The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

 The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – August 31, 2025

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.

After being cast out of the garden, Adam knew his wife, Eve. She conceived and bore a son named Cain. She then bore another son named Abel. Cain was a worker of the fields, like his father, while Abel tended the flocks. One day, these two sons went to sacrifice to God but only the sacrifice of Abel was accepted by the Lord. On account of this, Cain’s face fell and he grew angry.

Our first question of the text should be, ‘why was Abel’s sacrifice accepted by God but not Cain’s?’ The Letter to the Hebrews gives us the definitive answer.[1] Abel offered his sacrifice in faith while Cain did not. This is the bottom line, the fundamental truth of the differences in their sacrifices.

At the same time, Scripture presents us with a few more details. Cain offered the fruit of the fields, likely a grain offering, while Abel offered a sacrifice of the firstborn of his flock. Both types of sacrifice, gain and the blood of animals, will later be instituted through Moses, but the greater of these sacrifices is the sacrifice of an animal. Again, the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.[2] By this we know that the sacrifice of blood, the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins, is the greater sacrifice. Even Adam and Eve would’ve had this knowledge. When the Lord gave them the promise of a Savior, the Son of a virgin who would destroy death and the devil, He then sacrificed an animal and covered them with clothes of skin. By the shedding of blood, their nakedness was covered, their sins forgiven.

Our second question of this text should be, ‘why was Cain angry?’ If the difference was in the orientation of Cain’s heart, his lack of faith in the sacrifice, by what right is he angry with God? Even though we know that the sacrifice of blood is greater in the eyes of the Lord than the sacrifice of grain, both are acceptable sacrifices in the eyes of God. Therefore, Cain’s anger arises from his perception of an injustice committed by God. In Cain’s eyes, God is being unfair.

In this, we can sympathize with Cain. Our thoughts are not the Lord’s thoughts, and our ways are not His ways,[3] and all too often they seem unfair. We experience this in life when the wicked prosper but Christians suffer. We experience this in the words of Holy Scripture when the Lord rewards Abraham for pretending Sarah is his sister, or when He declares, “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.”[4]

We know from the Scriptures that God cannot be unjust. Any injustice that man perceives in God is the result of a lack of understanding on man’s part, not a lack in God. He is the very definition of justice, righteousness, goodness, and love.[5]

Returning to Cain, the conflict arises not because Cain perceives an injustice in God but because he blames God for the injustice. Rather than seeking the Lord and His righteousness, Cain becomes embittered toward God. He begins to resent his Creator. Yet even in this state, we see the mercy of God. He comes to Cain and asks, “Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”[6]

The Lord is calling Cain to repentance and guiding him into the way of truth. It is as though God was saying, “Cain, what reason do you have to be angry? No, I did not accept your sacrifice today because it wasn’t offered in faith. Learn from this moment. Learn not to trust in the quality of your sacrifice, nor in your rank as firstborn, nor in the strength of your arm. Place your trust in Me, the One who is truly Good and from Whom all good things come. If your trust is in me and not your sacrifice, then your sacrifices will gladly be accepted. But if not, then satan is waiting to consume you. Your anger will overcome you, and it will be too late to stay your hand.”

But these words did not penetrate Cain’s stony heart. He had hardened himself against the Lord. He had set his mind on killing Abel. Now, generally, Cain’s plan to kill Abel is described as an act of envy. Cain was angry at Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God. There is truth in this observation. Cain was almost certainly envious of the attention his brother received from God. But a closer read of the text reveals something even darker. If Cain’s anger is the result of a perceived injustice in God, then who is the primary object of his anger? Is it not God? It would follow that Cain’s murderous plan was not directed at Abel but at God. He wanted to destroy the object of God’s affection, hurting God for hurting him.

When God comes to Cain and asks where Abel is (another plea and opportunity for Cain to repent of what he has done), Cain says, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”[7] In effect, he is saying, “God, don’t you know where Abel is? Isn’t he your beloved son? Since you accepted his sacrifice, aren’t You supposed to be watching out for him?” Rather than repenting, Cain is doubling down on blaming God for the current situation. To Cain, it is God’s injustice that killed Abel.

