Lent Midweek 2

Lent Midweek 2 – March 19, 2025

Psalm 25; Esther 13:9-11, 15-17

St. Matthew 20:17-28

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

After His third and most detailed Passion prediction, the mother of James and John approaches Christ with a request. She wants her sons to be seated at Christ’s left and right hands when He comes into His kingdom. What mother wouldn’t want such positions of honor and authority for her sons? The problem is that her question reveals that the mother of the Sons of Thunder, like the rest of the disciples, doesn’t understand what it means for Christ to come into His kingdom, what His coronation will look like. This is an even more serious problem because Christ just revealed to His disciples, for the third time, what that coronation would be – His betrayal, flagellation, and death.

Rather than sharply rebuke the woman and her sons for their lack of understanding, Christ asks if the boys are able to drink the cup that He will drink and be baptized with the baptism that He is baptized with. They boldly answer, “Yes!” Their response isn’t strictly prideful. They are making a confession of their allegiance to Christ. They are declaring their unwavering faith in His teachings and declaring they are ready for such positions of high honor.

But of course, they do not understand what they ask nor what they are saying in response to His question. To be fair to these apostles, it would be very difficult to understand our Lord’s words in their position. But standing on this side of the Resurrection, it is plain to see that Christ is speaking of two distinct cups and two distinct baptisms.

When Christ poses the question to James and John, He is referring to the cup of wrath and the baptism of death. The cup of wrath is an Old Testament image of God’s anger and punishment of sin. It appears 14 times in the Old Testament. Sometimes, the wicked can’t get enough of the cup of wrath. God pours little into their mouths and they seem to delight in their judgment.[1] They become drunk on the wrath of God and intoxicated with the punishment of their sins. This is reflected in the world when those who delight in sin want to claim their temporal punishment is a badge of honor. Think of sexually transmitted diseases and how those who endure are considered heroes, or at least their struggle is to be admired.

Other times, the image of the cup of God’s wrath focuses on the image of intoxication itself.[2] A drunk staggers, and his perception of the world is distorted. So too, the wicked stagger and stumble against God’s created order and see the world through their own wickedness. These are not just the result of biological processes but are God’s wrath beginning to be poured out on the wicked. The inability to rightly see the world around you should be a wake-up call that something about you is wrong, but the prideful heart of man seeks to convince the soul that such distortion is good, even godly.

Such is what is going on when Christ asks if James and John are able to drink the cup that He drinks. He is speaking of this cup of wrath. He is speaking of drinking to the dregs, the very bottom, of the cup of the Father’s wrath. He will drink from the cup of God’s wrath on behalf of humanity. As He bears the sins of the world, He will take onto Himself the just punishment that is due for those sins. He will not taste of the cup. He will not sip of it. He will swallow it whole, consuming every drop.

The prideful hearts of the Sons of Thunder make them think they are also able to drink this cup. Not only do they think they are able, but they also think they are ready to drink it. If Jesus can do it, so can they. They do not know what they are saying.

As for the baptism with which Christ is baptized, it is true that we confess we believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Yet we also recognize that Christ was baptized in the Jordan River. His baptism was not to forgive His sins. He doesn’t have any. Our usual way of describing Christ’s baptism was that it made our baptism efficacious. His baptism is what soaks up the sins that our baptism washes away. It was His anointing, marking Him as the acceptable sacrifice to the Father.[3]

Although these things are dogmatically true, I don’t think that is what Christ is talking about in this passage. The baptism of which He speaks here is, again, His suffering and death. He will be “baptized,” or washed, in the wrath of the Father. He will be drowned in the fiery waters of hellish torment on the cross. St. Paul speaks this way when he says we are baptized into a death like Christ’s.[4] In this sense, Christ’s death is establishing the new birth of our baptism. He is baptized into death to take the sting of death away. He descends into the death of baptism so that He would rise again the third day, establishing the pattern of our death to sin in Holy Baptism and our rising to a new life as the baptized.

