Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

What comforting signs God has in mind for you who are living in these end-times! But they look pretty scary at the same time. Judgment Day is near, as Jesus promises, and along with it come the signs: armies laying siege, people fleeing Jerusalem, great distress on the earth, wrath against this people, signs in sun and moon and stars, distress of nations from the sea and the waves, people fainting in fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. Sounds like an apocalyptic thriller movie, or a news release out of the Middle East! And these are the signs with which Jesus wants to encourage you?! Listen again to what He says: “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

But why is it so important for today, to know so much about what will happen in the future? What use can you make of these “highway signs” while you are so intent on the present-day road that you and yours are traveling in life? It would seem to be enough these days to juggle school, home and work schedules, run to endless meetings and get-togethers, handle the occasional crises that come up, keep up on your e-mails and phone calls. Then, if all that weren’t enough, you add a few big holidays coming up, with shopping, cooking, traveling and cleaning that’ll make you crazy. Anyway, the point is clear: it’s so easy to get engulfed in cares and concerns of the present, that you lose sight of the goal of our precious Christian faith, that is, our eternal salvation.

That’s why these signs are so scary-looking. That’s probably why the Bible says only a few things about what the full glory of heaven will be like. It’s all designed, quite intentionally, to shake you out of the present-day worries and needs and fleeting pleasures. You have fallen for the strangle-hold of the here-and-now. The people were amazed at those massive temple stones. In the very same way, you are enthralled by anything that steals your attention from Jesus and His glorious coming. The passing, temporary things of this life remain the most important to you, even though you’re objecting even now, thinking: I’ve got my priorities straight, I’m doing my part. And although you can give one testimonial after another about how God has blessed you in your life, showing everyone else how thankful you are to Him, your Lord still knows your heart. He sees when you begrudge the difficult times that you’re facing. You cave in to your secret weaknesses because that’s so much easier than to remain strong. He has created in you a clean heart, and you don’t waste a moment getting it dirty again with sinful thoughts, words and deeds.

Of course, it is easier for a Christian to think of the heavenly things when there is very little to hope for on this earth. That explains the stories of death-bed conversions or renewals of faith. It brings to life what Jesus says— that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The more faith that you have invested in the things of this world and the here-and-now, the less faith you have to put in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

If your earthly life were in danger every day, like it is right now for many believers around the world (I’m thinking especially about those Christians who face persecution at the hands of Muslim governments and armies); if you were in their situation, then you would be bowed down, crushed to the ground in despair since you cannot count on any blessings that you can see. And yet that moment, when you give up on everything you hope for in this life, that’s an opportunity for the Lord to raise your head in true hope of your redemption, that is, your heavenly rescue that is just around the corner.

So you who live in the comfortable, freedom-loving United States of America, although you may just be getting by in a state like ours, yet you still have food and shelter and a few of what you call the “necessary comforts,” you who may even have some of the nice things that money or plastic can buy: what hope is there for you? You are not persecuted, you are not homeless, or suffering a complete lack of adequate medical care (at least not yet!). Sorry if I’m making it sound like a bad thing, but you may not have anything going on in your life so utterly drastic that it’s automatically built-in to force you to appreciate the true, heavenly joy that is already hidden in the forgiving word of God, the everyday water in the baptismal font, the common bread and wine that is seen upon this table. It can be bad because many other desires of your heart can get in the way. And even though you are often tempted to look for that heavenly joy in emotionally touching and entertaining worldly things, the gift remains yours without anything you have to do for it. This free gift also means that you are completely transformed by the grace of God that was given to you in your Baptism. He sets you at war against your own sinful human nature, but it is a war that He will win for you.

Because the decisive victory in that battle wasn’t your decision to follow Jesus. It wasn’t when you stood up in public and confessed the Christian faith, as exhilarating as that may have felt. If you only had to rely on the strength of your faith or those emotional mountain-top experiences, then you’ll be left with nothing when those things fade during difficult times. No, the decisive victory in the war you face every day was already won for you when Jesus suffered for your sins and died on the cross to give you eternal life. That remains the only hope you have, whether you are barely getting by, or living on Easy Street. And in the end, especially at the end of this temporary world, that is all that matters to you. For that humble Savior who died unjustly under the Divine curse, is the same Son of Man who is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity, and will return soon in a cloud with power and great glory.

