In Memoriam + Susan Kay Fields +

In Memoriam + Susan Kay Fields + – November 1, 2022

Psalm 23; Job 19:21-27; Romans 3:19-28

St. Luke 2:25-32

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

Although Scripture does not tell us his actual age, it is presumed that Simeon is an old man when he sings the words just read. “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant, depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples.”[1] Presumably many years before, the Lord revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the coming of the Lord’s Christ. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple, Simeon joyfully took up the child and burst forth in song.

What Simeon is praying for is death. He is praying that God would release him from this veil of tears because the Word of God had been fulfilled. The Savior had been born to save the world from sin. Confident that the Christ had come to forgive his sins, Simeon tells God that he is ready to die in peace.

Be very careful not to misunderstand these words of Simeon. When he asks to depart in peace, Simeon is not asking for a quiet death. He is not praying to fall asleep with a pleasant dream and simply not wake up on this side of glory. The peace in which Simeon prays to depart is peace with God. This peace is only possible with the coming of the Savior, the coming of the Son of God in human flesh, the coming of Jesus Christ.

St. Paul writes that “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in [God’s] sight…for there is no difference; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[2] To be justified in God’s sight is to be declared, to be made, righteous, and yet there is nothing to be done according to the deeds of the law for man to make himself righteous. All have fallen short. All have sinned. All have sinned first through the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and then through the sins of your own flesh; sins in thought, word, and deed.

What are these sins? They are the works of the flesh: adultery, fornication, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, wrath, selfishness, dissensions, envy, murder, drunkenness, and the like.[3] Anything that is contrary to the will of God is sin and there is no one who is free from sin. All have fallen short of the glory of God.

Falling short of God’s glory would not present a problem if God was unjust. If God was unfair, unjust, and played by inconsistent rules, then sin would not matter. God would choose those whom He likes, or who please Him, and they would be saved. Those He doesn’t like; they would be damned. But the True and Living God cannot be persuaded. He cannot be bribed. He is not partial and He is not unfair. God is just.

God’s justice means that the only fair punishment for rebelling against His Word is death…eternal death. All sin is worthy of eternal death no matter how slight in your eyes because all sin is a despising of the God who created you. According to God’s justice alone, man does not stand a chance.

The evidence of sin and the consequences thereof lay before us today. Susan died because of sin. Do not misunderstand me, she did not die because God was punishing a specific sin. God is not so petty as to punish a lewd joke with a terrible disease. No; Susan died because she is human and in being human, she has participated in the sins common to all mankind. The wages of sin is death.

Thanks be to God that He is not only just. He is also the justifier of man. What does this mean? It means that God Himself is the one who took on human flesh. It means that God Himself lived a perfect life. He was born without sin because He was born of a virgin, without inheriting the sin of Adam. As Jesus walked through Galilee and Judea, teaching and healing, He was also gathering the sin of man upon His shoulders. When the Pharisees and the mob took Him to Pilate and demanded Jesus be crucified, He humbly submitted to an unjust death.

Where God is perfectly just, man is unjust. Therefore, God submitted Himself to an unjust death. The sins of man that He bore on His shoulders, He carried with Him to the cross. As Jesus Christ breathed out His final breath on the cross, He died the death that every human deserves. He endured the anguish not only of His own torturous death on the cross, but the physical and spiritual torment due to every human at every time and in every place. There is no suffering common to man which our Lord did not endure.

This same Jesus rested in the tomb for three days and then rose again. Christ rose from the dead not only because He is God, but because death had no claim to Him. He had not sinned in any way. The wages of sin is death and He had not earned death. Because of this, Jesus broke the power of death. He broke the chains of death. He ripped the teeth out of the vicious dog.

This is what Jesus means when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”[4] The death and resurrection of Jesus is the opening of the doorway to eternal life. Death no longer has dominion over those who are in Christ Jesus. Thus, when Simeon prays for a peaceful death, he is not rushing to die. He is not trying to hurry along. He is not looking for a death with dignity. He is asking that God would deliver to him the joys of salvation, that which has been promised to him in the death and resurrection of the Christ.

There was not a moment of Susan’s illness that was not torturous. Aggressive cancer is an ugly sight. It is an ugly sight because it is a visual reminder of the ugliness and the terrible effects of sin. It is the body consuming itself through growth against the will of man and the will of God. How can a just and merciful God allow such suffering, especially to one of His dear children?

Susan was a humble woman. A part of her humility was never bothering to question why God brought her such suffering. Susan’s faith, her trust in God, was an example to us all. And yet, not all of us are capable of such humility. We may question. We may worry.