Now, horrified as we are with Cain’s actions, and you should be, consider the times in your own life when you’ve acted as Cain and not as God. Both God and Cain think themselves justified in their actions but only One of them is right. God comes to Cain seeking the latter’s repentance and a restoration of their relationship. Cain doesn’t even respond to God in the first conversation and proceeds to hurt God by attacking the object of God’s affection. When the Lord again offers the opportunity for repentance, Cain does nothing but passive-aggressively attack the Lord. He shifts all blame onto God. For this, Cain is condemned and cast out of the presence of the Lord.

It is here we also see the connection to our Gospel text. The Pharisee loudly extols all of his righteous deeds to God and expects the Lord to reward him. The tax collector humbly begs for God’s mercy for he knows that he is a poor, miserable sinner. Both believe themselves righteous but only one returns to his home justified. One finds his justification in his righteous deeds. The other finds his justification in the mercy and atonement of the Lord. One believes his righteousness is a work of his own hands. The other finds righteousness in the shedding of the innocent blood of the Lamb of God.

According to our thoughts and our ways, the Pharisee is clearly the one who goes home justified. He has done all of the righteous things. He prays loudly so that all can hear and see his righteousness. According to our thoughts and our ways, it would be a great injustice for the Pharisee to be condemned.

Now the tax collector is a wicked man. He makes a living by cheating and stealing from his neighbors. Worse yet, from cheating and stealing from his kindred, from his fellow Judahites, to support the pagan government of Rome. Yet he comes into the Temple to humbly beg for the mercy of God, that God would make atonement for his grave sins and save him from eternal damnation.

The comparison to Cain and Abel is not to think of Cain as the Pharisee and Abel as the tax collector. Both the Pharisee and the tax collector are Cain. They are the two roads laid before Cain. The Pharisee is the sin lying at the door waiting to consume him. The tax collector is the repentance to which the Lord repeatedly calls Cain – both before and after the murder of Abel. “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between these two ways.”^[8]

Since the fall of our first parents, sin has been crouching at the door for every one of you. It is waiting for the opportune time to pounce upon your soul and drag you into the depths. But the Lord is patient. The Lord is kind. He has descended into the depths of your flesh to raise you from destruction. There is no depth of sin at which point Christ cannot reach you, no crevasse of the earth into which the blood of Christ, which speaks better things than that of Abel, is not able to cover your sin.

This does require humility. It requires humility not to trust in yourself or your own evaluation of your sins. Original sin has corrupted even your conscience. Alone, our conscience cannot be trusted to rightly discern between sin and righteousness. Our conscience must ever be formed by and checked against the Word of God. The renewal of your mind which comes with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, will never be complete on this side of glory. It requires humility to submit yourself to the Word of God for His ways are not your ways and His thoughts are not your thoughts. It requires humility to trust that God is good, and He will provide for you the escape from your sins. In fact, He has provided the escape from your sins when He humbly submitted to the death of a criminal. In His goodness, He provides for the needy. He bears us up and is our salvation. Blessed be the Lord.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[1] Hebrews 11:4.

[2] Hebrews 9:22.

[3] Isaiah 55:8.

[4] Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:13.

[5] Psalm 92:15; Deuteronomy 32:4; Romans 3:4.

[6] Genesis 4:6-7.

[7] Genesis 4:9.

[8] The Apostolic Fathers, “Didache 1:1,” 3^rd edition, translated and edited by Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 345. 

The Feast of Pentecost

 The Feast of Pentecost – June 8, 2025

Psalm 68; Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-24

St. John 14:23-31a

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

The Feast of Pentecost existed before the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. It celebrated two things. First, Pentecost was a harvest festival. The faithful of Israel would bring grain offerings to the Temple in thanksgiving for the harvest with which God had blessed them. Pentecost was at the beginning of their harvest and the faithful would bring the first fruits of their harvest to God.

We have much to learn from our forefathers. They did not wait to ensure the harvest was complete before returning thanks to God. They did not wait to ensure they saw 80% or 90% of what was planted grow to maturity. That which they harvested first was given back to God in thanksgiving, showing they trusted their heavenly Father to provide the rest.