Christ alone drinks the cup of wrath to the dregs and is baptized with death on the cross, but He also says that His disciples will indeed drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism. We can understand this in two ways. First, we can see the pattern established by Christ’s cup and baptism. In this, we see Christ speaking of the cup of affliction and baptism into the yoke of Christ. The cup of affliction is the cross which all who would follow Christ are called to bear.

We must bear the suffering of sin and persecution. We endure affliction and pain, knowing that it is ultimately for our own good. It is chastisement for sin, not punishment for wickedness.[5] We gladly endure affliction because we look to our Lord, who suffered far more than we can imagine, and see in our suffering that we are being made in the image of Christ. We are made to conform to His holy life, suffering, and death so that we would be remade in the Resurrection, glorious even as He is glorious.[6]

The light yoke of Christ is received in Holy Baptism.[7] It is the crosshairs of Satan’s rage. Being marked as the baptized, we are also marked for pursuit by the devil. He hates the things of God and you, beloved child of God, are God’s most beloved possession. Therefore, Satan will doggedly pursue you and seek to tear you away from the Father.

The other way we should understand the disciples drinking His cup and being baptized with His baptism is exactly the way that we normally understand these phrases. His cup is the cup of blessing, the new testament in His blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.[8] His baptism is the baptism of new birth, the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.[9] These are the Holy Sacraments by which Christ dispenses the forgiveness of sins. There is nothing left in the cup of wrath for Christ has swallowed it to the dregs. It is now filled with the blood of the living sacrifice, the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.[10]

The point to which Christ is driving throughout this pericope is that He, the Son of Man, came “to give His life as a ransom for many.”[11] A ransom is a payment made in exchange for the life of another. Because of our sin, we owe a great debt to God. Our lives are forfeit. In terms of debt, we have neither enough to cover our debt nor even the correct currency. Our righteousness will never be enough to climb out of debt. Transgress the least of God’s law and you are guilty of it all. Because of original sin, every ounce of our righteousness is tainted. It isn’t even a currency God will accept in exchange for our debt to Him. Therefore, it is necessary that God become Man, keep the Law perfectly in every jot and tittle, then offer His life in exchange for your life. God alone has righteousness that is of sufficient quantity and quality to satisfy the debt incurred by your sin.

And when Christ says “a ransom for many,” He means “all.” He is not drawing a comparison between many and all. He is drawing a comparison between many and one, Himself. “For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”[12] The sacrifice of Christ filled the ransom debt of every man, from Adam to the last child born on earth. The least of your sins, and the worst, are covered, are forgiven, in the blood of Christ.

Why then are not all saved? Because not all receive this great gift. If I paid your bill at the diner but you refused the gift and insisted on paying the bill yourself, you wouldn’t benefit from my charity. The same is true of Christ’s death. The rejection of the unbeliever doesn’t negate Christ’s sacrifice, but it does exclude him from receiving the benefit. In fact, by condemning the unbeliever, God is simply giving Him exactly what he wants. But for you, beloved in the Lord, to you it has been given to be children of the Father. You not only have been ransomed, but called and enlightened by the Holy Spirit; washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and made a new creation, the apple of God’s eye, and an heir of heaven.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] For example, see Psalm 75:8.

[2] For example, see Isaiah 51:17.

[3] St. Matthew 3:17.

[4] Romans 6:3-4.

[5] Hebrews 12:7.

[6] Hebrews 12:3-7.

[7] St. Matthew 11:28-30.

[8] St. Matthew 26:28.

[9] Titus 3:5-7.

[10] St. John 1:29.

[11] St. Matthew 20:28.

[12] Romans 5:15.