The 17^th century pastor and hymnwriter, Paul Gerhardt, can help us to understand Susan’s humility, and possibly help us to imitate her great faith:

8    Leave all to His direction;

            In wisdom He doth reign,

      And in a way most wondrous

            His course He will maintain.

      Soon He, His promise keeping,

            With wonder-working skill

      Shall put away the sorrows

            That now thy spirit fill.

9    A while His consolation

            He may to thee deny,

      And seem as though in trial

            He far from thee would fly;

      A while distress and anguish

            May compass thee around,

      Nor to thy supplication

            An answering voice be found.

 

10  But if thou perseverest,

            Thou shalt deliverance find.

      Behold, all unexpected

            He will thy soul unbind

      And from the heavy burden

            Thy heart will soon set free;

      And thou wilt see the blessing

            He had in mind for thee.

 

11  O faithful child of heaven,

            How blessed shalt thou be!

      With songs of glad thanksgiving

            A crown awaiteth thee.

      Into thy hand thy Maker

            Will give the victor’s palm,

      And thou to thy Deliverer

                  Shalt sing a joyous psalm.

(Paul Gerhardt, Commit Whatever Grieves Thee, stanzas 8-11, translation as found in The Lutheran Hymnal. Text is in the public domain.)

On this side of glory, the children of God will continue to suffer because there is sin in the world. There is sin in our flesh. Satan and his demons still lurk in the shadows and still seek to destroy our faith that we would join them in their eternal suffering. And yet God never leaves us alone. What is a lifetime of suffering compared to an eternity of bliss in the presence of Christ? What is a year of cancer compared to an eternity of perfected glory? What is the pain of seeing a loved one suffer compared to an eternity of seeing your Savior with your own two eyes?

We are brought together today because of death. We mourn the loss of Susan because we can no longer reach out and hold her. We can no longer spend evenings talking and laughing together. It is just and right to mourn because death is not good. Death is not the friend of anyone. It is not a part of the circle of life.

However, we also gather today to look forward. We look forward to the day when all who have died will be raised. There will come a day when Christ returns to gather His people as a mother hen gathers her flock. On that day, all who have died in Christ, all who believe in Christ alone for their salvation, all who look to Him as the way, the truth, and the life will be reunited for all eternity. We shall open our eyes and see the face of Christ in glory.

However, on that day, all who do not follow the way, the truth, and the life will also be raised, but they will be raised to everlasting destruction. These will look to the face of Christ and see only judgement. These will only receive the justice of God, a just punishment for their sin. This eternal punishment is far worse than any human can imagine.

It is for this reason that we, like Susan, must rely on Christ. We must go to where He has promised to be—in His Word and Sacraments. We must gather with the church so that our bodies and souls will be fed on the Bread from heaven. We must train our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to trust on Jesus with everything that we have, praying that He would forgive our sins and strengthen us against the temptations of evil.

For a while, God may deny His consolations, His comforts to you. Susan certainly endured such a while. It may seem as though God is far off while distress and anguish surround you. And yet, if your faith perseveres, that is, if you trust that every act of God is for the good of those that love Him, then you know that He will find a way to bless you. When you least expect it, God will unbind your soul, releasing you from the burden of your sins, from pain and suffering. In Susan’s case, this meant calling her home to His side.

And then, with songs of glad thanksgiving, there will come the day when all His saints shall arise. With crowns of gold and palm branches of victory held high, the saints of God will sing His praises day and night. What a joyous day that will be. What a beautiful sight to behold. And all those who repent and believe in Christ will be there—with angels and archangels, with all the company of heaven, with Susan; and we will laud and magnify the glorious name of Christ forever and ever.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Luke 2:29-30.

[2] Romans 3:20, 22-23.

[3] Galatians 5:19-21.

[4] St. John 14:6.

The Commemoration of the Reformation

The Commemoration of the Reformation – October 30, 2022

Psalm 34; Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28

St. Matthew 11:12-19

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

The term “antichrist” is used in the Scriptures in both a broad and narrow sense. The broad sense can be found in 1 John 2, in which all false teachers are called “antichrists.”[1] This broad sense is the plain understanding of the word. False teachers stand opposed to Christ, making them “anti-Christ,” “against the Christ.”

