Sermon - 11th Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 15:21-28

"Children and Dogs"

The Word of God is always relevant.  Often times, and maybe you’ve noticed this too, the particular passage chosen and appointed for a given Sunday somehow seems eerily pertinent to the happenings of the day.  I’ve seen this happen with individual Christians – who notice that whatever problems they are facing sometimes are addressed by that passage of the day.  I’ve also seen it happen many times with the broader issues we face in the public square, in the culture wars, or the news headlines of the day. 

Sometimes preachers get blamed for not speaking directly enough to the issues in the national conversation.  And sometimes, preachers seem to find every excuse to shoehorn the word and make it speak to their pet issues according to their own agenda.  But let’s avoid either of these extremes.  Rather, our aim should be to preach the word as it is given.  To apply it where it applies (and of course, it always does).  And to let the chips fall where they may.  Sometimes the connections are right in front of us, easy to make, and we should have the courage to say what God’s word says to our world.

And so today, perhaps you noticed that all three of our readings, somehow or another, touch on the topic of race.  No, it’s not Black and Hispanic and White and Asian.  It’s Jew and Gentile.  The Israelites and the “Goyim”, that is, the “nations”. 

In the reading from Isaiah, we hear that God intends his house to be a “house of prayer for all nations”.  It’s sort of the Old Testament version of the Matthew 28 “Great Commission”, where Jesus sends his disciples to baptize and teach “All Nations”.

In our Epistle, Paul discusses his ministry to the Gentiles, and his sorrow for his own people, the Jews, who as a whole rejected Christ.  But the underlying theme is the desire of God to have mercy on all, and that all would be saved – Jew and Gentile alike.

Then there’s Jesus and the Canaanite woman in our Gospel reading.  And at first, it seems very out of character for Jesus to deny the woman’s request.  Even worse, it seems he’s denying her because she’s of the wrong race!  Not a Jew but a Canaanite.  Not one of the children, but one of the dogs, as the Jews called them – no nicer a smear today than it was then.

Is Jesus here being a racist?  Is he asserting the superiority of his own people over their neighboring tribe?  Is he withholding his blessings from someone who isn’t deserving because of her ethnic origins?  No.

The best understanding is that Jesus is testing her faith, or proving it – by his apparent unwillingness to help.  He knows, of course he knows, that he will help her.  But he gives her faith a chance to shine.  What a good confession she makes.  She traps the Lord Jesus in his own analogy:  “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table”.  Great is your faith, woman!  Your daughter is healed. And Jesus is anything but a racist.  His compassion knows no such barriers.

Jesus is the same God who proclaimed salvation for all nations in Isaiah 56 and wants disciples of all nations in Matthew 28.  He’s the same Savior who was hailed as king of the Jews, and even named so on his cross.  But he’s also the savior of the nations, who desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.  God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, not just some of the world, but all men and women, young and old, rich and poor, all races and peoples and tribes and languages.

So why is this so hard?  Well because of sin, of course.  Sin touches every corner of our experience, every aspect of our humanity – and not just our deeds but also our words and thoughts.  And so sin corrupts how we relate to our neighbors.  Sin will use any excuse to act apart from love – and if your skin color or ethnic origin is a convenient hook – then there the sinner tends to go. 

The ancient Jews certainly had a bad case of ethnic self-assured superiority.  “We have Abraham as our father, after all!  We have Moses and the Prophets!  We have the temple!  We’re not corrupt half-breeds like those Samaritans over there.  And we’re certainly not rank pagans like that woman who begged Jesus on behalf of her daughter.  We’re better than that.  We’re the good people.”  You can almost taste the arrogance. 

Remember when Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh?  It wasn’t out of fear of public speaking.  It wasn’t because he didn’t think he had what it takes to be a prophet.  No, Jonah tells God exactly what it was – after he finally preached and the Ninehvites miraculously repented – and God relented from destroying them.  Jonah raged against God for have mercy on those wicked people!  He said “I knew this would happen!  This is why I ran!”  In the end Jonah looks like a fool as God calls him out for his jingoism, or as we would say today probably, his racism.

Now, to what extent racism is a problem for you I will leave you to ponder in your own conscience. Christians need not find an imagined sin under every rock, nor are we above confessing a sin when we truly commit it.  But at the root of the sins related to race is the sin of pride.  The arrogance of thinking oneself something when you are really nothing. 

Imagine if the woman who came to Jesus reacted to him in sinful pride: “Are you calling me a dog!?  Who do you think you are!  We Canaanites were here long before you Israelites came on the scene.  You’ve victimized our people for over a thousand years!”  And then one of the disciples might answer, “Who do you think YOU are!  We’re the Jews!  We’re the chosen people!  Pay some respect, lady!”  And on and on it might have gone.

When we are insulted or mistreated – for our race, or our affiliation, or our beliefs, or any other reason – sin often wants to claim rights and prove our superiority and station and denigrate another to do it.  Who do you think YOU are?  Don’t you know who I am?  Show me some respect!  I deserve that! 

But look what this woman did instead.  She humbled herself.  She admitted, implicitly, that she is indeed a dog, and a beggar.  She counted herself unworthy.  No pride here, just a need of help.  And a looking to the only one who could help, Jesus.  Friends, this is the way of faith.  We should all take note.

We too, are beggars at the Lord’s table, and unworthy of the gifts.  Not because of our ethnic heritage, but because of the corruption that goes much further back in our family tree, back to Adam.  There is the true and sad unity of all races and peoples – in the disobedience of Adam.  All are one – born under the law.  Born subject to death.  Conceived in sin and unable to escape it.  And this common condition of all men and women is far more significant than culture, heritage or what we call “race”.

We need Jesus just as this Canaanite woman did.  You may have a request like she did – for healing or freedom from spiritual oppression.  You may be praying for a fix to your marriage or a job you can depend on.  You may ask God to help your wandering children or to help you manage your stress.  And these and all our needs are good and right to bring before him.  He himself teaches us to pray for daily bread, and promises to provide far more than crumbs from the table.

But we also need Jesus to save us.  To save us from our haughty and arrogant selves.  To save us from the ridiculous pedestals on which we plop ourselves, thinking that we can be like God.  Save us from our sense of superiority – first by a right view of our own ugly nature – and then by the grace and mercy that you so freely give. Save us from the filthy rags of our own good works with the perfect obedience that only Jesus could accomplish.

