Sermon - Epiphany 3 - Luke 4:16-30

 

We learn from the Gospels that Jesus’ primary mission, apart from going to the cross to die for our sins, was to preach.  He did some miracles along the way – healing, casting out demons, even calming the storm, multiplying the loaves, and turning water to wine.  But his real interest, his true purpose in the three years leading up to the cross… was to preach.

We learn this also today from our reading in Luke, where Jesus visits his hometown of Nazareth.  And we are told that on the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, “as was his custom”, read from the scriptures, and sat down to preach.

So the church continues to this day the practice of public reading of scripture and having someone preach on it.  This goes at least back to the time of Ezra, as we read in our Old Testament lesson, where the entire Law of Moses was read before the people (and it took half a day to do so!)  And they also had someone preach on the scriptures, or “give the sense of it” as Nehemiah puts it.

So also, faithful pastors today preach the word of God, and faithful Christians do well to hear it.  But what makes for a good sermon?  What should we be looking and listening for?  We can learn quite a bit about all this from the best preacher of them all – our Lord Jesus Christ, as he visits Nazareth and preaches on Isaiah.

There’s plenty of bad preaching out there.  But we are concerned primarily with substance over style.  Of course you want sermons that are well-delivered, but far more important is the content.  Luke therefore reports to us the “what” of Jesus’ preaching, and very little about the “how” of it.

So along that line….one thing we preachers learn, by way of contrast, is that we do not preach ourselves.  Jesus did – as he told them that Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in him, and as the content of his preaching was about himself and his own work.  That in him, the kingdom of God had arrived.  Watch out for any other preacher who preaches himself!  Rather, we would preach Jesus.  Some pulpits even have a little plaque, affixed right up here where only the preacher can read it – a plaque that reads, “sir, we would see Jesus!”

For preachers, like all sinners, face temptations even in our preaching.  We may be tempted to preach our own agenda or some worldly “ism”.  That’s not Christian preaching.  Or we may be tempted to seek the approval of man.  To satisfy the itching ears of our listeners.  To preach sermons that feel good but may not proclaim the truth.  And all of us, as hearers, are likewise tempted to hear what we want to hear, and not what we need to hear. 

Just look at how fickle the congregation was in Nazareth.  At first, they spoke well of Jesus and his gracious words.  But when he challenged them, they changed their tune!  In wrath, they tried to throw him off a cliff!  Preaching can be a dangerous business, it seems.

But let’s not kill the messenger, nor close our ears to the uncomfortable word of God.  We all need to hear that word of law that convicts us of our sin.  We need the hardness of our hearts to be tilled by the law of God, to make ready for the seed of the Gospel.  The people of Nazareth were not having it.

Another lesson for preachers (and hearers) from this example of Jesus is this:  We preach the scriptures.  Jesus could well have spoken on any topic, for of course anything he says is de facto the word of God.  But notice, he bases his message on a reading, a text of Scripture.  He read from the prophet Isaiah and sat down to explain and proclaim it.

Just as he defeated the devil in the wilderness by reference to the written word of God, three times saying, “it is written…” So Jesus, in his preaching, also references the written word of God.  And we ought to take careful note of it.  Pastors who wander off into their own opinions and ideas, or who simply string together a bunch of entertaining stories, and congregations who go for that sort of thing, should take note of Jesus’ own preaching.

As a professor once told a group of pastors. “Gentlemen, the Scriptures are far more interesting than you are.”  Just so.  We want to hear the word of God, not the opinions and ideas of any man.

And finally, we preach Christ crucified.  Now, Jesus didn’t get to the crucifixion yet, but it’s sort of hidden in this text.  For when the crowd tried to put him to death, they couldn’t.  He mysteriously passed through them.  It wasn’t yet his time.  But that time would come, and the Gospels spend many pages telling the details of his arrest, trial, suffering and death.  Jews and Romans came together for it, the crowd cried out with one voice, “Crucify!”  And even the thief on the cross next to him joined in the mockery and hate.

But Jesus would not be deterred, and even from his cross he preached, seven precious words – not for himself, but always for us.

Therefore, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

It was true in Nazareth, too.  The Jews demanded signs, like Jesus did in Capernaum.  That’s what got them so mad – he called them out about it.