The narrow sense of the term “antichrist” is most clearly described in St. Paul’s second letter to the Church in Thessalonica, where he writes as follows:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.[2]

With St. Paul, we can identify 5 marks of this narrow use of the term “Antichrist.”[3] First, the position taken by the Antichrist is called the “falling away,” or apostacy. This means that the Antichrist will lead Christians away from the true doctrine of the Christ, especially the central doctrine of the Scriptures—that “man cannot be justified before God by his own strength, merits, or works, but is freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when he believes that he is received into favor, and that his sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for your sins.”[4]

The second mark of the Antichrist is that he will sit in the temple of God, that is, he will arise from within the Church itself. While it is tempting to claim any number of evil political leaders as “the Antichrist,” this would be contrary to Scripture. The Antichrist shall sit himself within the Church of God and attempt to deceive God’s children from such a position within the Church.

Third, the Antichrist will conduct himself in accord with this seat within the church, namely, he will act as if he was God, Himself. The Antichrist will claim supreme authority over man, refusing to submit to any other authority. He will claim to be above the authority of all creation and to be the soul source of God’s interaction with man.

The fourth mark of the Antichrist is that although he is not Satan himself, his coming and his reign will be built and backed by all manner of lying powers, signs, and wonders. Christ warns us that many will come in His name and even perform miracles, claiming to be from God.[5] All those claiming to be from God must be judged by their doctrine, and that according to the Word of God.

The final mark of the Antichrist is that he will remain until the return of Christ. The Lord will destroy the Antichrist at His visible return and yet, as St. John writes, “As we have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists.”[6] It is this final mark that tells us the term “Antichrist,” when used in this narrow sense, refers not to an individual person, but to an office. An office endures longer than the lifetime of one man and yet remains unchanged until God destroys it.

These five marks are all fulfilled in the office of the Papacy, or the Roman Pope. At the Council of Trent, the Papacy officially declared the biblical doctrine of justification to be accursed, saying that anyone who teaches that man is declared righteous freely through the merits of Christ and cannot add to his own salvation according to his own works is anathema, that is, condemned to hell. Thus, in the Papacy, we can see the greatest and most pronounced “falling away” from the most fundamental article of faith by which man is saved.

Certainly, there are many others in the world who deny the doctrine of Justification, but the Papacy promotes such false doctrine from within the Christian Church. What I mean is that there are Christians in the Roman Catholic Church. There are Christians because they still receive Holy Baptism in the Name of the Triune God. The Holy Scriptures are still read and proclaimed. It is through these means that the Holy Spirit works faith in the hearts of man. It is a miracle of God that there are Christians who, despite the false teachings of the Pope and the seductive nature of the Church body to which they belong, still cling to faith in Christ, trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus alone for their salvation.

In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII issued Unam Sanctum, declaring that it is necessary for salvation that man be subject to the Roman Pope above all others. This is a matter of official doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church. It is necessary for salvation that man be subject to the Pope above all other authorities on earth. This means that the Pope is above any criticism. It means the Pope alone is supreme in the Church and the world. He submits to no one.

Perhaps the most seductive to the eyes of man are the numerous reports of miracles, visions, and wonders related to the Roman Pontiff. Marian apparitions, miracles of healing, and statues that weep, bleed, or heal are all said to point to the validity of the papacy. In fact, these signs point to the contrary. Since they do not point to Christ, but instead to a man who claims greater authority than the Word of God, they are demonic in origin. I do not deny that some of these signs and wonders have occurred. In fact, I’m certain they have. However, they are signs fulfilling precisely the words of our Lord: “We played the flute for you and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not lament.”[7]

Finally, in the papacy, we see an office that for a time after the apostles, remained beneath a veil. The early bishops of Rome were pious Christians who sought to lead the flocks God placed under their authority according to the Word of God. But after a time, and certainly by the 14^th century, the nature of the Papacy was revealed to be the very seat of the Antichrist. It is an office which will endure until the return of Christ, when He will destroy the Papacy, along with all who fight against Christ and His reign in the Church.

Why is it worth studying the office of the Antichrist? St. Paul told us that he wrote concerning the man of lawlessness that you would not be “soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter.”[8] A proper understanding of the Antichrist is not necessary for salvation. Salvation is only gained by faith in Christ, a true understanding of the Son of God who took on human flesh to die on behalf of the sin of man, making atonement to the Father and sending His Holy Spirit to bestow such faith on man.

