6:36-42]

Jesus speaks to us today by the Gospel saying,

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.”

I put it before you today that if you were able to remove the plank from your eye, then the prophecy of old would come true, that your eyes will be opened and you will know good and evil. However, you know that those were the devil’s words and not God’s.

There are two commands from Jesus today: take you own plank out and take your brother’s speck out. So do you want eyes that see or do you not, because it appears as if the devil and Jesus are saying the same thing here.

To complicate things even further, Jesus says in John “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”(9:41). Also, your favorite song states that you were once blind, but now you see.

So, hypocrite, what is it going to be? Will you desire your sight, to see good and evil, in order that you see more good and evil than you can handle OR will you remain blind and keep the sins you already know and love?

I am not trying to trick you and neither is Jesus. You will be tricked if you feel that there just must be some thing you can do about it all, but if you are saved by faith alone then all you hear is God’s revelation of your own sin and Christ’s absolution.

A true plank in the eye is not just some misguided principles, it is anything that turns you away from the person, words, and work of Jesus. Anything that says, “Jesus didn’t really say that…”.

For the Pharisees, they continued to condemn Jesus and His disciples by the Word of God. They refused to listen to God’s interpretation, from His own mouth of flesh, and instead interpreted holy Scripture according to their thinking and pleasure.

For the modern world, there are too many to list, but for an example we can look at what is said about marriage. The modern American thinker condemns marriage, not upfront, but in a round about way. By refusing to see the real good of getting and being married, marriage is rejected.

It is said that it is better NOT to be married. Then you are free from the responsibility of children and the drudgery of being with just one person forever. Keep your options open. Don’t have children. All this is taught and yet their only alternative is to wallow in prostitution and adultery.

Repent. You think you have no plank in your eye. And this is Jesus’ point. You presume to see the tiny faults of your neighbor and point them out, as I just did, but you believe that those things are not in your life.

You believe that, because you have your life under reasonable self-control, that your plank does not exist. In fact, you are so plank-free that you just want God to use you to extend His kingdom. You are so plank-free that you want some greater experience with God, because you have out-grown His milky Word and are mature enough for solid theology.

Dear Christians, true mercy means that you are performing speck-surgery on each and every person of the world, every minute of the day and being successful. True non-judgment means you let your neighbor get away with wronging and defrauding you, every time. True forgiveness means to really forgive and mean it, not just forgetting about it.

Jesus would rather that He be defrauded in the front of all people, than that you remain with a plank in your eye. Jesus would rather be wronged and falsely accused, than allow you to determine which is the best way to remove your plank. Jesus would rather that His Name, the Name of the Almighty, everlasting God, be dragged through the mud and open to all accusation and criticism, than you to expend one iota of energy on doubting your forgiveness.

Jesus is as merciful as His Father in heaven. Jesus gathers all those with specks and planks in their eyes and performs successful surgery. Like a magnet, the cross of Jesus forcibly collects all the specks and planks, making it incredibly large. And when it looks like God can not take all that suffering, He rises from the dead.

Jesus is non-judgmental. The unlimited atonement He paid for in holy, precious Blood, covers ALL sin. His forgiveness goes so far as to plead for those who don’t even believe in Him and who wallow in their wickedness.

Unlike your mercy, judgment, and forgiveness, Jesus’ actually does what it says its going to do. Being both God and man, Jesus can pronounce judgment upon sin, death, and the devil and they are judged and condemned. Jesus can unleash His mercy on whomever He wishes and they will have mercy, regardless of who they are.

Jesus can proclaim salvation to the entire world and it will be true, simply because He said it and it is all yours simply because He says so, in His Word.

What a wonderful comfort it is to know that when we start to really concentrate on planks and specks and find no end to them within ourselves, that there is no lack of the Blood of Christ to cover them. What a joy to know that though we fail and come short of true mercy and true sight, that the Body of Christ works these out for us perfectly.