In this way, we see a model for our giving to the church. We are free in the Gospel, no longer commanded by God to give 10%, a tithe, of our income to support the Temple. Rather, we are free to give more. We are free to give more because we are no longer under the Law but have been made free children of the Father.

The blessings of God in the Old Testament were shadows of the blessings in the New. So too were the offerings of the faithful in the Old Testament shadows of the New. Neither diminishes after the Resurrection of Christ. They are magnified. Circumcision was a sign in the flesh of men that they were part of God’s covenant. In the New Testament, Holy Baptism fulfills this sign in the flesh by being offered to men and women, and rather than a removal of our flesh, it places the robe of Christ’s righteousness upon us. God’s blessing is magnified, not diminished.

Our financial support of God’s church looks to the Old Testament to find a place to begin. The first fruits of the harvest were offered to God, 10% was required of all the faithful, each year. In the New Testament, in the age of the Church following the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, 10% is a great place to begin returning thanks to God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon you. Remember, everything you have, like the grain harvest of old, comes from the Father and will eventually return to Him. You are the steward of these earthly blessings. If the Lord has blessed you handsomely, return thanks handsomely. Ten percent is a great place to start, but the Lord loves a cheerful giver, no matter the dollar amount you give.

The second purpose of Pentecost prior to the Ascension of our Lord, was to commemorate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Here we see the clearest connections to the descent of the Holy Spirit. At Mount Sinai, the people were commanded not to touch the mountain for its holiness. Moses alone could approach the presence of God. A great cloud descended upon the mountain with thunder, lightning, and the terrifying sound of a mighty trumpet. Fire flashed from the top of the mountain. The people became frightened and stood afar off.

The coming of God upon Mount Sinai indicates the nature of what was given. The Law reveals God’s wrath over our sin. It reveals our sin, shows it plainly by the lightning flash of God’s Word, and thunders loudly in our hearts. The sound of the trumpet announces judgment is near. In our sin, we flee from these signs, knowing our fate is sealed in our mortal state, consigned to the eternal fire of God’s wrath.

At Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit descends with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind. This sound is only described as the sound of rushing wind but must itself be something more. I believe it is the sound of the Holy Gospel, being spoken by the Holy Spirit, Himself. No matter what the sound was, it did not inspire fear in the apostles nor in the people gathered in Jerusalem. This sound of the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance all the words of Christ in the hearts of the apostles. The crowds in Jerusalem, gathered for the harvest feast and to commemorate the giving of the Law, are drawn toward the sound.

Whereas the people at Mount Sinai were kept away from the Mountain of the Lord, the voice of the Holy Spirit draws the crowds in. The Holy Spirit descends in fire, just as He did on Mount Sinai, but this time it is not frightening. He descends as tongues of flame, bringing the Words of the Gospel of Christ to the apostles to be shared with the world. The crowd gathering at this sound is somewhat skeptical, yet they are drawn to the sounds of the apostles beginning to preach.

Here, the various peoples from throughout the ancient world, heard the mighty works of God in their own languages. The apostles preached to them concerning the death and resurrection of Christ. These languages no longer separate the Elamite and the Mede, nor do they find their unity in these languages. They are unified in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are unified within the Body of Christ.

The Tower of Babel is often misunderstood. God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth. While Noah’s descendants multiplied, they did not fill the earth. Once they reached the plain of Shinar, they decided the land was ideal and they ceased to fill the earth. Working together, the men of the earth decided to build a tower to God, making a name for themselves.

God could not have this. The unity of man, even at the beginning, with only Adam and Eve, is not found in language, lineage, or ethnicity. The unity of man is found in God, in the Body of Christ, in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The men of earth desiring to make a name for themselves rejected the Body of Christ for the body of their own work. The name man makes for himself is Sin and Death.

The building of the Tower of Babel itself is somewhat of an engineering miracle. Our ancient ancestors were very intelligent and capable of great wonders. Such ability quickly goes from a blessing of the Most High into an idol. God has placed you into relationships with your fellow man such that you are to serve him in various ways. God has given abilities to engineers, pilots, carpenters, plumbers, managers, teachers, and store clerks. This is commendable.

