Sermon: Trinity 10

16 August 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 19:41-48 (Jer 8:4-12, Rom 9:30-10:4)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

The prophet Jeremiah complains that things are not always as they seem. Everyone,” from “the least to the greatest” – including prophets and priests who have a reputation for integrity – are “greedy for unjust gain” and dealing “falsely.” They declare “‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”

For this kind of “peace” is contrived. It is an illusion, a lie.

To the casual observer, the Peninsula of Korea seems peaceful. While there are armies there, no shots have been fired and no battle has raged in half a century. Indeed, it does seem like the soldiers, called “peacekeepers” are doing just that. But the reality is that the two Koreas are still under a declaration of war.

Similarly, the former nation of Yugoslavia seemed to be at peace under the heavy-handed Communist government of Tito. But once Communism fell, so did the façade, as what appeared to be peace broke out into open and brutal war.

Our church’s name: “Salem” means peace. It sounds like the Hebrew “Shalom” and the Arabic “Salaam.” It is the last half of the word “Jerusalem,” whose name ironically means “city of peace” – a city that is, in reality, often racked with violence or the threat of violence.

When our Lord Jesus “drew near and saw the city” of peace. “He wept over it.” He was distressed that they had rejected “the things that make for peace.” For the true peace, the peace of reconciliation with God and the putting away of sins was “hidden from [their] eyes.” Like the Pharaoh of old that enslaved their ancestors, the people of Jerusalem rejected the “peace that passes all understanding,” the peace of the one true Passover Lamb who has come into the city to make a sacrificial (not a superficial) peace by dying on the cross.

And in rejecting this heavenly peace, the children of Israel chose war in the fallen world. The city of peace was to be leveled precisely 40 years after our Lord brought the peace of God to the City of Peace by His passion and death. It is no coincidence that at His resurrection, the first words He would greet His beloved people would be: “Peace be with you!”

For as in Jeremiah’s day, our Lord observes that things are not as they seem, nor as they ought to be.

The Temple is supposed to be a “house of prayer” but it had been converted into a “den of robbers.” Instead of a place of atonement, a place where the grace and mercy of God are poured out for free like the holy blood of the sacrifice, the temple had become a place where favor could be bought with coins bearing the idolatrous and unholy image of the false god Caesar.

And while Jerusalem seemed to be at peace, it was really under occupation. While the Jewish leaders seemed to be at peace with the Romans, they had really chosen this peace by making war against the God of their ancestors. “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”

As a result of our Lord’s preaching, they considered him a scandal, a “stumbling stone.” For they had turned the temple from a place of sacrifice, a place of grace, to a place of merchandise, where one could purport to buy God’s favor. As St. Paul teaches, “Israel who pursued a law of righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because it did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.”

In departing the grace of the sacrifice for the merit of works, we leave the “peace of God” for what only appears to be “peace.” There is no peace with God apart from the cross, apart from the Crucified One, apart from the blood of the Lamb, apart from the Stumbling Stone of Israel.

And it is easy to lose the focus of the cross, dear brothers and sisters, to seek a counterfeit peace based on our own merits rather than “hanging on His words” as our Blessed Lord’s followers did. It is easy to be busied by all the things we must do that we turn the Church into something other than a house of prayer, a place of worship.

There are many who have been baptized in this font, who have not set foot in this or any church in years, who have convinced themselves that they remain in the faith and have “peace, peace” when all they have is the lack of outward violence. For true peace is when the Lord’s Body and Blood are held before your eyes in this House of Prayer, as the Lord speaks through His unworthy servant: “The peace of the Lord be with you always!” The Church responds by singing her great confession: “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world!” seeking His mercy, and beseeching Him the third time to “grant us Thy peace.” And then, that peace is given to you in the body and blood, for the forgiveness of sins, unto everlasting life.

We also fall into the trap of seeing Salem as primarily a school, a bustling place of a quality education, the largest in our district, an impressive campus, and a respected institution within our community – instead of seeing ourselves primarily as a Church, a local manifestation of the fullness of the Body of Christ in this place, that happens to run a school for the good of the Lord’s Kingdom.

It is easy for the work of the Church to also be seen in terms of the necessary details that need to be attended to: budgets, upkeep, writing sermons, changing light bulbs, sending letters, attending meetings, voting for officers, and the like – rather than seeing all of these things in subordination to our mission: to be the Church in this place.

But the easiest thing of all to forget is this: we creatures have been created to worship our Creator. Preaching, teaching, telling people about Jesus, doing good works, serving the neighbor are all good things that we do according to our vocation. But all of these things are of secondary importance to doing what we were made to do: to prayerfully worship the Holy Trinity.

In fact, when Martha complained that she was doing all the work while her sister Mary was sitting at the Lord’s feet listening to Him, our Lord reminded her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

While various things need to be done for the church, and while our school is an important and outstanding use of our church’s resources, the “one thing necessary” is to hear the Lord’s Word, the Word that forgives us and holds us in communion with Him. The “one thing necessary” is to worship our Creator. Everything else is secondary. That is the source of true and lasting peace.

In fact, the Christian faith is not simply believing in Jesus and holding the right doctrine. The Christian faith is not self-help pop psychology or even the very good and noble work of running a school. In our Athanasian Creed, we confess the following: “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith…. And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.”

For “worship” of the Triune God is the “one thing necessary,” the very essence of the Christian faith: the faith through which we have salvation as a free gift by the sacrifice of Jesus. That is the “one thing necessary” for this congregation, to which all other things are subordinate. That is the source of peace – not a false peace that only exists on the surface, a peace that is limited to a lack of fighting, but rather true peace, the peace of God, the peace the Lord declares after winning the war against sin, death, and the devil, the peace that is given to us in joyful and loving communion with the Trinity and with one another.

That peace is no illusion, nor is it simply the lack of violence held in check by soldiers or dictators. It is the peace won for us by our Lord, the “one thing necessary,” the “righteousness that is by faith,” the Shalom, Salaam, and Salem, the house of prayer, the true Jerusalem, the city of the Lord’s Peace, the heavenly kingdom ruled by the Prince of Peace, unto eternity. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Amen.