Text: Matt 11:12-19
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
John preached the coming of the kingdom. He preached Law and Gospel. He preached repentance. And in his preaching, he pointed everyone to our Lord Jesus Christ. The religious and political authorities conspired to beheaded him. As our Lord says: “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Of course, our Lord Jesus Christ also suffered violence, as the same religious and political leaders conspired to crucify Him. No matter what great deeds of love, forgiveness, healing, prophecy, miracles, and the casting out of demons that our Lord did, the religious and political leaders did not approve, like the children’s chant: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” These same people accused John of having a demon because he did not eat and drink, but Jesus, who did, was called a “glutton and a drunkard,” and his friendship with “tax collectors and sinners” was treated as an indictment of Him. “Yet wisdom,” says our Lord, “is justified by her deeds.”
The kingdom continued to suffer violence at the hand of religious and political leaders. Stephen was stoned. Peter was crucified. Paul was beheaded. Eleven of the twelve apostles were killed. Under Jewish and Roman governance, Christians were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and executed. “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
In time, the persecutions ended, and the church grew fat and rich and corrupt. Her doctrines were increasingly the teachings of men, not of the Word of God. There was a series of popes so wicked in the tenth century that the period became known as the Pornocracy. Reformers emerged from time to time, but they were often threatened with violence or executed. “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” And things just deteriorated from there.
What we commemorate on this day was a still small voice of a sixteenth century monk with a pen and a hammer. Father Martin objected to the prostitution of the Gospel known as the sale of indulgences. This obscure professor challenged the church’s corruption. In time, he would be put on trial and threatened with death. This was the church hierarchy’s answer to any challenge – valid or invalid – the threat of death in flames on a stake. The Inquisition perfected the art of torture to cause would-be reformers to recant. Dr. Luther was himself put on trial and ordered to recant, and his answer was: “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason, and not by popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
There were many students of the Bible: laypeople, princes, priests, and professors who agreed. They joined Luther in his “Here I stand,” in his submission to the Word of God, in his proclamation of the Gospel of the Cross of Christ, and in his rejection of the violent who would take the kingdom by force.
For it cannot truly be taken by force, dear friends. It can only be received by grace, through faith, according to Scripture. This is the Good News, and the religious and political leaders conspired to stamp out this Evangelical Catholic movement, which they mocked with the epithet “Lutheran.”
And once again, the kingdom suffered violence. Lutheran pastors and confessors were burned at the stake. The emperor made war on Lutheran princes, and forced Lutherans at the point of the sword to swear allegiance to the pope and to deny their Evangelical Catholic confession. “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
In 1550, nine Lutheran pastors and the city fathers of Magdeburg said, “Here we stand.” They refused to obey the emperor’s edict, and they were attacked. The faithful citizens of the city holed up behind the city walls. For thirteen months, the imperial forces lay siege and attacked. 468 men of Magdeburg died, while 4,000 of their attackers perished, before the emperor’s forces retreated. The emperor himself was forced to flee Germany. “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Today, we are free to confess our faith that the Bible is the Word of God, that no pastor, prince, or pope is above Scripture, that salvation is by grace, through faith, and that the kingdom cannot be taken by force. We preach Christ crucified, and we receive His grace in the Mass, the Divine Service, by Word and Sacrament, and we believe that Jesus Christ is God and Man, that He alone is Lord and Savior, and that He will come again to rescue us poor, miserable - and yet forgiven - sinners, at the end of time, when one last time it will be said, “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”
In this sanctuary, there is a banner above the baptismal font, dear friends. The symbol displayed is the symbol of our so-called Lutheran confession. The cross at the center is supposed to be black, and it is at the center of the blood-red heart symbolizing our salvation by the Crucified One in our hearts. The heart is at the center of a pure, white rose – a Christmas rose, which reminds us of the Lord’s Incarnation. The rose is in a field of blue, symbolizing hope and heavenly joy. The gold ring symbolizes the never-ending treasure of heaven. It is fitting that this banner is above our baptismal font, where God’s grace is poured out upon us, us not by violence, but yet as a result of the violence inflicted on our Lord at His crucifixion.
Above the banner is the encouragement to “remain faithful.” Here we stand, dear brothers and sisters. We stand with John the Baptist, with our Lord, with the apostles, with the martyrs, with all confessors of the Gospel – those who confessed in peace, and those who were subjected to violence. We pledge to remain faithful come what may, even in the face of those who violently oppose the kingdom, be they in the original words of our sermon hymn from the 1500s, “the murderous Pope and Turk,” be they religious and political leaders of our own day, be they academics, mobs, heretics, invaders, rioters, be they people who are offended by what we believe, be they people who call themselves Christians, and yet who are violent and who oppose the Gospel.
Through it all, may God grant us the grace to “remain faithful.” Let us say, “Here we stand.” Let us take up our cross and follow Jesus, who saves us by grace alone, through faith alone. Let us take up the Scriptures, and read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. Let us treasure assembling together in the Divine Service. Let us confess our sins and receive absolution. Let us proclaim the Light of Christ to an increasingly dark world. Let us live lives of prayer and good works. Let us faithfully receive the body and blood of our Lord, living out our lives as baptized Christians, whether we are loved or hated by the religious and political leaders of our own day.
The words of our blessed Lord remain true in this fallen world: “The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” Whether we suffer violence or not, dear friends, we confess in unity with those who do. We confess that the kingdom is not for sale, nor can it be had at the point of a sword.
Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word;
Here we stand. We can do no other. God help us. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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