Helping your friends for eternity

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/581842444 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Sermon for Trinity 9

1 Corinthians 10:6-13  +  Luke 16:1-9

Often times in Jesus’ parables, He tells a story in order to walk us patiently toward a certain understanding, to draw a certain conclusion. Sometimes, He comes right out and spells out that conclusion for us. That’s what He does in today’s Gospel of the unjust steward. His first hearers had to wait till the end for the conclusion, but since we can read the whole parable now, let’s begin today with the conclusion Jesus draws and the main point He makes, and then go back and see how the parable gets us there.

For the sons of this age are wiser toward their own kind than are the sons of the light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that, when you become destitute, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

What’s the problem Jesus is addressing in the parable of the unjust steward? What’s the sin He wants His people to recognize in themselves, to repent of, and to avoid and correct in the future? Well, He makes a comparison between the sons of this age and the sons of the light.

He calls unbelievers the “sons of this age,” people as they are naturally born, born of the flesh only. They’re the people who live only for this age, whose life centers around getting by in this world, having the best life possible here, enjoying life here. They’re so concerned with this life, in fact, that the threat of a disease, a virus that could end their earthly life “prematurely,” even the minimal threat Hisposed by C-19, makes them willing to upend society and life as we know it (or knew it) in order to preserve their earthly lives at all costs, even if it means trampling on the rights and the freedoms and the beliefs of everyone else. They are the sons of this age, and they will perish with this age.

Christ calls believers the “sons of the light,” those who have been born again, born of water and the Spirit, born of God, who is Light. As St. John says, God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. These are the ones who have come to acknowledge their sins through the preaching of God’s Law and who have come to believe the promise of the Gospel, that God will forgive us and accept us as His own, free of charge, for the sake of Jesus, and through faith alone in Jesus. The sons of the light (which includes both men and women, of course) know better than to live for this life. They know that this life is short, that our lives are in God’s hands, that our goal is not to prosper in this world, but to reach the life that is with God, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. They know that they have to bear difficult temptations in this world, as St. Paul described in today’s Epistle, but that these things are for our good, to teach us, and that God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also create such an outcome that you are able to bear up under it. The sons of the light know that this world, this age, and everything in it is perishing. They know not to cling too tightly to anything here, because here is where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But the Lord has prepared treasures in heaven and a crown of life for those who remain faithful unto death. The saints know that “here” is simply a preparation for the life to come.

But…While the saints, the sons of the light, know all that and believe all that, we can still be influenced and even led astray by our sinful nature, so that we don’t live like that. And so St. Paul pointed to the horrific example of the Israelites, who began as sons of the light, but who gave into idolatry and adultery and ended up dead on the desert floor. Or as Jesus says in the Gospel, The sons of this age are wiser toward their own kind than are the sons of the light. How so? Well, look at the unjust steward, one of the sons of this age, as he deals with his own situation and the people he could affect with his use of mammon, that is, the earthly wealth he had at his disposal, the wealth that turns into a god for so many people.

The steward was a steward. The wealth at his disposal wasn’t his own; it belonged to the owner of the business, to the rich man for whom he worked. Now, whether the steward started out his job as a lazy bum or whether he became that later, we’re not told. He probably started out OK and so kept his job for a while. But he grew lazy, haphazard, careless with his management of the rich man’s wealth and was eventually called to account for it. He knew he deserved to be fired, but he also knew that being fired meant no income for himself, so he would end up begging or finding a job of hard manual labor, neither of which he found very appealing.

So the steward sat down and thought quickly. If the rich man won’t provide me an income anymore, then I’ll have to rely on others to do it. I have the rich man’s wealth at my disposal for a little while longer. How can I use it to make friends who will love me and invite me into their homes and take care of me after the mean rich man fires me? I’ll fudge the books and cancel some of their debt, anywhere from 20% to 50% of what they owe my boss.

Instead of being angry with the steward for basically giving away some of his money, the rich man commended him. Oh, he had lied and cheated and connived and, in effect, stolen from the rich man. The steward didn’t know anything of the cardinal virtue called Justice. But at least he was finally exercising the cardinal virtue called Prudence or wisdom. And, in the end, the rich man, by not firing the steward, would end up getting the credit among his debtors for being so generous with them.

