Sermon: Reformation Day and Baptism of Melanie Griffin – 2022

30 Oct 2022

Text: Rom 3:19-28

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today is a feast and a celebration for two reasons.  First of all, we celebrate the world’s newest Christian, little Melanie, who was born again by water and the Spirit and given the gift of eternal life! 

Secondly, we celebrate our Lutheran tradition and heritage by calling to mind the restoration of the Gospel that began with the publication of an academic paper by a then-obscure college professor named Dr. Martin Luther, more than five centuries ago.  For these two great events in history are connected, dear friends: October 31, 1517 and October 30, 2022.

And to see this connection, just imagine if we just witnessed this Holy Baptism, and then sent the Griffin family a bill.  Maybe a thousand dollars would be a nice amount.  After all, baptism delivers eternal life.  What parents wouldn’t pay for it if we charged them?  We could even charge a lot more, maybe put parents on a baptismal payment plan, and perhaps we could upgrade our humble building into a basilica, and the pastor could have a private jet. 

Well, not to worry, Matthew and Jennifer.  The bill has already been paid, by Jesus.  And that is why we celebrate Reformation Day.

For in the 1500s, the hierarchy of the church in Rome wanted to build St. Peter’s Basilica.  And building beautiful cathedrals is a worthy task.  But they built it with borrowed money, and the bankers were keen to be repaid.  So the church hierarchy came up with a hustle: to charge people money for that which Jesus already paid for: “not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.”  The church gives away salvation for free, because Jesus earned it, and we receive it by grace through faith, as Scripture teaches us.  But it is such a treasure that people who didn’t know better would pay any price the bishops wanted to charge.  And they made a fortune!

But salvation is not for sale at any price, dear brothers and sisters.  And anyone who charges money for it is a grifter and a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  You find them still running the scam on late night TV – crooks and charlatans of every denomination. 

But we Christians should not be fooled, dear friends.  Because God’s Word has been written for us in the Bible.  And we also celebrate the fact that in the 1500s, Dr. Luther and others translated the Scriptures into our own languages, so that all people could “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Word of God, and hear the authentic voice of the Good Shepherd.

Today’s festival liturgy is also a reminder of how the Word of God was brought to the people.  For in those days, the church’s bureaucracy demanded the services be in Latin – which was not understood by ordinary people.  Dr. Luther translated the Mass into German.  Today’s service is an English translation of a special German Mass, a festival service in which the parts of the liturgy are sung as hymns – in the language of the people.  We also celebrate the restoration of the sermon into the Mass – which had been removed when Masses were being said quickly because people were willing to pay for them.

Dear friends, we don’t give offerings to buy God’s favor.  You already have that because of our Lord’s death on the cross.  We give offerings out of love: to support our church and our pastors, to provide for mission work, disaster relief, support for the poor, and for the sake of education.  We give because God first gave to us.  Private jets and other hustles are not part of that.  And neither can you buy a ticket to heaven.

It was a wondrous thing when ordinary Germans heard today’s reading from Romans for the first time.  For it teaches the real faith.  It begins with the Law: “So that every mouth might be stopped.”  The Law removes our ability to justify ourselves, dear friends.  The Ten Commandments teach us what St. Paul reiterates: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  All have sinned.  Even little Melanie is a “poor, miserable sinner,” who needs the saving waters of Holy Baptism.  For it is there that she has received the gift of “redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” because we “are justified by His grace as a gift” – a gift “to be received in faith.”

Melanie received the gift, dear friends.  And so have we.  Gifts are freely received, not bought – although someone pays for gifts before they are given.  Our Lord Jesus Christ ransomed Melanie by His very own blood – and we, the Holy Church have been given the task and the joy to proclaim this free gift to “all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  And that is what we do to this day, dear friends!

Sometimes people will refer to the Reformation as a revolution.  It was nothing of the sort.  It was a restoration of the catholic faith of old, before the church became corrupt.  There was a time when church fathers like St. Augustine taught – a thousand years before the Reformation – that salvation was by God’s free grace and could not be earned.  The church father St. Jerome translated the Bible into the language of the people – which in those days was Latin.  Church fathers like St. John Chrysostom taught that the truth was to be found in God’s Word, and not in the opinions of mortal men. 