An understanding of the Antichrist serves as both a warning and a comfort. It is a warning in that it draws your attention to the one thing most needful—faith in Jesus Christ. It is a warning against fascination with the mysteries of God which He has chosen not to reveal to man. It is a warning against the seductive signs, wonders, and claims to history of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is a warning against seeing different churches as simply different social clubs. There are doctrinal differences between church bodies and doctrine is important. It is important whether you confess the biblical teaching that the Body and Blood of Jesus is truly present in the Holy Communion. It is important if you confess against the clear teaching of Scripture that one man is given all authority in heaven and earth to bestow salvation on whomever he chooses. These differences matter because given time, false doctrine will destroy faith. Even though there are Christians within the Roman Catholic Church, these Christians are in danger. They are in danger of falling into the trap of the Papacy and placing their faith in the salvation of the Pope, rather than the salvation of Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of the Antichrist is also a comfort, a consolation for your conscience because it forces you to examine the true doctrine of the Scriptures. Here you will find that it is not by your works that you are saved. You will find that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. There is no work you can perform, no amount you can pay, no decision you can make to escape the punishment of hell.

Only the perfect life of Jesus, who willingly kept the Law of God perfect from the moment of His conception to His death on the cross, merits salvation. Only the sacrifice of Jesus on Mount Calvary, willingly offered to the Father on your behalf, can atone for you sin. Only the work of the Holy Spirit, who has called you by the Word of God, the Holy Gospel, can draw you to salvation.

This is a comfort because it does not rely on you. It does not rely on how you feel or how much you understand. Your salvation relies on the Blood of Jesus, shed for you, and the faith bestowed upon you by God to cling to this Word of promise. The Pope in Rome would have you kneel before him in submission to his claim to authority. Jesus Christ submitted to death, even death on a cross for you. We now kneel before Jesus Christ alone, as He alone has called you by the Holy Gospel to join Him in eternity.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 John 2:18.

[2] 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, quoted from the New King James Version (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982).

[3] Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, Volume 3 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 462-469.

[4] AC IV.

[5] St. Matthew 24:24.

[6] 1 John 2:18.

[7] St. Matthew 11:17.

[8] 2 Thessalonians 2:2.

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity – October 16, 2022

Psalm 122; Deuteronomy 10:12-21; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

St. Matthew 22:34-46

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

Our Lord’s encounter with the Pharisees can be seen as a summary of the Scriptures and an outline of your salvation recorded in three parts: The Law, The Gospel, and the application thereof.

First, we have the Law. The Pharisees approach Jesus to test Him. It is not clear if they are trying to boast that they are able to do what the Sadducees could not do, that is, trick Jesus into accusing Himself; or if they see Jesus as the enemy of their enemy and thus a friend at least for a time. The exact motivation of the Pharisees isn’t important. What we do know is that they are up to no good. It is the week of the crucifixion and they have been plotting the death of Jesus for some time. They are not now looking to make amends with Jesus.

A representative comes forward and asks Jesus which commandment is greatest. This is not a stupid question. It is important. But we must also understand the question. He is not asking which commandment is so important that it renders the other commandments unimportant. He is asking which commandment is the standard by which all commandments are measured.

Scripture tells us that all sin is worthy of death. All sin is a transgression of the will of God and thus deserving of the same eternal punishment. However, God shows particular disdain for certain sins, chiefly murder, adultery, and idolatry. If we insist that all sins are equal in every way, it will lead us to hell. It leads to hell because it says that having a lustful thought is the same as physically sleeping with someone other than your wife. It leads to hell because it says a harsh word about the guy who cut you off in traffic is the same as cutting his throat. It leads to hell because whether you choose to spank your child or beat him doesn’t matter.

Our Lord offers the proper response. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love is the summary of the Law. Love God and love your neighbor. Love is an action. It is a verb. It is something you do. It is not an emotion. How then are we to show our love for God? What actions are we to take to show love for God? By loving our neighbor. You love God by loving your neighbor. Your actions toward your neighbor demonstrate the love you have toward God because your relationship to God necessarily changes who you are and how you treat others.

The problem is that we don’t keep these laws. We do not keep the commandments to love God and love neighbor. You do not treat your neighbor as yourself. The fact that you have money in a bank account says that you do not love your neighbor as yourself. It means that you are storing some money for yourself that you have not given to someone that is in need. If you were in their shoes, you would use the money you currently have stored. Thus, you are not treating them as yourself. You are treating them as a neighbor.

This is not an admonition to empty your bank account. Rather, it is an illustration to show that we always consider our own comfort before we consider the needs of our neighbor. Not only this, we do not love God with our entire being. We chafe at His Law. We chafe at His love. How is it that God can forgive someone like Jeffrey Dahmer when I am trying to be a good person? How is it that God can expect me to forgive when even He condemns the unrepentant? How is it that God expects me to actually separate myself from the culture when He has placed me here? I need a job, so I can go along to get along.

The Law of God is good and wise. It tells us what God desires for us. It tells us how to live according to the will of God so that we might begin to please our heavenly Father. Yet even as much as the Law instructs the Christian, it will always accuse your conscience. You cannot and will not ever keep the Law perfectly. You are incapable of perfect love—perfect love toward God or neighbor. It is for this reason the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees must continue.