This is Jesus, the living bread from heaven, who feeds the world with himself.  This is Jesus, the king of the Jews and Lord of All Nations, who by his cross removes the pall of death that covered all people.  This is Jesus, who humbles himself unto death, even death on a cross.  This is Jesus, who calls Jews and Canaanites, Samaritans and Americans and every other people group there may be – the find a new oneness in his body the church.  Here all are clothed with the white robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers our sin.

I don’t have the solution to racism in our world.  I’m not here to opine about public policy or what kind of activism you should undertake.  And I certainly don’t have a slogan for you to put on your bumper sticker.  Scripture does inform the Christian’s view of race relations, but there are many aspects of it that we’ll continue to have to work through.  What we can say for sure is this.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace.  And the picture of heaven we see in Revelation 7 makes it clear that it consists of believers of all tribes and peoples and languages.  Race as we think of it simply isn’t an issue for God.  He calls all people to faith in Christ.  May we follow in the example of that Canaanite woman, trust in Christ to give us far more from his table than we deserve, and live in and by the same faith.

Sermon - 10th Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 14:22-33

 

2020 has been a year of fear.  Most of us on some level or another fear this virus that’s turned everything upside down.  Perhaps we fear getting it and even dying from it.  Perhaps we fear giving it to others.  Perhaps we fear the effects – the dominoes that have fallen, the damage to our economy, the loss of work and wealth, the effects on our mental health, the unrest in our nation that may or may not be related.  Maybe you fear the government’s response to all this and the threats to your freedom.  Maybe you fear even to bring any of this up in polite conversation, as people have been so much set at odds.  And maybe you also fear that this will drag on and on, and we’ll never get back to normal.  Yes, fear has loomed large for many of us lately.

When Holy Scripture speaks of fear, though, it’s almost never a good thing.  Except for the command to fear God, I can’t think of any other time we are told to fear.  Rather, the command to “fear not” is common.  Fear not, say the angels when they appear.  The Psalmist writes, “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil… for thou art with me…”  And of course Jesus himself tells his disciples to “fear not”.  We see it today as a key word (phobos – fear) in the story of when he walked on the water.

It was late, and it was dark.  That alone sets some people in a fearful mode.  The darkness means we can’t see, or can’t see as well.  And so there is the unknown.  Add to that, the wind and waves were kicking up.  The disciples, experienced fishermen among them, began to grow concerned.  They well knew the danger of the sea. 

But then they had an even greater freak-out.  They saw Jesus.  But they thought he was a ghost.  Well of course normal people don’t appear walking out on the water.  So another explanation sprang to mind – a ghost!  Even these disciples of Christ were under the sway of superstitions.  We sinners seem to know there’s a world of spirits and supernatural forces at work – and that some of those spirits are not our friends.  They fearfully jumped to a conclusion.

Jesus, for his part, calmed their fear.  “Take heart!  It is I!”  Take courage!  Be not afraid!  It’s me!  It’s Jesus!

What a sigh of relief and wonder they must have then shared.  What awe and amazement as once again Jesus does the impossible.  This is Christ – who can heal diseases, cast out demons, turn water into wine and multiply fish and loaves.  This is Jesus, who now shows his mastery over wind and wave, the very forces of nature.

One of the comforting things about having Jesus as Lord and Savior is that he is Yahweh Almighty – and that creation itself is under his command.  The little Greek phrase he uses to say “It is I” is “ego eimi”.  That’s the Greek way of saying Yahweh, which of course in Hebrew means, “I am who I am”.  This isn’t the last time Jesus uses this phrase which alludes to his true identity as Yahweh.

But if he is Yahweh - of course he can walk on water.  Water exists because of him.  Everything exists because of him.  While God the Father created everything by his Word – we know that Word is a Living Word, that in the beginning was with God and was God.  That Living Word by whom all things were made (as we say in the Creed). 

God asks Job (in our OT reading) that great series of rhetorical (and maybe even sarcastic) questions:  Were you there when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Do you know how I made it?  Can you explain these deep mysteries?  The point isn’t to make Job small – but rather to remind him who he is dealing with when he calls upon Yahweh.  This is the Creator of all things!  This is no small or weakling god of limited power.  This is a God in whom you can trust, and trust fully.

So, too, Jesus.  By walking on the water gives the disciples (and us) a glimpse of that divine power over nature.  He’s the creator, after all.  There is no greater friend to have.  There is no one better in whom to trust.  Of all the things that we may or might fear, of all the things that can and do make us afraid – he is over them all.  He is Lord of all.  And he’s in our corner!  Take heart, it’s Jesus!  Truly he is the Son of God. Don’t be afraid.

Sure it’s great for him to walk on water, but wouldn’t it be great if we could, too?  You wonder what exactly was going through Peter’s head (as you Texans like to say, “bless his heart”)  Did he reason that Jesus had given his disciples the power to cast out demons, and so therefore Jesus could and should also give Peter this particular power over nature, too?  Was he divinely inspired to blurt this out, like he was when he made his good confession that Jesus is the Christ?  Or did he simply not know what to say or do, and acted on impulse and without thought?

For better or worse, for whatever reason, Peter asks Jesus to invite him out of the boat, and Jesus obliges!  Peter, too, walks on water!  Another miracle!

Friends this is not the only time that Jesus would bend the laws of nature to bring us to himself.  This is not even the greatest miracle in which Jesus invites us to where he is, over and against all human reason and sense.

He calls us to himself.  He calls us to faith by his Spirit.  He calls us his own in our baptism.  He calls us to the table in his Sacrament.  By word and wondrous sacramental sign, he brings us to where we could never go alone.  To himself.

And even more.  One day he will call us – not out of the boat – but out of the grave.  Where he’s already gone.  The God who made the universe and everything in it, is the man who gave himself into death on a cross.  The Savior, who bore the sins of the world, drank death down to the last bitter drop, and three days later came out on the other side.  Standing tall over death which cannot touch him evermore.  Walking all over death with the same ease he treads the stormy waters – and bringing us along with him too.  His death is our death.  His life is our life.

Peter had no business walking on the water.  But he was with Jesus, and so it was ok.  You and I have no business dreaming of life after death.  But we are with Jesus, and so it will be as he says – “he who lives and believes in me will live even though he dies”. 

Now, of course Peter didn’t stay afloat very long.  And here is a lesson for us as well.  Why did he sink?  It wasn’t because Jesus couldn’t keep him above water.  It wasn’t because Jesus ran out of miracle-juice.  It certainly wasn’t because Jesus forgot about him, or turned his back on him.