God gives no instruction manual on how to remove your plank or your neighbor’s speck and that is for the express purpose of not letting you do it. Because, when you remove one plank or speck, two take its place. There is no end to sin in you or your neighbor and both are fatal to the eye. God gives no manual, but He does give His Son.

These are what build up the cross and yet we are not condemned, but set free. Our sins have caused the suffering and anguish of the God-man, Jesus, yet we are given prosperity; you are given the fruits of the wronging and defrauding of God and they are eternal life and forgiveness.

You receive your just desserts, not from your transgressions, but from the suffering and death of Jesus. And those desserts really are desserts, not sarcastic ones. You really do get to sit at the King’s table, wear the King’s clothes, and sleep in the King’s bed, because you have been given, for free, true Faith.

And this Faith is the only thing that lays hold of God’s grace in Christ, and justifies you before Him. Faith alone, without any work, lays hold of God’s blessings. Though we pray for a sin-free life or rescue from misguided principles, salvation is only to be had by a clean heart and a right Spirit.

In this way, even the twisted words of Satan to Eve come true, by the grace of God. IN sin your eyes have been opened to see good and evil just like God. It has come to pass just as the devil said it would.

But God has taken you one step over that line. Not only are you like god in knowing things, but you are now physically a part of Him. In Christ, you don’t just think and act like God as child’s play or pretend, you are gods. Christ has assumed your mortal flesh into His immortal flesh, something that the devil couldn’t even foresee or want.

You are now the god of this world you always wanted to be, except through suffering and death, for this godliness is attained only through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, not your own. You now see good and evil, not in order to use it to judge others, but to judge yourself dead to sin, but alive in Christ.

Your condemnation has been removed. You judgment has been meted out upon Christ. The forgiveness and mercy you receive from the Father, at the hand of Jesus is full and complete. You now receive the Good measure which overflows from the side of Christ, into you mouth, for the forgiveness of your sin.

Jesus’ solution to the pandemic of planks and specks is to dissolve them Himself in Body and Blood given and shed for you. 

Seekers [Trinity 2; St. Luke 14:15-24]

Jesus speaks to us today, saying,

“And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is already ready.’”

You may be familiar with Psalm 14 as the April fool’s day psalm, for it says, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” But King David does not stop there. He goes on to speak of those that seek out God, saying:
    They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
    there is none who does good.

² The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
    to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

³ They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
    there is none who does good,
    not even one.”

The Lord looks down from heaven and sees that there are NONE that seek after Him. In fact, this is what our hymn of the day was lamenting, that there are but a few within the fold of the Lord and that faith seems quenched on every hand.

And yet we hear Isaiah giving us a command from God telling us to “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;” (Isa. 55:6).  Even Jesus gives the command to seek first the kingdom of God (Mt. 6:33).

You are commanded to seek God and many are ready and willing to tell you how to do so and may even use holy Scripture to tell you. The usual place they start, however, is outside of holy Scripture. They demand that you have a “personal relationship” to God, to always desire more of Him, and to fill the vacuum in your life with only Him.

If you would just love God at the center of all you do, spend a lot of alone time with Him, and integrate Him into every area of your life, then you will have “seeked” the Lord. Sounds as though you are trying to find a girlfriend. It sounds as though you are seeking someone to marry. This is not what God has told you to do.

There is no way you can have a personal relationship with God. Just reading the Bible often does not produce the sort of relationship God demands. Neither do you desire more of God, because that means giving up your life and everything that you are. God doesn’t just want the small part of your heart with a vacuum to be filled, He wants all of it.

Neither do you love God. If you try to put YOUR love for God at the center, then you are only loving yourself and your love, not God. If you spend alone time with God, you are not only neglecting your neighbor, but you are putting your trust in how much time YOU spend, not God.

And finally, if YOU are working YOUR hardest to put YOUR God into everything YOU do, then once again, it is all about you. Do you see what happens here? If you are seeking, then YOU are doing the work and therefore YOU get the glory. You, you, you.

