Let God’s Word be enough for your faith

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 21

Ephesians 6:10-17  +  John 4:46-54

We sometimes to refer to the Church on earth as the Church “Militant,” because when a person becomes a Christian, he becomes engaged in a battle, in a struggle, not against flesh and blood, but, as Paul writes in today’s Epistle, against forces of evil in the spiritual realm, against the devil and his demons and against their influence in the world. Christians are not couch-sitters but battle soldiers, equipped, not with firearms or physical weapons, but with the spiritual body armor and the spiritual weapon that God provides. The battlefield is your every-day life in this world, which is destined for destruction, and the struggle is real.

Among the spiritual pieces of body armor that God provides is the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Since today’s Gospel focuses on the faith of the nobleman who came to Jesus, we’re going to have a look at the faith part of the whole armor of God, which is essential for standing and withstanding in the battle that is raging all around us and in which God has made us all battle soldiers.

Jesus had performed a single miracle up in Galilee so far, His first miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Then He had gone down to Judea and had performed many miracles there. And many of the Jews from up in Galilee had seen those miracles, because they had also gone down to Judea to attend the feast of Passover. Now Jesus is back in Galilee, back in Cana. And a nobleman from the town of Capernaum—about 16 miles away from Cana—heard of all the signs Jesus had been doing, and he was hopeful that Jesus could help his dying son. He went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

There’s faith there. A little faith, at least. Faith in Jesus’ power to cure an earthly disease. It isn’t necessarily saving faith—faith in Jesus as his Savior and Redeemer from sin—but at least the nobleman believes Jesus can help. He also assumes, apparently, that Jesus has to come with him, has to be there in the room with his son to perform some sort of healing ritual.

Jesus’ first response is a warning, and an expression of righteous frustration on God’s part. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe. Believe what? That Jesus can do miracles? Well, they already knew that, after seeing all the miracles He had performed in Judea and after hearing about changing water into wine right there in Cana. But this is important. The miracles were not the purpose of His coming. They were to be signs confirming His teaching and His identity as the Son of God. They were to be signs confirming that He had been sent by God, that He was the promised Christ, and that He was to be their Savior from the spiritual forces of evil, from sin, death, and the power of the devil. That’s what the people were supposed to believe, and not primarily because of the miracles, but by the power of Jesus’ teaching, that is, by the power of His Word, both the Word written in the Old Testament and the Word that He and John the Baptist had spoken. In summary, they were supposed to believe in His words and promises. In the end, His Word was supposed to be enough.

But hardly anyone believed yet in His words and promises. Their faith was limited to what He could do for them to improve their earthly lives. And even that faith was built on the foundation of what they could see with their eyes.

The nobleman was still in that category. But he was desperate, and he did believe Jesus could help his son, if only He could be there in the room where his son was. Lord, come down before my little boy dies!

Jesus was willing to help, but not to come down with the man to his house. No, Jesus simply said, Go! Your son lives. Nothing to look at, nothing to see. Just a word and a promise to cling to, a word the man was to believe, without seeing a thing.

And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went. Just the word and promise of Jesus. And the nobleman believed it. Maybe not yet with the full conviction of an unshakable faith (“I know for certain that my son is now healed! How happy I am!”), but he believed it enough to act on it. He stopped begging for Jesus to come with him. He left, hoping to get back and find things as Jesus had said. Again, it wasn’t a perfect faith; there were surely shadows of doubt in his heart. But it was still faith, clinging to the word of Jesus for dear life.

He started walking those 16 miles back to Capernaum, but had to spend the night somewhere along the way, because the miracle took place in early afternoon, and he could only walk so far before sunset. But he got up the next morning, still hopeful, and continued his journey. Then his servants met him along the way and told him his son had been healed the day before, at the same time Jesus had spoken that almighty word. Then we’re told that he himself and his whole house believed. Believed what? That Jesus had healed his son? That was no longer a matter of faith, but of sight. No, the man and his household now believed in Jesus Himself, that His word was powerful, that His word was true, that He had come from God, that He was the promised Christ, that their lives and their very souls were now safe in His hands.