Our Lord asks the Pharisees concerning the Christ and whose Son He is. They answer this first question rightly. “He is the Son of David.” Then Jesus intensifies the question. “How then, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does David call the Christ his Lord? No father, let alone a king, would call his son, ‘Lord’. That is absurd.”

Jesus is teaching the Pharisees concerning His own divinity. He is confessing that the Christ is True Man and True God. The Christ, the Messiah, the Savior must be True God and True Man. He must be the son of David and the Son of God. He must be these things because He must keep the Law to love God and love His neighbor perfectly. He must keep these commandments perfectly so that the Law would be fulfilled in totality.

There is a promise of salvation in the Law. However, this promise is conditional. For the Law to give you salvation, you must keep it perfectly, with every breath you take. With man, this is impossible. From the moment of your conception, you are created in iniquity, bearing the sin of your fathers. You are born in the image of your fathers, all the way back to Adam. The Christ, however, bears the image of His Father. He bears the original righteousness of God Himself. This purity then allows Him to lead a perfect life, fulfilling the Law in a way that man cannot.

Yet if the Christ were only some demi-god, born of the union between a divine father and a mortal mother, his death would only save himself. Your salvation required the death of a True Man because God cannot die. Your salvation also required the resurrection of the True God because God is life. The Christ took the Law and the prophets and hung them on a cross. He nailed your sin to the foot of the cross, making you and all sinners His footstool.

In doing this, He fulfilled the Law of God. There are no more demands for the salvation of man. Everything necessary for you to sit in heavenly glory has been accomplished. This is the Gospel. It is a man. It is God. It is the Christ, fulfilling the Law and dying in your place. It is Jesus, rising victorious over the grave so that death would no longer have a claim on your soul.

The Holy Spirit concludes this section of Scripture with a summary statement. “No one was able to answer Jesus a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.” These two statements are an invitation for you to do what no one was able to do during that first Holy Week. You are now called by the Holy Spirit to answer Jesus’ question. You are being called to confess who the Christ is. You are being called to confess whose Son the Christ is.

We do this every Sunday morning when we confess the Nicene Creed. Hopefully, you do this every day as you recite the Apostles’ Creed. But you are also being called to confess the Christ in your life by loving God and loving your neighbor. You are being called to make the bold confession of your faith in word and action, every day of your life.

You have been freed from the bondage of the Law because it has been fulfilled. You are now free to strive to obey the Law because it no longer carries the punishment of eternal death for those who are in Christ. You are free to love God and love your neighbor because you have no need to fear the Law. You can now love the Law as we pray in Psalm 119.

The Holy Spirit is also calling you to dare to question Jesus. By this, the Holy Spirit is calling you to prayer. What are you praying for? Are you praying for wisdom? Are you praying for a fervent faith? Are you praying that God would not let you fall away from the faith? Are you praying for strength in the face of temptation, that you would never have need to fear the law of God, so long as you breathe?

You are a Christian. You have the freedom to boldly approach God’s throne and ask him as dear children ask their dear Father. You have this freedom because the Son of God took your flesh. The Son of God loved His Father’s will and loved you as His neighbor such that He would obey the commandments of God unto death, even death on a cross. Use this freedom to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Use this freedom to loudly confess the Christ is the son of David and the Son of God.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity – October 9, 2022

Psalm 119; Proverbs 25:6-14; Ephesians 4:1-6

St. Luke 14:1-11

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

Sometime before being invited to dine at the house of a leader of the Pharisees, Christ was confronted by another Pharisee.[1] At that time, He was about to heal a woman who was bent in half by a spirit of infirmity in her bones for over eighteen years. It was again a Sabbath and this Pharisee tried to stop Jesus because of the Sabbath laws. Jesus called him a hypocrite and asked if he would not loose an ox or donkey on the Sabbath to drink water. If an animal should be loosed to drink water on the Sabbath, should not a true daughter of Abraham be loosed from her bonds on the Sabbath also?

Continuing His journey toward Jerusalem, our Lord came to be invited into the home of yet another Pharisee, this time a leader of the sect. It also seems that all the Sabbath dinner guests were carefully observing Jesus, scrutinizing His words and actions for flaws of which they could accuse Him. Seeing a man with dropsy, likely a temptation planted by the host of the dinner, our Lord did not wait to be admonished by the observant Pharisees. Instead, He opens the dialogue by asking if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

Our Lord’s question is not asking for information, nor testing the knowledge of the Pharisees. It is mocking their pride. These experts in the law know that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Everyone recognizes that it is lawful to heal, bless, cure, and save on the Sabbath. The questions of our Lord on this occasion leave the Pharisees caught in their own trap. If they say yes, it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, then they are admitting the fault in their sinful attempts against Jesus. If they say no, they are denying the mercy and love of God, something that, despite their actions, they claim to uphold.