He took his eyes off of Jesus.  He stopped trusting, and returned to fear.  He thought of the wind and wave and death creeped in on him again.  But he took his eyes off of Jesus, and so he started to sink. Or as Jesus put it, “you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

This isn’t a “shame on you, Peter”.  It’s not a wagging finger or a calling on the carpet.  It’s a gentle corrective.  A kind reminder.  Why did you doubt?  You don’t have to doubt, when you’re with me.  I’ve got you.  Take heart.  It is I. 

The same Jesus who called Peter to come for a stroll on the lake, is the same Jesus who’s there for him when he falls.  The one who both empowers and forgives, who rescues and restores.  Why did you doubt?  Why should you ever doubt him?  Rather – take heart.  This is Jesus, here!

I suppose some would want a Jesus who never allows the wind and wave to come at all.  Some want a Jesus never to even bother them, but let them row their way through.  Some want a Jesus who never asks us to trust him.  But that’s not the Jesus we have.  Far better to trust that this Jesus, the real one, knows best.

Dear Peter – faithful one minute, fearing the next.  We can sympathize.  Peter is the every-man.  But there is Jesus – with a strong hand to reach out and save.  And Peter’s savior is ours.  Fear not, dear Christian, but take heart.  Don’t doubt, dear Christian, but have faith in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Sermon - 9th Sunday after Pentecost - Isaiah 55:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21

“Something for Nothing”

It is one of the hard lessons of growing up that you rarely if ever get “something for nothing”.  If a deal seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.  Even if a company or a business appears to be giving away some product or service, they are almost always getting something for it – either some of your information, or some marketing value, or even just some goodwill from a potential future customer.  And then, of course, there are other times when the giver is a scam-artist, and some more nefarious strings are attached to the freebie.

But just as with so many other things, the Kingdom of God is not like all the kingdoms of this world.  The economy of God flies in the face of earthly wisdom and our usual ways of doing business.  Take our Old Testament reading for starters.  Isaiah the prophet gives us an oracle which promises something for nothing:  wine and milk without money, and bread without price.

In our marketplace, you get what you pay for.  In God’s kingdom, gifts are given freely.  In our world of selfish corruption, we count and measure, we price and bargain.  Everything has a cost.  Nothing is truly free.  Perhaps the closest we get is when we feed and clothe our children, or care for our family members.

But even the love of family is not so pure in our fallen world.  Even in the home, you don’t really get “something for nothing”.  We see shades of it when we feel unappreciated.  When we other people aren’t pulling their own weight.  When you’re at odds over expectations and when you miscommunicate.  Or when selfishness overshadows love, and my own way becomes what’s most important. 

No there’s no truly perfect example of grace – pure and free grace – apart from the gifts of God in Jesus Christ.  Only he gives freely and purely of himself for all people.  Only he gives without cost, without price, without expecting or exacting something in return.  His love is unconditional.  His mercy is the only true, ontologically perfect gift there is.

Take a look at our reading from Isaiah.  Here we have the prophet speaking in poetic terms about the grace of God.  As with so many other places in Scripture, the gifts of God are depicted as food.  But here Isaiah also makes it clear – this is no ordinary food that is given for free.  This is not subsistence level.  It’s lush and lavish.  It’s sumptuous.  Wine and milk!  Rich food.  Food that delights.  Food that satisfies.

Such is what Christ gives.  Such is the character of the giver, and the quality of his gifts.  He does not give us meager grace, but only the best!  He doesn’t give you a mere bit of help toward salvation.  A nudge.  A boost.  A helping hand if only you’ll cooperate.  Oh no.  He does it all.  He fulfills the law, keeps the commandments – not just mostly, but perfectly, and then credits you with that righteousness.  Even more.  He offers a sacrifice.  Not a bull or a goat or sheep.  A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.  He sheds his own holy, precious blood.  He offers his own innocent suffering and death.  His death on the cross covers every sin.  Pays every debt.  Finishes everything.  Even death itself.  This is the lavish provision of God for you.

We see Jesus giving freely also in the Gospel reading, the Feeding of the 5000.  Now there is much we could say about this miracle, many angles from which to examine it.  But consider today how generous our Lord is:  far beyond the expectations of any that day.  Certainly beyond what the disciples had in mind.  “Hey look, we’ve barely got enough to feed ourselves!  Let’s send the crowd away to go find their own grub!”  No, you give them something to eat.  And when the disciples won’t, because they can’t, Jesus does.

And he doesn’t just feed some – the most deserving or the most needy.  He doesn’t grade the crowd on a scale of who was listening to his teaching and who wasn’t.  His generosity is indiscriminate.  Men, women and children are fed.

And all are satisfied.  He fills their bellies.  He gives even more than enough, as the 12 baskets of leftovers show. 

The generous nourishment of the Gospel – this is just one more lens through which to see and appreciate the exceeding riches of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  And it really is what sets the Christian faith apart from every other.  What must I do to be saved?  Believe in Jesus Christ and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.  In other words, receive the gifts of Christ.  That’s it.  That’s all.  No works of merit.  No heroic moral achievements.  No tipping the scales in your own favor by a preponderance of good deeds over bad.  Just trust the giver.  He will take care of you.

This same God who led and fed his ancient people, this same Jesus who fed the 5000 miraculous food, also gives freely today – food and drink that is rich and lavish.  He sets a table before you of rich food without price and fine drink without cost.  He feeds you his body and gives you his blood in this blessed sacrament.

It’s like no other meal on earth.  In fact, it’s heavenly.  It’s far more miraculous than the feeding of the 5000 – for here at the Lord’s Supper he feeds the church of all times and places.  Here we join the great company of heaven – all the saints in glory – even angels and archangels – in a mystical sweet communion that transcends time and space.  All are one in Christ when we receive him here.  All who partake of this heavenly feast receive its many blessings.

You confirmands, the greatest blessing you receive this day is not that you get to wear fancy robes and a special certificate.  It’s not the accolades of your family for completing your instruction well.  Today, you are invited to the feast.  Today you join the ranks of those who have been instructed and examined, and now partake of the body and blood of Christ.  You’ve been Christians since your baptism.  Now you receive Christ in yet another way, fed and strengthened as you continue to grow in faith your whole life.  What a wonderful couple of scripture passages for you as you receive your first Holy Communion today.

And still it gets better. For as our liturgy reminds us, as wonderful as the Sacrament is, it is yet only a foretaste of the feast to come.  One day we will join that great company of heaven on the other side of death – and even bodily in the resurrection.  Then will come the great marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom that will have no end.  Yes, heaven itself is pictured as a feast – a banquet – in the mansions of the Father.  And Jesus himself is preparing a place for you even now.