Contrary to popular belief, Luther didn’t start a new church and name it after himself.  For there is only one holy Christian and apostolic church.  The name ‘Lutheran’ was given to us as a slur.  And so we bear the taunt with a little bit of swagger, knowing that we are teaching the ancient catholic faith in its biblical purity.  In our Lutheran confessions, the name ‘Lutheran’ never appears.  Instead, we describe our church and faith as both ‘Evangelical’ and ‘Catholic.’ 

And so it is that we are Catholic Christians with married priests, who have the Mass in our own language, who reject any bishop – even those that have the name ‘Lutheran’ – who teach contrary to the Bible.  Our Divine Service teaches that we are born under the Law’s condemnation, and that we are saved by the blood of Christ – which we receive in Holy Communion.  And we teach just as the ancient church that baptism saves us.

And it is also true that we are Evangelical Christians, though our pastors don’t have private jets and Rolex watches.  We don’t lead pop music services in revamped stadiums.  But we are the first Evangelicals – because we preach the Evangel, that is, the Gospel, the Good News.  And the Good News is demonstrated and taught to all of us today in the person of little Melanie – for she has been saved by grace alone.  She has received the free gift: “justified by faith apart from works of the law.”  For even her faith is a gift, dear friends.  Her faith was confessed by her parents and sponsors. 

And while God’s grace is free, we all have an obligation toward Melanie.  Her parents have the responsibility to feed and clothe her, to educate her, and to protect her from all harm.  They carry out this duty not because God commands it, but they do so out of love.  They are also responsible for her faith: to bring her to the services of the Lord’s house, where she will grow up hearing God’s Word.  They are to live the holy faith, and instruct her in it.  And her sponsors also share in that responsibility.  And all of us, dear friends, are called upon to support our church so that the Lord’s baptized can hear God’s Word.  And my joyful responsibility is to preach the Word, both Law and Gospel, to be faithful in that vocation for the sake of all of you, the dear people for whom Christ died – including little Melanie.

And so let us celebrate, dear friends!  Let us rejoice in the gift of eternal life!  Let us spurn the devil and hold the grave in contempt!  Let us confess our Evangelical and Catholic faith by singing the words of Scripture in our liturgy week in and week out!  Let us always remember and rejoice in our own baptisms, making the sign of the holy cross in remembrance of the great date in history when we were brought to the font, and in the greatest date in history, when our risen Lord Jesus redeemed us as a “propitiation by His blood to be received by faith” when He died for us. Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word. 

Amen.

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

Sermon: Funeral of Casie Jones

28 October 2022

Text: Luke 8:40-42a, 49-55 (Job 19:23-27a, Rom 6:3-11)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Dear, Neal, Alexis, Andrea, Brandon, Chuck, Janet, Corey, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and honored guests: Peace be with you!  This greeting “Peace be with you” is used by Christians all over the world.  These are the first words that Jesus spoke to His disciples when He first appeared to them that first Easter as they were mourning His death.  They were hurting, confused, and apprehensive about the future.  But the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to them in His body and said, “Peace be with you.”

This word “peace” points us to the Garden of Eden, before our fall into sin, when there was no suffering and no death.  Jesus has come into our world to restore that “peace that surpasses all understanding.”  And so I say it again, “Peace be with you.”

When we experience the death of loved ones, many people say things that are well-meaning, but don’t provide much comfort.  One such thing that some people say is that death is natural, and just a part of life.  We Christians do not believe this at all.  God created a perfect world.  Yes, we corrupted it, but death is unnatural.  It is not normal.  It is not our friend.  It is not a solution to anything.  It is our enemy.  But by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is a defanged and defeated enemy.

Sometimes people will say that our loved ones live on in our hearts and in our memories.  Sure, our memories are there, but we want our loved ones back.  We want Casie back.  You want your wife, your mother, your daughter, your sister, your dear friend, your colleague back.  We want to see her again.  And we Christians believe that this is exactly what will happen.

Some will try to comfort us with the idea that our loved ones are spirits floating around in heaven forever.  We Christians also reject that belief.  Again, God created a physical world and called it “very good.”  He made us bodily and in His image.  We are human beings, not spirits, not angels.  And who would want to live without a body, dear friends.  With our bodies, we embrace our loved ones.  We talk.  We laugh.  We feast.  This is why the last line of the Apostles’ Creed is: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”  Job said: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another.”

We confess a physical, bodily resurrection, where we will live forever in a new heaven and a new earth.  In her flesh, dear friends, Casie will see God.  She will see Him for herself, with her own striking blue eyes.  That is the promise of Jesus.  She will be the same Casie, the same joyful, loving, and funny Casie, the same Casey that everyone loved to be around – only perfected: without sin, without suffering, without sorrow – and without death. 