So, when terrifying events take place, when suffering and hardship come along for no good reason, even if you are treated shamefully because of the Lord in whom you believe, straighten up, Jesus says, and raise your heads. Listen attentively to the precious, powerful words of eternal life that are entering your ears. Thank the Lord for washing you clean in Baptism. Kneel with all the others at this table who have publicly confessed total agreement with each other, and with the saints whom we cannot see but who are safe in the Lord’s care, then open your mouth to eat and drink the holy Body and Blood of Christ given and shed for you.

These gifts are all the preparation you need for those scary-looking end-times. In fact, these gifts bring you the good parts of the end of the world that you are looking forward to as your inheritance. You just get it in a hidden form for now. Though chaos and violence against the Christian faith boils all around you, the Lord still brings you through. These sacramental signs in which your Jesus hides Himself are not as fearful as the other signs of the end of the world, but they are definitely more important, because they connect you to Jesus, the true source of comfort that your soul needs. Since you the Church have the Father’s promise that your name is written in His book, be sure to encourage one another as you see the great Day approaching, and as you are filled with the Lord’s heavenly gifts, you too shall stand firm to the end and be saved.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Readings:
Mal. 4:1–6 The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings
Psalm 98 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it
2 Thess. 3:1–13 that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
Luke 21:5–36 then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

The Sadducees said there was no resurrection, and that’s why Jesus paid attention to them, and answered their silly, make-believe marriage question. He didn’t criticize their political crony-ism, which was utterly corrupt. He didn’t chide them for hoarding their wealth and neglecting the poor, which many of them did. He didn’t even call them out for their rejection of the prophets who came after Moses. They said there was no resurrection, and Jesus wanted to make sure He addressed that, so that their Greek, New-Age style teachings would not remove the Gospel’s comforting words from the hearts of the people who truly believed in Him.

They said that death should be thought of as a good thing, a separation of a pure soul from a vile, earthly body. A resurrection that joined a soul back with its body on the Last Day, they falsely ridiculed as repulsive. God’s Word teaches that body and soul were created good together and that their separation was the result of sin and death. In this context of ancient Jerusalem, just like what happens today, evil was called good, and the good creation of God—a human body—was degraded and treated like trash. I know that Christians today have varying opinions on this, but historically speaking, you must admit, the practice of cremation did not originate from any Christian teaching, but rather it came from an idea similar to what the Sadducees held, that the body was worthless at death and worthy of nothing but to be tossed aside when you’re done with it. God says altogether different things about the human body that He specially designed and gave to you and blessed as it was to be the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Now that we are in the portion of the church year that follows All Saints’ Day, and the themes of the Church that emphasize the events that will take place at the End of the world, we do well to follow what Jesus is saying about the resurrection of the body, too. He knew that the ludicrous question that the Sadducees asked Him about a widow marrying seven brothers was only meant to trap Him. We today have lots of strange questions thrown at us as traps—including certain questions about marriage and using bathrooms that nobody ever thought about as a problem even 5 years ago. With regard to those Sadducees, Jesus knew He wasn’t going to change their mind, but He was, and He always is, eager to proclaim His comforting truth to you, so that you remain convinced of the truth that you have come to know and love and claim as your very own, that is, the truth of the resurrection of your body when the life of the world to come finally arrives with His glorious return.

Our Lord reminds you that you live in two distinct ages. Jesus spoke of, on the one hand, “sons of this age” and “sons of God,” even “sons of the resurrection” on the other hand. It’s like you are standing on a cosmic threshold, with a foot in one world and the other foot in a different world. This is what it’s like for you now, but sooner or later, it will become different for all of us. For now, you have relationships and obligations and contracts, and discerning what in your life is temporary and what is eternal can at times be quite confusing and complicated. But Jesus helps you sort it all out.