This side of heaven, in our everyday experience, you really don’t get something for nothing.  Everything has a price, a cost, some strings attached.  The sinful world is transactional and selfish.  And we are just as much a part of it. 

But here in Christ, we do get something for free – though it cost him everything.  He gives us all the blessings of life in his kingdom – rich food, fine drink, forgiveness of sins, and a hope of even better things to come.  Thanks be to God in Jesus Christ for such great gifts!  May we receive them always in faith.  In Jesus’ name.

Sermon - Pentecost 6 - Matthew 13:1-9;18-23

One Seed.  Four Kinds of Soil.

Ah, the Parable of the Sower.  One of my own personal favorites, and maybe yours, too.  Jesus tells this parable first to the crowd, and then in the next part of our reading, explains its meaning to the disciples.  This alone is a bit unusual for Jesus – but it serves as a sort of Rosetta Stone for us to interpret not only this parable, but to teach us about the parables of Jesus in general.

The word we use for these stories, “parable”, or “Para-Bola” in the Greek, means something like “thrown along side” – as Jesus throws earthly elements alongside his heavenly or spiritual meaning.  The things in the stories are common enough – everyday things and people like brothers, sheep and coins, kings and servants, or in this parable as in so many – we have a picture of agriculture.

It seems like every child learns about the power of a seed from that Kindergarten project when you put a bean in a wet paper towel, and then watch it sprout on the window sill over the course of the next few weeks.  What a fitting parabolic image then, for the word of God.  In other parables he uses the same image of a seed for the word – for the word starts small, and has great effects.  It appears to go into the ground as dead, but from it sprouts life, and often abundantly so.  Good seed produces good fruit, and so forth, and so forth.

Here we also see the image of a sower.  And though Jesus doesn’t explain exactly who it is, we understand the sower to be first of all God himself, or even Jesus – who sends forth his word.  Likewise also the preacher of the Gospel follows suit and liberally casts the seed here and there, to and fro.  Now, some would say that the sower is acting here, as one of our hymns puts it, “recklessly”.  He casts the seed and doesn’t seem to care where it falls – “oh what of that?”.  Not a very sensible way of farming or gardening.  I remember planting certain seeds, carefully, so many inches apart in perfect little rows so that the plants wouldn’t get in each other’s way and would be well spaced and well watered.  This sower cares nothing for that, so it seems, he just casts the seed – he preaches the word – and whoever hears it does, and whoever doesn’t – doesn’t. 

But it’s not careless.  It’s love.  It is the gift of grace, freely given. 

This is the character of the sower.  That he gives to all, gives freely, gives generously.  This is the Father who spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all.  This is the Christ, who laid down his life for his friends, even for his enemies, who died for the sins of the world. Whose blood covers the iniquity of us all. 

What a comfort that his grace is so recklessly sown!  For if he targeted it only to the worthy, the best, the most deserving… then we would all have cause to wonder and fear.  Is this for me?  Are my sins forgiven?  Can I be saved? 

But no, there is no doubt, he intends and desires for all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.  He seeks out every lost sheep.  He forgives even the unforgivable.  And so his word, his grace, his salvation is for you.  The cross procures it and guarantees it.

And yet, not all believe.  This is the question the parable addresses.  Why some, and not others?  While this parable alone may not satisfy the curiosity of the philosopher and theologian with an ultimate answer – it does shed light.  It doesn’t pierce the veil of God’s hidden counsel, or subject him to our own imagined rules of fair play.  But Jesus does show it how it is- that the word freely preached does not always produce fruitful and lasting faith in the hearer.  For there are different kinds of soil.  There are different impediments to the word.  And each of these can frustrate and hinder the working of faith:

Take first the path – the seed that falls here is quickly snatched by the birds.  Jesus teaches that these are the ones who hear the word but the Devil quickly snatches it away.  We know the devil’s aim is to do this to all – to completely obstruct the word of the kingdom for any and all.  That the word isn’t always snatched by the enemy is the real miracle here. 

Then there’s the rocks – the rocky soil – the thin and shallow dirt with nowhere for the roots to grow deep.  Jesus compares this to the person who embraces the word with joy, but then quickly falls away at the first sign of opposition from the world – persecution, tribulation.  It’s a shallow faith that cannot stand when put to the test.  The scorching sun soon withers it away. 

Or also the thorns – the cares of this world which choke the life out of faith, like the weeds and thistles that crowed out the good harvest.  We’ve seen plenty of “care of this world” in 2020.  Here also the deceitfulness of riches – the lie that having money is all that matters, all that you need.  When you worship the things of this world there’s no room left for the things above, where true treasure is found.

Now, we could take these examples of Jesus and start the task of inspecting other people’s gardens.  What kind of soil is Susie?  What kind of ground is Johnny?  Let’s all evaluate Betty and George’s harvest of fruit.  We could seek to diagnose and critique the faith of others and the problems they have and the things that get in their way and keep them from being the Christians they oughtta be. 

But here’s the secret that our Old Adam doesn’t want to hear.  We are all, at different times, and in various ways, all kinds of bad soil.  You and I are beset by the devil.  You and I are opposed by the world.  You and I are subject to cares and worries and troubles of all manner and kind.  Suffering and death are all around us.  Unbelievers and scoffers never quit.  And the devil, that prowling lion, drools and slobbers with every temptation by which he imagines he might snatch faith from our hearts.  And sometimes we even play along.  Our joyfulness in the faith waxes and wanes.  We listen, then we forget.  We understand, but we don’t.  Sin and unbelief are ever near.  We are the soil on the path, the rocky soil, the thorny soil.

But the Christian is not just that.  The Christian is sinner and saint.  The Christian is Old Adam and New.  The Christian is bad soil, but also good soil.  Not that we bring anything to the table, mind you, but the fact that we do believe by the power of the Spirit – means yes the word has been planted in us.  And that we trust in Christ, crucified for sinners, means the seed has sprouted.  And that faith which is begun as a good work within us will brought to completion at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ – means that our full fruitfulness will be see at the final harvest – whether 30, 60, or 100 fold.

Each time sinners hear the word, repent and believe, the seed goes into good soil.  Each time you confess your sins and are forgiven, what is planted sprouts and bears fruit.  Everywhere the Gospel is preached and he who has ears to hear, hears…. Hearts are changed, lives are renewed, and God works salvation.

Jesus doesn’t answer the question of why some believe and others do not.  But he does assure us, by this parable.  He teaches us how it is – and that he knows how it is – and that means we can trust him to know what he’s doing.

The Sower is not reckless or stupid or powerless as some may say.  Nor is he uncaring or apathetic about the success of his farming.  Just as Jesus wasn’t crucified because he was weak, or unlucky, or the victim of circumstance.  But he laid down his life of his own accord, in perfect obedience to the Father, to complete his mission of saving the world from sin.  As strange and reckless as it may seem.

So also his gospel – he knows exactly what he’s doing, strange as it may seem.  He sows the seed, plants the word, proclaims the Gospel freely and fully – intent that all would hear and believe, sprout and bear fruit.  That some seed falls on bad soil of whatever kind – we recognize, but leave it for the mystery that it is.

And rather, thanks be to God for the seed of his teaching, receptive souls reaching, and pray that it blossom and flourish for one and for all.  Thanks be to God for the good news of Jesus Christ, who died and rose for you and me, and makes us fruitful – to the glory of his name.  May his kingdom come, may the seed take root in good soil wherever and whenever it is cast, that many others may join us in the harvest of his kingdom.  Such is our fervent prayer, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Sermon - Pentecost 3 - Matthew 10:21-33

Sometimes the Gospel doesn’t sound exactly like good news.  “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”  This is the gospel of the Lord!  Thanks be to God?

As I mentioned last week, these two readings go together as Jesus is preparing his disciples to go out and preach.  He gives them a message, he gives them authority, and he sends them out in pairs to labor in the harvest, which he promises is plentiful.  But in this following reading, he also warns them about the opposition they are sure to face.  And the warning has broader application.  It is first for the apostles, but yes, it is also for all Christians. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ has some tough words for us this morning.  Some stark reality.  A bit of a “red pill” to use a neologism.  Being a Christian means persecution.  It means suffering.  It means the hatred of the world will be directed at you.  He doesn’t sugar coat it.  And neither should we.

A servant is no greater than his master.  If they call him the Father of lies, what will they call you? If they hate and revile and mistreat and even crucify him, don’t think they won’t do the same to you. 

But he also has some strong words of comfort and encouragement to help this medicine go down.  Fear not, Christian!  For the persecution that is sure to come - isn’t the end of the story…

I ran across a website that describes and tracks the persecution of Christians throughout the world, and they shared these typical scenarios:

A woman in India watches as her sister is dragged off by Hindu nationalists. She doesn’t know if her sister is alive or dead.

A man in a North Korean prison camp is shaken awake after being beaten unconscious; the beatings begin again.

A woman in Nigeria runs for her life. She has escaped from Boko Haram, who kidnapped her. She is pregnant, and when she returns home, her community will reject her and her baby.

A group of children are laughing and talking as they come down to their church’s sanctuary after eating together. Instantly, many of them are killed by a bomb blast. It’s Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.

According to the same website, in the last year:

• Over 260 million Christians living in places where they experience high levels of persecution
• 2,983 Christians killed for their faith
• 9,488 churches and other Christian buildings attacked.
• 3,711 believers detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned

(https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/)

We see these things happening (if we are willing to look), and it merely confirms what Jesus teachers here.  And that we don’t, at least not yet, see things like this in our own “land of the free and home of the brave” – well, the relative peace and calm we Christians in America have enjoyed is somewhat of an exception.  No Christian I know has the ability to predict the future, there are certainly some ominous signs for us lately. Are your eyebrows raised yet?

The public square becomes ever more hostile to a Scriptural worldview.  The laws of our land seem to ensconce ever more immorality.  Many Christians are afraid to speak up for fear of losing face, losing a job, or even being sued. You may even be afraid to be known as a Christian, to hold positions that the Bible clearly teaches, or even to mention the name of Jesus in certain circles or particular places.

It’s not just the public square, however, it can even divide the family.  Jesus says “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death”

So what do we do?  Retreat?  Run off to a cave like Elijah?  Crawl into a hole and die? No, Jesus tells us what to do.  And in his command, there is also a message of hope for the persecuted Christian.  He says “fear not”.

Fear not.  It is the most common command in all of Scripture.  Fear not.  Spoken by many an angel, and here, in this reading, on the lips of our Lord 3 times:  fear not.  Do not fear the world.  Do not fear the persecution.  Do not fear those who are out to get you.  The most they can do is destroy the body.  It would be better to fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell – that’s God.  The God who wants not only our fear, but also our love and trust.

Fear not – for he cares even for the sparrow.  And if the life of a sparrow matters to God, then certainly also the least and frailest among us matter.  And certainly also those who suffer for righteousness’ sake matter.  If he has count of even the hairs on your head, then you think he won’t notice your suffering?  The all-knowing and all-powerful God is your Father, and he means you good.  You think he won’t sustain you, be with you, and carry you through?  He will.

And what’s the worst that can happen to you?  Not that they kill you – for he will raise you up.  Not that they can humiliate you, for he will vindicate you.  Take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife.  Let these all be gone, the kingdom ours remaineth.

Confess Christ.  Confess him before men, and he will confess you before the Father.  We confess Christ when we believe in him – believe in your heart and confess with your lips in Christ crucified for sinners.

Trusting Christ crucified is the precise antidote for fear.  If Christ is not your savior, if his blood is not shed for you, if your sins are not forgiven, if Christ has not been raised… well then you have every good reason to fear, both now and hereafter.  But Christ has been raised.  His blood was shed.  His life was given in your place.  And your sins are forgiven.  You have no reason to fear.  So fear not.  Fear not what God will do to you – for you are in Christ.  And fear not what man can do to you – for even if you die, yet shall you live!

The fact that Jesus warns his disciples of persecution is really a comfort.  Imagine if he didn’t warn us.  Imagine if he made it seem like Christianity would always be a walk in the park – your best life now – the magic wand that makes all your troubles go bye-bye.  And then trouble comes.  You’d think him a liar. You’d wonder whether God cared, or had any power to save at all.

But that he warns you ahead of time – is a comfort.  That he knows you will meet resistance, and suffer, and maybe even die at the hands of wicked men – means you can trust him at his word, and have no fear.

This is why Jesus can say blessed are you when they persecute you.  This is how Paul can explain that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope, and hope does not put us to shame.  This is why faith clings to Christ, and even grows, in the midst of tribulations in this world.  Because faith trusts in Christ, and Christ has promised us a future beyond the suffering and persecution, a hope even beyond the grave.

