Costly Gifts

23rd Sunday after Pentecost

November 8, 2009

Mark 12:38-44

Three years ago there was a shocker for American Evangelicals. As you may remember, the pastor of a 14,000 member “mega-church” in Colorado Springs resigned as a result of a sex scandal. It’s not the first time someone in a high-profile religious position has fallen. Much is made of this in the press, and such scandals disgrace all who bear Christ’s name, and that means you and me. They not only allow our enemies to call us hypocrites. Worse, they turn many sincere, searching people away from Christianity. How can the sheep be clean, if the shepherd is dirty?

But believe it or not, there was a silver lining to this cloud. The members of that church had to think through their faith, and figure out whether their trust was in a preacher, or in the One the preacher represents. Were they attracted to a charismatic or energetic or handsome man, or effective leadership, or a great intellect? Or was it Jesus, who according to Scripture, “had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him”? Was it glory that attracted them? Or was it the one who “was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He is “as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” That’s the Bible’s picture of Jesus. Is it Him, or something else, that we follow? That’s the challenge those 14,000 people face.

It is a challenge people in Jesus’ day faced. Were they attracted by the glory, the riches of religion? Or something else? Jesus presents us a contrast: a contrast between earthly appearances and heavenly reality.

On the one hand, there was the religion of glory. It had to do with the people called “scribes.” Our culture does not really have a class of people like them. We go in for sports, music, and political celebrities. But those kinds of positions, the places of honor and glory and fame, in Jesus’ day, went to people who were experts in the law and in the traditions of the time. They were the knowledge class, people revered for their brains and intellect, and for their connection to God. And to desire knowledge and wisdom is not a bad thing. The scribes were trained to give you the skinny when it came to what God wanted from you.

The scribes, then, were important and powerful, and people like to hang with the important and powerful. They taught God’s law. So the scribes dressed in the best clothing–after all, they taught God’s law. They took the places of honor at public feasts–after all, they were the most important people of their day. They were sought after. People wanted their attention. Popular, attractive, interesting –they offered the common man a connection with greatness, a connection with significance and meaning, a connection with God.

But there was a problem. The scribes were dependent on the gifts of patrons for their living. And often those patrons were wealthy widows, who were looking for attention. So the scribes preyed on them, even while keeping up a pretense of piety.

Such is the religion of glory. It is a religion of appearances, not of reality. It lives by the law, which judges by what is seen, by outward behavior, and not by inward reality. Its measure is success in the crudest, most earthy sense. You could see it as the rich people dropped their offerings into the treasury box, showing all how philanthropic and generous they were. But it was all outward show, done for the approval of man, and not for God.

And then there was another religion. There was the poor widow, who gave her two coins. Not much of a gift– 1/64 of a day’s labor. But it was all she had, and she gave it out of faith in God and trust in His promise that He would take care of her.

Who is truly religious here? Jesus condemns the scribes, and commends the widow. Her gift is not show; it is the joyful response of one who has received from God and returns what is given. Her religion is not a religion of glory. It is a religion of the cross. There is no “happy end” to this story. God gave her no endless supply of money for her faith, or any earthly reward for her devotion. God took care of her, for that is His promise. What we see of the widow is faith in God, not hope of earthly payback. Her reward was God Himself. Ps. 73 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” This widow knew that.

Now, in our reading there was one person who was poorer than the widow. She had a home to return to, and food in the cupboard. But poorer than her was Jesus, who had no home, no place to lay His head. And what irony! He who made all things, to whom belong the cattle on a thousand hills, gave it all up. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient, even to death on the cross. All things eventually were taken from him. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God,” Jesus preached. He was the poor, and by dying for us, has won the riches of heaven. In Jesus, God is our reward, our portion.

That brings us back to our lives, and where we look for God and for hope and security. We too see glory, and we are attracted to it. One of the members of that Colorado church thought the church would no longer continue, because “the church was the pastor.” And when his glory fell, what then?

