In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”[1]
Faith is born in you, is created in you, by the hearing of the Word of God.
This is not your own doing; it is the work and the will of the Holy Spirit. The
act of hearing itself is not your work. Hearing is a passive, or receptive,
activity. You hear when someone else speaks. You receive their words into your
ears.
The reception of faith is then always connected with another
person. We might call this the incarnational aspect of faith. Faith comes by
hearing when the Word of God issues forth from the mouth of another human
being. In this way, the Word of God becomes wrapped in flesh. Whether it is
your mother singing to you in your nursery, your father reading the Scriptures
to the family at night, or the public reading of the Holy Gospel by the
ministers of God in the Divine Service, your faith was brought to you in the
Word of God wrapped in the lips of another person.
The Bible is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit
and without error. Yet in writing the Word of God, in its transmission, God saw
fit to inspire holy men. God works through means. There is not an “Epistle of
the Holy Spirit to the Church in Missouri.” Words did not miraculously appear
on pages. The Son of God took on flesh, became incarnate, that He would
physically die the death you deserve. After His physical resurrection but
before His physical ascent into heaven, our Lord, Jesus Christ, breathed on His
apostles.[2]
He breathed the Holy Spirit upon them so that whoever hears them would hear
Christ.[3]
This is the Apostolic Doctrine once delivered to the saints.[4]
This is the one faith into which we are all baptized.[5]
It is the Word of God, and it is the Word of God delivered by means of fleshly
mouths.
The propagation of the faith by the mouth of Christians to
the ears of new Christians is how the Sheep are created. The Sheep are those
who have received the Word of God in faith. Yet receiving the Word of God is
not quite enough. The Word must take root. The Word must change the stony heart
of the Goat into a fleshly heart of a Sheep. In fact, the Goats are surprised
to be called such. They are surprised because they thought themselves to be
Sheep. They thought their actions had proven the wool of their Sheep coats.
The difference between these two animals in the parable is
the presence of faith. The Sheep and the Goats are separated based on what they
are. One is a new creation, having received the Word of God in faith and
growing into that Word accordingly. The other is the Old Creation. The Goats
may have heard the Word of God, but it took no root in their hearts. The Goats
may outwardly appear to be sheep but are little more than Goats in wool coats.
What does it mean, then, that faith take root in your heart?
In this parable, it is presented as the works born of faith. The blossoming of
faith is described as feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, housing
the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. Associating
the hungry, thirsty, stranger, etc., with Christ, Himself, tells us that the
object of these good deeds is those who have brought the faith to you. It is
the way in which the Sheep have treated their brothers and sisters in Christ. In
a general sense, we can say the division of the Sheep and the Goats is based on
the reaction each has shown to the hearing of the Word of God.
However, the Scriptures get more specific in this parable.
Christ says, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My
brethren, you did it to Me.”[6]
When our Lord speaks of “His brethren,” it is a reference to the Apostles. More
specifically, it is a reference to the Apostles when they are acting in the
stead of Christ. So, while it is true that the division of the Sheep and the
Goats speaks to your reaction to and treatment of the Church, this parable
speaks specifically of your reaction to and treatment of the ministers of the
Church.
Some of the actions listed are necessities. It is necessary
that the ministers of the Church have food, drink, and clothing. It is not
necessary for this life, that he be taken in when he is a stranger. It is not
necessary that he be visited when he is sick. What this tells us is that Christ
is speaking of more than meeting the basic needs of His ministers. He is
speaking also of hospitality shown toward them.
In this light, we can see that the Sheep recognize the
Office of the Holy Ministry to be the vocation of highest honor on this side of
glory. They recognize the difficulties of the Office and that a man of flesh
and blood must fill this Office. The Sheep also recognize that it is the
ministers of Christ who bring to them the one thing needful – Jesus. The Office
is honorable, difficult, to be respected, and mentioned in this parable not
because of the men who fill it. The Office is honorable, difficult, and
respectable because of who instituted this Office – Jesus.
On this side of glory, men are placed into the Office of
Christ so that His Word would continue to work faith in the hearts of man. Men
are placed into the Office of Christ so that His Body and Blood would continue
to feed and sustain His church. Men are placed into the Office of Christ so
that your sins would be forgiven through the Words of a human mouth—a human
mouth in poor imitation of the lips of the One who died for your forgiveness.
In + Jesus’ name. Amen.
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