After the miracle, the Pharisees are rendered incapable of responding to Jesus. They have no words to say. Anything they might say will only further accuse them. They are silent in their shame. They are like a child who stands accused of breaking the window, trying to hide the baseball bat behind his back and afraid to speak. To speak would be to admit their sin. To remain silent is to deny the love, mercy, and forgiveness of God.

In this context, our Lord delivers a teaching on humility. He is not strictly giving the Pharisees a lesson in etiquette. It is true that according to human groups, you will gain more prestige by sitting in the lowest place and waiting to be invited to a higher seat. However, having such knowledge and using it to your advantage is not humility. It is pride masquerading as humility. Choosing the lower place to manipulate your host into inviting you higher is the same as manipulating your host into stroking your pride.

Pride is the love of your own excellence.[2] “Humility is the virtue by which a man recognizes his own unworthiness because he really knows himself.”[3] It is so very easy for us to overlook our own pride because it brings results. Results make us feel better. Feeling better about ourselves causes us to love our own efforts, our own ideas, ourselves for our own excellence.

Pride is not the same as striving for excellence. As a Christian, you are called to be the best grandmother you can be. You are even called to strive to be a better salesman, machine operator, or writer than you currently are. You are called to strive to be better so that you can better serve your neighbor. As a better grandmother, you can help guide your grandchildren into virtuous lives. As a better salesman, you can better provide for your family and help connect your customers to the products they need, not just the products that will earn you a higher commission.

Striving for excellence is not the same as loving your excellence. Loving your excellence is thinking highly of yourself; striving for excellence for the sake of recognition from others; and seeking worldly gain solely based on how great you are. This is pride. This is sin. This is, in fact, the basis of sin.

Eve was drawn to eat the forbidden fruit by curiosity. She desired to taste, to know, that which had not been given to her to taste or know. This curiosity was an expression of pride. She believed the lie of Satan that God was holding something back from her and she believed that she was deserving of everything. She believed the knowledge of good and evil was the just reward for her excellence.

Humility, on the other hand, is the basis of our salvation. The Son of God humbled Himself to be born of a virgin. He took on our flesh and made Himself unworthy of salvation by bearing the sin of the world. He who knew no sin became sin for you, so that you would become worthy of His salvation.[4] It could even be said that Christ humbled Himself so that He could learn our suffering, and having learned our suffering, He might bear it to the cross and bring it to an end.

It is because the Son of God took on flesh for our salvation that humility is the fundamental Christian virtue. It is the basis of the Christian life. The Christian must always strive toward humility because such an endeavor means you are striving to live as Christ.

There is a single road between sin and salvation. Each step toward salvation is a step away from sin and each step toward sin is a step away from salvation. Thanks be to God we are not left alone on this journey. Christ died for you that you would share in His life. The victory over sin and death is won for you. The gates of eternity stand open. The days of your life on this side of glory are perilous because they contain temptations to pride. Every day presents you with manifold opportunities to turn away from salvation and indulge in your pride, the love of your own excellence; to take the highest seat of honor and stick up your nose at those less fortunate than you.

Yet every day also presents you with the opportunity to repent. Every day offers you the opportunity to look at yourself and recognize yourself for who you are. You are a sinner. Sin lies at the door, waiting to devour you.[5] You are unworthy of salvation because your heart is willing to turn from God and indulge your flesh.

You are also a child of God. You have been washed in the waters of Holy Baptism. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who forms your prayers to be acceptable to the Father.[6] You have received the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Because you know the mercy and love of God, you have access to the Father. You may come to Him and beg forgiveness.

You recognize your unworthiness, and you know what to do about it. You come to God in prayer and beg for forgiveness, knowing that because of the blood of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. You can repent without fear because you know that Christ has died for you.

You are a saint. This is nothing to be ashamed of nor something about which to become prideful. You are a saint because you have been made a saint, a holy one. You are a saint of God who is worthy of eternal salvation. You are worthy of eternal bliss because you wear the robe of Christ’s righteousness. You have been called out of the darkness of your pride and into the marvelous light of Christ’s humility.[7]

You are a pilgrim, journeying with Christ through this side of glory until you are called home. You have been called to humility because you have been called to imitate Christ. You fulfill this call to humility by recognizing who and what you are in the sight of God. You are unworthy of His love, yet He loves you. You are unworthy of His mercy, yet He has had mercy on you. You are unworthy of His forgiveness, yet He forgives you. You are unworthy and yet in Christ, you are worthy of the glory of heaven.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Luke 13:10-17.