Septuagesima

Septuagesima – February 16, 2025

Psalm 18; Exodus 17:1-7; 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:4

St. Matthew 20:1-16

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

Christ calls you into the vineyard of His Church purely by grace. Notice that in the parable, none of the workers presents a resume or shows he is physically prepared to work in the vineyard. Likewise, the landowner does not evaluate the workers based on their skill or ability to work in the vineyard. He goes out early in the morning and calls workers into His vineyard. This is a call by grace; grace that is undeserved and unmerited. The call is the activity of the Lord alone. Even the acceptance of the workers is by grace. He does not invite them or open the door so that the workers can choose to pass through. He calls them and tells them to go into the vineyard. This is most apparent in the calling of the final group of workers. The landowner literally commands them to work in the vineyard rather than offering a job contract.

The calling of the workers is the calling of people into the Church. It is how Christians are made. They hear the Word of the Lord and are called, gathered, enlightened, sanctified, and kept in the Holy Christian Church by that Word. The Holy Spirit works on the heart of man to turn it from a stony heart, set against God, to a heart of flesh, warmed by the love of God. This call is not deserved by anyone. The greatest philanthropist in the world is not called into the vineyard by his works of love toward his fellow man. He isn’t even prepared to receive the love of God by his acts of charity toward man. The heart of man is set against God by his conception. It is the miraculous call of God alone that brings man into the Church.

This call comes at different times and in different circumstances to different men. The landowner goes out five times to call workers into His vineyard. Each time, He finds different workers who, for one reason or another, did not receive the earlier calls. Perhaps they were standing there from the wee hours of the morning, heard the earlier calls and rejected them. Perhaps they slept in.

From this, we see that Christians receive the call of faith at different stages in life. Some are born into Christian families and raised in the faith. Their entire life is one spent working in the vineyard. Others come at midday, perhaps being converted to the faith as teenagers or young adults. Then there are those who are called near life’s end. They have spent the days of their lives idly standing in the marketplace, consumed by the cares of this life. But in the eleventh hour, the Lord called them by His Word to join the workers in the vineyard.

We can also see these different stages of life simultaneously. There are those of you who have labored in the vineyard seventy, eighty, ninety or more years. You are among the first called to work the vineyard and have born the burden and the heat of the day. There are those of you in middle age, who were called at the third, sixth, or ninth hour. And then there are the little ones, the children, who by comparison were called late in the day. You, little ones, have been called at the eleventh hour and are the newest workers called into the vineyard. No matter the time spent in the vineyard or the circumstances, the call was by grace and received through faith.

Those called into the vineyard are called to work in the vineyard. They are laborers. What then, is the work that you have been called to do as one called into the vineyard of Christ’s Church? The first work is to hear and receive the Word of God. This is not a work given only to the “professional” theologians but to every Christian. Every Christian is called to give a defense for the hope that resides in him.[1] As such, it is necessary that Christians not only force their eyes to glide over words on a page of the bible but to ponder those words in your heart. As you read or hear the words of Scripture, you need to consider their meaning. Think about what the words mean in their immediate context and how they interact with the rest of the Scriptures.[2]

Don’t just sit and passively listen to sermons. Hear the words and consider them in your heart. Perhaps you didn’t understand something. Ask your pastor for clarification later on. Perhaps your pastor misspoke. Gently show him where he was wrong from the Scriptures or give him the chance to correct a poor choice of words. Maybe he needs to repent.[3] Perhaps he has given an example within the sermon that doesn’t exactly fit your circumstance. Think about how what he said might apply to you and if you are struggling to see how it fits, talk to him. Ask him.

Attend bible study and do not focus on the warmth of your coffee or the taste of the sugary treat. Consider the words, the topic at hand. What do these words mean? What do they mean for you? How do they impact your faith and life? This type of active listening is, in fact, an encounter and interaction with God through His Word. It takes practice and it takes effort. But in this effort, you will be greatly rewarded. You will be rewarded with the wage promised at the beginning of the day, the day of your call to faith wherein eternal life was promised to you.