Yet these careers are not the same as who and what you are. On the deathbed of a Christian, no one wants to hold his favorite chisel, or cling to his over-full timecard. A Christian desires to hold his family close and cling to the Word of God. A Christian desires a visit from his pastor to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts one more time on this side of glory.

While the accomplishments of this life are something to give thanks to God for, they are not the most important aspect of who you are. Your baptism is the most important aspect of who you are because it tells you whose you are. The name God gives to the Baptized is Life, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In your Holy Baptism, you find yourself a child of the Heavenly Father and a member of the Body of Christ. In this Body, you find unity with the Judean and Cappadocian. In this Body, you are one with the Phrygian and Pamphylian.

God punished the peoples at Babel by forcing them to spread out and fill the earth. This was God’s command from the very beginning. Languages would naturally develop as man spread out to cover the earth. God forced this process by dividing their languages while they dwelt together. Certainly, this is a punishment for those living in Babel as they could no longer communicate with friends and possibly even family. They must set out to different parts of the world and build lives where they could communicate.

 This dispersion of peoples is recognized even in heaven. When St. John sees a vision of heavenly worship in the Book of Revelation, he sees a multitude without number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.^[1] This multitude is all praising the Lamb who is on the Throne of heaven, that is, they are united in their praise and worship of Christ. They are the united Body of Christ, retaining their individuality and individual languages.

From the beginning of man, God desired diversity of language and culture so that man could not mistake where unity is found. Unity is found in the Body of Christ. For this reason, the Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles in tongues of flame. These gentle flames illumine the Word of God, setting the hearts of man on fire with the love of God. If the coming of the Law was terrifying for man, the coming of the Gospel is a great comfort. The dispersion of man at Babel was God enacting His Law upon man and the preaching of the Gospel on Pentecost is the fulfillment of God’s Law by uniting the multitude of nations, tribes, peoples, and languages in the Body of Christ.

Just as fire is both deadly and necessary for life, so too the Word of God kills and gives life. The Law comes to reveal our sin and cause us to flee. But we must ask, “To where shall I go? I am a poor, wretched sinner. Where is salvation found?” Then the Holy Spirit enters in with the satisfying warmth of the Gospel to reveal the deeds of Christ saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”^[2] “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”^[3]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[1] Revelation 7:9-10.

[2] St. John 14:27.

[3] Acts 2:21.

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.

---

[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.

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – August 28, 2022

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.

Two men went to church to pray, one was an Elder and the other was homeless. Before the service, the Elder came quietly into the nave and prayed, “I give thanks to you Almighty God, that I am not like other men—I am not tempted by money, women, or food, or even alcohol and drugs as this homeless man has certainly struggled with. I’ve been a member here for 35 years, I give more than a tithe, and I even fast during Lent.”

Meanwhile, the homeless man sat in the back corner. He did not make eye contact with anyone, but he also would not look up at the altar for fear that his filth would somehow stain the beautiful clothes. Instead, he wept quietly and prayed, “God, please do not be angry at me. Jesus has died for me.”[1]

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector are going to church. They are presumably at the Temple during either the morning or evening sacrifices. Every day, at 9 AM and 3 PM, public prayer services were conducted in the Temple while the atonement sacrifices were made.[2] A lamb was sacrificed every morning and every evening to atone for the sins of the people. After the lamb was sacrifice, that is, after atonement had been made and the people declared righteous, incense was offered to God. Having been atoned for by the blood of a lamb, it was during the offering of incense that individual prayer was offered. “Let my prayer rise before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”[3]

Our Lord is preaching to those who would justify themselves. He clearly intends to compare the prayers of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. One great difficulty for us in this parable is our familiarity with the Scriptures. We are just familiar enough to get ourselves in trouble.

The prayer of the Pharisee strikes our ears as immediately self-righteous and sinfully prideful. We hear the words, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men,” as being the height of self-righteousness. To do so is dangerous. Our Lord intends to compare the prayers of these two men, but He intends to compare more than the bare words. The prayer of the Pharisee could just as easily be read as a prayer of thanksgiving that God has spared him from the temptations besetting other men. To pray in such a way is good. I thank God I was not raised in a Muslim country, where I would be tempted to worship the false god of the Muhammedans. So too is it a worthy prayer to recount your pious deeds.