[2] Bernard of Clairvaux, “On the Steps of Humility and Pride,” Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works, The Classics of Western Spirituality, translated by G.R. Evans (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1987), IV.14 [112].

[3] Bernard of Clairvaux, “On Humility and Pride,” I.2 [103].

[4] 2 Corinthians 5:21.

[5] Genesis 4:7.

[6] Romans 8:26-27.

[7] 1 Peter 2:9-10.

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity – October 2, 2022

Psalm 86; 1 Kings 17:17-24; Ephesians 3:13-21

St. Luke 7:11-17

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

When comparing prayers written 500 or more years ago to those written in recent decades, you’ll notice many differences. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Language develops over time. And even if the general temptations and afflictions experienced are common to all men at all times, the specifics certainly change.

There is, however, one area in which we should pay more attention to the prayers of our distant forefathers than even our grandparents. I speak of prayers concerning suffering and death. Hear the words of our hymn of the day, The Will of God is Always Best, written in the 16^th century:

Lord, this I ask, O hear my plea, Deny me not this favor;

      When Satan sorely troubles me,

            Then do not let me waver.

      O guard me well, My fear dispel, Fulfill Your faithful saying:

            “All who believe By grace receive An answer to their praying.” [1]

Notice that in this hymn, we did not pray that God would remove the suffering or temptation. Whenever Satan troubles us—and in whatever way he might do so—we prayed that God would not let us waver from the faith He has given us. It is a prayer against losing faith in the face of suffering and temptation.

Then, we prayed that God would guard us and remove our fear. Finally, we prayed that God would fulfill the promise He has given us. He has said that the prayers of all who believe will be answered and, in this hymn, we are holding God to His promise.[2]

Our prayer continues in the fourth stanza:

When life’s brief course on earth is run And I this world am leaving,

      Grant me to say, “Your will be done,” Your faithful Word believing.

My dearest Friend, I now commend My soul into Your keeping;

      From sin and hell, And death as well, By You the vict’ry reaping.[3]

The topic of our prayer has shifted from suffering and temptation to death. Notice that our prayer is not for one more day, a miracle, or even for a peaceful end. By praying “grant me to say, ‘Your will be done,’ we are asking that God would again keep us steadfast in the faith once delivered in the face of death. We are begging God to give us the faith necessary to face the dreadful end of our life on this side of glory.

Our prayer ended by commending our souls to God’s care. It is only by His death and resurrection that the victory over sin and hell, and death as well, is given to us. We can ask God as our dearest Friend because He has come to us and brought us into His home through faith. He alone has the power to conquer death and He has called you His own. Why trust the greatest cancer doctor Mayo has to offer when he is powerless against death? Instead, see that God has given great gifts of healing to doctors but it is the Almighty alone that determines the days of your life. He alone will welcome you into the glory of heaven when the number of your days has come to an end. He alone has won the victory over Satan and the grave.

Hear now, a modern prayer, written on behalf of those experiencing serious illness:

O Lord, You are the great Physician of soul and body; You chasten and You heal. Show mercy to Your servant. Spare his life and restore his strength. Even as You gave Your Son to bear our infirmities and sicknesses, deal compassionately with him, and bless him with Your healing power. We commit him to Your gracious mercy and protection; through Jesus Christ, our Lord…[4]

In this prayer, we are asking for God’s mercy, to spare the life of the afflicted, to restore his strength, that God would deal compassionately with the afflicted, and that God would bless him with God’s healing power. Finally, we commend the afflicted to God’s gracious mercy and protection.

There is nothing heretical or false about this prayer. It is published in the Pastoral Care Companion, the small booklet designed for pastors to use on visits for the purpose of individual pastoral care. There does, however, seem to be something missing.

The modern prayer makes no mention of receiving the affliction in faith. It seems to assume that the affliction is contrary to God’s will for the Christian. Strictly speaking, prayers are not written for the purpose of teaching. They are written for the purpose of asking God for something. But our faith is shaped by the words of our mouth and the actions of our body just as much as our words and actions are shaped by our faith.