We are affected by this, too. There is a web site where you can read who among the celebrities of our day are Lutheran. And I’ve heard people say, “we need more ‘stars,’ more prominent people among us, to attract others.” What a contrast with say, John the Baptist, who said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.”

Those words are a good template was we look at our faith. When we hear a sermon, does Jesus “increase”? That is, does it all become about Him? Or about something else?

When we work, does Jesus “increase”? That is, do we do our work for Him? Or is it all for money, or self-esteem, or power?

When we are with our families, does Jesus “increase”? That is, do we live with one another recognizing that Jesus lived and died for all of us? Do we forgive as He has forgiven? Or do we live to get others to do what we want to do, and live for pleasure alone?

The answer to these questions, if we are honest, will be mixed. We are God’s children through Holy Baptism, and through faith in Christ Jesus. But we are children whose eyes often catch glimpses of glory, and whose feet often follow false trails. We must come back to it again and again: the true glory, the true riches we possess are the forgiveness of our sins, including our wandering eyes and faltering feet, and the riches of life in the age to come.

We should remember the widow, whose faith was in God alone. And we should remember Jesus, whose poverty secured eternal riches for us. And we should return to him, to true faith, and to the cross. There the costly gift was purchased, and there our salvation was won. Amen

Faithful Stewards of Time

October 18, 2009

Ephesians 5:15, 16

Our text is from Ephesians, chapter 5: Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

In the name Jesus. Amen

It is a world of abundance. Even in eastern Montana, we have access to things that not long ago, we would have a hard time finding. We don’t go to the store just for flour, milk and sugar. We buy everything from avocados to tofu, from pineapples to pretzels. We’ve come from the days when Henry Ford said you can buy any color of Model T you want, as long as it’s black, to a day when cars have names like Kia and Hyundai, along with Ford and Dodge. If we can’t find the clothes or music we want, we buy them on the Internet.

It is a world of abundance. But there is a scarcity of one commodity, and that is time. Wouldn’t it be something if we could walk into a store and purchase a few more hours a day, or days a week. We could get so much more done! We could get to the kids’ games and concerts and also get our work done. We could relax on a two-week vacation and not have a mound of work when we return. We could make the summer nights last, and hold off cold of winter. But it is not to be. God has given us an allotment of days, and as they pass, there is no return. The little boy riding his bicycle on the sidewalk now watches his son, and now his grandson: and it seems that no time has passed. The grandmother looks upon her newborn granddaughter and remembers when that was her daughter. And we are sorrowful, and nostalgic, and wonder happened to the time.

The scarcer a commodity is, the more it needs wise management. And we do manage our time, with schedules and multitasking and delegating responsibility to others. I Googled “time management,” and got 713, 000,000 hits. That’s a lot. Though we can mange time, we can’t get it back.

You may be surprised to learn that the Bible knows the sense of lost time. Listen to the poetry of Ecclesiastes as the author describes the effects of time: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

It is a testimony to our powerlessness, that we can neither add to our days or turn back the clock of time. And so Paul in our text today tells us to make the best use of the time, because the days are evil. They are evil because sin has brought this to us. And part of our sin is that we use our time for our purposes, and not for God’s. This is reflected in the hundreds of ways and times when we are simply to busy for God: not only too busy to worship, or too busy to pray, or too busy for devotion and study, but also too busy to lend a hand to help others, too busy to think on our sin and repent. We think our lack of time is a matter of poor organization. God says it is a matter of bad priorities.

Perhaps the reason we have so little time is that we never have asked ourselves, “Why has God given me my days and years? What are they for?” Without answering that question, it is no wonder we are pushed and shoved about by every little thing. What can we say no to, unless it’s the stuff that makes us personally uncomfortable. Which means we don’t grow, we stagnate, which gives us the feeling that though we go and go, we don’t get anywhere.

So it is a question of how we use the time God has given us. We are to make the best use of time, because the days are evil.