But, Jesus laments, The sons of this age are wiser toward their own kind than are the sons of the light. Unbelievers often use worldly wealth to buy friends for themselves. Some people contribute to charity and give big, public donations to this or that good cause in order to gain favor and influence. Some do it simply for the sake of good karma! Politicians are famous for it, promising everything from debt cancellation to free money or health care or housing in order to buy people’s goodwill and votes. And shamefully, it often works, doesn’t it?

But Christians, who know better than to hoard up things for this life, who know that God has commanded us to love one another as Christians, to be devoted to one another, to live in service to one another, and to do good to all men, often become lazy, or haphazard, or careless about such things. We get wrapped up in our own stuff, we keep padding our wallets and stuffing our pantries and building up our bank accounts, and we don’t even think about using the wealth at our disposal—God’s wealth!— to do favors for fellow Christians, meaningful, substantial gifts that will make a difference in their lives, that will help take care of the earthly needs of those with whom we are to spend eternity, much less using our wealth to benefit those who are not yet Christians, in the hope that we might entice them to listen to the Gospel and so become sons of the light, together with us.

And so Jesus holds this parable before our eyes to bring us to repentance yet again, for our shameful, self-serving stewardship of His things. And to the penitent, Christ again holds out His blood as the price He paid for our mismanagement and apathetic service and calls on us to believe in Him for the forgiveness of all our sins. And then, just as the unjust steward wasn’t fired from his stewardship after proving that he could act wisely after all, so the Lord retains in His service those who have repented of their sins and who are now re-devoted to serving faithfully.

What does that look like? Jesus tells us very simply: I say to you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that, when you become destitute, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings. God, the Owner, calls on Christians to use their wealth in service to fellow Christians and to those who might become our fellow Christians. Now, that includes your Christian family, of course. And it also includes your offerings given to support your pastor and the ministry that serves our members here. It includes support for other pastors and parishes of our fellowship. It includes a pastor’s family in Colombia, and soon it could include supporting mission work in the jungles of Peru and in other parts of the world. It includes also looking for opportunities to help the unbeliever, so that he may be drawn to hear the Gospel by your acts of kindness.

The point is, the wise manager watches out for laziness and selfishness and worldliness. He seeks to avoid carelessness and apathy about the wealth God has put into his hands. He makes it his daily and primary task to consider, how will I use these material things today, these temporary, passing away things that I have in my hands, to help my brothers and sisters in Christ, or to try to gain new brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I will spend eternity, whose favor and gratitude are worth far more to me than building up a huge nest egg for myself here on earth?

I’ll tell you, dear members at Emmanuel, I see you doing these things in how you provide for me and my family and for the needs of our church, how you’ve provided for Pr. Marin’s family and for others in our diocese when they’ve needed help. I see your willingness to bend over backwards to help one another in a time of need, and if any of you falls on hard times, you should know that you have Christian friends here who will gladly lend a hand. And I’ve seen you just waiting for a good chance, a wise chance, to help anyone and everyone. That help and that desire to help are pleasing to God through Christ Jesus. Just remember, you have enemies in this world—the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh—that will always keep trying to turn your focus away from generosity and back toward selfishness and self-centeredness and the service of mammon. So stay vigilant. Listen to Jesus’ correction and instruction. And become better stewards, day by day, of the abundant wealth the Lord has given us all, to use for His glory and for the eternal benefit of our neighbor. Amen.

 

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Helping your friends for eternity

The Third Commandment

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon
Download Bulletin

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 8

Our Small Catechism focus this evening is the Third Commandment. As we have it in our Catechism: You shall sanctify the day of rest. What does this mean? We should fear and love God, that we do not despise preaching and His Word; but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. Luther’s explanation is short and sweet and blessedly simple. But how we get from the language of the commandment itself to the explanation of it does require some explanation. So let’s review it together this evening.

First of all, why does the Catechism say, “day of rest,” instead of, “Sabbath Day,” as it is in Exodus 20:8? In Exodus, it reads, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Or it could just as well be translated, Remember to sanctify the Sabbath Day. Luther used the word “Sabbath Day” in his German translation of the Bible, but not in his catechism. Why? As a helpful reminder that there is a difference between the Old Testament command and the New Testament observance.