And doubtless others, even today, others look for wisdom: helpful hints for living, 5 keys to a health marriage, 12 steps to raising a healthy teenager, and on and on… preaching anything but Christ crucified.

But here’s a good rule of thumb.  A sermon without Christ is not really a Christian sermon.  And a sermon with Christ only as example is really not a good one either.  We want to no longer be blind, but to see Christ, and him crucified for sinners like us.  We want to hear about the Jesus who died for our sins to set us free from captivity to death and hell.  We want the preacher to proclaim the year of God’s favor. We want to hear about Christ who shed his blood for us to make us heirs of eternity. 

That’s the good news that he was anointed to preach to the poor.  Himself, and the work he was about to accomplish.  That’s the good news that we are given to preach and blessed to hear.

Scriptural preaching focused on the written word of God and proclaiming Christ crucified for sinners. 

Some may not like it.  Some may find it scandalous or foolish.  But preaching Christ crucified for sinners – it’s the very wisdom of God and the power of God.  So, hear it, dear Christian, and believe it.

For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

Sermon - Epiphany 2 - John 2:1-12

 

For years Messiah has, like many faithful Christian churches, observed an annual “Life Sunday”.  Although a primary focus has been the battle against abortion, we’ve also highlighted the broader idea that all of life is a gift from God and is to be treasured, supported, and nurtured.  It’s also a big reason why Messiah operates a Swaddling Clothes ministry, and supports a local crisis pregnancy center. 

And while the issue of defending life remains, and in some form or fashion probably always will, today let’s broaden the scope of this emphasis even a little more to include another gift of God that has been under assault in our world, the family.  After all, marriage and family are the framework in which God desires to bring forth new life.  From a father and mother, united in marriage, God establishes the family, and through their one-flesh union continues to bless us with children.

Now, I don’t need to tell you that the family is under duress these days.  Marriage, as an institution, has been devalued and deconstructed for decades among us.  Divorce has become increasingly acceptable and easier to obtain.  Marriage has also been re-defined, less a sacred union of a man and a woman, but now a simple contract between two consenting adults, or maybe more, no matter their sex or gender. 

Even the foolish gender ideology that has run rampant these days, especially among many young people, is a twisting up and confusion of God’s intention for our life – that we are created male and female, that we are blessed to be fruitful and multiply in the bounds a sacred marriage union.

But sermons are not meant to be preached for us to feel morally superior to all those bad people out in the culture and the world.  Let’s not get on our collective high horse and just say, we love babies and families and marriage and shame on those who don’t.  We’re not here today to wag our collective finger at others.  Rather, let’s consider our own sin and how God deals with us graciously in Jesus Christ.

We come, today, to the wedding at Cana.  Here our Lord performs his first sign, turning water into wine.  The messianic implications of this are pretty clear.  John calls it a “sign” not just a miracle, to indicate it’s meant to point us to Jesus, a calling card or indication of who he truly is.

And the backdrop of a wedding for this first sign also implies a deep truth – that he, Jesus, is the true bridegroom, come to woo and win his bride.  He is the true host of the celebration, the one who invites others to the party.  He is the one who provides the best wine, without cost to the partiers. 

We aren’t told much about this occasion, who the people are getting married, or why Jesus and his mother and disciples are invited.  We know a little about the wedding customs of the day, but not much.  And we don’t know why they ran out of wine, although we know enough to know this was more than a minor problem.  A social gaffe of a pretty large scale on the most important day in someone’s life, the embarrassment before family and friends and the awkward position – well it’s not the end of the world, but it is a problem.

Mary somehow finds out, and reaction teaches us by example.  What do we do when there’s a problem, big or small?  Bring it to Jesus.  She simply reports the situation, the need, to her son, and seems to trust that he will know what to do. 

Do we bring our problems to Jesus in prayer?  Or do we try to handle everything ourselves?  Do we, mistakenly, think we shouldn’t bother Jesus with trivial matters, and only lean on him when the going gets really tough?  Ah, but the old hymn says it well, “what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.”

Some problems seem too small, but he is not bothered by our requests.  Even his gentle pushback to Mary doesn’t stop him from hearing her, and helping out.  It reminds us of when he seemed, at first, to turn away the Syrophoenician woman, “it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs…” and yet he ended up helping her, too.  Perhaps he’s giving Mary an opportunity to exercise her faith here.