On the other hand, the Tax Collector is singularly focused on begging God for mercy. His prayer could even be read as a plea that God would be the sacrifice on his behalf. The Tax Collector is praying for the death of Jesus. He is praying that God would take on his flesh and carry his sins into the grave. He clearly understands there is nothing he can do to save himself. He also understands that just as the blood of the lambs just slaughtered in the Temple are not enough to save his soul. The forgiveness of sins requires the shedding of blood, and the salvation of man requires the shedding of the blood of God.

It is important to understand that the bare words of either man do not determine who returns to his home justified. Recognize that when Jesus says that only one man returns home justified, He means the other returns to his home condemned to hell. The words spoken by these men do not justify nor damn them. The words of their prayers simply reveal the orientation of their hearts.

Let us return to the idea that these men are attending the Divine Service. The words spoken, the prayers said aloud and within their hearts, the hymns sung, and the Scriptures read reveal the orientation of the hearts of the congregation. So do their actions. Seeing the Tax Collector stand in the corner, praying with his eyes cast down speaks of the humility of his heart. He is a man broken by his sin and seeking the One Being who can save him.

The Pharisee stands before all men, making sure they can hear his prayer. His prayer is oriented toward himself. This is reflected in his words in that he refers to himself seven times and never once recounts the works of God. He also does not ask the Father for anything because his heart sees himself as sufficient.

We worship the Triune God. We worship the God who has come to us in our own flesh. Thus, we physically orient our worship toward the altar. An altar is a place of sacrifice. However, our sacrifice has been offered once and for all. Now, the altar serves as that place where the benefits of that sacrifice come to us. Upon the altar sits a crucifix. This is the sign, or symbol, of the sacrifice that is distributed from that altar. The paten and chalice which sit beneath the veil are not symbols, but actually contain the Body and Blood which were shed for your salvation. They contain the answer to the prayer of the Tax Collector.

The bare words of the prayers in the parable are not enough to damn or save. The orientation of the hearts of the men praying them are what give the prayers authority. Now then, before you think I am speaking to the sincerity of your prayers, or the importance of “really feeling your prayers,” stop it. When I speak of the orientation of your heart, I speak of moving toward God or moving toward Man. God alone can change the heart of man. Therefore we pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

If you tried to orient your heart toward God of your own efforts, you will become the Pharisee. Your prayers would be turned immediately toward yourself. In fact, this is already the state of us all. By nature, each of us will turn our prayers toward man. If not praying about how great you are, then praying about how terrible you are and that it is your fault.

By God’s grace and mercy, He has called you into the true faith. He has washed you in the waters of Holy Baptism and He feeds you on His flesh and blood. By this, your heart is oriented toward Him. As such, when your pride swells and you are thankful that you are not like other men, you give thanks to God and pray that He would uphold you in this blessedness. You pray that He would grant you the ability to share this blessedness with others. You thank God that He has died for you and spared you the temptations that are so rampant in our world.

Then when you fall into despair and see the depth of your sin; sin which lies at the bottom of your heart and plagues you with nights of sleeplessness; you pray that God would forgive your sins. You pray that God would atone for your sins with His own blood. Then you give thanks that God has already done this; that He has called a sinner like you into His family. You pray that God would relieve you of your suffering or at least grant you the faith to receive it as a sign that you are loved by Him and hated by the sinful world.

Either way, you come to the altar of God to receive His gifts. You are confident of your salvation because it does not depend on you, your actions, or your words. You are confident because it depends on Christ, His death, and His resurrection.

And then, when you pray, you examine the orientation of your heart. Are you praying to elevate yourself? Or are you praying that you might diminish that Christ would elevate? Are you praying to give thanks and trust in the mighty power of God? Or are you praying that God would see what you have done?

And when you come to worship, are you coming because you are oriented toward God? Does your every action in worship speak of one who is in the presence of the Almighty God? Or do your actions speak of one who is seeking entertainment, recognition, or friendship? Do you come to the altar of God knowing that He is present? Or do you just wait for it to be over? Is there a certain gravity to the Divine Service or is it something that must be done just so you can get to the part where you might stand before others and be heard?