With that kind of faith, the nobleman was prepared for what was to come, both for himself and for Jesus. Regardless of the miracles Jesus would do over the next few years, most of his countrymen would never believe in Him. Many would follow Him for a time, but then turn back when He didn’t perform signs on demand, like they wanted. And the sight that looked like total defeat for Jesus—bloody, beaten, and hanging on a cross with a crown of thorns pounded into His head—caused all whose faith was built on sight to turn away. “This can’t be the Son of God. Just look at Him dying on that cross!” But the nobleman and his family had been brought to a faith that was stronger than that, faith, not in what was seen, but in the word and promise of Jesus, which is true in spite of what anyone can see.

That’s the kind of faith we all need. That’s the kind of faith God wants to nourish and grow in each of us. God isn’t looking to create faith in you by showing you any other signs but the ones He has already given in Holy Scripture. He isn’t looking to bring you to faith or to strengthen your faith with bright lights or shiny visions or spectacular miracles, and certainly not with the testimonials that other people might give of such things. He gives you His Word, recorded in Scripture, and also preached by a pastor whom He has sent. And He expects that to be enough.

He gives you His word that the water of Baptism saves. You can’t see it washing away sin. You can’t see it giving new birth or sealing the new birth of faith. You can’t see the Holy Spirit working in it. But Jesus speaks the word that Baptism is a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and He expects you to believe it. He expects His word to be enough.

He gives you His word that “this is His body” and “this is His blood” in the Sacrament. You can’t see anything but bread and wine. You can’t see or taste the body that was sacrificed on the cross or the blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. And human reason tells you, “It can’t be Jesus’ body and blood. It must only be a symbol of those things.” But Jesus speaks the word about His holy Supper, “This is My body, this is My blood.” and He expects that to be enough.

Of course, it isn’t enough for our sinful flesh, for our fallen human reason. We demand to see a sign of God’s love and faithfulness, to see a sign that tells us, “The Bible is true!” or “God is truly on our side!” Or maybe we simply refuse to be comforted by God’s promises, we go on living in despair, as if the world really were out of control, as it appears, as if Jesus’ word about His reigning over all things at the right hand of God weren’t really enough.

No, you need to repent of your reliance on human reason and what your eyes can see. You need to repent of the despair and the hopelessness that your experience tells you is all too reasonable. And you need to listen to Jesus again, just to Jesus, just to His Word, and cling to it for dear life, whether it’s His Word about Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or about the final victory of His Holy Christian Church—or about the raging spiritual battle in which you have been made a battle soldier, as Paul depicts you and all Christians in today’s Epistle.

With the shield of faith, He says, you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. What are those flaming arrows? They’re attacks on your soul—spiritual attacks. They come in the form of temptations. Temptations to sin against any of the Ten Commandments. Temptations to go along with the world in order to avoid persecution, to be silent when you know you should speak, to ridicule when God calls on you to show mercy, to hate when God calls on you to love. Temptations to despair, or to disbelieve God, or to forfeit the peace and joy that God offers in His Word. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows and say with Joseph, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

Those arrows also come in the form of persecution, demonic persecution, which may sometimes be direct, but is usually indirect, as the demons influence society and government to turn against those who believe in God, seeking to make your faith in God’s Word seem ridiculous, seeking to make you bitter and angry and sorrowful. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows, too.

Those arrows also come in the form of demonic lies, lies from false teachers and false prophets about who God is and what God’s will is, lies from government officials and candidates for office, lies from “scientific experts” to support demonic agendas, lies from your own neighbors and from your own culture about what is right and wrong. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows. That doesn’t mean the lies go away, or the persecution goes away, or the temptations go away. It doesn’t mean we turn the culture around or turn it back to God. It means the demons won’t be able to destroy you. They won’t be able to snatch you out of God’s hands. They won’t be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Faith is powerful protection in this battle, which goes together with the other pieces of armor that Paul mentioned. Keep your faith focused on the word of God alone. Believe what He says, no matter what things look like. Don’t worry about signs that you can see. You have the word of God as the true lamp for your feet and the light for your path. Let that be enough. Amen.

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Jerusalem’s curse will be reversed when the Lord comes

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 20

Isaiah 62:1-12

If you read toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 28, Moses pronounces a series of blessings and curses upon Israel, blessings for obedience to the covenant of Mt. Sinai, curses for turning away from it. There Moses prophesies how God will come against this people of Israel with every form of punishment and affliction and trouble, until they’re utterly wiped out, if they stubbornly turn away from God and His covenant. Well, by Isaiah’s time, they had definitively turned away. And that curse was about to fall upon them at the hands of the Babylonians. But, as we’ve seen throughout Isaiah’s prophecy, a remnant would be saved, long enough for the Messiah to come to Israel and begin to build a new Israel, a new Jerusalem. And in the new Israel that God will create, growing out of that remnant, the curse upon Israel would be reversed and replaced with tremendous blessing. That’s what we hear about tonight in Isaiah 62.