Listening to the Gospel once again, we hear of a place where everything is already ready; already completed; already worked for. Think about it. If you are God commanding that You be sought after you are not going to leave a secret code behind nor are you going to hide yourself in earthly blessings or even other people.

If you want to be found, you will make it so you can be found. This is not hide and seek, this is life and death, because if you do not find God, you die eternally. But, if you do find Him, you live eternally and God wants everyone to live forever.

Jesus is the only way and the only reason you have to say that God wants to be found. It is only from Jesus that you hear and know that the Lord is merciful and loving. Jesus, on the cross, is God, saying to the world, “Here am I. Send me, send me.”

Through the cross, Jesus makes Himself painfully obvious and He does so in His Church, but still you do not seek Him. He gives you blessings and cares for your every need, and still you do not seek Him. He makes everything around you point to Himself and still you look in every other place except His Church.

One of the lessons from the Gospel is that God does not hide Himself in success; meaning, the success you have in life is not equivalent to how much God is with you. In fact, as Lazarus taught us last week, it is the opposite. It appears as if, if God is with you, then you will not be successful.

Who gets into this great and wonderful feast? Who is it that receives comfort next to Abraham? Seeking the Lord while He may be found means listening to Isaiah as he speaks more of God’ own words, saying:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let the wicked forsake his way,  and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa.55:6-9).

Did you never think why your thoughts are not God’s thoughts? You think rich; God thinks poor. You think full; God thinks empty. You think life; God thinks death. The only way for the wicked to forsake his way is to die to sin. His only chance to return to the Lord is by denying himself. A true seeker of God will be seeking forgiveness for being unable to do all these things.

This is what the Lord means by having compassion and abundantly pardoning. It means you need compassion and you need an abundance of pardon. It means that when you hear the Lord forgiving sins, there it is that you have found Him. For, when you hear the word of the Cross, your search is over.

Jesus’ Church will be filled. That is the promise. Whether or not we are in it, depends on whether or not Christ has died for us. Whether we are in or not depends on if we are poor, crippled, blind, or lame.

This is your cross to bear and your constant need for the Church which not only tells you of your utter depravity, but also of your abundant pardon. You do not seek Jesus, Jesus seeks you. He seeks you out in your poverty of spirit; your crippled will; your blindness to sin, and lameness on the Way.

He seeks you out because He has a baptism to give to you. He has a kingdom that has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world. There is a rich Spirit being handed out for free. There is wholeness of bodily senses given to you in the perfected Body of Christ.

For as much as I’ve talked about it, do not listen to all that talk of “uninvited”, or “poor, crippled, blind, and lame”. Because that is not you anymore. You were that way, but not anymore. You still struggle with sin and will have to face death, but they have no power over you anymore.

For you have died to sin and have been baptized into the one true faith, found only in the Body of Christ. You have heard the Gospel and believed that where it is preached in its purity, there the Church of Christ is. You have faith in the words “given and shed for you” and therefore have exactly what they say: forgiveness of sins.

The Lord “may be found” in His Church. The Lord is near, in His Church. His Bride is dear to Him and will never be forsaken. These promises are also for you because you find yourself in that same Church. Not just as a weekly participant and financier, but as a bodily member; a grafted in branch; an adopted son.

This place where the Lord is forgiving sins, is your home. This place where the Lord is handing out salvation, is your rightful throne. This place where heaven meets earth in a beautiful assumption of the flesh, is where you belong.

For you have been brought in, through the cross. You have been invited, in Christ. You are made whole and are forgiven, in Faith alone. Looking back at the first verse of the Gospel today, we now re-work this man’s wrong words for him. It is not, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”, but “Blessed is everyone who, right now, eats the Bread of Heaven in the Church of God”. For, now has Christ passed through life and death and lives still. It is today that is the day of salvation for you.