Being a Christian is both easy and hard.  It’s easy in the sense that we have nothing to do, but believe, and we are saved.  All the heavy-lifting is done by Jesus at the cross.  It’s as easy for us as receiving a gift.  But it’s also hard, in that persecutions are sure to come.  It’s hard as we struggle against the wicked world, and of course also the devil and our own sinful flesh.  It’s hard in that there is suffering, there are crosses, and this side of heaven, we have to be ready for it all.

But fear not.  For Christ is with you, even if and when you are persecuted.  Fear not, for his word is always and ever true.  Fear not, for he has redeemed you, he has called you by name, you are his.  Fear not, little flock, but rather trust the Good Shepherd, who will get you out of this valley of the shadow of death and bring you to his good pastures.  Persecution is temporary but with Christ, the blessings are eternal.

Thanks be to God, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sermon - Second Sunday after Pentecost - Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-20)

And so we are back to green.  Green paraments, green stoles.  The Season of Pentecost, or what we call the “regular time” of the church.  The Festival half of the church year is concluded, after we followed the life of Christ from Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week and Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday.  Now we enter the long stretch of Sundays after Pentecost – the time of the church.

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Today we have the first of a two-part reading from Matthew’s Gospel.  The over-arching topic is something like, “Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles”.  Now, next week we will hear about the suffering they can expect when they go.  But here, for starters, we have some preliminary matters.

First, Jesus comments about the harvest and the workers.

Second, He gives the Twelve authority.  And Matthew gives us their names.

Third, He sends them out with their message and marching orders.

Let’s consider each of these in turn, as we apply the reading also to our common life in the church today.

“The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.”  Jesus speaks here in a word picture about the kingdom.  He had been going about his business, preaching in various places throughout the cities and villages.  And it became clear that more preachers would be needed for the task.  The ‘harvest’, as it were, being the hearers and recipients of the Gospel of the kingdom – and the ‘laborers’, those who tended to the harvest. 

We should understand this aphoristic saying of Jesus with broad application.  The harvest is, now, as it was then, as it always is – plentiful.  There are always people who need to hear the message of Jesus.  There are always people who will receive the message of Jesus.  Keying in on the grand scriptural metaphor of agriculture – the seed of the Gospel is planted and preached – bringing forth a harvest of faith by God’s grace.  Some plant, some water, some harvest.  God always gives the growth.  We preachers are just blessed to work our own little corner of the field, and pray we do it faithfully.

That the harvest is plentiful is good news for the church, isn’t it?  We may look out and think we see otherwise.  It’s easy to be doom and gloom in today’s world, as churches shrink and orthodox Christianity is marginalized in the public square.  It looks, to us, less like a harvest and more like a blight.  Stubbly fields that have been picked clean by crows and bleached by the heat of the day.  We may think the church is doomed.  We may predict disaster.  We may feel like Elijah, “I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me too.”

But don’t dismiss these words of Jesus.  The harvest IS plentiful.  Things just aren’t always as they seem.  The spiritual reality isn’t always what we perceive it to be.  Jesus’ words stand true, even when it appears otherwise.

So repent of any discouragement and trust that the God who establishes his church and builds his church will also grow and keep his church as he sees fit, and that according to his promise, the harvest is plentiful.  People need to hear the Gospel, and when it is preached, the word doesn’t return void.  Some falls on good soil, and produces that harvest of a hundred-fold.

And remember, that you are a part of that harvest!  Though you were dead in your sins, the Spirit has made you alive in Christ.  So now where there was no life, now there is a harvest.  As you have come to faith by the word.  As you have been baptized and discipled. 

The problem is not the lack of harvest but the lack of workers, laborers, and preachers.  But even for that problem Jesus has a solution:  pray.  Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into the fields.  And we know he answers.

If you listen closely to the prayer of the church each week, we do a pretty good job of following this command of Jesus.  We pray for laborers.  We pray that God would provide the church with faithful pastors and church workers.  We also act in accord with this prayer, as we support church workers and seminary students.  Mark Peters, the man we are now supporting at seminary, and his family will be here again this summer – and I know you will be generous with him as you always are.  This won’t benefit us directly, but it is part of our support for the church at large, and our response to Jesus’ teaching here.  In the same way we support missionaries, like Phillip Magness, who teaches Lutheran church music and worship in Africa.  He’ll be here in less than a month.

Second, Jesus gives the twelve authority.  Matthew specifically mentions the authority Jesus gives over unclean spirits, and also to heal.  These were important confimations of the message they would preach, signs that they were sent by the true Messiah, and an outward expression of the breaking of the devil’s kingdom that the Gospel brings.  It amazed the disciples, themselves, that even the demons submitted to them in Jesus’ name!  But Jesus answers with a sort of “you aint seen nothin’ yet”.  Don’t rejoice in this, that is, the outward miracles – but that your names are written in heaven.  Rejoice, rather, in salvation itself.

It’s true that at this point Jesus was sending his disciples only to the lost sheep of Israel.  But soon he would expand that commission and send them to make disciples of all nations.  So does he establish the Church and also the office of the Holy Ministry.  Those apostles would plant churches and appoint pastors far and wide.  The kingdom would expand and grow.  The harvest would grow and the gospel would spread, throughout years, decades, and centuries.

Today, the preachers of the Gospel are not promised the same kind of apostolic power to exorcise demons and miraculously heal.  But we have inherited from the apostles and those that came after them - the message of the Gospel, and the salvation of Christ crucified.  And that is enough.  It is enough to amaze us, and give us cause for rejoicing.  That the Son of God became man for you, fulfilled the law for you, and offered himself on the cross for you – to save you from sin and death and devil.  This is the great good news that Christ has given to the church to hear, and proclaim, and by it, to be saved.

Now, you might say, well, is this all about pastors?  Is this all about preaching?  Where’s my place in the field? What’s my labor toward the harvest?

For all of us, it is first of all to believe.  To receive the message of Jesus preached to us.  To repent of our sins and believe in the Gospel.  To be the harvest, to grow, and bear fruit.

Second, to labor in the harvest is to support the preaching of this gospel.  Not all are to be preachers, just as not all are apostles.  But all have received the message with joy and desire others to receive the same blessing.  And so we pray for preachers, that they would be sent, that they would be faithful, and for the success of the proclamation.  We earnestly ask that the Lord would move sinners to repentance and faith in Christ as he has so done for us.  And we do what we can to bring other sinners to hear this good news, like one beggar telling another where to find the free bread.