There’s an explanation of the commandment right there in Exodus 20: Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (Or, “sanctified it.”) The “seventh day,” in Jewish reckoning, was Saturday, and according to their calendar, Saturday begins on our Friday at sunset and lasts until our Saturday at sunset. During that time, the Israelites were to do no regular work.

And this was also part of the Old Testament Sabbath law. God says in Ex. 31: Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. The civil punishment in Israel for breaking that ceremonial law was death. Maybe that jars your memory about the Law of Moses. It included three kinds of law: Civil law, prescribing punishments for certain things; Ceremonial law, prescribing the ceremonies the Israelites had to observe, which included everything from the Sabbath Day, to the sacrifices, to the many special festivals they were required to attend, to the clothes they wore, to the food they ate. The Civil and the Ceremonial laws were only for the people of Israel until the coming Christ. And then there was the Moral law, the commandments that taught right and wrong for all people of all time.

What kind of law is the Third Commandment? Well, Moses already told us that in Exodus 31: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you… Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.” The old covenant, or the Old Testament, was between God and the people of Israel. The new covenant, or the New Testament, is for all nations. The Sabbath law itself, like circumcision, like all the Kosher rules, like all the temple sacrifices, was a ceremonial law, detailing one of the many ceremonies Israel was to observe until the Christ came. If there’s any doubt that it has no part in Christ’s New Testament, listen to what St. Paul writes to the Colossians in chapter 2: So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. The Sabbath law, the part requiring no work to be done on Saturday, was pure ceremonial law, and the punishment for breaking it was outlined in the civil law, neither of which is included in the New Testament.

But there is also Moral law to be found in the Third Commandment, which is why we’re even talking about it today, because the Moral law does still apply to us and to all people. What was the Moral law included in the Third Commandment? In Leviticus 23, it mentions something else that was to be part of the Sabbath day: ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.’ Or a “sacred assembly.” The people were to gather together for a holy purpose, to assemble around the ministry of the priests to hear God’s Word, to observe the temple rituals, and to pray, praise, and give thanks to the Lord. That’s why there were special sacrifices for the Sabbath day, and a special Psalm, Psalm 92, assigned for the Sabbath Day. That’s why synagogues sprang up after the Babylonian captivity, where Jesus Himself regularly attended to hear the Word of God both read and preached.

That’s how Luther got to his blessedly simple explanation in the Catechism: You shall sanctify the day of rest. What does this mean? We should fear and love God, that we do not despise preaching and His Word; but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. Notice, it’s “preaching and His Word,” the preaching done by God’s ministers whom He has sent to read His Word and to preach and teach and explain His Word to His people. Reading and studying the Bible at home is excellent and necessary and part of what it means to keep this commandment. But to despise the gathering together around the preaching of the Word, around the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, is still to break the commandment.

So we have a moral command from God not to despise preaching and His Word. To put it in a positive way, God still commands us to come together regularly as Christians around the ministry of the Word—to hear His Word, to use His Sacraments, to encourage one another, and to pray, and, of course, to do it all “gladly,” from the heart, with true devotion to God and reverence for His Word, as He says through the prophet Isaiah: On this one will I look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word. Or as Paul writes to the Colossians, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

When should we do all this? Well, in the New Testament, there is no set time or day. Sunday has not replaced Saturday as the day on which no one is to do any work or else be put to death. The Church, early on, where possible, started gathering on Sunday because it was helpful to have a certain time and day to know when to gather. Sunday has been traditionally celebrated as the “Lord’s Day” to commemorate Easter Sunday and the Lord’s resurrection and what it means for us Christians. And it was also helpful early on to have a different day than Saturday, to make it clear that we Christians are heirs of the New Testament, not the Old. But today is Wednesday, and still we are “sanctifying the day of rest” by setting aside this time to come together around the ministry of the Word. It isn’t the day that matters, but our love for and devotion to God’s Word.

As with all the commandments, the Third Commandment, in revealing to us the attitude and the behavior God demands of us with regard to His Word, accuses us all of our sins against God; it shows us how perfectly devoted God commands us to be to preaching and His Word, and so it lays bare our sinful negligence, our distractedness, our half-hearted worship, our love for other things, even the most trivial things, that push preaching and God’s Word onto the back burner, or out the door.