We heard St. Paul from his letter to the Romans: “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death…. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His…. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.” And as Jesus Himself promised at the end of Mark’s Gospel: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” 

Chuck and Janet, I know you remember Casie’s baptism.  You were there.  And Neal, you were there when we sat around the table, and we all confessed our faith together and heard the promises of the Word of God.  Casie confessed Jesus as her Redeemer, her Savior.  And so she enjoys the promise of “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

We Christians mourn our loved ones.  We most certainly do, dear friends.  But as St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, we do not grieve “as others do who have no hope.”  And this is why we Christians can mock death with Paul: “O death, where is your victory.  O death, where is your sting.”  Once again, death is a defanged and defeated enemy.  Jesus destroyed death by dying and rising again. 

In our Gospel reading, a man named Jairus prays to Jesus to help him.  For his only child, his twelve year old daughter, is very ill.  Jairus has faith in Jesus.  He believes that He can help.  And Jesus accompanies him to the house.  But then comes the bad news: she has died.  Undeterred, they continue to the house.  The funeral has already started.  But Jesus has come to ruin the funeral: “Do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping.”  And “they laughed at Him.”  They laughed at Jesus, dear friends.  Many still laugh at Him.  But on that day, they were to laugh for joy instead of mockery.  For Jesus took her by the hand and said, “Child, arise.”  “And her spirit returned.”  And I love how Jesus told her parents to give her something to eat.

Chuck and Janet, I’m sure you have many memories of Casie as a twelve year old girl.  Corey, that may be stretching the limits of your memory of your big-little sister.  But this girl that Jesus raised represents Casie and all Christians.  For this is what He promises to do for all of us: to awaken us from the slumber of death.  For once again, death is a defeated enemy.  For the Christian, death is like a nap, and Jesus will awaken us. And so Jesus ruins all funerals.

In the words of the hymn that I sang with you in the hospital as we were saying our goodbyes to Casie: 

And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me,
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face
My Savior and my fount of grace.

Dear friends, the sure and certain hope of the resurrection, as promised by God Himself, is what gives us the strength to face each new day – one less day until we are reunited in the “resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

We Christians have another ancient greeting.  It goes back to the resurrection of Jesus.  Today, it is said by Christians around the world in every language, typically at the time of Easter.  One Christian says: “Christ is risen.”  And the response is: “He is risen indeed, Alleluia.” 

And so we can live our lives in joyful hope and expectation of resurrection, knowing that Casie is in good hands.  By God’s grace we will see her again.  We will once more look into her blue eyes, laugh with her, and enjoy the blessing of her existence, which God willed before the foundation of the world.  You will embrace her again, never to be separated.  That is what Jesus meant by saying: “Peace be with you.”  And I say it again, dear friends, “Peace be with you.” 

And that is why we are also bold to say with defiant joy: “Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!”

Amen.

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

Economics 101

 
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Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – October 25, 2022 - Sts. Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe

25 Oct 2022 – Sts. Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe

Text: Matt 17:14-27

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Sts. Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe served their Lord and their church from within their holy vocation of womanhood.  As is often the case, women provide hospitality, charity, works of mercy, and financial support for the work of the church.  And as Christians, this sacrificial offering of time, talent, and treasure is not coerced.  It is not based on the Old Testament law of the tithe, nor are such works done to earn God’s grace – for we already have that!

Taxes, on the other hand, are a bit trickier.

Jesus said to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:21).  Of course, it is all God’s, and so the Christian’s life is one of loving service to the Lord.  But we do live in the world, and those who serve us in various capacities need to be paid.  And so, taxes should be a voluntary payment for services rendered.  But in our fallen world, taxes are compulsory, and are collected by force.  And fallen men with that kind of power are seldom exempt from the temptations of power and riches that can be had by twisting arms and threatening people.

Our Lord’s enemies tried to attack Him by asking Him about taxes.  For if He supported paying taxes, people would think of Him as part of the corrupt Establishment.  If He opposed taxes, He would draw the ire of the government, and perhaps be arrested and executed as an insurrectionist.

Notice how our Lord threads the needle, appealing neither to the brute force of the Law, nor to an unlawful rebellion against the authorities – which have been established by God (John 19:11, Rom 13:1).  The tax collectors “came to Capernaum” and asked Peter, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”  Peter answered simply: “Yes.” 