The second work in the vineyard is to attend to your vocations. Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, or employee? A neighbor, citizen, or leader? Attend to those vocations according to the Word of God. Being a Christian certainly means you have duties to your congregation. These duties begin with regularly attending the Divine Service and devoting yourself to the Word of God and prayer but also include supporting the work of the congregation through your time, talents, and treasure. This Wednesday, weather permitting, is an excellent opportunity to serve the congregation as we gather to clean the interior of the building. Serving the congregation might mean volunteering for leadership positions or being ready to take a meal to a brother or sister in need. It might also mean simply talking to them, showing interest in them as people.

Such work in the congregation might mean submitting to those already in leadership positions or even just those who have more experience in whatever need you are helping to meet. Sometimes it means venturing into something in which no one has experience. In any situation, setting about the work of the congregation requires communication and humility. Asserting your own way by right is not love, nor is assuming everyone thinks the same way as you. Communication is key. Humility is key.

Sometimes this humility means raising up and preparing others for the works that you once did. Each time workers were added to the vineyard, the amount of work for each worker was divided among a larger labor force. One worker took what he was doing and gave a portion of it to another. On the one hand, that meant less work for each individual. On the other hand, in giving some of that work to another, it means giving up a portion of control. The former cannot control every work of the latter. The foundation laid by the first is important and essential, but the efforts of the last are just as important. There comes a time when the work must be divided among the laborers and this requires communication and humility. It requires the first to be prepared to give authority to others and the last to humbly learn from his forebearers.

The third work of the vineyard is evangelism. In the parable, it is the landowner directly calling the workers into the vineyard. However, we also see that the landowner employs stewards, that is, He works through means. The Word of God is delivered to the world through the lips of Christians. It is the work of every Christian to be the light of the world, shining the love of God in the dark world, both in deed and in word.[4]

Experience shows that while pastors have been given to the public proclamation of the word, it is the lips of the laity that most often reaches the ears of the unbelieving world and draws men to the Church. How do you best accomplish this? Most important is to build relationships with people. Listen to them. Ask questions. When someone makes a comment like, “I have a relationship with God, I just don’t go to church,” ask them, “What do you mean by that?” or “Tell me more about that.” Give them the opportunity to clarify what they mean. Most often, they are simply repeating words or phrases they’ve heard without giving it much thought. Giving them the chance to really consider what they mean will often give you the opportunity to say, “This is what I believe about God and the Church.”

However you go about establishing such a relationship, it should always lead to a conversation about faith and where Christ has promised to be (in His Word and Sacraments). Someone might enjoy walking through those doors because you are a nice bunch of people but that should never be why they are here. If it is, then they are set up to be hypocrites – those who act like the faithful but will find themselves locked out of the wedding feast when Christ returns.[5] The reason to be here is because Christ has promised to be here, giving you His word of forgiveness and especially giving you Himself in the Holy Supper. To hear the Word of God and receive His Sacraments is and always will be the primary purpose of the Church because it is the definition of the Church.

When it comes time to distribute the wages, they are given out from last to first. If we understand the last to be those called into the church late in life, they truly have spent the least time working in the vineyard and likely have suffered the least for the name of Christ. Yet these are rewarded the same as the rest of the workers – eternal life with Christ. If we understand the last to be the children, who have also spent the least time working in the Church and likely suffered the least for the name of Christ, they too are rewarded with eternal life in Christ.

In fact, there are many things we can learn from the faith of those called at the eleventh hour, whoever they may be. Christ commends the faith of little children, saying, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”[6] Children trust that what you say is true. They are also curious, always asking, “Why?” This is to be commended. How shall they learn without someone to teach them?[7]

With age and experience, we tend to keep the questions but lose the trust. We assume that we always know better or even that every source of knowledge is questionable. We question the motives of everyone around us. Are there charlatans? Of course. We shouldn’t be naive. But we should put the best construction on everything, especially when dealing with brothers and sisters in the faith. If something sounds off, ask questions. “What do you mean by that?” “Tell me more about that.” Loves suffers long and is kind, not insisting on its own way but rejoicing in truth.[8]

This is doubly true when confronted with God’s Word. A child wants to know why something happens in Scripture because they are not as familiar with the whole bible. An adult often doesn’t like what they hear and wants to find a loophole. An adult asks ‘why’ hoping to find a way that it doesn’t apply to him.