And so the Third Commandment, like the rest, shows us our sin and threatens God’s wrath on all who have failed to show perfect devotion to God’s Word & the holy ministry of it. So repent and trust in Christ, whose perfect devotion to God’s Word and whose flawless worship will be counted to all who believe in Him. Remember, Sabbath means “rest.” And it was part of the ceremonial law that pointed to Christ, the true Rest-Giver, who did all the work for us to earn God’s favor and a place in heaven. To teach us to trust in Christ, to rest from our works, was the chief purpose of the Sabbath all along, as the writer to the Hebrews says: There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

Only then, as you rest in Christ by faith and know God’s love and forgiveness and acceptance for His sake, let the Third Commandment guide you, as God’s dear children, children of the New Testament in Christ’s blood, to truly hold God’s Word sacred, and to gladly hear and learn it. Amen.

 

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Third Commandment

Learning to drink the cup of Christ

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/579148016 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Sermon for the Festival of St. James the Elder

Romans 8:28-39  +  Matthew 20:20-23

All twelve of the apostles were given a privileged place among our race; they were all called directly by Jesus, and they all got to sit at the feet of God and learn from Him directly for three years. But St. James was one of the privileged few, together with Peter and John, who also got to accompany Jesus on special occasions, like the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the transfiguration, and as Jesus’ close circle of friends in the Garden of Gethsemane. James and his brother John were likely cousins of Jesus, according to the flesh, which was in itself a great honor. James and John were fishing partners in their “former life,” the sons of Zebedee, and together they received the nickname from Jesus, Boanerges, which means the “sons of thunder.” James is never mentioned separately from his brother John; even when he was finally put to death by Herod, Luke writes that Herod killed “James the brother of John.” He was the first apostle to be martyred and the only one whose death is actually recorded in Scripture, so that we know with absolute certainty how it happened. That was how his earthly story ended, with the ultimate witness of faith, with the glory of martyrdom, with the willingness to die for Jesus.

Our encounter with St. James in today’s Gospel is less glorious. He and his brother John were overcome with selfish ambition, even as they were just about to enter Jerusalem for Holy Week, after Jesus had told them all that He was about to be mocked, scourged, and crucified. James and John, with their mother’s help, approach Jesus with this request: Let these two sons of mine sit in your kingdom, one at your right hand, and the other at the left.

Now, first of all, let’s understand what they were asking for. Throughout Scripture, sitting at the right hand of a king in his kingdom means having a position of honor and of power second only to the king himself, and sitting at his left was almost just as good. We already know all this, of course, because we confess in the creeds that Jesus sits at the right hand of God, that He was given that ultimate position of honor and authority after conquering sin and death. So, while James and John certainly recognized that Jesus deserved the highest honor, they thought they deserved the second and third highest, maybe because of their family ties to Jesus, or because they were singled out for those special events, or simply because they were the first to ask. And they figured this was the time to ask, because they were just about to enter Jerusalem for the Passover, and, in spite of what Jesus said about His going there to suffer and die, they apparently thought He was really going there to establish His visible, glorious kingdom on earth, once and for all.

You do not know what you are asking, Jesus told them. They had envisioned, as people still do today, a glorious earthly kingdom, where Christ reigns visibly and where His people flourish, where His disciples prosper all the time, where liars and cheaters and impenitent scoundrels are defeated, where truth prevails over falsehood, where the unjust suffering of Christians is a thing of the past. But You don’t know what you’re asking. This “kingdom” they had envisioned isn’t the kingdom Christ came to bring to earth. Oh, it will come, but only after this long age of the New Testament is done. For James and John, there was a lot of suffering and earthly defeat to be faced first.

Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I will undergo? This is the first time Jesus mentions drinking this cup, the same cup about which He eventually prayed in the Garden, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken from Me.” But it wasn’t possible, and so, after praying, He asked, “Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” It’s the cup of suffering that God would pour for His beloved Son to drink, willingly, obediently, and fatally. As for this “baptism,” there are three kinds of Baptism that Jesus talks about in the New Testament. There is the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, the washing of water with the Word. There is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, which took place on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the Church; that baptism was tied to the Sacrament of Baptism from that day on. And then there’s this baptism, this pouring out of suffering, this being washed in blood and in death that Jesus would have to undergo.

