Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Oct 22, 2024

22 Oct 2024

Text: Matt 16:1-12

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees had the Word of God, the Old Testament: the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms that spoke of the Christ to come.  And they also had the Christ right in front of them: the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14).  His life and His preaching conformed to the pattern of prophecy, and confirmed His Messiahship.  And just to make sure there was no ambiguity, Jesus did perform signs by the thousands.  His miracles were public and unexplainable by ordinary means.  They were impossible to work by trickery.  But the Pharisees and Sadducees had the most to lose by confessing Jesus as the Christ.  So they always demanded just one more sign.

Jesus told them that they have signs all around them.  We can all look at the signs in the sky and figure out when it’s going to rain.  “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky,” says our Lord, “but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”  For the fullness of time had finally come.  It was all around them like water in the sea.  They don’t believe because they don’t want to believe, so they always demand one more sign.  This is why Jesus says: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”  So they left.  They got what they wanted.  They could now tell their allies that they asked for a sign, and it was refused to them.  And so they thought life would return to normal.

People today also want signs.  They pray that God would give them a sign.  They think cardinals and pennies are signs of their dead loved ones sending them messages.  Some people – even Christians – seek out signs from fortune tellers and mediums and tarot cards and other such forbidden things.  But Jesus has already given us many signs.  We already have His Word – both the Old Testament prophecies and the New Testament fulfillments.  And best of all, we have the sign of Jonah, that is, the sign of Jesus as the New and Greater Jonah, who re-emerged from death on the third day, and then evangelized the Gentiles. 

And that is our sign, dear friends.  The resurrection of Jesus, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” (1 Cor 15:20)  is a greater sign to us regarding our beloved dead than coins and birds and yammerings from some card reader.  In Eastertide, we joyfully confess: “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!”  And we also say this when a Christian dies.  For “we were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death” (Rom 6:3), and “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Rom 6:5).  Baptism is a miracle of Jesus – a sign – one that is given by our Lord, since it is also the sign of Jonah: death, burial, and resurrection.

This lusting after signs is an indication of weak faith.  “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees,” warns our Lord.  For they place their trust not in the Word but in their works.  They seek not Christ as the fulfillment of prophecy, but signs of their own making to confirm their own manmade religion.  Their faith is weak because it is in themselves rather than in the Word.  “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). 

So let us throw off the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees and stop demanding signs.  Let us be content with the Word of Christ, with the sign of Jonah in Holy Baptism and its connection to our Lord’s death and resurrection.  And let us boldly make the sign of the cross as we give our hearty “Amen” – for this is a confession of faith: “Yes, yes, it shall be so” as we confess in the Small Catechism.  Let us interpret the signs of the times and be prepared for our Lord’s return in glory.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Oct 8, 2024

8 Oct 2024

Text: Matt 10:1-23

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Our Lord has been indefatigably healing and casting out demons – even raising the dead.  He pointed out, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  So like the vineyard owner in so many of our Lord’s stories, Jesus goes out looking for laborers.  He is recruiting a few men, twelve, in fact, like the tribes of Israel.  He is beckoning laborers to help build His kingdom, to give them “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and affliction.”  He doesn’t recruit from among the scribes and Pharisees, the Council, the rabbis, the priests, and the leading men of the Holy City.  He doesn’t give tests and psychological self-studies.  He mocks the devil by choosing the most unlikely laborers, even those most unlikely called in the last hour, to engage in the most unlikely labor.

The Twelve include fishermen, workers, some disciples of John the Baptist, and even a tax collector and a militant revolutionary.  This band of misfit disciples will also include a traitor – whose treachery cannot stop the kingdom, but actually hastens it by his wickedness: playing a key role in the conspiracy to crucify our Lord and to destroy the devil by his own cunning.  These disciples, that is, these students of their Rabbi, will enter three years of training under the Master.  At the end of their period of study, which will be like nothing ever experienced by anyone in the history of the world, they will become those laborers charged with reaping a harvest after sowing the seeds of the Word of God, and bringing in other laborers to likewise sow, to cultivate, to weed, to nurture, and also to harvest the fruit of the kingdom.

At this point, the disciples are to engage in a kind of trial run, going into cities to announce the coming of Jesus before His arrival.  But our Lord warns them about what it will mean when they really labor in the fields: being “sheep in the midst of wolves,” falsely accused of crime, flogged, persecuted by both synagogue and state.  But this is an opportunity for labor in the kingdom, “to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles.”  Jesus tells them not to worry about it, for the Spirit will do the talking when the time comes.  Jesus gives them advice that all would do well to heed: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

The kingdom continues to this day, dear friends, as our Lord’s disciples believe and live out their lives, serve and worship, teach and learn.  Some of those disciples are laborers who are still preaching and absolving sins, still casting out demons and giving life by means of the Gospel.  Christians of every calling are still “hated by all for [His] name’s sake.”  Jesus is still building His kingdom and gathering in a harvest.  This labor will continue until the final trumpet sounds, and when our labors will cease.  Our labor, dear friends, is to simply do our jobs – whatever we are called to do.  God created each one of us for some specific labor in the kingdom, whether we are preachers or confessors of Jesus and the Gospel.  All of our labor is holy and sanctified, no matter what purpose we serve.  And like the original disciples who came from various backgrounds, we remain students of the Word, we continue to be a band of Christ’s misfits, and we are scoffed at by the Important People. 

But hear this, dear friends, hear this and take it to heart, for it comes from our Lord Himself: “The one who endures to the end will be saved.”  Just hold on, dear brothers and sisters.  Just hold on one more day.  For our Lord may return today.  Just one more day.

Amen.

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

Brunch Church

Divine Service 6 in the Next Hymnal?  From Gottesblog.