Jesus teaches Peter using the Socratic method, asking him, “From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax?  From their sons or from others?”  Peter replied, “From others.”  Jesus concludes, therefore, “the sons are free.”  As Christians we are sons and heirs of the king.  We do not owe the state’s taxes, especially in this fallen world.  We are free.  And we should be free to pay based on what is right, based on services used, based on what is the best use of our resources for the kingdom, rather than to be subject to tax collectors, who were often grifting by skimming for themselves.  Some things never change!

But Jesus nevertheless encourages a kind of turning of the other cheek in the matter of taxation, “not to give offense to them.”  Jesus provides for us to pay the taxes demanded.  It is a matter of faith that we pay our taxes so as not to “give offense” and give an excuse to be accused of rebellion.  We can render to God the things that are God’s more effectively from outside of a jail cell than within.  And our obedience (within reason) to government officials also demonstrates that our Lord’s kingdom is indeed “not of this world” (John 18:36).

In His kingdom, we don’t offer God taxes to keep Him off of our backs.  Rather, we offer Him our very lives – as did the holy women Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe – cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7), as a thank offering for what He has freely given us in His kingdom: forgiveness, life, and salvation!

Amen.

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

On Anonymity: When is it Appropriate for a Christian Man?

 

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Sermon: St. James of Jerusalem – 2022

23 Oct 2022

Text: Matt 13:54-58 (Acts 15:12-22a, Jas 1:1-12)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today the church honors St. James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, and the brother of our Lord.  And, of course, the word “brother” used in the Scriptures has a broader meaning than our English word.  For Jesus is the only biological Son of God the Father.  At the most, James would be a half-brother, if he were the son of the Virgin Mary. 

The earliest historians of the church said that Mary had no other children other than Jesus, and that the brothers and sisters of our Lord mentioned in Scripture were step-siblings: children of Joseph by a previous marriage.  And this makes sense considering that at His cross, Jesus placed His mother in the care not of His brother James or another member of His own immediate family, but rather gave her to His beloved disciple John to care for.  John took Mary to the city of Ephesus, where she lived out her days.

So although Scripture doesn’t explain what the nature of James’s “brotherhood” with Jesus is, the church has long taught that James was a step-brother.  And this indeed explains our Lord’s “brothers and sisters” – extended family members – not really believing at first that He was the Son of God – even though this was revealed to Mary and Joseph.

But James did come to believe in the divinity of his kinsman Jesus.  In fact, he would eventually lay down his own life and be martyred for the sake of his Lord.  That is why the church is adorned in red paraments today, dear friends.  St. James’s testimony was given in blood.  The Jewish historian Josephus reports that the Pharisees stoned James to death as a Christian martyr.

In our first reading, James is the bishop of Jerusalem, and he has to address the burning question of the day: were Gentile Christians subject to Old Testament ceremonial laws, like the dietary regulations, celebrating Jewish feasts, and submitting to circumcision.

“My judgment,” said Bishop James, “is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.”  He instructs them to avoid “things polluted by idols,” to turn away from their Pagan sexual immorality, and, as a concession to avoid scandalizing Jewish Christians, to avoid eating animals that have been strangled, and thus still have the blood in them. 

St. James also wrote one of the books of the New Testament: the epistle known by his name.  In his letter, James teaches Christians to “count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

To be steadfast means to cling to the Word of God in faith, to continue to make the good confession – even in the face of death.  And not only does James instruct us to live this way, he sets the example by confessing Jesus unto his own death.  For, says James, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

So the life and ministry of Bishop James is not his own.  For he belongs to Jesus, to the one in whose name he preaches and serves the flock of God in Jerusalem, and the one for whom he will remain steadfast to the end.

St. James is mentioned by St. Matthew the Evangelist.  Our Lord Jesus is at first received as a hometown hero, coming back to Nazareth to preach the good news of the kingdom.  But as He “taught them in their synagogue” they “were astonished and said, ‘Where did this man get his wisdom and these mighty works?’  Is this not the carpenter’s son?  Is not His mother called Mary?  Are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?  And are not all His sisters with us?”

It is interesting because they recognize that His preaching is “wisdom.”  They also acknowledge the many miracles that He has performed.  But as the old saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt.”  For “they took offense at Him.”  There may be a little jealousy at work here.  Jesus says: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and in his own household.”  He is suggesting that members of his own extended family and people living in the community, who perhaps knew the family of Mary and Joseph, and perhaps even Jesus as a child – were having difficulty seeing Him in His new role as preacher, rabbi, prophet – and as soon will be revealed, as the Messiah and as God in the flesh. 