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.

In Scripture, God’s silence is always a bad thing. Because when God is silent, when God sits back and says nothing and does nothing, it means He’s letting sinners self-destruct (as we always do, when left to ourselves) or be destroyed by other sinners. It means He’s punishing the wicked by withholding His Word from them, because they’ve despised it for so long. But His Word is the only thing that can turn destructive and self-destructive people around. And after the suffering of Babylon had done its work, God promised to keep silent no longer, but to speak and to act on Zion’s behalf, not only to get her back to her homeland, but to turn her into a righteous people, a bright and shiny people, a people that is safe from every enemy. This is God’s promise to keep sending His Word to His Church until He’s finished remaking it into the glorious Church it will be when Christ comes again.

The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. The new Israel that grew out of the remnant of Old Testament Israel was founded by Christ Himself, and the nations did come to the light of that New Testament Church. God has already given this Church a “new name,” a different name than the Old Testament Church of “Israel.” But another new name awaits Christ’s second coming, as John writes in the Book of Revelation, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Isaiah continues, You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Israel was forsaken. Israel had become desolate and empty and abandoned, just as Moses had prophesied that it would. But here God promises the reversal of the curse. Beauty. Royalty. Not the home of God’s disapproval any longer, but the ones in whom God delights, the Church that will become the Bride of Christ, of whom He is not ashamed, but in whom He rejoices, because she wears that wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness.

This is the Church that is created and sustained through the preaching of the Gospel, through Baptism, through the Supper of the Lord. It’s the Church that’s built through God’s promise to forgive us our sins and to accept us through faith in Christ Jesus. It isn’t our own goodness that makes us beautiful in this Church, but the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ, with which we’re clothed by faith in Him.

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.

These watchmen would be the ministers whom God sends to take care of the souls of His people, to preach and teach His Word, to administer His Sacraments, to keep watch over God’s people, and to keep watch for all the enemies who would come against them—the devil and the false teachers whom he sends to ravage the Church. This is God’s promise to keep providing ministers to His Church until the end of time, to keep preaching, administering the Sacraments, guiding, correcting, warning, and comforting God’s people until the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven.

The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”

Again, this is the reversal of the curse. The curse of Deuteronomy told of foreigners eating the crops and enjoying the vineyards that the Israelites had planted and worked for. But God swears that that won’t be the case in the new Israel, in the Messiah’s Church that will be perfected at His second coming. The Church, even in this New Testament era, is trampled by unbelievers on the outside and often by unbelievers on the inside. But that won’t go on forever. The Lord has sworn that the curse will be completely reversed when Christ comes again.

Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal (a banner!) over the peoples.

This is a paraphrase of what God had said earlier in Isaiah’s book, referring to the work of John the Baptist ahead of the public appearance of Christ at His first coming. God wants the world, and especially His Church, to know that salvation is almost here, so He calls for everything that would hinder it to be taken out of the way.

Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”

That message was essentially proclaimed by the angels at birth of Christ, by John the Baptist at the public appearance of Christ, by the prophet Zechariah, speaking of Christ’s Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem, when He brought salvation to His Church through His preaching of the Gospel and through His suffering, death, and resurrection. Now it remains the message of God’s preachers, comforting His people and pointing them to Christ’s second advent: “Behold, your salvation comes!”

And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.

How pleasant those words must have sounded to the people of Israel as they sat in their unholiness, in their captivity, in their desolation, and in their forsaken state in Babylon. How pleasant they sound to every sinner still today, when the sinner recognizes that this is God’s promise to forgive, to rescue, to restore, and to dwell among His people—all those who seek His forgiveness and acceptance in Christ Jesus. It’s a promise to end all the captivity of God’s people, whether that captivity is to sin, or to death, or to the devil, to reverse the curse upon Israel, to reverse the curse upon mankind, and to establish an eternal and glorious home for all who persevere in His Holy Christian Church. Rejoice in the reversal of the curse! The full reversal of it is still coming, but for all who belong to Christ Jesus, who are now counted among the children of the new Israel, the reversal has already begun, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us…that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Amen.