How do we do that? First, we should ask ourselves the hard questions. What should God do to us on account of our abusing the time He gives us? Especially when He warns us again and again that the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and that the reason we have the time we do is so that we might come to our senses and repent and turn to Him? There is only so much time: time to repent, time to learn to know God.

Second, we should realize just what it means that Jesus has died and risen again. It means forgiveness for our abuse of the gift of time. It also means our resurrection–which means we will live eternally. That means that while there is an end to our time on earth, and an end to all time on earth, there is also God’s time, and a life for us beyond this age. The loss we feel because we have lost time will be redressed in that day, and joy will replace sorrow. The early church recognized this by celebrating Sunday not only as the first day of the week, but also as the eighth day, the beginning of a new creation, an everlasting day of light and joy. This is God’s promise to all who trust in Jesus Christ.

Third, we should recognize the remedy that Paul gives us in his letter to the Philippians, a few verses after the one we quoted. Here he tells us how to use our time wisely: “be filled with the Spirit,” he says, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Did you hear that answer? The answer to the misuse/abuse of time is music! A certain kind of music, of course, but music. Music is often considered on option or a luxury to our world, and to some, a waste of time. But in those psalms and hymns and spiritual songs we take time to honor Christ our Lord. We praise Him; we pray to Him. We sing about His redeeming love, His mighty works. “We sing the praise of Him who died, of him who died upon the cross. The sinner’s hope let all deride; for this we count the world but loss.” We sing in a way that says “my time is better spent this way, unhurriedly, than in a mad rush to do a hundred other things.” We sing God’s word to ourselves and to our world, that all may hear and believe.

Dear Christians, time management is not an option for us. We all do it, or must do it. God grant us to get our priorities right, so that he may be honored, and so that we may have eternal life. Amen

Worms

Mark 9:38-50

By David Peterson, adapted by James Hageman

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

I address only the sinners in this congregation. This ought to send chills down your spine. This is the prophet Isaiah's description of Hell quoted by Jesus. Hell is not make-believe. Nor is it reserved only for the most evil people, like Hitler and Stalin. It is the place for sinners. It is the just reward for their works. This is the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. It is the place, O Sinner, for you! For your hand, and your foot, and your eye, all cause you to sin, and worse - your mind, your personality, your heart! Americans tend not to believe they may not go to heaven. If you have never before imagined the possibility that you may not, imagine it now - before it is too late.

Repent. Stop lying. Cease your posturing and pretending, your foolish bravado. God is not fooled. Do you really think He is so impressed with your knowledge, with your mature faith, with your good works and your good reputation, that He will wink at your sins? This is no joke. Why do you care so for the opinions of men? Why do you strive to impress others? Perhaps you should consider the merits of being without hands, without feet, without eyes for a while, instead of finding your loophole around Jesus' words. Sin is your biggest problem. It causes your frustration, your depression, and your anger. Stop dreaming about winning the approval of others or being honorably, though filthy, rich. What you are owed is the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Admit it to yourself. Confess it to God. Repent. Woe to us.

And here and only here, O Sinner, find rest: In the cross, where the hands and feet of God Himself were made useless by the nails pinned in them. Where the worm was killed, as the worm Jesus died for us worms. Find the fire quenched in the Cup of refreshment received in Jesus' Name, at Jesus' Word, and, indeed, from Jesus' Hand. Cut off the hands, the feet, the eyes that cause you to sin -from the inside out. Circumcise your heart. Be emptied of self and ambition. Know only Jesus. Be only Christian, nothing else. Be filled with His Blood which makes all things new. You are His because He says so. He said so in the waters of Holy Baptism. There He gave you a Name, His Name. By nothing less than Divine Intervention, you are His little one, His own precious child, helpless and weak, but adored by Him who bought you.