Their lack of faith, their “unbelief,” that grew out of their resentment, actually impeded Jesus’ ability to work miracles there.

Dear friends, let us not take that which is familiar to us for granted.  Just because we are in this sanctuary often, let us not forget that this is sacred ground.  Do not let familiarity lead you into seeing this holy place as ordinary.  It is not.  For with Jacob, we confess “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 

For it is here that Jesus comes to us: God in flesh now appearing in His Word and in the Holy Sacrament of His body and His blood.  His Word declares you to be forgiven of all your sins.  His Word proclaims the coming of the kingdom.  And His sacraments are among those “mighty works” of Jesus that we receive by faith.  Don’t let unbelief impede the work of Christ in this place and in your life.  Don’t let familiarity breed contempt.

Later in his letter to us Christians dispersed around the world, St. James implores us to “be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

St. James also reminds us not to use St. Paul’s theology of salvation being by grace and not by works to become an excuse not to do good works.  Rather, our salvation motivates our good works as an offering of gratitude.  For as James says: “faith apart from works is dead.”  Living faith produces works of love.  Let us not use our faith as an excuse for laziness, dear brothers and sisters.

St. James warns us of the danger of the tongue.  Such a small flap of muscle that causes such large sins.  “Look at the ships,” he says, “though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder…. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.”

St. James also teaches us that when we are sick, we are to call the pastors of the church, “and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”  For “the prayer of a righteous person has great power.”

Thus James teaches lay people to call the pastor when they are sick, and James teaches pastors to make visits, to pray, and to anoint the sick with oil.  These liturgical actions are not hollow rituals, dear friends, but result in forgiveness.  For the Lord hears our prayers, especially the prayers of those whose righteousness is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  The use of oil on the sick person is a reminder of Christ (which means “the anointed one”). 

And so it is with all the saints, whom we honor not in and of themselves, but because their lives and deaths point us to Christ. 

We sing of James, Christ’s brother,
Who at Jerusalem
Told how God loved the Gentiles
And, in Christ, welcomed them.
Rejoicing in salvation
May we too, by God’s grace,
Extend Christ’s invitation
To all the human race.  

Amen. 

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

The Protocol: How We Avoid Getting Sick

 

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Sermon: Trinity 18 – 2022

16 Oct 2022

Text: Matt 22:34-46

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

There were two big rivals who both claimed to be right: the conservative Pharisees and the liberal Sadducees.  The Pharisees actually believed in the Old Testament Scriptures, but they misinterpreted them so as to make themselves look righteous.  The Sadducees denied much of Scripture, including the belief in angels and the resurrection.  They believed in the Law (the five books written by Moses), but they denied that the Prophets were part of Scripture.  The two groups bickered over who was right, but they cooperated for the sake of Jewish society and government, and when they had a mutual enemy: like Caesar, or Jesus.

And, of course, our Lord did not favor one or the other.  He told both groups they were both wrong.  He did so forcefully, backed up by Scripture, by His preaching, and by His miracles.  Both groups tried to attack Him by means of loaded questions.

On this occasion, the Pharisees were happy because Jesus had just “silenced the Sadducees.”  Our Lord had just said to them: “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”  Jesus called them ignorant, and exposed their unbelief.  For the Scriptures testify to the resurrection of the dead (which the Sadducees denied).  The resurrection is also confirmed by the “power of God” – which is how Jesus Himself cured the sick, raised the dead, and will soon rise from death Himself.

The Pharisees are happy about this public humiliation that Jesus doled out to their rivals, and they arrogantly think that they will have better luck in arguing with Him.

And so, “one of them, a lawyer, asked a question to test Him.”

We all know that when a lawyer asks a question, it is not really a question.  This lawyer isn’t looking for truth, but is rather using words to try to trick Jesus for the sake of winning an argument.  This is what we call today a “gotcha” question.  The Sadducees had just tried the same trick to force Jesus to deny the resurrection.  The result was their humiliation.

So our lawyer asks Jesus: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law.”  And such questions can be scripted so that whatever answer Jesus gives, the lawyer can come up with a reply that would make Jesus seem ignorant or wrong.