Are you able to drink that cup and be baptized with that baptism? Jesus asked the brothers. Because that’s how Christ would earn the right, as our human Redeemer, to sit on His throne, by drinking the cup and being baptized with that suffering and death. We are, they said. Of course, they didn’t even know what the cup or the baptism was; they didn’t know what they were claiming to be able to do. But they were sure they could do it, as their pride mingled with their ignorance.

You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I undergo. “Even though you don’t know what it means now, you will. You will be My witnesses, and that means you will be treated as I am treated. You’ll drink the cup of the world’s hatred and injustice and mistreatment, just as I will. You already share in My Baptism in the sacramental sense, so you will also share in the baptism of My suffering.”

But to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give; it will be given to those for whom it is prepared by my Father. Even the Son of God, who is equal with the Father according to His divinity, defers to His Father as the One who chooses whom to exalt and whom to humble. If Jesus doesn’t take that authority for Himself, then James and John (and you and I) have absolutely no business seeking glory or privilege for themselves or for ourselves. It’s My Father’s business, Jesus tells them, whom to glorify, not yours. Your only business is to be faithful.

And they did prove faithful. James and John humbled themselves before Jesus’ gentle rebuke. They repented of their sinful, selfish ambition, trying to exalt themselves above their fellow Christians and even above their brothers in the apostolic office. They humbled themselves and resigned themselves to drink whatever cup the Father should pour for them. Yes, James became the first to drink it and to be baptized with martyrdom as his blood was shed by King Herod. And the two brothers, James and John, who were never separated in Scripture ended up being separated more than any other apostles, with James being the first of them to die and John being the last, so that their deaths were like bookends of the apostolic era, almost as if one were sitting at Jesus’ right hand and the other at His left.

What do we learn from the example of James? We see in St. James an example of a faithful and devoted follower of Jesus who was not immune to selfish ambition and pride, but who also humbled himself when rebuked, who trusted in Christ for forgiveness, who confessed Christ in the world, and who willingly drank the cup that God the Father poured for him.

Watch out for that pride and ambition in yourselves, thinking you deserve a place of honor in God’s kingdom — or a place at all! — because of how faithfully you’ve followed, trying to exalt yourself above your fellow Christian. You know the example that Jesus set for us all, of humble service that put the needs of everyone above His own, who never sought glory for Himself, but was glorified by His Father precisely because He didn’t seek His own glory, who did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Your place in heaven depends on Jesus and faith in Jesus, not on how well you’ve served here on earth.

What about that cup that James so willingly drank? You and I will have one, too, whether it’s martyrdom or some other cross to bear. How does all this fit with what St. Paul wrote in today’s Epistle? We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. How can a cup of suffering and a baptism of death work together for good?

Well, we tend to make some terrible assumptions. That every painful thing is a curse, that suffering is to be avoided at all costs, that death is always a tragedy, or a failure, or a loss. We think that the real blessing from the Lord is to avoid suffering, to be raised up to a position of joy and happiness and special privileges without going through the turmoil and the pain. That’s what James and John thought, too, in that infamous moment of weakness.

But they were wrong, and they eventually learned the truth as they watched Jesus willingly suffer and die, that God uses the suffering, self-sacrifice, and service of His children to accomplish His good purposes for His children, that God is always ruling the events and the outcomes in this world so that everything does turn out for the good of each one of His children, and most importantly, that not even death will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The death of a Christian is not a tragedy, but a victory, just as Christ’s death turned out to be.

So learn to drink that cup of Christ, whenever that moment comes, to suffer for His name, to serve humbly, to trust boldly. And give thanks today for St. James, whose service in the apostolic office was the shortest of all the apostles, but whose willingness to drink the cup of Christ gave him a privileged place among our race, and in the Church, and has become a pattern for all Christians who share the same hope in the same Lord Jesus. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Learning to drink the cup of Christ

Love flows from sins forgiven

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon
Download Bulletin

Sermon for the Festival of St. Mary Magdalene

Song of Solomon 3:5-6, 8:6-7  +  Luke 7:36-50

We probably know Mary Magdalene best from her role on Easter Sunday, as one of the faithful women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, who had served Him and provided for His earthly needs, who had witnessed His death on the cross and His burial, and who had gone to attend to His supposedly dead body on Easter Sunday morning. When she saw the stone rolled away from the tomb, she ran straight back to tell the apostles, and after Peter and John saw the empty tomb for themselves, Mary stayed behind weeping. And then Jesus appeared to her alive and finally revealed Himself to her by saying her name, “Mary.”