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The most important election of your life

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 20

Ephesians 5:15-21  +  Matthew 22:1-14

We turn our thoughts today to the election—the most important election of your life, or of anyone’s life. But in this election, my vote means nothing. Your vote means nothing. It’s only God’s vote, God’s choice that matters. And, as we’ll see in the end, God’s choice has nothing to do with how good or bad the candidates are. It has to do with something else.

The Bible teaches that God elected certain people, that is, “chose” certain people to spend eternity with Him in His heavenly kingdom. This election took place “before the foundations of the earth were laid,” that is, in eternity. And it took place, not at any voting convenience center, but in God’s own counsel and plan. Knowing full well that mankind would rebel against Him, turn against Him, and disqualify themselves for eternal life in God’s kingdom, God made a plan of salvation that’s sometimes referred to as “election” or “predestination.”

But how do we look into this secret election that took place in God’s counsel before the foundations of the earth were laid? Jesus teaches us that very simply in today’s Gospel. He teaches us to start, not at the beginning, but at the end, which is very different, by the way, from the way that John Calvin and the Reformed approach it. Their whole theology begins with God’s election in eternity, and most of their false teachings flow from that mistake. No, we need to begin where Jesus begins, at the end of things. We are to look at the wedding banquet in the parable, at the end of the parable, and we are to notice who the guests are who are there in the end. That’s where Jesus points us with His concluding words, for many are called, but few are chosen. Few are elected by God.

Who are the ones at the wedding banquet at the end of the story? They’re the ones who have been called or invited by the king’s messengers, the ones who accepted the invitation and were brought into the wedding hall, and the ones who are still wearing the wedding garment when the King steps in. Those are the chosen ones, the ones chosen by God to spend eternity at the heavenly wedding banquet that He is hosting for His beloved Son, who laid down His life for His bride, the Holy Christian Church, and is soon to be joined to her in an eternal marriage.

With that in mind—who the chosen-ones are—let’s walk through the parable and see how those guests ended up there.

Now, Matthew 22 takes us into Holy Week—the Tuesday of Holy Week, as far as we can tell. Jesus is telling this parable to the Jews, some of whom were about to kill Him, in three days’ time. He says, The kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a wedding banquet for his son. This “arranging” of a wedding banquet is what took place in eternity. God saw that the human race would fall into sin, so He planned to save fallen mankind. That plan revolved around the Son of God, who would take on our human flesh, be born as a man, live righteously in man’s place, suffer and die for our sins. That was the price of atonement. That was the price of our reconciliation with God. And Jesus Christ, the Son of the King, has successfully paid it.

And he sent his servants to call to the wedding those who had been invited. God sent His prophets in the Old Testament to invite the Jews to take part in Christ’s atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. He told them about it ahead of time, and then, when Jesus was born, God began to tell the Jews that it was time to come in. As John the Baptist preached, and as Jesus Himself preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Repent and believe the Gospel!” In other words, “Come to the wedding!”

But they were unwilling to come. Some of the Jews believed in Jesus and came into His Church, to be sure. The chosen remnant of the Jews believed the Gospel. But the vast majority didn’t come—not because God didn’t truly invite them, not because it wasn’t intended for them, not because Jesus didn’t die for them, but simply because “they were unwilling.”

Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See! I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding!”’ But they disregarded it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

See how God, through His prophets, pleads with the people of Israel whom He has invited, whom He has called to the Holy Christian Church. Look at what I’ve done! Look at what I’ve prepared! I’ve sent My only-begotten Son to you. The Son of God has become the Son of Man, all for you, not because you deserved it, but because I want you to spend eternity with Me in My kingdom. So come to Him! Come into His Church! Come! Come! Come!

Does it sound like the King wanted these invited guests to come? Does it sound like God wanted the Jews to come into His Holy Christian Church? Of course it does! Because of course He did! Their ultimate exclusion from God’s election wasn’t because He didn’t want them in His house. Wasn’t because He failed to give His Son into death for their sins, wasn’t because He failed to invite them. It’s because, when they were invited, they didn’t want to come. And so they not only found better things to do. Some of them went so far as to kill the prophets, including John the Baptist, including the Son of God Himself, including many of the apostles whom He continued to send to the Jews, for a time.