And this is why those called first are indignant with the landowner. They are offended that those called late in the day would be paid the same wage when they haven’t put in the same work. They resent the landowner’s call and the landowner Himself. They are not concerned with the Word of God but their own interpretation of it. If God acts contrary to what they think is right, it is God’s fault, not theirs. He is unfair for not conforming to their idea of fairness.

By man’s standards, God isn’t fair. And thank God He isn’t. If God was fair, then we would all be doomed. If God was fair, He would give us what we deserve – His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation.[9] Yet God is merciful by not giving us what we deserve. He is gracious to give us something we don’t deserve. His call into the Church is by grace. We don’t deserve it, but He gives it to us. From those called in the early morning to those called at the last hour, we are saved by God’s grace, completely undeserved and unmerited.

For those who insist on being recognized for their long hours, days, weeks, or years of service to the Church, the Landowner gives them their denarius and sends them out of the vineyard. He gives them their earthly due – the praises and respect of man. But He casts them into the outer darkness. They have no home with Him now or in eternity. Their great works toward man are but filthy rags before God because they were done without faith, without thanks for the gracious call into the vineyard.[10] Despising the Church is despising God.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 Peter 3:15.

[2] Acts 17:11.

[3] St. Matthew 18:15; 1 Timothy 5:1-2.

[4] St. Matthew 5:14.

[5] St. Matthew 25:10-13.

[6] St. Matthew 18:3-5.

[7] Romans 10:14.

[8] 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

[9] Romans 6:21, 23.

[10] Isaiah 64:6.

Septuagesima

Septuagesima – February 5, 2023

Psalm 18; Daniel 9:2-10; 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:4

St. Matthew 20:1-16

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

Our Lord compares the Kingdom of God to a man, a vineyard owner, who calls laborers to work in his vineyard. This landowner negotiates with the earliest workers for a settled wage and sends them into the vineyard. Every few hours, he returns to the market and finds more workers who are standing idle. He commands them to work in the vineyard and he promises to pay them whatever is right. In the last hour of the day, he finds more workers who have spent the day standing in the market. These lazy ones are also commanded to come into the vineyard and promised a right wage.

At the end of the day, the landowner commands his steward to line up the workers, from last to first, and pay their wages. Everyone receives the same wage—a denarius, one full day’s wage. Those who worked the longest, endured the most labor, the harshest heat, and put in the most effort—those who were called at the first hour—are indignant. They are angry because those the lazy bums who barely worked got paid the same as them. The landowner reminds these ungrateful laborers that they were paid precisely according to their agreement and then he casts them out of the vineyard.

The call of the laborers is the call into the church purely by grace. From the first to the last, not a single worker presented a resumé or portfolio. They were called by the master into the vineyard and given duties to attend to. They are set to work caring for all that belongs to the master.

The landowner in the parable is our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is compared to a man and all that is spoken of in the parable belongs to him. Jesus is the only man who is also God. He holds all of creation in His hands.

The laborers who are called into the vineyard are Christians. They have been called by the Gospel to dwell in the vineyard of Christ. In the vineyard, they are set to caring for God’s creation and are sustained by the same. Each is given duties and not all have the same responsibilities. At the same time, none is given possession of the vineyard. The vineyard belongs to the Master, to Christ, to God.