This is the meaning of the word, "Holy." It does not mean "without sin." It means "belongs to God." Thus we speak of Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, the Holy Church, Holy Matrimony, the Holy Office, and so forth, because those things have been instituted and belong to God. They are His. And in those things you too are Holy. In those things you are His. Woe to him who causes you to sin. You are God's own and no one dare tempt you. By Grace, for Jesus' sake, you enjoy the constant attention and devotion of Him who died for you, who prays for you, who defends you. And you also receive the providence, protection, and care of His Father, the empowering love of the Holy Spirit, and the service of an army of angels. You are His. He has forgotten your sins. You cannot lose. Come, and drink from the Cup offered in Christ's Name for you belong to Him. The worm is dead, the fire quenched, in Jesus' side. You are His.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Catechism Class Orientation

Here is the expanded list of orientation items for the '09-'10 year:

7th and 8th GRADE CATECHISM CLASS

GOALS:

That each catechumen will, by the power of the Holy Spirit,

1) gain a solid understanding of and an appreciation for the chief doctrines (teachings) of the Christian faith and the gifts he/she received in Holy Baptism.

2) be equipped to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

PROCESS:

Catechesis: Instruction in the doctrines of the Holy Bible

1) Catechesis in the Home

• “And, Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

• Remember the promise you made at his or her baptism: “After this child has been baptized it is your duty as parents and sponsors at all times to remember him/ her in your prayers, put him/her in mind of his Baptism, and, as much as in you lies, give your counsel and aid, especially if he/she should lose his/her parents, that he/she be brought up in the true knowledge and worship of God and be taught the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer; and that, as he/she grows in years, you place in his/her hands the Holy Scriptures, bring him/her to the services of God's house, and provide for his/her further instruction in the Christian faith, that he/she come to the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood and thus, abiding in his/her baptismal grace and in communion with the Church, he/she may grow up to lead a godly life to the praise and honor of Jesus Christ.”

• “As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to His household” (The Small Catechism, Martin Luther).

• Assist and encourage the catechumen with the instruction received from the pastor.

2) Catechesis by the Pastor • And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

TEXTS:

• The Holy Bible (ESV, NKJV, NIV, RSV, no paraphrases)

• Luther’s Small Catechism-With Explanation, CPH, 1991, 2005.

COURSE EXPECTATIONS:

1) Faithful and regular attendance at catechism class. (Notification from parents for absences.)

2) Memory work, sermon reports, and written assignments completed when due.

3) Courteous and respectful behavior toward others.

4) A willingness to participate in classroom discussions.

5) Faithful attendance in Sunday School and Sunday Worship Services.

6) Willingness to serve the Lord as an acolyte in worship services.

EVALUATION PROCESS:

• Periodic tests or weekly quizzes, sermon reports, and memory work are all components in evaluating the catechumen’s progress.

• Individual discussions (interviews) with the pastor (end of 2nd year).

IMPORTANT DATES:

Class Begins September 9

Pastors Conference October 14

Thanksgiving Break November 25

Christmas Break December 23, 30

Holy Week Break March 31

Last Day of Class (Tentative) April 28

Public Questioning/Dinner (Tentative) May 1

Confirmation (Tentative) May 2

REQUIREMENTS FOR CONFIRMATION:

“Confirmation is a public rite of the Church that is preceded by a period of instruction designed to help baptized Christians identify with the life and mission of the Christian community. Having been instructed in the Christian faith prior to admission to the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 11:28), the rite of Confirmation provides an opportunity for the individual Christian, relying on God’s promise given in Holy Baptism, to make a personal public confession of the faith and a lifelong pledge of fidelity to Christ.” (Lutheran Worship Agenda; 1984)

• Clear demonstration of a basic understanding of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism by satisfactory performance on all written tests, in private interviews with the pastor, and at a public questioning.

• A record of faithful attendance at Catechism instruction, Sunday School, and Sunday Worship.

• Satisfactory completion of all catechism class assignments.

• A sincere verbal confession that they believe the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to be the true God and Jesus Christ to be the only-begotten Son of God and their Savior.

• A sincere confession that they “hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and confess the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from them, as (they) have learned to know it from the Small Catechism, to be faithful and true.”