But that time eventually ran out. Now, when the king heard about it, he was angry. And he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. What a terrible foreshadowing this was of the eventual destruction of Jerusalem, when the Romans came in and burned up the city of the people who had not only initially turned down God’s invitation into Christ’s Church, who had not only killed the Christ, but who had stubbornly continued to turn down the invitation even after they had killed the Christ, just as it remains to this day. Which is why you shouldn’t let anyone deceive you, telling you that the modern Jewish state is the chosen people of God. The very idea that God’s chosen people could stubbornly reject God’s beloved Son Jesus as their Savior from sin and death is not only absurd. It’s demonic.

But that wasn’t the end of God’s plan of salvation. Not by a long shot. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Let’s pause again for a moment and remember why they weren’t worthy. It had nothing to do with their sinfulness, with how decent or indecent they were. The unworthiness of the Jews was in their declining of God’s free invitation to seek and to find His acceptance in Christ Jesus.

Therefore go into the streets and invite to the wedding whomever you find. So those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the banquet tables were filled with guests. God’s plan of salvation (His plan of election) included the going out of the Gospel invitation into all the world, to invite anyone and everyone, Jews and Gentiles, bad and good, to the wedding banquet in the Holy Christian Church. Jesus told His apostles, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Proclaim God’s promise to forgive and to accept everyone through His beloved Son, through faith in Jesus Christ. And, as you know, people from every nation, tribe, language, and people have believed, have been baptized, and have entered the Holy Christian Church.

But not everyone who is outwardly a member of the Christian Church is a member inwardly. Not everyone who has been baptized remains a believer throughout their life. And that’s the sad reality Jesus depicts for us at the end of the parable. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

When God performs the final accounting on the Day of Judgment, He will not just look at which people are holding membership in a Christian Church on earth. He will be looking for faith in the heart, for genuine trust in the Lord Jesus and in His atoning sacrifice for our sins—for the faith by which a person is clothed with Christ Jesus, as with a robe of righteousness. That is the wedding garment that the guest in Jesus’ parable failed to wear.

Where God doesn’t find such a garment, such a living faith, it will be no better for that unbeliever inside the Church than it will be for any of the unbelievers outside of the Church. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.

So who, again, are the chosen? They’re the ones who have been called or invited by the king’s messengers, the ones who accepted the invitation and were brought into the wedding hall, and are still wearing the wedding garment when the King steps in. These are the ones whom God foresaw and foreknew in eternity, the ones whom He elected to inherit eternal life. But the decree itself of election included all the steps that were needed along the way. It included God’s intention of saving the whole human race. It included the sending of Jesus to pay for the sins of all. It included the going out of the Gospel invitation, and the work of God’s own Spirit to work faith in people’s hearts through the preaching of His Word. It included the justification in time of all who believe. It included the Spirit’s ongoing sanctifying work in the hearts and lives of believers. It included God’s continued care for the saints in His Church through the ministry of Word and Sacrament throughout this earthly life. And it included God’s commitment to give strength, comfort, and help to His children throughout this life, so that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. All of that was included in God’s decree of election.

So you can see why this is truly the most important election of your life, far more important than any earthly election. And it already took place, long before anyone was born. What you can do now, to “make your calling and election sure,” is to see to it that you do not decline God’s invitation into the Church of His beloved Son. If you haven’t been baptized, if you haven’t entered into the fellowship of God’s holy Church, don’t put it off. Now is the time. If you have done those things, then wearing that wedding garment of faith is your daily task. And having put on faith, put on love as well, living as those who are rehearsing for the King’s entrance into the banquet hall, not as those who are rehearsing for hell. Many are called, but few are chosen. Few are elected. If you heed God’s call and use the help He has promised, you will be counted among the blessed few. Amen.