The steward in the parable is the pastor of Christ’s church. He is set in authority over the people of God to guide them, teach them, rebuke them, exhort them, warn them of danger, and console them with the gifts of God.[1] The vineyard does not belong to the steward any more than it belongs to the laborers. However, the steward has been set in authority over the laborers for the sake of good order and as the steward of God’s word and watchmen of God’s people.[2]

In plain language, the church as an abstract concept, that is, the body of believers, does not belong to Christians. The local church also does not belong to Christians. The abstract church and the local church do not belong to pastors. In every sense, the Church belongs to God alone. Christians are called to dwell in the Church; to serve in the Church; to gather in the Church; and to be sustained by the Church. Pastors are called to the same but we are also called to steward the Church of God; to manage the affairs of the Church; to lead the flock on behalf of the Good Shepherd; to be a watchman concerning the dangers of the world and the sins of the congregation.

Whether clergy or laity, we do not enter the vineyard by our own reason or strength. No one can think his way into the church nor work his way in. Only the call of the Holy Gospel, that is, the death of Jesus Christ as delivered in the Word of God and His Holy Sacraments, can draw us into the Church. Christ our Lord calls you through His word, by the working of the Holy Spirit. You are called to dwell in the vineyard forever yet you are not idle in this dwelling. You are called to serve.

Some are called early in the morning, those who were born into Christian households. These have the longest service in the vineyard. They can work the longest, do the most work, and also endure the most suffering on behalf of Christ.

There are those who are called at midday. They are called by the Gospel in the middle of life. They are given the same work as those called in the morning and set about their task in the same way.

Then there are those who are called at the end of life. They have little time left in the Church Militant, but they receive the same reward as those called in the morning. They are the first to see Christ in glory, that is, they are the first to die, but their reward of eternal life is just as wonderful.

This reward of eternal life is the same whether you are called into the church in the wee hours of the morning or at the eleventh hour. There is no privilege in the Kingdom of God given to those who have spent 70 years in the Lutheran Church over those who are new converts. At the end of the day, all receive the same reward. The teachings and practices of the Church are governed not by experience or longevity, but by the Word of God.

And this is exactly what angers the laborers called in the morning. They’ve been here longer, worked harder, and endured more. In exchange for this, they believe they are due more reward, more clout, more power.

This is a temptation for Christians, especially those who have grown up in the Church. It is tempting to believe that more work, more time, more history means more reward, more influence, or more merit. This is the way of the world. The way of the Church is to follow the Word of God. The grace of God is not fairly distributed to all laborers. “Fairness” has little or nothing to do with God. God deals in equity. Grace is distributed equally. All have fallen short and all are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. That is not fair, but it is equal. God shows no partiality, meaning He does not account for prestige, fame, history, or power. He accounts only for faith, that is, trust in Him according to His word.

We in the church, those who have been in the vineyard since at least midday, tend to become too familiar with certain passages of Scripture. We forget how surprising they can be. We forget to sympathize with those called in the first hour. Of course, they expect to be paid more. In any business situation, it would only make sense to pay your best workers the best wages so they will continue to work for you. Yet God is not running an earthly business. He deals in grace, a free and undeserved gift.

Jesus asks those who were called in the first hour if their eye is evil because He is good.[3] What He means is, “Do you see evil in what I am doing? I AM Good. There is nothing Good outside of Me. By calling Me evil, you reveal the evil within your own heart. Take what is yours and get out of the vineyard.” You have already been called to stand in the church. Eternal glory is already yours, do not call the grace of God evil in your eyes. God is Good. God is The Good and His goodness has called sinners to repentance and faith.

Thanks be to God He has called us to faith and forgiven our sins. Thanks be to God He goes out again and again to call sinners to repentance. Thanks be to God that He has not given the vineyard to either the laborers or the stewards because we cannot see with His eternal eyes. He has given us responsibilities within His Church to serve God and neighbor within our various vocations. He has also given stewardship of His Church to pastors not on the basis of merit or worthiness. He has given this stewardship for the sake of good order and in service to His Church.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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

[2] Ezekiel 33.

[3] St. Matthew 20:15.