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

¹⁰ your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³ And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from the evil one.’

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”[4]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[1] This is a retelling of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector from St. Luke 18:9-14.

[2] Arthur A. Just, Jr. Luke 9:51-24:53, Concordia Commentary Series (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1997), 681-682.

[3] Psalm 141:2.

[4] St. Matthew 6:2-18.

The Feast of Pentecost (Whitsunday)

5 June, A+D 2022

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

Pentecost is the zenith of the Easter season. It is the day on which the Church is born, and the Gospel is sent out into all the world. “Pentecost” literally means “fiftieth day,” as it is the fiftieth day since the Resurrection of our Lord. In the English language, it is also called “Whitsunday.” This strange name comes from simply smushing the words “white” and “Sunday” together. This “white-Sunday” comes from the garments worn by the baptismal candidates who were baptized on this day.

In northern Europe, the home of the English language, it would be too cold to observe the custom of baptizing converts at the Easter Vigil. These baptisms were delayed until the warmer spring months, fifty days after the Resurrection. What a beautiful way to commemorate the birth of the Church than to observe the new birth of Christians into the Body of Christ!

The Feast of Pentecost existed before the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. It celebrated two things. First, Pentecost was a harvest festival. The faithful of Israel would bring grain offerings to the Temple in thanksgiving for the harvest with which God had blessed them. Pentecost was at the beginning of their harvest and the faithful would bring the first fruits of their harvest to God.

We have much to learn from our forefathers. They did not wait to ensure the harvest was complete before returning thanks to God. They did not wait to ensure they saw 80% or 90% of what was planted grow to maturity. That which they harvested first was given back to God in thanksgiving, showing they trusted their heavenly Father to provide the rest.

In this way, we see a model for our giving to the church. We are free in the Gospel, no longer commanded by God to give 10%, a tithe, of our income to support the Temple. Rather, we are free to give more. We are free to give more because we are no longer under the Law but have been made free children of the Father.

The blessings of God in the Old Testament were shadows of the blessings in the New. So too were the offerings of the faithful in the Old Testament shadows of the New. Neither diminishes after the Resurrection of Christ. They are magnified. Circumcision was a sign in the flesh of men that they were part of God’s covenant. In the New Testament, Holy Baptism fulfills this sign in the flesh by being offered to men and women, and rather than a removal of our flesh, it places the robe of Christ’s righteousness upon us. God’s blessing is magnified, not diminished.

Our financial support of God’s church looks to the Old Testament to find a place to begin. The first fruits of the harvest were offered to God, 10% was required of all the faithful, each year. In the New Testament, in the age of the Church following the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, 10% is a great place to begin returning thanks to God for the many blessings He has bestowed upon you. Remember, everything you have, like the grain harvest of old, comes from the Father and will eventually return to Him. You are the steward of these earthly blessings. If the Lord has blessed you handsomely, return thanks handsomely. Ten percent is a great place to start, but the Lord loves a cheerful giver, no matter the dollar amount you give.

The second purpose of Pentecost prior to the Ascension of our Lord was to commemorate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Here we see the clearest connections to the descent of the Holy Spirit. At Mount Sinai, the people were commanded not to touch the mountain for its holiness. Moses alone could approach the presence of God. A great cloud descended upon the mountain with thunder, lightning, and the terrifying sound of a mighty trumpet. Fire flashed from the top of the mountain. The people became frightened and stood afar off.

The coming of God upon Mount Saini indicates the nature of what was given. The Law reveals God’s wrath over our sin. It reveals our sin, shows it plainly by the lightning flash of God’s Word, and thunders loudly in our hearts. The sound of the trumpet announces judgment is near. In our sin, we flee from these signs, knowing our fate is sealed in our mortal state, consigned to the eternal fire of God’s wrath.

At Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit descends with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind. This sound is only described as the sound of rushing wind but must itself be something more. I believe it is the sound of the Holy Gospel, being spoken by the Holy Spirit, Himself. No matter what the sound was, it did not inspire fear in the apostles nor in the people gathered in Jerusalem. This sound of the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance all the words of Christ in the hearts of the apostles. The crowds in Jerusalem, gathered for the harvest feast and to commemorate the giving of the Law, are drawn toward the sound.