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The Messiah and the Church He will build

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 19

Isaiah 61:1-11

It was a Saturday, relatively early in Jesus’ ministry. He was back in His hometown of Nazareth, and, as He usually did, He went to the synagogue. And this time He stood up to read, and they gave Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Whether or not He asked for that book we don’t know, but He did intentionally open that book to the words you heard this evening from Isaiah 61 and read, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book and began the most important sermon the people of Nazareth had ever heard, saying: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” At first the people were impressed, but as Jesus’ words sank in and they realized what He was claiming, they turned against Him and tried to kill Him. They turned against Him, not only because He was claiming to be the promised Messiah, but because He revealed to them the awful truth that most of Israel was not going to have a part in God’s kingdom. No, Isaiah’s prophecy was to be understood, not about the nation of Israel, but about the new Church of the New Testament era. His prophecy in this chapter covers the whole New Testament, starting with Jesus’ ministry and culminating in the new and perfect life that awaits us on the other side of Judgment Day. And only those who believe the good tidings of the Messiah will be included in the kingdom of God.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me.” Jesus says in another place that the Father had given Him the Spirit without measure, had given Him the fullness of the Holy Spirit to dwell in Him as a Man. That’s all demonstrated for us in Jesus’ Baptism where the Spirit rested upon Jesus and the Father spoke from heaven, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Because the LORD has anointed Me. And there’s that word “anointed,” which is where the word “Messiah” and “Christ” come from. By saying that these words were fulfilled in their hearing, Jesus was claiming as directly as anywhere in Scripture, “I am the Messiah. I am the Christ.” Not that He was literally anointed with the Old Testament anointing oil, as the prophets, priests, and kings were. He wasn’t. But He was “anointed” in a spiritual way, sent directly by God the Father to carry out His saving purpose for mankind, to speak the words of God, to act on God’s behalf, to offer Himself up as the sacrifice of atonement for mankind’s sins, to gather a Church to Himself, and to reign over God’s people forever. All of that was included in the Messiah’s mission.

To preach good tidings to the poor. “The poor” in this prophecy are those who recognize their spiritual poverty, their inability to reach God by offering Him their own righteousness. And the good tidings are not the good tidings of wealth or economic improvement, but the good news of another way to reach God, a free way, a way that actually works, the way of being justified through faith in the Anointed One.

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted. For all the physical healings Jesus performed during His ministry, it was the healing of the sad and broken hearts that was His primary task. Hearts that had been broken by their own sins, by the sins of others, by the terrible consequences of sin in this life, and, ultimately, by the reality of death, receive healing from Jesus, comfort in the fact that He came to conquer sin and death and to give eternal life to all who believe.

To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Again, Jesus never broke anyone out of a physical prison. This was the proclamation of liberty and freedom to those who had been bound by sin and by the power of the devil.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. That was Jesus’ mission, to proclaim that now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. As we talked about on Sunday, the terms of God’s pardon, of God’s acceptance, are finally within reach. The Messiah Himself will pay the atonement price with His own blood, and the only remaining “term” of the pardon is to seek it from the Anointed One whom the Father had sent. And when Jesus makes that promise, the Holy Spirit is there, working to persuade sinners to believe it and to receive it.

And the day of vengeance of our God. This isn’t vengeance upon all men. It’s His vengeance on all the enemies of God’s people, and on all who continue to remain enemies of God, refusing the pardon that Jesus offers.

To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty in place of ashes, The oil of joy in place of mourning, The garment of praise in place of the spirit of heaviness. Again, the comfort is for those who mourn, not for those who boast. The beauty is for those who were sitting in the ashes of repentance. The oil of joy is for those who had been crying tears of sorrow over sin. The garment of praise is for those whose spirit had formerly been heavy with depression and despair.

That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” Christ came to make His people flourish and thrive, like trees, to give them life in the kingdom of His Father. That life is planted there by the Lord God Himself, so the glory and the praise for it belong to God alone. As the Psalm says, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be glory and praise.

And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. Now, if these words began to be fulfilled in the hearing of those in Nazareth, then this prophecy isn’t about rebuilding Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. It isn’t about rebuilding Jerusalem or the land of Israel at all. It’s about the New Testament Church, which is from the remnants of Old Testament Israel, from Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus, the Anointed One.

Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. Again, it’s Gentiles coming into the Church of Israel and expanding it throughout this New Testament period.

But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. This is exactly what Peter wrote to the New Testament Christians, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

“Their land” has now become the heavenly territories, the mansions that Jesus is even now preparing for His Church, as the Church of Christ finally overcomes all her enemies and receives the heavenly reward, while the enemies of God, who were rich and powerful in this life, are left with nothing.