She may or may not have been the penitent sinful woman in this evening’s Gospel from Luke 7. Her name first comes up in Luke’s Gospel right after this account, where we’re told that Jesus had driven seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, and being demon possessed strongly implies that she was previously living a life that was sinfully separated from God.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if she’s the woman from this Gospel account, because the saints’ days in the Lutheran liturgical calendar aren’t meant to focus on the saint, but on the Scripture lessons associated with their day. So let’s spend a few moments reviewing the account in Luke 7.

The three main characters here are Jesus, the woman, and Simon the Pharisee. As Jesus sits at the table at Simon’s dinner, a woman enters and approaches Jesus with great humility. She stands before Him crying, and her tears fall on Jesus’ feet. She wipes them with her hair. She kisses them. And she pours expensive perfume on them.

Remember what Isaiah wrote? How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” That verse is applied to all ministers of the Gospel, but only because it was Jesus Himself who first proclaimed that good news, that “Gospel” of good things, of salvation, of the free forgiveness of sins through faith in Him, even to the sinner who has committed the filthiest sins and lived in open hostility to God his whole life.

To a person like that, like the sinful woman in the Gospel, whether it was Mary Magdalene or another woman, the feet of Jesus, the One who came from God to atone for her sins and to bring her a promise of free forgiveness, were truly beautiful, and her tears and her peculiar attention to Jesus’ feet flowed from a heart that knew just how badly she had offended her God, just how tightly she had formerly embraced the filthy devil, just how close she had been to eternal death, but now, just how wonderful her God was, who offered her forgiveness, life, and salvation through this Son of Man sitting at the table in front of her.

But to Simon, as a self-righteous Pharisee, who already thought he was better than most people, including Jesus, her behavior was disgusting, and so was Jesus’ acceptance of it. If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of a woman this is, and he would send her away in the disgrace she deserves.

But Jesus took pity on Simon, too, and told him a very simple, very gentle parable to snap him out of his self-righteous condemnation of that woman who had shown such humility and love to Jesus. Two men owed money to a lender. One owed 500. The other owed 50. Neither could pay, so the lender forgave them both. Which one would be more grateful? Which one would love the lender more? Obviously, the one who owed more.

Then Jesus goes on to show how that little parable played out in real life. The woman who knew how terribly sinful she was, who knew she owed a huge debt to God, was promised the forgiveness of her enormous debt through Jesus, so she loved Him very much, like the woman portrayed in this evening’s first lesson from the Song of Solomon, who sought out the one whom her soul loved and wouldn’t let go of him once she found him, because “love is strong as death.” She showed that love by her tender, humble acts of kindness toward Jesus, with her tears and her hair and her kisses on Jesus’ feet and her pouring out of the perfume that she used to use on herself as she practiced her sinful adultery, but now pours it out on Jesus’ feet, as one who has abandoned her sinful life and has found forgiveness with Jesus and a new life devoted to Him.

Simon, on the other hand, didn’t even show Jesus the customary courtesies of a dinner host. No water for Jesus even to wash His own feet. No kiss of greeting. No oil to anoint the head. Simon didn’t just love Jesus “little.” He didn’t love Jesus at all. Because he didn’t view Jesus as His Savior from any sins. He didn’t look to Jesus for forgiveness for anything.

But the woman’s demonstration of love showed everyone the faith that God already saw in her heart, and so Jesus says to her, Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now, which came first, the pronouncement of forgiveness, the faith, or the acts of love? Well clearly the faith came first, which came from the word she had already heard about Jesus, which brought her to this dinner hall and which already made her a forgiven daughter of God. Then came the acts of love. And then came the pronouncement of forgiveness, affirming the righteousness that was hers by faith, and also giving her another firm and solid word of God on which to rest her faith and build her faith, so that the next time her conscience troubled her over her past sins, the next time Satan tried to remind her of what a wretch she was, the next time a Pharisee or another person should treat her with contempt because of the filthy life she had once lived, she could turn back to those words Jesus spoke to her again and again and be comforted again by the word of Christ. And if this was St. Mary Magdalene, she didn’t just go away after that day, but stayed close to Jesus for the rest of His earthly life, and then stayed close to His Church for the rest of her earthly life. As we all must.