Third, we love our neighbor.  We can say all the right things but if we have no love it won’t amount to much.  Jesus says they will know where are his disciples by our love.  And so inasmuch as each Christian loves his neighbor, he gives a powerful witness silent that supports any words of witness he may have occasion to offer.  Why are you being so kind to me?  How is it, that you can you forgive me?  Well, friend, let me tell you…  Well, friend, let me invite you to my church…

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.  The harvest is plentiful.  Thanks be to God.  What a joy to be a part of that harvest, by the blood of Christ.  But the workers are few.  So let us heed Jesus’ words, and pray for more laborers to be sent into that harvest.  And let our actions match our words, let our love and support for the Gospel rise to the occasions he sets before us.  For in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God is at hand, with blessings as only he can provide.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sermon - Matthew 28:16-20

"Understanding or Confessing?"

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity.  It is Holy Trinity Sunday.  That one Sunday each year in which we highlight the mystery of the divine nature – that God is three and God is one.  In a few moments we will confess the Athanasian Creed, which as a child, seemed to me to last for an eternity, but now as an adult I cherish more every year.

And I call it a mystery for good reason.  The scriptural doctrine of the Holy Trinity is one the Christian church has been pondering, confessing, and sometimes even fighting about, since the very beginning.  And while the Old Testament believers certainly confessed the oneness of God, it cannot be said that the three-ness is something the New Testament invented.  Rather, it is only with the appearance of Jesus Christ, and the light shed by the New Testament writers, that we see the distinction of three co-equal persons of the godhead so clearly. 

Think about it.  God the Father, of course, is assumed in the Old Testament.  His names and works are replete and evident.  But the Spirit is also there, even from the very beginning, hovering over the face of the waters, as we read in Genesis 1.  Furthermore, that God appears and makes himself manifest throughout the ages in the burning bush, in the pillar of fire, and in the many “angel of the Lord” instances – is at least a hint that something strange is going on.  No one has ever seen God, and yet, in these instances, it appears that in a way, people do.

And then the New Testament, especially John’s Gospel, make it clear that Jesus, the Second Person of this Holy Trinity, is the Living Word of God present from the very beginning, and that by him all things were made.  That Word, which became manifest in the incarnation of Christ, that God made flesh – and we have seen his glory.

Now, already, we’ve been unpacking and setting forth just a sliver of what the Scriptures teach about this grand topic, and perhaps already it’s raised some questions or tensions in your mind.  How can God be three and one at the same time?  What exactly is the relationship between God the Father and the Son?  And why is this all so important anyway that we spend a whole Sunday on it every year?

But let me raise for you one of the very real dangers as we approach this doctrine.  And that is this, the danger of understanding.  Or, better yet, thinking we can, or we might, or we somehow should understand God.

Human reason really is a wonderful gift and blessing, which God has bestowed upon us and which he would have us use to his glory and the benefit of our neighbor.  But like all good gifts of God, our sinful nature uses and abuses it.  You might even say that human reason, influenced by the Devil, had a hand in the very first sin.  When Eve looked at the fruit, reasoned that it was good for food and also for wisdom, reasoned that it would make her like God, knowing good from evil…. She drew the very logical conclusion that it was worth a try.  She reached a satanic course of action by elevating her own thoughts above the very word of God. 

And so do we.  Did God really say?  Did God really say he was one?  Does God really say he is three?  Does he really say that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Jesus and the Father are one?  Does the Spirit really receive divine honor and worship and do divine works?  Does the Bible really put these three on equal footing?  How do we understand the nature of the Divine, the mechanics of the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity?

It's not wrong to ask questions.  But we must keep our reason in check.  It’s only natural to wonder at the how and the why.  But we must maintain a humility that recognizes both the finite limitations of our place as creatures, and also the corruption of our reason due to sin.  Or to put it another way, Scripture informs our reason, not the other way around.

To think that we can understand and discern the mysteries of God’s nature is really the height of arrogance.  But it is an arrogance that is not far from the sinful mind of man.  How many times have you ever heard someone say, “Well, I could never worship a god who does thus and so….”  Or, “That’s not how my God would act”?  We try to subject God to our “if… then… “ syllogisms as if we are the master logician and the Almighty is confined to a seat in our classroom.  Is there any more foolish way to put yourself above God, in the place of God, than to think you can take him apart and put him back together again?  Who’s the creator here, anyway?

And another species of this arrogance is our tendencies toward works righteousness.  To think that we know better also about our own salvation.  To dismiss the work of Christ, the atoning sacrifice of the cross, and to substitute instead our own meager and miserable merits.  “Thanks, Jesus, you got us started, but we’ll finish the job ourselves”.  “You gave us a head start, now we have to finish the race.  You set the table, but it’s up to us to please God with our holy living and impressive piety.”  What could ever be more wrong?

And so, the repentance here is to lean not on your own understanding, but to trust God to be God.  Don’t think you can know God on your own, but receive with thanksgiving that which he reveals to you about himself, Father, Son, and Spirit.  Humble your brain.  But a bit and bridle on your own thinking, and be subject to the Word of God in all things.  Repent of your own ways, receive and believe the truth which God bestows.

Or to put it more simply, don’t understand, but confess.  Don’t earn it, receive it.  Don’t figure it out, believe it.

Confession is simply saying what God has already said.  God says you are a sinner, and you confess your sins.  God says he is holy, and we confess he is holy.  God says he is Father, Son and Spirit, and we say, amen!  Blessed be the Holy Trinity!

This is what the Christian church has done, over the many years, especially by means of her creeds.  We set forth in these grand summaries, a confession – a same-saying of what Scripture teaches.  These are not new teachings or invented doctrines.  They are what we have received, and what have been handed down to us by God through the apostles and the prophets, and have been kept by the faithful through the ages.  They are treasures of the church, like the gold setting of a precious gem – which sets forth the true jewel of God’s treasury, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus teaches us the Trinity also, and perhaps especially, in Matthew 28, by his command to make disciples by baptism and teaching.  He sets before us the Triune name of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and commands the church to baptize people into this Divine name.  Notice it’s a singular name with three referents.  It’s really not good grammar, is it?  He should have said in the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Ah, but he knows better.  There’s one name.  There’s one God.  There’s three persons.

Just as Jesus teaches that disciples are made by such a simple thing as baptism.  This also flies in the face of reason.  You mean simple water and a few words can effect salvation?  They can change me, make me different in any meaningful way?  And without me bringing anything to the table?  Why yes, baptism into the name of the Trinue God is a very means of grace, a washing of rebirth and renewal, a burial with Christ and a raising from the dead with him also.  Such is the power of the divine name of the Triune God and the promise of God the Son who died for the sins of the world.