Whereas the people at Mount Sinai were kept away from the Mountain of the Lord, the voice of the Holy Spirit draws the crowds in. The Holy Spirit descends in fire, just as He did on Mount Sinai, but this time it is not frightening. He descends as tongues of flame, bringing the Words of the Gospel of Christ to the apostles to be shared with the world. The crowd gathering at this sound is somewhat skeptical, yet they are drawn to the sounds of the apostles beginning to preach.

Here, the various peoples from throughout the ancient world, heard the mighty works of God in their own languages. The apostles preached to them concerning the death and resurrection of Christ. These languages no longer separate the Elamite and the Mede, nor do they find their unity in these languages. They are unified in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are unified within the Body of Christ.

The Tower of Babel is often misunderstood. God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth. While Noah’s descendants multiplied, they did not fill the earth. Once they reached the plain of Shinar, they decided the land was ideal and they ceased to fill the earth. Working together, the men of the earth decided to build a tower to God, making a name for themselves.

God could not have this. The unity of man, even at the beginning, with only Adam and Eve, is not found in language, lineage, or ethnicity. The unity of man is found in God, in the Body of Christ, in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The men of earth desiring to make a name for themselves rejected the Body of Christ for the body of their own work. The name man makes for himself is Sin and Death.

The building of the Tower of Babel itself is somewhat of an engineering miracle. Our ancient ancestors were very intelligent and capable of great wonders. Such ability quickly goes from a blessing of the Most High into an idol. God has placed you into relationships with your fellow man such that you are to serve him in various ways. God has given abilities to engineers, pilots, carpenters, plumbers, managers, teachers, and store clerks. This is commendable.

Yet these careers are not the same as who and what you are. On the deathbed of a Christian, no one wants to hold his favorite chisel, or cling to his over-full timecard. A Christian desires to hold his family close and cling to the Word of God. A Christian desires a visit from his pastor to hear the Word of God and receive His gifts one more time on this side of glory.

While the accomplishments of this life are something to give thanks to God for, they are not the most important aspect of who you are. Your baptism is the most important aspect of who you are because it tells you whose you are. The name God gives to the Baptized is Life, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In your Holy Baptism, you find yourself a child of the Heavenly Father and a member of the Body of Christ. In this Body, you find unity with the Judean and Cappadocian. In this Body, you are one with the Phrygian and Pamphylian.

God punished the peoples at Babel by forcing them to spread out and fill the earth. This was God’s command from the very beginning. Languages would naturally develop as man spread out to cover the earth. God forced this process by dividing their languages while they dwelt together. Certainly, this is a punishment for those living in Babel as they could no longer communicate with friends and possibly even family. They must set out to different parts of the world and build lives where they could communicate.

 This dispersion of peoples is recognized even in heaven. When St. John sees a vision of heavenly worship in the Book of Revelation, he sees a multitude without number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.[1] This multitude is all praising the Lamb who is on the Throne of heaven, that is, they are united in their praise and worship of Christ. They are the united Body of Christ, retaining their individuality and individual languages.

From the beginning of man, God desired diversity of language and culture so that man could not mistake where unity is found. Unity is found in the Body of Christ. For this reason, the Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles in tongues of flame. These gentle flames illumine the Word of God, setting the hearts of man on fire with the love of God. If the coming of the Law was terrifying for man, the coming of the Gospel is a great comfort. The dispersion of man at Babel was God enacting His Law upon man and the preaching of the Gospel on Pentecost is the fulfillment of God’s Law by uniting the multitude of nations, tribes, peoples, and languages in the Body of Christ.

Just as fire is both deadly and necessary for life, so too the Word of God kills and gives life. The Law comes to reveal our sin and cause us to flee. But we must ask, “To where shall I go? I am a poor, wretched sinner. Where is salvation found?” Then the Holy Spirit enters in with the satisfying warmth of the Gospel to reveal the deeds of Christ saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”[2] “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”[3]

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

[1] Revelation 7:9-10.

[2] St. John 14:27.

[3] Acts 2:21.