• Willing to promise that they will “... faithfully ... conform all (their) life to the divine Word, ...be faithful in the use of God’s Word and sacraments, which are His means of grace, and in faith, word, and action ... remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death.”

FROM THE RITE OF CONFIRMATION:

P. Do you renounce the devil?

R. Yes, I renounce the devil.

P. Do you renounce all his works?

R. Yes, I renounce all his works.

P. Do you renounce all his ways?

R. Yes, I renounce all his ways.

P. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?

R. Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

P. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord?

R. Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

P. Do you believe in the Holy Ghost?

R. Yes, I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.

P. Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?

R. I do.

P. Do you confess the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from the Scriptures, as you have learned to know it from the Small Catechism, to be faithful and true?

R. I do.

P. Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?

R. I do.

P. Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, even to death?

R. I do, by the grace of God.

P. Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away form it?

R. I do, by the grace of God.

P. We rejoice with thankful hearts that you have been baptized and have received the teaching of the Lord. You have confessed the faith and been absolved of your sins. As you continue to hear the Lord’s Word and receive His blessed Sacrament, He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

C. Amen

Where Are The Sermons?

Well, the answer is easy . . . it's the time of year for preparing, then executing, a lot of things: catechism class, new Bible studies for various groups, and a new program called "Topics," which will be a twice-monthly discussion group held on Wednesday evenings. My sermon prep is now focusing on study, notes, outlining . . . and there is not enough time to prepare a full-blown manuscript. At least not every week. But I'm committed to posting at least once a month: and more, as I can.

And, if I can also include newsletter articles and various other writings, four times a month is not out of the question.

Your Walk

10th Sunday after Pentecost

August 9, 2009

Ephesians 4:17-5:2

This is a sermon for the moralists among us, for those of us who think things have gone terribly wrong in the world of late. It is for those of us who think that we Christians should be doing a better job of being Christians, who think that if we are going to talk the talk we had better walk the walk, who are upset because poll after poll show that in matters of morals from extramarital sex, adultery, and divorce to cheating at the school or workplace and dysfunction in the home, Christians are no better or different from anyone else.

And our reading today says we should be. Listen to these instructions: “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do,” Gentiles, unbelievers, who “have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” That’s not just the sex stuff, the porn on the internet and fooling around on your spouse, but giving in to desires of all kinds that run against the commandment of God: craving more stuff, better and more interesting food, more thrilling entertainment, more ear-blistering gossip. It means speaking ill of others, and partying till you drop. And there’s more: “Let the thief no longer steal . . . let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths . . . let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you.” So the laundry list of what we Christians are not to be doing is pretty complete. This is the stuff that kills the soul, that makes the heart hard and insensitive and without compassion for others. Have you put off these things in your life? Or are there one or two on the list you need to deal with?

And then there’s the other side: not the things we aren’t supposed to be doing, but the things we are do to. “Speak the truth with your neighbor.” “Do honest labor with your own hands, so that you have something to share with anyone in need.” Use the words of your mouth to build up. And the summary: “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.”

Now how are you doing? Quite frankly this is a spiritual shotgun blast in the gut. Any one of these items reveals our shortcomings. When your neighbors look at you, do they see someone who is obviously Christian? And I don’t mean that you have a giant cross in your yard that you light up at night. I don’t mean the sanctimonious looking down the nose at the unchurched. I mean by your conduct, by your patience, by what you say, by the joy evident in your life, by how you deal with others. If you think these things are not important to God, think again. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.” So what do others see?

Like I said, this is a shotgun blast. That’s why when we respond to this with “well, I’m just who I am, and others will just have to put up with me,” or “I promise I’ll try harder, and with God’s help, I will do better,” or “I’ll be transformed into a better person, just give me time,” the whole thing just sounds wimpy and whiney. You don’t get up after a shotgun blast and say, “I’ll avoid that next time.” You lie dying, in huge trouble, unless you get help. You are absolutely right: we can’t continue to walk as the Gentiles do, not one of us. We can’t afford it. And you are absolutely right: even the best of us here walks like the Gentiles do, and the burden of that sin ought to be killing us. It’s just that the answer is never going to be found in our resolve, our transformation, our moral improvement.