And so the church, and the Christian, does not understand.  But we do confess.  We trust God, not ourselves, to know who he is, what he has done, what he still does.  We humbly receive and boldly confess the truths of his holy word, inspired by the Spirit, made flesh in the Son, to the glory of the Father.

Even now let us confess this faith, and the mystery of the Holy Trinity, in the words of the Athanasian Creed…

Sermon - John 7:37-39 - The Day of Pentecost

 “Thirst for the Spirit”

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39

I was looking at the statistics for the virus this week, as I am sure many of you have also.  One chart listed the likelihood of dying from various causes, including the virus.  Some surprised me, some did not.  Of all the dangers to life and limb we face in this life, dying of thirst is pretty low on our list, isn’t it?  

I think the closest we get to that kind of thirst is after mowing the lawn on a hot Texas day and coming in for a cold drink, maybe even a beer, that first sip or gulp is so good, so refreshing.

I remember watching Sesame Street as a child and seeing an animated short about a man crawling through the desert, sweating and exhausted, calling out and grasping at the air, “Water!  Water!”  I suppose he was dying of thirst.  What a relief it must be for someone like that to find an oasis, and drink their fill.  That water becomes the difference between death and life.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus invites people, you, me, anyone… anyone who thirsts, to come to him and drink.  And he promises such a drink that whoever receives it, that is, whoever believes in him… will also become a source for even more.  From his heart will flow rivers of living water.  And finally, John comments, that Jesus was saying this about the Spirit.  So what do we make of all this today?

For starters, it’s important to notice the setting for this proclamation.  Jesus is at Jerusalem for a feast… one of the 3 major feasts of ancient Israel – the Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths.  It was when tents, or booths were set up in the fields for harvest time.  It also recalled the wilderness wandering and God’s providing food and water for the people during their 40 years there.  Remember the manna from heaven and the rock that was struck and poured out water for them to drink?

Tabernacles was a week-long festival, with various ceremonies and rituals taking place throughout those days. One of the rituals involved water. Each morning, water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam and carried in a golden pitcher to the temple. The water was poured out, the trumpets would sound, and the people would sing the words of Isaiah, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”1

It’s no accident that Jesus chooses this event, with all this business about water to make these comments about himself and the Spirit.  He’s connecting God’s provision for the people of old with God’s promises in the Messiah, namely, himself.  But just as the manna in the wilderness pointed forward to the true Bread of Life, Jesus… so also the water from the rock pointed forward to the greater waters bestowed by Jesus upon the church – through holy baptism and the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit.  There are so many ways to extol the work of the Holy Spirit among us.  But today, consider the Spirit’s connection to water.

The first mention of the Spirit of God we hear in Scripture is the Spirit of God hovering over the waters of the primeval creation.  The Spirit also makes himself know in the baptism of Jesus, even appearing visibly, in the form of a dove.  And of course, the Holy Spirit comes to each of us Christians in our baptism, through the water and the word of promise there. 

The Spirit is also, as we confess in the Nicene Creed, the “Lord and Giver of Life”.  This is true both of our bodily life and breath, but even more so of the new life of faith.  This is why the Spirit’s work is called “living water”.  Water is always closely connected with life.  Think about it when scientists go looking for life on other planets, one of the first things they look for is water – as far as we know – a necessity for life.  You can live for weeks without eating, but only a few days without water.  And when the water is bad or tainted or too salty you it won’t help you.  It needs to be good water, healthy and pure water.  How much more the living water that Jesus Christ gives!

And so Jesus invites all who thirst.  But he means more than physical thirst.  All who have a desire and yearning for peace.  All who know their deepest need.  All who sorrow over their sins and yearn for the comfort, the quenching of the soul that the Gospel brings.  All who look for the washing away of all the troubles of this sad life marred by griefs of all kinds.  

If everything is just dandy in your life, and if you have not even a spot of trouble in your conscience… then you don’t have the thirst.  But if you know it’s all wrong.  If you see the world isn’t as it should be, and more than that, you aren’t how you should be.  Then you’re approaching that thirst.  Then you need Jesus, and Jesus you will receive.

Luther puts it this way:  “Christ chose words that addressed themselves to the heart and to those who felt the need of them. These are comforting, friendly, and charming words; they refresh, console, and strengthen the thirsty.”

It’s so simple.  Come to me, believe in me, and receive from me.  There’s no complicated process or set of instructions to follow.  There’s no 12 or 100 step program to earn this living water.  It’s a gift.  It’s free.  Freely given by the one who freely gave himself even unto death, even death upon the cross.

There also we see water – as the spear pierced his side, and blood and water issued forth.  Water, blood and spirit crying – all three give testimony to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

John says Jesus was speaking here of the Spirit, but that the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.  Well, that’s true in a sense.  In another sense, the Spirit had already been there from eternity, was active in creation, and also spoke by the prophets.  But the Spirit would come in a new way, and with particular power, when the glorified Christ poured out the Spirit on Pentecost.

On that day – the Gospel was preached to pilgrims from all over the world who had gathered at Jerusalem.  Miraculously so, in their own languages.  And presumably many of those who heard and believed would carry that message home, and the same Spirit would work through that Gospel and continue to bring more and more sinners to believe in Christ.

That the church would continue to grow and the kingdom expand, that the word of Christ would be preached even to the ends of the earth – is the work of the Spirit even today.  And it takes us back to the water.

Notice Jesus says about those who thirst and come to him – they receive a living water.  But it’s not just for them.  It’s a water that flows out of their hearts, out of our hearts.  The blessings of Christ are not to be hoarded and clutched and squirreled away for ourselves.  Faith isn’t like that.  Faith flows, like water.  It springs forth from us in ways we may not even always comprehend.  For just as the Spirit moves when and where he wills, so does he employ the believers in Christ as he so chooses.  To love and serve neighbors.  To witness to the hope that is within us.  To pray and work and love and give.  Living waters, flowing naturally from the believer as water flows from a spring.

Do you thirst for forgiveness, sinner?  Then come to Christ and drink freely.  Do you want to see the work of the Spirit?  Then give ear to the words and promises of Jesus.  And you will receive the living water freely, only to see it flow forth from you, by the power of the Holy Spirit himself.  Thanks be to God, in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

1 Paragraph taken from a sermon by Rev. Charles Henrickson