And some problems seem too big for us, with no possible solution or fix.  These, too, we must always bring to Jesus.  Like Mary, we can trust that he knows best, and will deal with us according to his love and kindness.

Mary then gives the servants the best advice, and it stands for us as well, “Do whatever he tells you.”  If only we could.

This is the same Jesus who summarized the entire law with two commands:  Love God, and love your neighbor.  If only we could do what he tells us.

We have a hard enough time loving even our own family members as we should, let alone loving God with all of our heart, soul and strength.  The commandments give us particular trouble, too, don’t they?  For who really can say that she honors her father and mother as she ought?  And who can really say he hasn’t committed adultery, if not in deed, then in word or thought? 

There’s plenty of evil out there in the world – disregard for life, and despising of marriage and family. But, no, we don’t do whatever he tells us, either.  According to his law, we are sinners.  We are like disobedient children or an unfaithful spouse – and God uses both of those pictures throughout Scripture to teach us. 

But our disobedience to his law is only part of the story. He is our ever-loving Father.  He is the faithful husband to his people.  For his word creates faith in us, and we are baptized into him. We are crucified with Christ.  We are buried and raised with Christ.  We are not only the sinner, but also the saint.  We therefore receive his instructions with gladness.  We joyfully do whatever he tells us.

He tells us to trust him, to believe in him.  To come to him for rest.  To abide in his word.  To hear his voice and follow him.  Faith comes by hearing his word, and that faith, itself, a gift from him, by his Spirit.

He tells us, also, to receive the blessed Sacrament.  “Do this,” he says, “in remembrance of me.”  Not so much a command but a gracious invitation, for these, his body and blood, are given and shed for you.  And here, my dear brothers and sisters, the wine he provides is far greater than that of Cana.  It is the best wine, saved for you, flowing freely, and forgiving your sins.

And thus he receives you, again and again, like the prodigal son.  Thus he reconciles you to himself, again and again, as part of his beloved bride.  Thus he gives you life, abundant life, rooted in him and bearing the fruits of faith – love for God, and love for neighbor.

“Do whatever he tells you,” Mary tells them, and for us, forgiven in Christ our true bridegroom, it’s a joy so to do.

Sermon - Christmas 2 - Luke 2:40-52

 

Maybe you have a scrapbook or a photo album with memories of your children as they grew up (or maybe your parents have them of you).  These days, it seems like a lot of our memories are hosted digitally on social media services.  But it’s always nice to walk back down memory lane and wonder at how the years fly by, and oh, how much our children have grown.

The New Testament doesn’t present us with Jesus’ baby book, however, or serve as a biography of Jesus with all the milestones in his life for us to ponder. 

Instead, today we have that one precious story of Jesus’ life as a child of 12 years old, the only episode Scripture details about his life between the visit of the Wise men and the beginning of his public ministry at age 30.  Perhaps this, in itself, teaches us something – that Jesus holy work of perfect living didn’t require anything noteworthy or special for many years.  That he simply did what he was given to do.  He grew.  He learned.  He was an obedient son to his parents.  We assume he followed in his father Joseph’s business as a carpenter and did all the other usual things a Jewish young man would do.  And we might take note and model our lives after that – a godly life is fulfilled simply in our God-given vocations.

And then we also see, from Luke, that Jesus’ family was religiously observant.  They participated every year in the Jewish Passover feast, and took the trip down from Nazareth to Jerusalem, according to the custom.  It’s not exactly the same thing as being regular church-goers, but there’s some similarity here.  The whole family, it seems, quietly and simply did what their faith asked of them.  It was just a matter of course. 

The real action begins when the feast is over, and the family heads home.  Scholars believe such journeys were often made by larger extended families as a group, partly for safety in numbers.  And so it wouldn’t have been too unusual for Mary and Joseph to lose track of Jesus for a short time.  But after about a day’s journey, they notice they haven’t seen him, and their distress and anxiety grow as they begin searching for him in the traveling group.  He was nowhere to be found!  And so back to Jerusalem they went, ever more frantic to find their beloved son.

And when they do, it’s sort of anti-climactic.  He’s just there, sitting in the temple, of course.  He’s just been in his Father’s house, visiting with the teachers, probably both learning from them and teaching them a thing or two.  Mary gently berates him, and Jesus kindly answers her, “Why were you looking for me?  Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

As St. Luke records everything so carefully, here again we have more of Jesus’ story that likely came from the treasures of Mary’s heart.  She pondered these things deeply, and Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, invites us to do the same.  What exactly is the meaning of all this?  What does Jesus teach us with his staying behind and his answer to his mother?  What does it mean that he bust be in the Father’s house?