You may have noticed that I haven’t said anything about Jesus yet. I left him out on purpose. When you leave Jesus out, you get nothing but law and failure and blood and death.

But Paul, in our reading, did not leave Jesus out. He never leaves Jesus out. In two ways we see this. First, we’ve been reading from his letter to the Ephesians these last few weeks. Everything he has written to this point has been about Jesus, about His power, His sacrifice, His making us alive through faith in Him, His sending apostles, prophets, and so on, to make us His Church. Before he ever gets to instructions for the Christian life, Paul makes sure we understand the Gospel. He makes sure we get it: that our lives and our eternal life depend not on our works, but upon Jesus. From the forgiveness of sins to our day to day walk in grace rest wholly upon Jesus, His work on the cross, His “gifting” Himself to us in baptism and in the Word, His body and blood given and shed that we may eat the bread of life in Holy Communion. Take away Jesus, and you take away life support, oxygen, food–and you bring death. Jesus is behind every word of moral instruction that Paul gives us.

Second, it’s not just that Paul can’t help talking about Jesus before he gets to this passage. He can’t help talking about Him in it! Look at this: “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” That’s encouragement to follow Jesus’ example. But no one can give up their life like Christ did. The offering and sacrifice to God was the one that was for our sins, all those sins that Paul so rightly condemns. Adultery? Greed? Covetousness? Slander? Anger? Theft? Bitterness? Sins for which He offered His body in sacrifice. Ignorance? Hardness of heart? Darkened understanding? The death of Jesus on the cross set right the score between us and God. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, by dying and rising to life.

There is another place where Jesus shines through, though our translation does not make it so obvious. After Paul tells us to put off our “old self,” our old, sinful nature, he says, “be renewed in the spirit of your minds,” and “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God.” How do we do that? The answer is, we don’t. God does. You heard about Christ, you learned Him, you were taught in Him. Even the “be renewed” and the “putting on” are in what is called the passive voice: this is what is done in us and to us. This is the gift of God to you, that by hearing the Word you have been brought to life from spiritual death. You have been renewed in the spirit of your minds, you have had a new self put on you, you have been created in the likeness of God. You have, as Paul says later, sealed for the day of redemption in Holy Baptism, through the working of the Holy Spirit. Everything you need, you already have.

So when we heard words like, “let the thief no longer steal . . . let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths . . . let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,” we know that God is saying to us, “Be who you are. This is what I made you. Don’t live as if you were something else.” And that is encouragement. First, because I don’t have to impress God or the world. Second, this frees me truly to serve God and my neighbor. I don’t have to justify my actions, either my sins or my “good works.” I am justified by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. I don’t have to make a name for myself or put others in their place. I don’t have to seek fulfillment in ungodly behavior, or look elsewhere. I simply have to be who I am, who God created me in Christ Jesus to be. That is liberating; that is freeing. God grant you to walk on: to love and care for others, imitators of God, as beloved children, God’s children.

Bread of Life

9th Sunday after Pentecost

August 2, 2009

John 6:22-35

To understand our reading today, you’ve got to know its context. Perhaps you remember from last week that Jesus was on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee, perhaps near the village of Bethsaida, where a large crowd had gathered, not to hear him preach, but because he done miracles and they wanted more of the same. Jesus healed many people and spoke to them about the kingdom of God; then, at the conclusion of the day, out of his great compassion he fed the crowd with five loaves of bread and two fish.

That was the day before. In the night Jesus’ disciples crossed the sea by boat, and Jesus crossed by walking. It made no difference to the crowd. All they knew was that Jesus was gone, so they crossed the sea to find Jesus. We today talk about Christians as followers of Jesus. But these people were literally followers; where Jesus was, they wanted to be.

