The Sixth Sunday after Trinity

 The Sixth Sunday after Trinity – July 27, 2023

Psalm 28; Exodus 20:1-17; Romans 6:1-11

St. Matthew 5:17-26

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There are truly, only two religions in the world: a religion of the Law and a religion of the Gospel. Both are concerned with the righteousness of men. God has worked into men a sense of natural law, that is, a conscience, which understands there is such thing as right and wrong, good and evil in this world. Among those who still acknowledge a “higher power,” it is still acknowledged that some type of righteousness is required to enter heaven or whatever other afterlife they can imagine. Even those who claim to be atheists, recognizing neither a “higher power” nor eternal consequences for our earthly life, there is a sense that some actions are evil, deserving punishment, while others are good, deserving reward.

The religion of the Law demands that a man make or prove himself righteous to attain heaven. “One might suppose he can enter heaven if he lives a moral life or leads a generally useful life. Another supposes he can do so if he is religious, that is, if he prays diligently, goes to church, and remains with Christians. A third supposes he can enter heaven if he guards himself as much as possible from gross sins and vices. A fourth, who is one of the wicked, supposes he can earn eternal life if, despite all his transgressions and evil life, he can point to some good.”[1]

In short, the religion of the Law sets forth certain standards by which a man may save himself. Those standards might be revealed by a deity or a prophet. They might be created within a man himself. They may be strict or lenient. These standards may even be expressed with great sympathy: “So long as you tried,” “once you’ve done everything within you,” “insofar as you are able,” “with all your heart.” The bottom line is that the religion of the Law demands something of you, which if satisfied, will be rewarded with heaven.

Now what does Christ say? He says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”[2] With these 21 words, Christ destroys any thought that man can achieve heaven by his own means or even by his own means when helped by God. So far as it was within them, the scribes and the Pharisees strictly kept the commands of God as it was read. Their lives were dedicated to fulfilling the letter of the Law. If the righteousness required to enter heaven is greater than this, then it is truly something greater than man is capable of.

The Law of God is good and wise. It is His eternal, immutable will. The Law does not change because God does not change. The Ten Commandments are the distillation, the summary of God’s Holy Law and all men, by virtue of being a creation of God, are held accountable to this Law.

As Christ teaches on the Fifth Commandment, He shows that on outward keeping of this commandment does not itself keep the Law. The Law demands to be kept both outwardly and inwardly; in the hands and in the heart. The righteousness of the Law is a matter of the soul which is then manifested in the work of the hands, and this righteousness demands perfection.

Just for a moment, let us consider a distinction between the Law of God and His commands. A command is an expression of God’s Law, His eternal will. God has commanded, “Thou shalt not kill.” This is an expression of God’s will that life and our physical being are precious to Him such that we should not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body but help and support him in every physical need. Anger harms our own bodies, think rising blood pressure, and it threatens the physical wellbeing of our neighbor. At the same time, some are given the authority to take life, to kill. God has given the sword to the state to punish the wicked. Soldiers are given the authority to take life to preserve life.

The authority of the executioner and the soldier is not a violation of the Fifth Commandment because they do not violate God’s will, even if a strict adherence only to the letter of the Law would make it seem to conflict. This does not even represent a conflict within God’s will. The specific vocations appointed by God to take life are for the very purpose of protecting life, the keeping of the Law as expressed in the Fifth Commandment.

Yet even in these specific vocations, the question must be asked if the individual carrying out God’s will is doing so according to the letter and the spirit of the Law. And even if he is, what about the rest of the Law? “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”[3] “For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”[4] The Law forbids all sins. If a man is guilty of one sin—one tiny stumble, one idle word, one lustful thought—he is guilty of the entire Law and unable to enter the kingdom of heaven. The Law even accuses man of omitting something which he could have done. “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”[5]

This is a harsh reality. It is the truth that stands behind any religion of the Law. No matter what a person believes might be true, the truth of God’s Word is that the Law demands perfection. And God could not demand anything less. He cannot change or repeal His Law for it is His eternal, holy will. To change one iota, one dot of the Law would make God inconsistent and untrustworthy. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”[6] His standards do not change.

Where then is hope? Who can hope to attain the kingdom of heaven? The standards are too lofty for man. Even being the best Christian you can be doesn’t meet the standards of the Law. Now, of course the answer is in Christ. The God-Man, He who is without sin, fulfilled the Law, fulfilled every jot and dot of the Law on your behalf. He who is Life, gave Himself into death on your behalf, shedding His blood where your blood was required. He rose triumphant from the grave to pave the way for humanity to walk through the gates of heaven. The Key of David simultaneously bound the ancient dragon and unlocked the gates of pearl.

And this reality of Christ’s victory over sin and fulfilling the Law is all well and good, but it does not benefit you if His righteousness does not come upon you. Something can be objectively true and good without you receiving the benefit. So the pressing question is not just where the hope of salvation comes from, but how you receive the righteousness required for entry into heaven.

The answer is revealed in our reading from St. Paul this morning. You do not obtain this righteousness. You do not grasp hold of it. You do not seek it out and find it among the treasures of this world. God brings it to you. God delivers it to you. God scoops you up and wraps you in His righteousness, and He does this through death.

“Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death.”[7] There is so much that happens in Holy Baptism and it begins with death. The waters of Holy Baptism begin with our death to sin, as we are drown and dragged to the depths of the sea. This is prefigured in the Flood of Noah. Every imagination of the hearts of man had become wicked in the Fall and the Lord decided within Himself to wash away this wickedness in a watery death. Your death in Holy Baptism is no less real than all those who perished in the Flood. From the moment of your birth in the flesh, the minutes of your life have begun to count down. Holy Baptism points forward to this temporal reality but fast-forwards that clock spiritually. You were drowned and died in the flood of Holy Baptism.

It is a shame that our culture has become so afraid of death that it is almost unheard of for friends and family to be present at the actual burial, pouring of dirt, over the casket of a dead loved one, much less to even witness the lowering of the casket into the grave. This is to our shame because Holy Scripture reveals this as the reality of our Baptism. Not only are we drowned in the waters but we are in fact buried in the earth. We are swallowed by the very ground on which we once walked.

Yet Baptism does not end in death, just as Christ’s sacrifice did not end in death. Having been drowned, having been buried in the depths of the earth, we rise from the font to a new life. Just as Christ is raised from the dead, so too we rise from the dead. And just like the death of Holy Baptism, this points forward to the temporal reality of our resurrection in the flesh. It immediately is the reality of our spiritual new birth. We rise from the waters of Holy Baptism a new creation, created for New Life, the temple of the Holy Spirit and a new-born son of God.

“If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”[8]

Yet again, this new life is not the end of Holy Baptism. Just as our first parents were not sent out of the Garden with the Word of God’s promised salvation alone but clothed in the skin of a lamb, so too the new man who rises from the waters of Holy Baptism is given the robe of Christ’s righteousness. This robe is entirely foreign to you. You did nothing to earn it and if fact, you do nothing to maintain it. It is given to you by Christ, Himself. He takes the very shirt off His back and places it on you. And this righteous garment bears the very righteousness of God. “Be holy as Your Heavenly Father is holy.” This is how you come to possess the very righteousness, the very holiness of God.

Along with this righteousness comes the very hope, the very faith by which you receive that cloak of righteousness. Having been made a dwelling of the Holy Spirit and clothed in Christ’s righteousness, your mind is renewed and you are made fit to receive these glorious blessings of God’s mercy. Again, even the objective truth and reality of the blessings of Holy Baptism are of no benefit if they are not received by faith, yet even this faith is not of your own doing, your own reason, works, or emotions. This faith is itself a working of God.

So how do you know that you have met the requirements of the Law in order to gain entrance into heaven? How do you know that you have the faith that receives the righteousness of Christ? It is quite simple. Ask yourself, ‘Am I baptized?’ ‘What has Christ said about Holy Baptism?’ Christ has said that in Holy Baptism, the very name of God—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—has been placed on you, marking you as one of His own. If you are His, then you have been made a dwelling of the Holy Spirit and the robe of Christ’s righteousness has been placed on you. And if this is the case, and if faith is itself a working of God, then those blessed words of Christ are all you need, “All who believe and are baptized will be saved.”[9]

Not only has the shed blood of Christ opened the way to salvation, but He has given you His own credentials for admission. He has tightly woven His own righteousness around you such that nothing more is required. Is it possible to wriggle out of His righteousness? Of course! It is quite easy to do. But it is unthinkable for the Christian who realizes just what Christ has done and continues to do for you. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”[10]

Now may Christ the life of all the living and the death of death our foe, guard your hearts and minds in the true and living faith once delivered to you in the waters of Holy Baptism now and forever.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Walther, Gospel Sermons, 55.

[2] St. Matthew 5:20.

[3] James 2:10.

[4] St. Matthew 12:36.

[5] James 4:17.

[6] Galatians 3:10.

[7] Romans 6:3-4.

[8] Romans 6:5-6.

[9] Cf. St. Mark 16:16.

[10] Romans 6:1-2.

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity – August 25, 2024

Psalm 74; Leviticus 19:9-18; Galatians 3:16-22

St. Luke 10:23-37

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The certain man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho is representative of mankind. He is every man. He is you in this parable. He is going the wrong way. He is leaving Jerusalem, the city of peace which God has appointed for His holy habitation.[1] He is going to Jericho, the city that God commanded never to be rebuilt. In fact, God said that should Jericho be rebuilt, it would be built in the blood of the firstborn and youngest sons of the one who rebuilt it.[2] In the days of evil king Ahab, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho and sacrificed both his firstborn and youngest sons to Baal in the process.[3] In other words, the man going from Jerusalem to Jericho describes humanity’s fall into sin and the ever-present desire to sin that clings to our flesh.

The thieves who meet humanity on the road are Temptation and Satan. Every day of our journey on this side of glory, we are beset by Temptation and Satan. In his fallen state, man falls victim to these thieves who leave him half dead. He is “half dead” because he is spiritually dead even if he is physically alive.[4] The man is left helpless to save himself. He lays dying on the road to perdition and there is nothing he can do to prevent his damnation.[5]

At this fortunate moment, a priest and a Levite come down the road as well. Together, these represent the Mosaic Law and the Levitical priesthood, specifically the Temple regulations and sacrifices. The priest and the Levite are also coming down from Jerusalem. They have finished their service at the Temple and are returning to their homes. This signifies that the Law and the sacrifices have done their job. They have shown man his sin, revealing to him the ways in which he has disobeyed God’s will.[6] The sacrifices have accomplished their duty in pointing man to the mercy of God and His forgiveness. There is nothing left for them to do because faith in the Law and faith in the sacrifices of goats and sheep cannot save the man.[7] Their duty is accomplished and so both pass by on the other side of the road.

Finally, a Samaritan, who is on a journey, comes to the man. The Samaritan is far from his home. He is something other than the man himself and yet descends into the ditch to be with the man. The Samaritan is the very figure of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He journeys from the Father, into our flesh to be with us. He descends from His heavenly throne into the ditch of creation to be with His beloved mankind.[8]

Seeing the sorry state of man, God has compassion on him. He is moved in His inward being and determines to rescue man.[9] God is moved by His great love for man to descend into our flesh, into our sorry state. Christ bandages man’s wounds with oil and wine. The oil is the consolation of a clean conscience before God, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the knowledge of the Gospel—Christ’s own sacrifice for your sins that you would be reconciled to the Father. The wine, which stings as it cleans and disinfects the wounds, is the cross given to all who believe to bear in this life.[10] This cross is affliction, give to man by God that he would ever be mindful of the sorry state which is the result of sin. This sting reminds man that he is not made for sin nor to endure in this physical life forever but has the eternal life of glory to live for.[11]

Christ raises man up out of the muck and mire of our sin and places him on His own beast of burden. He gives us His relief, His place upon the animal, and takes for Himself the burden of our sin.[12] He walks in our place. His feet tread the burning sand and sharp rocks created by the fall of our first parents in our stead. That which we deserve, Chris endures for our sakes.

Upon this beast of burden, Christ carries man to the inn. This inn is the established location for the care of man. It is the hospice designed to care for man as he concludes his life on this side of glory and enters into eternity. It is the hospital where man is nursed back to health to face life on this side of glory. It is the gym where man is trained, strengthened, and equipped to life the life of the righteous man before the world. The inn is the Church. It is that place where the beloved of God gather to hear the Word of God and receive His holy gifts in the Sacraments.

These Sacraments are the two denarii which the Samaritan given to the innkeeper. They are the means given to provide for the care of Christians: Holy Baptism to wash away sin and rebirth the Christian as one born of God, and the Holy Supper, given to feed, strengthen, form, and forgive the Christian as he continues the journey on this side of glory.

To whom are these denarii given? They are given to the innkeeper, the man given authority to administer the Holy Sacraments of God. The innkeeper is the pastor, whose solemn duty it is to preach the Word of God and administer the Holy Sacraments for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of Christians in body and soul.[13] He stands in the stead of the Samaritan who has delivered the injured man to the inn and cares for him as the Samaritan has directed.[14] He receives his orders from the Samaritan and is called to execute them according to that divine command.

Finally, the Samaritan promises to return. He will return to repay the innkeeper and to retrieve the injured man as the Samaritan returns on His journey to His Father. Christ has promised to return to gather His elect into the heavenly mansions He has prepared.[15] He has also promised to return and give to His servants, His undershepherds, the honor due their service. Pastors will be judged more harshly than all others because of the severity of their charge but they will also be rewarded more handsomely for their faithful service because of the value of the souls given to their care.[16]

Now, this parable is given to the certain lawyer as the answer to the question, “And who is my neighbor?” The lawyer is trying to find the loophole in the commandment to love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. He doesn’t want to know who it is he must love. He wants to know who he doesn’t have to love to inherit eternal life. He wants to narrow the field and make it possible to keep the Law of God.

The beauty of the parable is that Christ transitions the definition from passive to active. The lawyer defines the neighbor as the one who needs help—the passive person in need. Jesus defines the neighbor as the one who shows mercy—the active person who helps. Even the lawyer acknowledges this as being true. When asked who was a neighbor to the man who fell among thieves, the lawyer responds that it was the Samaritan, the one who showed mercy who was his neighbor. And Jesus responds, “Go and do likewise.”

The parable is unquestionably about our salvation being achieved by Christ alone. It is about the inability of man to save himself in any way, shape or form. Every step of the man’s healing is the work of the Samaritan, not the man himself. And yet, Jesus’ command remains, “Go and do likewise.” For those who have been grafted into Christ, who are the baptized children of the Father and who find themselves united to THE Good Samaritan, it is a necessary consequence that we find ourselves imitating Him. We are to look to Christ our Salvation and see the very model of the perfect man. We are to look to Him and see what righteousness is. “Who may abide in the Tabernacle of the Lord? Who may dwell in His holy hill? He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart.”[17]  “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul…Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation…Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way.”[18]

Everyone in the world is a candidate for you to show mercy to but not everyone in the world has been placed before you. You have been placed in a specific location with particular people around you. These are your neighbors, and these are the people for whom you are called to be a neighbor. No one chooses for whom he is a neighbor. God has placed you in a particular place among particular people. It is their needs, their bodies and souls to which you have been called to show mercy—not for the sake of earning the inheritance of eternal life but as one who has been shown the ways of the Lord and taught to walk along His paths. 

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Isaiah 4:3.

[2] Joshua 6:26.

[3] 1 Kings 16:34.

[4] Genesis 2:17.

[5] Psalm 14:1-3.

[6] Romans 3:19-20.

[7] Hebrews 9:11-15.

[8] St. John 1:14.

[9] St. John 3:16.

[10] St. Mark 10:39.

[11] 2 Corinthians 12:7.

[12] 2 Corinthians 5:21.

[13] 1 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Romans 15:4.

[14] St. John 20:21-23.

[15] Acts 1:11; St. John 14:1-4.

[16] James 3:1; 1 Timothy 3:1.

[17] Psalm 15:1-2.

[18] Psalm 25:1, 4, 8.

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

 The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity – September 11, 2022

Psalm 74; 2 Chronicles 28:8-15; Galatians 3:15-22

St. Luke 10:23-37

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God is no respecter of persons. He does not choose to love some and hate others. He does not have one set of expectations for kings and a different set of expectations for beggars which will determine their salvation.

At the same time, God knows each of you by name. God knows each of you to be an individual with unique needs. Last week, we heard of a miraculous healing in which Christ put His fingers in a man’s ears, spat, touched the man’s tongue, looked toward heaven, groaned, and finally said, “Be opened.”[1] No other miracles are recorded as being attended with such liturgical specificity. Each healing miracle seems to be unique. There could be many reasons, but at least one reason is because each ailing person is unique. One deaf man is not identical to another.

“Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”[2] The disciples are not blessed because they are humbler than the prophets. They are not blessed because they are poorer than the kings. They are not even blessed because they were in the right place at the right time.

The disciples are blessed because they hear and see the very Word of God in flesh. They are uniquely blessed because they behold the One True God in whom all other wants and desires are fulfilled. They are blessed because they receive the teachings of Christ directly into their ears and these teachings change who they are.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we see that God is no respecter of persons. Sin and temptation beset the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and leave him half dead, that is, spiritually dead. He only lives in his flesh but his soul is given over to death. The priest and the Levite can only reveal the wounds of the man. This is the primary use of God’s Law: to reveal sin. They pass by on the other side as they cannot save the man’s soul.

It is only the Samaritan, the one who comes from a foreign place but has joined Himself to Man, that can save the man’s soul. He sooths the man’s soul with the oil of the Holy Gospel and purges the remaining sin with the antiseptic sting of the wine of the cross the man must bear. Jesus carries the man’s burden upon His own back as He brings him into the church, where he will be cared for by the servant, the under shepherd, of the Samaritan. The two coins are that by which the Church cares for the souls of man: the Word of God and the Sacraments. The Samaritan then promises to return and clear away any remnants of debt the man has incurred, bearing him at that time to eternal rest.

The Samaritan cared nothing for the history of the man on the side of the road. He cared nothing for the wealth or poverty of the man. He was no respecter of the type of person he might be, but the Samaritan cared deeply for the individual who was placed before Him.

This is the exhortation given to the young theologian. “Go and do likewise,” that is, “Go and be no respecter of persons, but care deeply for the individual placed before you.” The answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” is not “Everyone,” but rather, “He who has been placed before you.”

Jesus Christ is the Good Samaritan. He is the perfect Samaritan. It is He who has perfectly born your sin to the cross and died on your behalf. He died for the great and the small. He died for the weak and the strong. He died for the rich and the poor. He died for you.

You, beloved Christians, are called to go and do likewise. You are called to be holy as your Father is holy. You are called not to be a respecter of persons but to show genuine love for your neighbor, the one who has been placed before you.

Let us first begin in the Church. The Word of God has come for all men. No matter how someone might look, this Church exists for the salvation of man. We exist to bring the Light of Christ to individuals. That means that when someone comes through those doors, it doesn’t matter what they look like, they are to be treated the same as anyone who attends weekly and gives abundantly. Should they be dirty from having slept behind a dumpster, Jesus is for them. Should they drive a new, fully loaded pickup, Jesus is for them. If Jesus is for them, then Mount Calvary is for them. We are not a respecter of persons because God is not a respecter of persons.

It is neither Jesus nor His disciples who treat the sick, homeless, or demoniac as though they are dangerous or untouchable. Even when Jesus’ disciples do act this way, He rebukes them.

On the other hand, God nowhere commands His people to be foolish. We ought not cast pearls before swine or pretend the road between Jericho and Jerusalem is paved with roses. Yet caution is not the same as suspicion. Caution means being aware of your surroundings. Suspicion means assuming the worst-case scenario, something explicitly forbidden by the eighth commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, nor defame our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.”[3]

So, when someone comes to visit the church, do not treat him as a suspect. Do not stand 3 or 4 deep at the door, pointing and discussing the visitor. Likewise, do not sneak sideways glances to discern her mental state. This person has been placed before you just as the man in the ditch was placed before the Samaritan. Go and sit with him. Such a visitor is likely confused about how to follow the service. Do something about it. The Samaritan did not just throw money at a situation (though He did use His money to assist), but He did something for the man before Him.

If you are concerned about the safety of those around you based on the visitor’s actions, you should also go and sit with him. Engaging the individual presents you with far more opportunities to diffuse a situation without escalating to violence than standing afar off. Jesus died even for this person, who intends violence. Be no respecter of persons but engage the individual.

What is true here in the church is true also in your daily lives. Everyone in the whole world is not your neighbor, but everyone in the whole world has the potential to be your neighbor. Your neighbor is the one who is placed in front of you. This is first your family. You have a responsibility to your family that goes beyond making sure there is food on the table. Scripture says that we are all born half dead, that is spiritually dead, and must be made alive through the Word and Sacraments. You are given to foster that faith within your family.

Yes, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and home, fields, cattle, and all other goods are blessed gifts of God. Yes, these must be provided for. But these are never the primary concern of the Christian. The primary concern of the Christian concerns the soul. More than a full belly, the Christian mother desires her child have a love of Truth, the Word of God. More than a high-yield retirement plan, the Christian father desires his son to have the harvest of the fruits of the Spirit.

Beyond the family, it becomes difficult for a preacher to address. Why? Because you are individuals. The neighbors God has placed on your road are individuals. It is impossible for the preacher to address every situation in which you will find yourselves. You have the Scriptures. You have the Holy Spirit. You have the sanctified wisdom of the Christian to guide you in your ways.

If it is frustrating that the Pastor cannot tell you what to do in every situation, it is either because you want an answer to all things so that you don’t have to think or because you haven’t read the Scriptures, especially the Wisdom literature such as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Psalms. Or possibly, it is because you wish that every person you encountered was the same, that human interaction could follow a prescribed set of rules, drawn in your favor, so that you would not have to engage the person before you. That is not human interaction. That is the internet.

No one is the Good Samaritan in the way that our Lord, Jesus Christ, is. He is the Good Samaritan who dragged your sinful body out of the ditch and has given you rest. You cannot be perfect in this lifetime, but you have been called to make a beginning. You have been called to love your neighbor, whomever has been placed in your path. God is not a respecter of persons. God loves individuals. Beloved child of God, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, go and do likewise.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Mark 7:33-34.

[2] St. Luke 10:23-24.

[3] The Small Catechism.

Vespers on the Eve of the Commemoration of the Reformation

 Our congregation held a Reformation Celebration (or Oktoberfest) on October 30. A presentation was given, which focused on the teachings of Luther's opponents in the Sacramentarian Controversy, especially Ulrich Zwingli. This sermon was then preached at the Vespers service.

Vespers on the Eve of the Commemoration of the Reformation – October 30, 2021

Psalm 46; Galatians 3:26-4:7

St. Matthew 26:17-30

In the name of the Father, and of the T Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Ulrich Zwingli was right to confess with our Lord, “The flesh profits nothing.”[1] Our flesh profits nothing before the Lord. The Law of God, his will for creation, offers righteousness, eternal life, and salvation, but this offer comes with a condition. The Law offers these wonderful gifts to all who keep the whole of God’s Law without error. “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” You may try to earn salvation by keeping the Law, but it is a great gamble. Stumble in one point, fail in a tiny way, forget one jot, tittle, or iota, and you have transgressed the entire law and are guilty of all sin.

“But what of good works? If we transgress a little but work much good, doesn’t that make up for it?” By no means! Did you not hear that to transgress a little is to be guilty of all the Law? This is the very definition of “redeem.” To redeem is to give one thing in exchange for another. Maybe you have a gift card to Walmart that you redeem for groceries. Maybe you have a paycheck that you redeem for cash. Your good works cannot be redeemed for your righteousness for two reasons.

First, your good works do not have enough value to meet your guilt. No amount of human works will be enough to match the debt incurred by your sin. Remember, to be guilty in one point, makes you guilty of the whole Law. Your debt to God is greater than you could ever imagine. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the servant owes the master ten thousand talents.[2] That is the equivalent to something between $250 million and $20 billion dollars. The point is that salvation comes at an astronomical cost. Since all the works of man are as filthy rags before the Lord, you simply can never earn enough in works to match the value of your soul.[3]

Second, your good works are not of the correct currency. You cannot walk into Walmart down the road and pay in Euros. Your currency must match what is acceptable to the one holding your debt. The price is in blood. The price is your life, your soul. The original sin of Adam and Eve severed the relationship between man and God. Good works do not heal that rift. Buying your wife a new car does not cancel your adultery. The currency is unacceptable. Good works cannot avert your doom. It is a false, misleading dream that you can keep the Law in its fullness.[4]

Not only do good works not atone for your sins, they also do not retain or strengthen your faith. If your works are responsible for strengthening your faith, if your works are the reason you retain your faith, then salvation is due to your works. Natural man will always fight against God. Every Christian will struggle against sin in this world. If that struggle is overcome by your good works which keep you faithful, then your salvation is again, won by works.

The act of a diligent prayer life, the act of coming to church, the act of forgiving your neighbor, even the act of reading the bible does not, in itself, retain your faith. The life of the Christian is not complete through a checklist of holy living. The Word of God is not a self-help book by which you attain righteousness, salvation, and eternal life.

This is most pointed when we suffer. When the terminal diagnosis comes, we are tempted to pray harder, believing that more diligent prayer will cause God to perform a miracle. The danger in relying on our efforts in prayer is when the prayer is not answered according to our desire. If God does not give us the outcome we’ve prayed for, we’ve worked for, then he must’ve either not heard our prayer, or far worse, denied it. And yet it is God himself who commands us to pray in the 2^nd Commandment and promises to answer our prayers. “God must be unjust. God must be cruel. God must not care.”

Repent of this blasphemy. Repent of relying upon your own works for salvation. Repent of turning a beautiful gift of God, prayer, into a work of your own choosing, by which you hope to persuade the creator of the universe, who has promised to love you, care for you, and deliver to you eternal life. Your flesh cannot abstain from sinning. Keeping the Law for the purpose of salvation, even by good intentions, is a useless task and in vain. None can remove sin’s poisoned dart or purify your own sinful heart, so deep is your corruption.[5]

God is just. God is merciful. God is gracious. The Law must be fulfilled, or else we must die despairing.[6] The Son of God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, descended from the heavenly throne room into our flesh. He took on the form of a servant. At “the fullness of time, [the Father] sent his Son to be born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”[7]

True God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, united himself to human flesh. He became True Man. This God-Man united himself to our flesh such that we can say “God hungered; God thirsted; God was born of a woman; God suffered; God died.” The two natures of Christ must be distinguished for it was by his divinity that Christ was able to keep the Law perfectly and atone for our sins in eternal currency. The divinity of Christ ensured his redemption was of the proper quantity and currency such that his redemption would suffice for all mankind, from Adam to the last baby born.

It was by his humanity that Christ could die. It was by uniting his divinity to his humanity that the Son of God could share this salvation with mankind. It was by uniting human flesh to his divinity that when Christ ascended to the Right Hand of the Father, he could prepare a mansion for all who believe.

These two natures of Christ, divine and human, are forever united in one person. This one person, Jesus Christ, acted for your salvation. His works are good. His works are holy. His works are perfect and eternal. This one person, the God-Man, has united the hiddenness of the divine God within the revealed flesh of creation. This one person has redeemed you through his blood and then guaranteed your eternal life by rising from the grave. His blood is more precious than $20 billion and matches the currency of your salvation.

It is no wonder then, that this God-Man, on the night when he was betrayed, took physical elements, and united them to his body and blood. The very same Body that would die upon the cross for your salvation and the Blood that was shed to redeem your soul are sacramentally united to physical elements – bread and wine. Two elements but one Sacrament. This is a reflection of the unity of God and Man within the person of Christ. Two Natures but one Person.

From the very beginning, God has given himself to man through means. God walked in the Garden and spoke with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. They could see him, hear him, smell him, touch him. These are the means by which he revealed himself to Adam and Eve. These were not illusions. They were and are truth. So too does his grace come to man through means. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”[8] This Word of God comes to us through means – the preaching of men called into the Office of the Holy Ministry and the printed word in the Bible you read, hopefully aloud.

But since man is a physical being and would be tempted to ignore something as ephemeral as the spoken Word, God has united his word to physical means as well. The Word in and with the water, given by the command of Christ and for the purpose of the forgiveness of sin, constitutes Holy Baptism. It is truly a washing, not a symbol of cleansing. The Word of God in, with, and under the Bread and the Wine, given by the command of Christ and given for the forgiveness of sin, constitutes the Holy Communion.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”[9] The Eternal Word of God is united to human flesh. This same flesh, he has united to bread and the blood which flows through that flesh he has united to wine. In this Holy Body and Precious Blood is found the salvation of the world. The very same Body which hung on the cross and the very same Blood poured out on the earth are given to Christians for the bestowing and strengthening of faith. They are the victory feast of the Church who celebrates with the Victorious Christ who has defeated death and the grave.

What then of our good works? Our flesh profits nothing for salvation. Christ has won salvation for us. Coming to Church, reading the Scriptures, receiving the Holy Sacraments, and fervent prayer are not good works which you do. They are the means of grace by which God delivers himself to you. You do these things not to earn salvation but to receive what God has to give you – righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. These things do retain and strengthen your faith but not because of what you do, its because of what God delivers through them.

Our good works are then also a reflection of what has been done in us. Has God forgiven your sins? Has God delivered to you the righteousness of Christ? Has God given you a clean conscience through the waters of Holy Baptism?[10] Has the very Body and Blood of Christ wrought faith within you, capable of moving mountains? Have you been declared a child and heir of God, no longer a slave to your passions, to sin, to death, and to the Law?

Then you are free to serve God with a joyful heart! No longer are your works that of a slave hoping to earn freedom. You are a son, an heir, whose inheritance is certain. You are now free to pray because you know that your Father in heaven hears and will answer your prayer. You are now free to come to Church, regularly and often, because there you will receive your salvation in Christ. You are free to give to the poor because eternity has been given to you. You are free to raise your children in the way of the Lord because He died for them too.[11] You are free to daily read the Scriptures because there you find your Savior.

The flesh of man profits nothing for our salvation. The flesh of Christ has won our salvation. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”[12]

In T Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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[1] St. John 6:63.

[2] St. Matthew 18:21-35.

[3] Isaiah 64:6.

[4] Salvation Unto Us Has Come, LSB 555:1. Public Domain.

[5] Salvation Unto Us Has Come, LSB 555:4. Public Domain

[6] Salvation Unto Us Has Come, LSB 555:5. Public Domain

[7] Galatians 4:4-5.

[8] Romans 10:17.

[9] St. John 1:1, 14.

[10] 1 Peter 3:18-22.

[11] Proverbs 22:6; Matthew 19:13-15.

[12] John 6:51, 53-56.