“For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”

On this earth it was the unbelieving Gentiles who were famous, “men of renown,” as it says in Genesis 6. The true people of God have no power in the world. We’re small. We’re unknown, in many cases. We’re insignificant. And we have to be content with that in this life. But that will all change after Judgment Day, when the people of God finally enter into their glory.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

While the Church is pictured here basking in the glory of everlasting life, we don’t have to wait till then to rejoice in the Lord and to be joyful in our God. Because already in Holy Baptism He has clothed us with the garments of salvation and with the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Already now we bear the name of the Triune God and have been made heirs of the heavenly lands. The people of Nazareth scoffed at Jesus when He offered them all this, but you have humbled yourselves before God. You have believed in His proclamation of pardon and peace and comfort. And so you belong to the Anointed One. Remember that, and rejoice in it, no matter how bad things get this side of Judgment Day. Because on the other side, you know what glory awaits. Amen.

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The authority to forgive sins on earth

Posted on October 6, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 19

Ephesians 4:22-28  +  Matthew 9:1-8

It’s a wonderful story we have before us in today’s Gospel about the healing of the paralytic. It’s especially memorable when we pull in some details from Mark’s Gospel, who explains that the paralytic was brought to Jesus in a very special way, by being lowered down by his four friends through an opening they had made in the roof, because the house where Jesus was preaching was so crowded with people that they couldn’t make a path to carry the stretcher through on foot. The faith of the five men was clearly on display as they went to such lengths to reach Jesus, because they believed that He could and would have mercy on the man who was paralyzed. And He did! But not, at first, in the way that everyone was expecting.

This healing account teaches us the lesson that was behind all of Jesus’ healing miracles: the lesson that Jesus, the Son of Man, was speaking and acting on God’s own authority, in everything He said, in everything He did. Jesus represented God the Father, not only because He was the Son of God, but because He had come into the world as a Man to be the perfect Mediator between God and man, with all the authority to speak and to act on God’s behalf. And the specific authority He displays in today’s Gospel is the authority to forgive sins—sins that had been committed against God, sins that would otherwise keep a person out of the kingdom of heaven, sins that would otherwise condemn a person to hell. It’s that authority to forgive sins that we want to focus on this morning.

The paralytic was successfully lowered down through the roof until his bed was lying on the floor right in front of Jesus. Matthew writes, When he saw their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven you.” No one was expecting those to be the first words out of Jesus’ mouth. Clearly the paralytic has come to receive physical healing from Jesus. But Jesus, the great physician of the soul, has diagnosed a deeper problem, a need to know if God was angry with him—a question that often troubles people who suffer from a chronic disease or illness. “Is God angry with me because of my sins? Is God punishing me with this illness or with this trouble that won’t go away?” Jesus sees the man’s doubts, as well as his faith that Jesus will help him. So God the Father speaks through His Son, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven you.”

And, behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.” Mark and Luke add the rest of what they were thinking: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” You see, it is blasphemy, insulting God!, to pretend to speak for God without permission, without authority from God to speak for Him or to act on God’s behalf. The sins Jesus forgave at that moment weren’t sins that the man had committed against Jesus Himself, as if the man had made fun of Jesus or had slapped Jesus across the face. Anyone can forgive the sins committed against him or her, because, in that case, the one doing the forgiving is the one who was originally offended, and forgiveness means that you’re no longer holding that offense against the offender. Your relationship is healed. Forgiveness means that the one who has been offended is no longer angry over the offense, no longer angry at the offender.

But what Jesus did was something else. He didn’t forgive the man for offenses committed against Him, the Man Jesus. He forgave the man for all the offenses he had ever committed against God. And the scribes were right—only God Himself can forgive the sins committed against God. Only God can unlock the prisoner’s shackles and set him free death and eternal condemnation—unless God has authorized someone to forgive sins on His behalf.

And that’s exactly what God has done.

God the Father sent His Son into the world with the full authority to act on His behalf, to forgive sins in some cases, where the terms of the pardon (set by God) are met, and to withhold forgiveness in other cases, where the terms of the pardon are not met.

Now, what are the terms God has set for His pardon (for His forgiveness)? Well, first, atonement needs to be made for the sins committed against God. That lesson was driven home for the people of Israel through all the sacrifices for sin that God’s Law demanded. Atonement has to be made. Forgiveness has a price. In this case, the price of forgiveness is blood, that is, death—the death of God’s only-begotten, beloved Son. That is the price required for paying the sin-debt every sinner owes to God. And it has been paid, once for all, by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. And because God is eternal, not bound to the progression of time, as we are, the future sacrifice of Jesus, from the perspective of the paralytic in today’s Gospel, was just as valid for his forgiveness as the past sacrifice of Jesus, from our perspective, is for us. So that term has already been met; Jesus’ atonement is available for anyone and everyone to use in order to satisfy the terms of God’s pardon.