Today’s festival is about the basics of Christianity: First, Repentance. Your debt of sin is far greater than you imagine it to be. Not one of us here needs to be forgiven only a little. So come to Jesus daily in repentance, not so that you can keep on living in your sin, but so that you can get rid of it, first before God, and then in your life going forward. Second, Faith. Trust in the faithful Lord Jesus, who is the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice for your sins, and not only for yours, but for the sins of the whole world. Third, Forgiveness. Whether it’s the promise of the Gospel you’ve heard hundreds of times before, promising forgiveness through Christ, or whether it’s your Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or private absolution from the pastor to you individually, cling to those promises and know that when God pronounces you forgiven, not even hell itself can override it. Finally, Love. Let demonstrations of love flow from your faith in Christ, so that everything you do is for love of Jesus, who loved you first and gave Himself for you. Let Mary’s example spur you on to love Jesus as she did, always remembering the depths from which Jesus pulled you up, so that you never despise His forgiveness as Simon did.

Repentance, faith, forgiveness, and love. These are the things we learn from the Gospel for St. Mary Magdalene’s day. May the Lord make us ever more like her. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Love flows from sins forgiven

A good Master who gives gifts in the end

Posted on July 18, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
Sermon (audio)
Download Sermon

Service(video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/576484923 w=540&h=360]
Download Service Download Bulletin

Sermon for Trinity 7

Romans 6:19-23  +  Mark 8:1-9

Slavery is the picture St. Paul uses in today’s Epistle. But the picture he uses isn’t humans enslaving other humans by force. It’s a picture of two “masters,” and everyone serves one of the two, although St. Paul also admits that this analogy is far from perfect; he uses it only because of our human weakness and inability to grasp how things really are. Still, the Holy Spirit chose to use that picture, and, according to the apostle, there are some comparisons to be made. The fact is, everyone is slave, either of sin or of God.

Like the rest of mankind, we were all born into sin’s slavery, unable to serve the true God, unable to truly love Him, unable to truly love our neighbor. Adam and Eve willingly and foolishly chose this slavery, and now their children are born into it, bound with spiritual chains to sin, unable to free ourselves. We could do things that outwardly appeared good, but everything was tainted by selfishness on the inside, and very many things were evil on the outside, too. It’s an ugly slavery, and the worst part of it is, people who are slaves to sin don’t even recognize it as slavery, don’t even want to be rid of it, but on the contrary, Paul says, You presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. You offered, you volunteered your mind and the parts of your body to unclean thoughts, words, and acts. Paul asks, What fruit did you have then in those things of which you are now ashamed? How did you benefit from presenting your members as slaves to uncleanness? What benefits did you reap? Maybe some immediate pleasure, some instant satisfaction, some temporary relief, popularity, fulfillment, the love of the world. But the end of those things, Paul says, the end or the result of that slavery of sin, is death, which paid out like wages at the end of the day by sin, the slave master. And it’s a death that doesn’t end when your heart stops beating or when your body decays. After your body dies, it only gets worse for those who die in sin’s slavery.

But, Paul says to the Roman Christians, you have been freed from sin and made slaves to God. You were freed from sin, justified from sin, through faith in the Son of God who has set you free. As we saw last week, you were baptized into Christ’s death, baptized out of sin’s servitude and into God’s. It wasn’t a choice you simply made or could make, to leave sin’s slavery. It was God’s Holy Spirit working through the Gospel, turning your will, which was enslaved to sin, toward Christ, the Deliverer from sin. In that sense, by the conversion worked by the Holy Spirit, you willingly entered God’s “slavery,” which is much more like freedom than like slavery, because, instead of a whip cracking over your back, instead of threat after threat after threat, it’s the word of God that calls on His believing, forgiven children, to present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to holiness. Now, the immediate results of this slavery may not be pleasant—the cross, self-denial, the world’s hatred, the devil’s attacks. But the end of this slavery, the slavery to God, is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord, as the gift of God.