The temptation in omitting prayers to receive suffering in faith is to believe the goal of this life is to avoid suffering. The sin in this temptation is elevating the avoidance of pain, suffering, and even death, to the highest good. None is good but God alone.[5] The highest good is God, and Him taking on your flesh and dying in your place so that you might receive His life. Modern Western medicine has made this a daily temptation so that we seek constant and permanent relief from every pain. There is always a prescription, doctor, specialist, or surgery for what ails you. And if there isn’t, if you are deemed to be terminal, then there is medication to render you unconscious and unfeeling until the medicine itself finally stops your heart and lungs.

When the goal of life is to avoid suffering, it leaves no room for repentance. If pain, suffering, and death are only medical conditions, they are not the result of sin. If they are not the result of sin, then we have no need for God to remove them. Suddenly, God is only necessary when we choose to do something we think is evil. We must repent of this idolatry. All pain, all suffering, all illnesses, and death are the result of sin. God allows the suffering of His dear children so that we would never forget the severity of our sin. He allows these things so that we would repent of our sins and cling ever more tightly to Christ our Savior.

When our prayers are only focused on God ending our suffering or making it more palatable, we forget that God is a loving Father who chastens those whom He loves. We forget that the just outcome of our lives is misery and eternal death. We forget that it is only by grace that God delivers us from every evil of body and soul, property and honor, and finally, when our last hour has come, grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.[6]

It is not sinful to ask God to remove suffering, temptation, or grief. St. Paul does this three times concerning a particular messenger of Satan sent to torment him.[7] The Lord refuses to remove this temptation, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” These words cause St. Paul to gladly boast in his infirmities for he knows that God is sending them so that he would be turned away from his own sin. He rejoices in suffering and temptation because it means that he is saved not by his own flesh but by the death of Christ. When Paul is weak, Christ is strong.

Thus we have the words of today’s hymn. We are reminded to pray that God would uphold us in the faith to which He has called us. When you are suffering sickness, pain, despair, or shame, turn to God and pray that He would not let you fall; that your flesh would not succumb to this temptation such that you would lose your soul to eternal death; and if it should be the will of God to remove you from this vale of tears, thanks be to God that He has ended your suffering and brought you home to Him in heaven.

When our Lord arrives in Nain, He interrupts a funeral procession. The mother of the boy is weeping loudly. This could be an indication of the Near Eastern practice of funeral mourning or simply an expression of her grief, but it is certainly weeping and wailing as though there is no hope. Christ bids her stop her weeping. This is not a commandment against grief, it is a commandment against wailing as though death were the greatest enemy, the greatest affliction of man.

Jesus has compassion on this grieving mother.[8] He sees her pain and it moves Him to express His love for her. Stopping the pallbearers, Jesus touches the coffin. He touches the instrument of burial, the mode of transportation carrying this young man from life to death, and He says, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”[9] Immediately, the boy sat up and began to speak.

Jesus was indicating to the crowd that this instrument of burial has no power in the presence of Christ. Jesus is foreshadowing His own death, by which the grave no longer has dominion over man. Jesus will take the place of this young man and conquer death on his behalf. Christ will rise again, just as this young man rose, but the resurrection of Christ endures forever. By His death, the victory has been won on your behalf. By His resurrection, eternity has been given to you.

The coffin is no longer the final resting place of this young man nor anyone who dies in Christ. The tomb is now a cemetery, a word that literally means “sleeping place.”[10] The young man hears the word of the Lord and immediately sits up and speaks the praises of God. Scripture is silent as to what the young man said, but I believe he immediately began singing the Sanctus, the Gloria in Excelsis, or another of the songs sung in heaven. He immediately went from praising God in heaven to praising God in the flesh.

So, when you suffer, pray that God would remove the affliction. Pray that God would hear your prayer and answer it just as He has promised. But do not forget to pray for the most important thing—that God would sustain you through this affliction in the one true faith; that God would grant you the strength to persevere through the affliction, as long as it is His will that you would be afflicted; that God would continue to show mercy to you by bringing to your remembrance that this world is fleeting in the eyes of eternity.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Albrecht von Preussen, The Will of God is Always Best, stanza 3, as found in Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 758.

[2] St. John 14:12-14.

[3] Preussen, The Will of God is Always Best, stanza 4.

[4] The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, “Prayer 254 alt.,” Pastoral Prayer Companion (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2007), 199.

[5] St. Matthew 19:17.

[6] Martin Luther, “The Lord’s Prayer: The Seventh Petition,” The Small Catechism.

[7] 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

[8] St. Luke 7:13.

[9] St. Luke 7:14.

[10] “Κοιμητήριον [koi-mā-TĀ-rion] – bedroom, place of rest.” A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd edition, revised and edited by Frederick William Danker [Commonly known as BDAG] (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), 551.