On one level, it’s a confession of his identity as the Son of God.  Yes, he is also the son of Joseph, as even Luke here refers to Mary and Joseph as “his parents”.  But we’ve read the back-story and we know he is conceived by the Holy Spirit.  We’ve also read John’s Gospel and we know he’s the eternal Word that was with God, now made flesh and dwelling among us. 

And yes, again, by example, we can say Jesus is teaching us something here about the centrality of God’s house in our lives.  We, too, ought to be in our Father’s house.  We, too, ought to be engaged in the study of his word, that we, too, might grow in wisdom and stature.  That this passage comes at the beginning of a new year might serve us as a reminder to re-commit to studying the Scriptures this year.  We have so many opportunities here at Messiah, and as your pastor, of course, I invite you to join one or more of our Bible studies, in addition to your own private reading and study of Scripture.  Notice even Jesus made use of the teachers of God’s word, however…

And one more point of comparison we might draw is that of anxious Mary – looking for Jesus.  I’m reminded of the cartoon with the missionaries at the front door asking the woman, “have you found Jesus?”  And on the other side of the frame we can see his robe and sandals peeking out as he stands behind the window curtains.  Jesus is not lost.  We don’t need to find him.  Rather, we are lost, and he finds us.  Mary shouldn’t have worried.  Jesus answer to her gives the same sense, “why were you looking for me?”  Didn’t you know?  Wasn’t it obvious?  He’s the one in control, and we are the ones so often frantically searching about, if not for him, then for answers and for solutions to all our lives problems, and to the consequences of sin in our world.  But Jesus calmly goes about his business.

And then, of course, there’s the deeper theological meaning of the Temple.  The house of God.  Really, this is Jesus’ house, too.  Last week we heard a little about the glory of God dwelling there in the Old Testament times, and then being revoked.  But that in the person of Jesus, God returns to his temple, the glory of God comes home.  Of course Jesus had to be in his Father’s house.  Of course he’s always about his Father’s business.

But it wouldn’t always be so peaceful.  At least once, and maybe twice, he cleansed the temple, turning over tables, making a whip, driving out man and animal.  His Father’s house is to be a house of prayer, not a den of thieves.  But we take the good things of God and misuse them, don’t we?

And then, many times, Jesus would teach in the temple.  Openly and freely, he would preach the word of God to the people of God in the house of God.  So, his word goes forth from his house today – not one temple, but in pulpits all over the world, where Christ is preached for the benefit of his people.

And once, standing in the temple, Jesus would say, “Destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days.”  But he wasn’t talking about the brick and mortar on that occasion, was he?  He was referring to his own body, his own life, which would soon be laid down as the sacrifice to end them all.  Thus the temple curtain was torn in two, access to God was no longer mediated through the priesthood of Levi, but through the priesthood of Christ, and by the sacrifice of God’s own Son. 

And soon that temple would be torn down, not one stone left upon another.  But the word of the Lord endures forever.  And the salvation of Christ is freely offered to all.  And the work of the Father is accomplished by the Son and proclaimed with the power of the Spirit to all nations, the Father’s business continuing to the very ends of the earth.

Did Mary know all this?  Surely some of it.  She pondered all of it in her heart.  She lived to see the words of Simeon fulfilled, the sword that pierced her heart at the cross.  But also to see the temple of Christ’s body rebuilt in his resurrection. 

And the boy Jesus, who grew to the man Jesus, who died as our substitute and rose as our firstborn of the dead elder brother, has also gone before us into heaven.  And one day he will bring us there, too.  He has done all things well, for us, on our behalf.  And he has even greater things in store for us in the heavenly dwelling of God.  There, no temple is needed either, for God will dwell in our midst directly, and we with him forever.

So, Christian, be in the Father’s house.  Be about the Father’s business.  And that is this:  Hearing his word, growing in his word, receiving his gifts, as is the custom.  Come to his table this day, and lay all your worries and anxieties aside.  Receive again the forgiveness of your sins, for the sake of Christ.  For Jesus is always here, for you.