Of course, our Lord cites Scripture, and He also explains it in a way that cannot be refuted.  Jesus treats the Pharisee in the same way that might catch a telemarketer or hard-sell salesman off guard: by taking him off script.  So here is Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

So Jesus also humiliated the Pharisees – who did believe in the Law and the Prophets, who did strive to keep the commandments, but who also missed the part about “love” – both love of God and love of neighbor.

We still study the Ten Commandments this way today in our Catechism: dividing them into two parts: commandments one to three as the “love God” part, and commandments four through ten as the “love your neighbor” part.

Today, there are no more Sadducees.  They died off in the year 70 AD when the temple was destroyed.  But there are still those who “know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”  There are many liberal Christians today who deny parts of Scripture that they don’t like.  And they do indeed misinterpret and degrade Jesus’ understanding of the word “love” – turning it into something unnatural and degrading.  They also argue that calling anyone “wrong” – as Jesus did – is a sinful and unloving thing to do to one’s neighbor.

Today, there are no more Pharisees.  But their descendants live on in Judaism, which is no longer based on even the Old Testament Scriptures, but rather on complicated and convoluted interpretations of Scripture called the Talmud.  They are still doing exactly what Jesus called them out for.  And there are indeed still many conservative Christians today who are like the Pharisees: hypocrites who deny the clear teachings of the Bible and of Jesus, distorting and misinterpreting Scripture in a way that is both wrong and loveless, denying the power of God.

Jesus condemned both the liberal Sadducees and the conservative Pharisees.  He publicly humiliated them, not because He did not love them, but because He loves the people who are led astray by them.  He calls them to repent, and does so by means of the Scriptures and the power of God.

Dear friends, we must not fall into either trap.  We must know the Scriptures.  We must know the power of God.  We know the Scriptures, in the words of the ancient prayer, so that we “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” them.  If you are not reading the Scriptures every day, you will become ignorant of them – in the same way that you will forget things you learned in school unless you continue to review them.  How many people studied French and Trigonometry and History, and learned how to use tools or developed skills in sports, but can’t remember any of these things today.  Dear friends, if you don’t know the Scriptures, your conscience should be convicted.  If you think you know them already, so did the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  You need to repent of your laziness.  You are a disciple, that is, a student. 

We know the power of God by confessing that God works in our lives by means of the Holy Sacraments: that your baptism matters, that something miraculous happens here at our altar and at the communion rail.  The power of God transforms you from sinner to saint, and empowers you to repent, to hear Jesus not to try to weasel out of the Ten Commandments, not to try to distort the word “love” into sexual license or to try to silence the confession of the faith, but so that you will confess your sins, repent of them, and turn to the only one who can save you: Jesus.

While the Pharisees were licking their wounds after Jesus gave them their rhetorical beat-down, our Lord went on the offensive.  He asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ?  Whose son is He?”

And this is what the Christian faith is all about, dear friends.  For we do indeed confess the Scriptures and the power of God.  They all point to the Christ, and the Christ is Jesus.  The Christ is the Son of David.  The Christ is the crucified one.  The Christ is the Word of God in flesh.  The Christ atones for our sins by His death.  The Christ rose from the dead and promises that we will too.  The Christ establishes that the power of God would be manifested in Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and the proclamation of the Word.

Jesus takes a simple line from the Psalms – a verse that the Pharisees probably repeated over and over but never understood, to prove that the Christ, the Messiah, is God in the flesh.  And this is something that both the Sadducees and the Pharisees would not accept.  For they will not accept Jesus or His teachings.  Jesus points out that the Christ is the “son of David” but also David’s Lord.  He is a man, and He is God at the same time.  And so He is a man who works miracles and rises from the dead.

There is no arguing with that, dear friends.  It really doesn’t matter who wins the football game, which character in the next movie is a good guy or bad guy, whether or not you are wearing the right clothes or have the right status symbol, what kind of job you have, or how much money you make.  What matters is that Jesus is God, that you are baptized, that the Scriptures are God’s Word, that Jesus calls you to confess and repent of your sins, that you are forgiven, and that in this Holy Supper, Jesus delivers these promises to you.  We receive this Eucharist on our knees for a reason.  It is how we confess the Scriptures and the power of God.

As for the Sadducees and the Pharisees, “No one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.”  Let us hear Jesus, confess Jesus, receive the gifts of Jesus, and indeed, let us answer Him a word, one simple word: “Amen” which means: “Yes, yes, it shall be so.” 

Amen.

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