Now, what kind of master do we have in the Lord Jesus, and is there any relief at all before that final gift of Paradise at the end of our service? Those questions are answered very simply in today’s Gospel of the feeding of the four thousand. Jesus a kind, good, and compassionate Master who gives good gifts to His people after they’ve suffered with Him for a little while in the wilderness.

Remember, it wasn’t all the same people who followed Jesus around Galilee and Judea. The crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children, who were fed by Jesus on a previous occasion were a much different crowd. They went out to Jesus to see signs and wonders. They went out for healing and for entertainment, not for listening. They were slaves of their boredom. Slaves of their bellies. But the 4,000 were a different group, a different crowd. They didn’t run out to where Jesus was to see signs and wonders. They didn’t follow Him out there to get their sicknesses healed. They went to hear Him preach the Word of God, to learn from Him, to “remain with Him.” They were faithful followers. They had become slaves of righteousness.

But that came at a cost. In order to follow Jesus, they had to go far from their homes, out into the wilderness, into the desert, where food was scarce. And they remained with Him for three days. Would you spend three days out in the desert listening to sermons all day long? Not a “revival” meeting. No music. No dancing. No band or music playing to keep you entertained, and certainly no food vendors. Just Jesus and His Word.

After those three days, Jesus saw that they had no food, and He had compassion on them. Notice, the people weren’t complaining. It was a very different group of people from those Israelites who followed Moses in the wilderness east of Egypt. These people weren’t complaining or grumbling. They had found contentment just in being there with Jesus, content with whatever He provided. But Jesus saw their need.

He sees yours, too. Each one you. He knows before you do what you need in your life right now. Sometimes He leads His people out into the wilderness, as it were. He takes us to a place, into a situation that’s difficult, even painful. Presenting our members as slaves to righteousness often involves hardship, without any instant gratification. But His compassion for you who have been baptized into His death is surely no less than was His compassion for those who spent those days with Him in the wilderness. His love for you is real, and so is His help.

Jesus saw those thousands of people before Him and said to His disciples, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have already remained with me for three days, and they have nothing to eat. And if I send them away to their homes without eating, they will faint on the road, for some of them have come a long way. This is how the Master views His slaves, not as tools to be used for His own good, not as worthless creatures for whom He cares nothing, although our sins have earned nothing but wrath. No, He views His slaves as precious and has compassion on them, always.

He mentions this the people’s need to His disciples, giving them a chance to exercise and show their faith. They didn’t. They forgot about Jesus’ power. They forgot about the feeding of the 5,000 and how easy it was for Jesus supply what was needed. And we have to be thankful for the disciples and their forgetfulness, because it affects us, too. So weak we are because of sin, so incapable of saving ourselves, we could never believe in Jesus or keep trusting in Him if we hadn’t been born again of water and the Spirit, if we weren’t constantly preserved by the Holy Spirit’s power as He works through preaching and the Sacraments to stir up our faith again, to remedy our forgetfulness and remind us to look to Jesus in every need.

This time, instead of five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus blessed seven loaves of bread and a few fish. He gave thanks, gave them to His disciples, and had them feed all the people with so much food that, again, there were baskets of leftover pieces that would be shared with still more people later on. Such is the power and the providence of the Master toward His slaves who have suffered a little while in order to remain with Him.

As we said, the slavery of sin often gives immediate rewards, and those rewards can be enticing. But in the end, it’s a brutal, ugly slavery, and it ends in death. On the other hand, the slavery to righteousness can be hard, and not much reward is seen at first. But eventually, Jesus, the gentle slave-master, rewards those who are in His service with a demonstration of true love and compassion and with abundant blessing. The Lord will provide relief when He knows it’s needed. And until He provides it, He is still sending out His disciples, His ministers, to distribute the Word and the Sacraments, to nourish our souls and to give us the strength we need to endure until the promised relief comes.

It’s a very different kind of slavery, isn’t it?, this slavery to God, this slavery to righteousness, where the slave-master loves His slaves so much that He gave His only-begotten Son into death in order to save us from death and bring us into His service, which means being adopted as His children, which includes His loving care and providence along the way, and which ends with the gift of eternal life. Whenever the burden of this slavery seems too hard to bear, whenever the wilderness of this life seems too desolate, remember the words of the good Master: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A good Master who gives gifts in the end