The other term of God’s pardon is that it can only be given out to the one who seeks it from Jesus Himself. Anyone seeking God’s forgiveness in some other way, in some other place, for some other reason, cannot have it, just as anyone who doesn’t seek God’s forgiveness at all, because he’s happy holding onto his sins, cannot have God’s forgiveness. But to the one who seeks His forgiveness through Jesus, God the Father speaks through the mouth of Jesus Christ, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven you!” And it’s not blasphemy at all, because Jesus has the permission and the authority to speak and to act on His Father’s behalf. As He said after His resurrection, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

He goes on to prove that authority to those who accuse Him of blasphemy in today’s Gospel: Is it easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And the paralytic was immediately healed, with power only God can give, proving that Jesus, the Son of Man had authority from God to forgive sins.

The text before us is actually a perfect example of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 5: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them. Now, reconciling the world to Himself doesn’t mean reconciling or forgiving the sins of everyone in the world—or everyone in the room. That’s not what Jesus did in today’s Gospel. But one by one, as the word about Christ brought people to faith, He reconciled them to God through faith. He forgave them their sins, according to the terms of the pardon set by His Father: that atonement had to be made, and that God’s forgiveness has to be sought from Jesus and from nowhere else.

But then St. Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians, and God has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Just as God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, forgiving sins to those who sought forgiveness from Him and through Him, so the Lord Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, has appointed ministers, who are His divine ambassadors to call sinners—in His name!—to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, and to forgive the penitent and believing in His name.

So Jesus said to His apostles, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And again after His resurrection, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. And still there are many people today who call themselves Christians who hear a pastor pronouncing the absolution and cry out, “Blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins! I don’t need any man’s forgiveness! I’ll just go directly to God!” Well, good luck with that! I wonder how they hope to approach God, or where they hope to find Him! The truth is, it is God who has given this authority to men, to deal with sinners and to forgive sinners in His name. It’s an authority that Christ has delegated to His Church, which calls men to wield the authority of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, according to God’s command and according to those same terms of forgiveness that God Himself has established. They are to forgive sinners on the basis of Christ’s atonement, when the sinner seeks forgiveness from Christ, through the ministry that Christ has established on earth.

Now, that forgiveness may be given through the spoken absolution alone, as we do at the beginning of our services. There you hear, both in the confession of sins, and in the words I speak after the confession of sins, those same “terms of pardon” referenced, the atonement of Jesus as the basis for forgiveness, and the seeking of forgiveness from and for the sake of Jesus, which is what “believing in Jesus” means. You also hear in that absolution the very same words that Jesus spoke to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you.” And you even hear the reference to the fact that Jesus has given me, “as a called and ordained minister of the Christian Church,” the authority to pronounce forgiveness in His name. That same forgiveness is also given in Holy Baptism, as Peter urged the crowds in Jerusalem to be baptized in the name of Jesus “for the forgiveness of” their sins. And it’s also given in Holy Communion, where Jesus has given this sacramental meal to us Christians to eat and to drink His body and His blood, which were given and shed for us “for the forgiveness of sins.” All done by the authority of Him to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, who has authorized ministers to forgive sins in His name.

And that makes the absolution certain. That makes it something you can rely on, something you can believe in, something that your faith can stand on. “God’s authorized minister has examined me and has found that the terms of God’s pardon have been met. Atonement has been made for my sins. And I am, right now, seeking God’s forgiveness from Jesus and for His sake alone. God’s minister has, therefore, absolved me of my sins, with the full authority of God. So I know for certain that God is no longer angry with me, but that He has welcomed me into His kingdom and will give me eternal life. The forgiveness I have received through God’s authorized minister—in Baptism, in the absolution, and in the Lord’s Supper—is God’s own forgiveness, because God has given to men the authority to forgive sins.” Rejoice in that authority! Take great comfort in it! And, having put on the New Man through faith in God’s promise of forgiveness, live as the new person—the forgiven person!—God has created you to be! Amen.

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