14 May 2024
Text: Luke 19:11-28
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Our Lord’s Parable of the Minas is provocative. Like many of Jesus’ teachings, it angered His opponents, who rightfully perceived that it was spoken against them.
We live in strange times, dear friends. Unbelievers scold us and tell us to be more like Jesus, and then they provide a litany of things Jesus never said, taught, or did, that they expect us to do. They have created a “nice” Jesus who never existed. The real Jesus made people angry to the point where men from across religious and political factions who hated one another conspired together to murder Him. Some in the church have fallen for this as well. Our Lord’s parable is heavy on the Law. He is telling His hearers that they are expected to work and bear fruit. For contrary to what many people think, we Lutherans do teach that “It is necessary to do good works,” as this is a quote from Article 20. We do not do them to merit salvation, “but because it is God’s will.” As we sing in the beloved hymn, laden with the Gospel itself: “Salvation Unto Us Has Come,” Good works “serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living,” even as James teaches us: “Faith apart from works is dead” (Jas 2:26).
The servants who earn a return on their master’s investment by “doing business” are rewarded. But the servant who deliberately hides his master’s investment “in a handkerchief” and doesn’t put it to work for his master is punished. Those who reject Jesus, those who do not want Him to rule over them, are this very selfish servant. For he is not just afraid of losing money, he resents the fact that he has a master. In reality, he thinks the money belongs to him, and doesn’t want to work for a master at all.
Jesus uses shocking language, dear friends: “I tell you that everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want Me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before Me.”
This is not the world’s Jesus. This is not the Jesus of those who want to skip Good Friday and go right to Easter Sunday. This is indeed the God of the Old Testament, whose ways are not our ways. These are the words of the Master, whose enemies were at that moment plotting to kill Him. And this is a warning for us, dear friends. When we are tempted to serve ourselves instead of our Master, we must repent.
For the Lord has given us “everything we need for this body and life.” He has given us the incomprehensible wealth of salvation and eternal life. He has forgiven all of our debts, and entrusts us with the treasures of the kingdom. And so let us work as joyful and grateful servants who have nothing to lose, who can afford to take risks in the kingdom, because we have a Master who entrusts us with His riches. Let us do the business of the kingdom in whatever calling into which we are placed, with whatever amount our Lord entrusts us with, managing the Master’s investment well. And we are promised that we will be given even more in the life to come!
Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment