The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – August 11, 2024

Psalm 68; Genesis 4:1-15; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10

St. Luke 18:9-14

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

We must all recognize that there is more of the Pharisee in each of us than there is the Tax Collector. This is because the temptation to justify ourselves is so great.

Sure, on the one hand, we might look at the Pharisee and rightfully point out that he prays in such a way as to make sure everyone else can hear him. We might also point out that while he thanks God that he is not like other men, he doesn’t really ascribe this difference to God. The Pharisee does not say that God is the reason he isn’t tempted toward these sins. Instead, it seems pretty clear that although the Pharisee is thanking God, he is saying that he is a good and pious man because he has worked hard to be a good and pious man.

Seeing these things, we might say to ourselves, “Thank God I’m not like that self-righteous Pharisee! I know better than that!” And that is why I say there is more of the Pharisee in each of us than we realize. This is the same sin as the Pharisee.

It is a good and God pleasing thing to thank God that you have not fallen into grave sins – extortion, embezzlement, adultery, or murder. But equally important is realizing that the reason you haven’t fallen into those sins is not that you are strong, but that God has preserved you from them.[1] Every one of us is moments away from falling into the worst sins imaginable. The only thing protecting you is the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is the depth of the depravity of the human condition.[2] There is no woman that is incapable of having an affair. There is no man that is incapable of killing another person – man, woman, or child.

The stakes of the parable seem much lower, but I can tell you they are not. The Pharisee – that pillar of the community and known by all to be pious and kind – prays to the Lord in praise of himself. He seeks to justify himself by his actions and he wants God to recognize his efforts. The result, as Jesus says, is that he goes back to his home a pagan. He eventually goes to his home in hell, just the same as the unrepentant extortioner, thief, adulterer, and murderer. The blasphemer is equally condemned.

The Tax Collector is a great sinner. He has turned his back on his people, stealing from his neighbors, his cousins, his family, all for selfish gain. He has tied himself to the pagans who have invaded his country, and he supports their wicked sacrifices to demons. He is the man no one wants his son to become.

But the heart of the Tax Collector has been turned toward God. He has heard the Word of God, and it has convicted his heart of sin.[3] He has seen the sins in his life. He knows there is nothing he can do to be free of these demons.[4] For this reason, he prays to the Triune God, “Please, be merciful to me, for I am the worst of all men.” He does not ask for God’s pity. He doesn’t ask for a handout from God or reassurance that everything will be ok. He doesn’t ask God to change the situation around him. He doesn’t even ask for the strength to become unlike other men because he knows that even changing his ways won’t save him from the fires of hell.

The Tax Collector asks God to make atonement for him. He asks God to spill the blood of God’s own Son on his behalf. He asks for Jesus to bind the demons in his soul and cast them into the abyss, making way for the Holy Ghost. He finds himself in the Temple asking that God would cleanse him and make him the temple of the Holy Ghost.

This is the lesson for today. In the Book of Leviticus, as God is establishing the worship by which He would be present with His people, we read,

Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.[5]

Then immediately, we hear,

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace.[6]

Aaron offered sacrifices to the Lord according to God’s good pleasure. His heart, and the hearts of the people, were oriented toward God, knowing that it was not their obedience to God that made atonement, but that God had provided them with the offering which He Himself would receive.

The sin of Nadab and Abihu was that they thought any sacrifice would do. They thought any fire could be used to sacrifice to God. They thought so little of their own sin that God would excuse it because He had already come to dwell with His people.

Do not make the mistake that you are immune to these temptations. There is the crass dismissal of God’s law, like that of Nadab and Abihu, thinking so very little of your sin. Then there is a more subtle temptation, akin to that of Cain. Both Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to God but only Abel’s was received. Why? Because Cain’s was not offered in faith.[7] Cain placed his trust in the sacrifice, not on the gracious God who would receive it. This subtle temptation is to think that because your name is on the membership roles, because you are here this morning, because you tithe, because you are well liked, because you aren’t like other men (not even like Cain, Nadab, Abihu, or even that Pharisee), you are saved. There is no human on this earth who is incapable of the greatest sins.

Rather, are you like the Tax Collector? Are you frightened of your sins? Are you in mind of the fact that hell is real and could really swallow you whole on the last day? In this case, repent of the sins clinging to your flesh. Follow the example of the Tax Collector and confess that you are the sinner, the worst mankind has to offer, and plead that God would have mercy on your soul.

Recognize also, that God has had mercy on your soul. He has given you a gift greater than you can imagine. The very blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, was shed to forgive your sins. The atonement, for which the Tax Collector prayed, has been made. The same God who warned Cain against the sin waiting to devour him; the same God who came to dwell with Moses, Aaron, and the children of Israel; the same God who descended into mortal flesh shed His blood to cover, to make atonement for your sins. It is then this same God who comes to you today. He comes in the Word read and even more intimately in His Body and Blood. The very Body and Blood of Jesus that you receive from this altar is the blood of the atonement, the Body broken and blood shed on the cross. It is the same and it gives you the answer to the Tax Collector’s prayer. The Lord has had mercy on you.

In + Jesus' Name. Amen.

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[1] Psalm 121:7-8.

[2] Romans 3:23.

[3] Psalm 86:11.

[4] St. Matthew 12:29.

[5] Leviticus 9:22-24.

[6] Leviticus 10:1-3.

[7] Hebrews 11:4.

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday – April 6, 2023

Psalm 67; Exodus 24:3-11; 1 Corinthians 11:20-32

St. John 13:1-15, 34-35

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

The high priest Aaron had at least four sons whose names are recorded. The first two, presumably the oldest, are Nadab and Abihu. In the Old Testament reading for tonight, we heard how Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel went with Moses up the Mountain of the Lord. This happens just after Moses had received the Ten Commandments and the other judgments of the Lord.

Remember, at the time that Moses ascended the mountain, God had strictly forbidden anyone but Moses from even touching the mountain, lest he should die. All of Israel needed to be cleansed and purified for three days and even then, only Moses ascended the mountain of the Lord.

It seems that at some point, Moses came back down the mountain with a command to bring Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders part-way up the mountain to worship the Lord. At this time, all of Israel swore to uphold whatever laws God commanded. Sacrifices were made and as Moses sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on the people, he proclaimed, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”[1]

Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders went up the mountain and shared a meal with the Lord. God did not lay a hand on these children of Israel but dined with them. They saw God.[2]

After Moses returns to the top of the mountain; after the people cry out for Aaron to make them a god to worship; after Moses destroys the golden calf and makes the people drink it; after the Lord gives the Law to Moses a second time; the tabernacle is built and the priests are consecrated. Aaron and his sons are consecrated priests to serve in the House of the Lord.

For two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, this does not go well. Shortly after beginning their duties, Nadab and Abihu are said to each “take his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”[3]

Nadab and Abihu were supposed to make the incense offering. They were supposed to use the special incense, prepared by Moses according to the direction of God, and put it on fire taken from the altar of the tabernacle, whose fire is never to go out. Now, they either used incense not created according to the will of God or they placed the incense of God on coals of a fire not taken from the Lord’s altar. Either way, they offered to God a sacrifice He had not commanded. They offered to God something unworthy of Him. They offered to God the filth of this world.

To our ears, the penalty seems far greater than the transgression. They screwed up the offering and God kills them for it. He burns them alive. But if we take a step back, suddenly God’s actions make, at least a little, more sense. The second half of the Book of Exodus, the Books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy mostly contain the Law of Moses. God gave this Law to Moses to answer a particularly difficult question: How does a sinful people come to dwell with a holy God? Or in the reverse: How does a Holy God dwell among a sinful people?

The Law of Moses is terribly specific. Some is for the governing of Israel but most of it is to answer this question. God had given to the people of Israel the means for Him to dwell with them. He revealed the entirety of His Law so that God and man could dwell together. What’s more, a careful reading of the Law will bring about the same conclusion we find in the Psalter by David’s hand,

For You, [O Lord,] do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,

With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.[4]

The blood of bulls and goats does not appease the wrath of God against man. Only the activity of God, doing good in His good pleasure among His people can soften the heart of man, turning it toward Himself. And then, only a broken and contrite heart is an appropriate sacrifice to God; a heart which knows its sin and grieves over the pain such sin causes the Lord. Such a sinner cries out to God for forgiveness and will not be put to shame.

Only then will God be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. It is not as though the sacrifices of bulls and goats, of incense and grain, are indifferent to God. He has commanded them to Moses and the children of Israel. But the blood of a bull sacrificed with the black heart content to live in sin is not acceptable to the Lord. It is not a sacrifice of righteousness.

Taking the whole witness of Scripture, we see that Nadab and Abihu got exactly what they deserved. Not only did they offer a sacrifice not commanded by God but they offered it in their sin. They offered it according to either their sloth, their idolatry, their greed, or their pride. Whatever their motivation, it was not to the glory of God. If their offering to the Lord was not to His glory, then it is sin and sin is destroyed in the presence of a holy God.

Which brings us to the Lord’s Supper. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders went part way up the mountain to dine with the Lord. They saw God and shared a meal with Him. Yet the majority of this company would soon worship a golden calf and then at least two would commit such grievous sin that God saw fit to destroy them with fire.

The Lord chose to eat a meal with sinners. He called them up the mountain to dine with Him, knowing they are sinners. So too, our Lord Jesus Christ, called His apostles to a meal, His last meal, knowing they are sinners. One would betray Him. One would deny Him. Three would sleep when He commands them to watch. All would scatter.

In the upper room, just as the upper reaches of Sinai, God dined with His people, Himself being the way for sinful man to dwell with a Holy God. Just as Moses sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifice and said, “This is the blood of the covenant,” Jesus raised a cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood.”[5] The blood of the bull pointed forward to the Blood of the eternal sacrifice of the Son of God. Just as the Lord told Israel, “This shall be an everlasting covenant for you and for your children,” so Jesus has said, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”[6]

This glorious meal of the Body and Blood of Jesus is given to you for the forgiveness of your sins. It is given to you so that you would be made one with God and that God might dwell with you. It is the most precious substance on earth, more precious than gold or silver, than technology or politics. It is the Holy Body and Precious Blood of God that you might dwell with Him forever.

If it is so precious, why then would we ever deny it to someone? Why keep it from young children or from those who are not members of our congregation or church body? St. Paul says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.”[7] If the Lord showed Himself to take the offering of incense in the tabernacle seriously enough to slay Nadab and Abihu, what might He do to those receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in an unworthy manner? What does it mean to receive it in an unworthy manner?

The simple answer is faith. To be worthy to receive the Eucharist is to have faith in these words, “given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” But even an ape could be taught to recite these words. Faith is the certainty of something you cannot see.[8] Faith knows this is more than bread and wine, but it is the very Body and Blood of Christ, who died on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God. Faith knows this is not a symbol, nor strictly a matter of personal confession. St. Paul says, “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,” you make a public proclamation that you believe the same Jesus who died on the cross of Calvary is giving you His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins.

Such a public proclamation can never be made in isolation. It is never just a statement of what you as an individual believes. Being a public proclamation, it is a statement of what the whole Christian Church believes. Sadly, there are divisions within God’s church. There are some who hold to unbiblical doctrines about the Lord’s Supper, about His death, about His nature. If you are communing at this altar, you are making a public proclamation that what is taught from this pulpit, what is confessed in this congregation, is the truth of Scripture.

And if you believe what is taught from this pulpit and confessed in this congregation but call yourself a member of the Methodist church, or a Baptist church, then your public confession is confused. You are saying one thing and believing something different. Scripture calls this hypocrisy. In this case, come speak to me and we can work toward bringing you into our congregation.

The same goes the other way. If you are a member of this congregation, believe what is preached from this pulpit and confess what we as a congregation believe, then you cannot commune at the Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, or Presbyterian church. To do so would be to commit hypocrisy in the other direction. You would be publicly saying you believe and confess what we believe and confess, but sharing in the table fellowship of those who believe differently.

What then of children? When St. Paul says, “Let a person examine himself,” what does he mean?[9] Does he mean every child must pass a written exam? Does he mean once you’ve graduated from confirmation class, your examination is complete? By no means! He means, let every man, woman, and child examine his conscience every time he desired to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Every time you desire to come into the presence of the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus, you are to examine your conscience and find out if you are clinging to the profane fires of your sins rather than seeking the forgiveness of the filthy sins which cling to your flesh.

And so, if a child of seven knows the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, knows what Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are, can confess she is a sinner who needs forgiveness, and that Jesus is the only source of that forgiveness, who is to say that she cannot commune? If all of that is true, St. Paul says she can commune.

Who makes the judgment based on her confession, if the child in question can accurately examine herself? “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”[10] In other words, consider your pastor as the servant of Christ and the steward of the Holy Sacraments. It is the solemn duty of the Office of the Holy Ministry to administer the Sacraments of God rightly. If they are mishandled; used wantonly; used for the glory of man; then the man in that office has a far worse fate than that of Nadab and Abihu to look forward to. If, however, he treats the mysteries of God as the Holy Things they are, then by his hand is distributed the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

So then, as we enter into these most holy three days, let us do so with broken and contrite hearts. Let us enter into the Triduum examining our consciences, to see if we are clinging to our sin or if sin is clinging to us. Then, having faith that the Blood of Jesus was shed to fulfill all righteousness and has been given to you for the forgiveness of sins, let us come together as one in the Body of Christ and dine together on this mountain with our God.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Exodus 24:8.

[2] Exodus 24:11.

[3] Leviticus 10:1-2.

[4] Psalm 51:16-19.

[5] 1 Corinthians 11:25.

[6] 1 Corinthians 11:25.

[7] 1 Corinthians 11:26-27.

[8] Hebrews 11:1.

[9] 1 Corinthians 11:28.

[10] 1 Corinthians 4:1.