You would think that Jesus would be thrilled to have such crowds following him. What effective evangelism! What preacher would not like to have people so enthusiastic they are willing to get in boats and cross a sea to catch up to him? For that matter, what politician, performer, athlete, or entrepreneur would not love to find the key that Jesus had for drawing such a determined crowd? This is truly the pinnacle of “success” for Jesus. The only other event where we see such a grand public expression of the popularity of Jesus is on Palm Sunday. There Jesus enters Jerusalem, the population center of the day. This group that follows Jesus today comes from a rural setting, and was just in a wilderness, far from their homes.

But in fact Jesus does not act as we think He would. He doesn’t coddle the crowd. In fact, He scolds them. “I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”

Now, in the book of John, there is a sort of scale of reasons for following Jesus. At the top of the scale there is following Jesus because you have heard the good news about Him and you believe that He is the Savior of the world. That’s where John 3:16 is: “For God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Next on the scale is believing in Jesus because you see the signs. For example, at the wedding feast in Cana, we read: “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And his disciples believed in Him.” But these people were below even that level. They weren’t even impressed by the signs; they wanted the loaves and fishes. And they continue to misunderstand Jesus, willfully so, even as He teaches them about faith.

“Do not labor for the food that perishes, Jesus says, “but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” Great, thinks the crowd, we’d like not to worry about food again. Jesus, what should we do, what does God want, so that we can have this abundant blessing? What laws must we keep, what hoops must we jump through. Name it, and we’ll do it. We want the bread, so whatever you tell us, Jesus, we’ll do. Give us a rule, give we’ll do it, and we’ll be set. Whatever will take away our worries and our suffering, we will do it.

And this is what Jesus answers: “This is God’s work, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

The people are not impressed. They are tired of talk; they want action, not words. This stuff about faith in Jesus does not impress; He asks too much. And they boldly put Jesus to the test. These people have seen God’s power in action in Christ Jesus: He fed them miraculously. Their response: Well, show us another sign then! Which is to say, “Do today what you did yesterday, and then we will believe you, Jesus.” After all, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, day after day after day they ate manna. Why not now? Couldn’t Jesus make it happen?

Jesus’ answer only makes it worse: the true bread from heaven is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Good, they think, give us that bread, and we will never have to shop for it, or plant and harvest it, again.

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Finally it is clear to the crowd: they are not going to get another meal. They are going to get a sermon, a sermon which encourages them to faith in Jesus Christ. That is the true food, that is the true bread, as Jesus responded to Satan: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Had the people listened, they would have “eaten” a bread that would have nourished them. They would have heard about Jesus, whose moment of glory was not the mass of people gathered around Him, but the moment when He was lifted up upon a cross, to draw all men to him. They would have heard how His death was life for them. They would have learned how the truth of Jesus was stronger than the lies they kept making for their sins. They would have had life, life in all its abundance, life that flowed into eternity.

What kind of bread do you want? Do you know the Jesus you follow? Listen! God is calling. He is calling us to follow Jesus. He is calling us to follow, in the waters of Baptism, in the call to repent and believe, in the bread of life offered to us in the Sacrament. He is calling us to follow, not because we’ll get what we want, but because He gives us what we need: forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Ah! to see exactly what we do need--That’s what the crowds who followed Jesus could not do. Paul wrote to Timothy that “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” That’s what the people gathered around Jesus wanted: a teacher to suit their passions. But it could not be; for Jesus is the bread of life from heaven.

Paul also speaks, in our epistle, that the work of the ministry today is to build the body of Christ, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the wave and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” That is, it is the purpose of this congregation, and of the preaching in this pulpit, to equip us all so that we understand our faith, and to continually feed us with the bread of life, Jesus.

God calls us to repentance and faith, because we are all guilty of wanting a Jesus who suits our passions. Thank God we don’t get what we want. We get the right one, the one the Bible reveals. It is this real Jesus who really died and rose, and who really, on a daily basis, grants us forgiveness and life. Yes, he does provide us with manna, too–He meets our day to day needs. But what we need the most, He gives as well. God grant that we receive this bread of life, Jesus, in true faith. Amen