There was one situation, you might recall, in which Jesus had to ask a man, “Who made Me an arbiter over your dispute with your brother?” Jesus the Son of the Most High God possessed every right to weigh in as Judge on whatever decision was made, however, He had already handed over the authority to some other human judge, while He was going to stay focused on His salvation mission. In the verses just before this Gospel reading from Luke 20, Jesus gave the well-known advice, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Marriage is a truly blessed gift, but the contract parts of it are limited only to this life. God made male and female, and no amount of surgery or personal self-feelings can remove that from each of our identities. As valuable as these Biblical teachings are about the things that belong to this world, don’t allow these debates to stray your focus from the matters that impact eternal life.

Sure, you have concerns related to this age—I’m not here to dispute that, nor am I saying that you would be betraying your Lord if you were paying attention to earthly things like your work, school, family, community, and friends. In fact, God is pleased that you tend to your vocations that He has given you in these areas. The Amish are only one well-known example of people who approached daily earthly life with the same mistake in judgment that the Sadducees made about the physical body, thinking all of it was evil and needs to be avoided. Jehovah’s Witnesses think the same about celebrating birthdays and holidays. They don’t. Martin Luther as a monk at one time thought that he was entering a holy life vocation in order to avoid all that worldly sin, but later reflected that he had been deceived by a lie.

The Lutheran Christian, guided only by the truth of Scripture alone and confident of salvation by grace alone, has the privilege and also the burden, of remembering that your baptism has placed you into another age, one that lasts forever and will not fade away with this world. You have been born into the age of the resurrection even though for a while you have remained a part of the age in which the earthly, temporary things still take place. Jesus later spoke about your situation as being in the world, but not being of the world. What counts for eternity is worthy of greater attention than what is before you day to day, although for now the day to day is not totally excluded. All Saints’ Day on the Church calendar can be useful to remind us how important this age of the resurrection is for us, since we don’t always experience the death of a loved one or a national tragedy like 9/11, yet even when these things do happen, we automatically turn to the only strength that can pull us through, and that is the strength of God’s promise that we belong to Him now, and not to this temporary, passing away world.

Your loved ones whom you don’t see anymore are already fully part of that inheritance of the resurrection, and so are you. Jesus said He and His heavenly Father, together with the Holy Spirit are together the God of the living, not of the dead. I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, simultaneously at the same time as He is the God of Moses, King David, Mary and Joseph, St. Paul, Martin Luther, David Stirdivant, Paul Hall, Bill Saulnier, Dean Hickox, and Clara Riedel. He is, and He remains, their God, even though they died. It doesn’t matter how they were buried. Their sins, just like yours, don’t hold them back from any spiritual blessing, because forgiveness has conquered over sin. They aren’t married or given in marriage anymore, but something greater than that has remained for them, a permanent, eternal relationship with Christ and membership in His everlasting kingdom. The resurrection that awaits them, and you, and all of God’s saints, that resurrection at the last Day will only confirm that which is already true. Though you don’t see them anymore, they are with you, especially since the whole company of heaven fills this place every time the Divine Service with Holy Communion takes place.

How can we deny such a great blessing to those we know should be here in Church with us? How can you allow your cares for the earthly life dominate over this higher, greater gift that is the age of the resurrection that you so treasure? You must confess that it is all too easy to worry more about something temporary, to want your friends to like you, to get distraught over how our country is changing, to wonder when it will be more difficult or too costly to operate as a church as we’re used to. You aren’t like those people questioning Jesus, trying to trap Him with unbelief, but you are staring at things of this life that can cause great fear at times, and you wonder if everything really is going to be all right.

But do not fear! The crucified and risen Lord Jesus has had mercy on you. He takes your sins and shortcomings and weaknesses that died with Him on that cross and instead He creates in you a new heart. He made you worthy to attain to the age of the hope of the resurrection for your body. He gives the Word of life that each day converts your sinful heart and strengthens your soul. You were not worthy of God’s grace, yet He has chosen to make you worthy for the sake of Christ.

You truly live in Him, just as Jesus said, while for the time being you participate in the world with your neighbors whom you love and serve. He is your living God and, my friends in Christ Jesus, you are heirs of the promise of the resurrection, heirs along with all those Christians of the past who died in faith, of your loved ones who fell asleep in Jesus and the souls who await the resurrection of their bodies so that as complete persons, body and soul, we all will enjoy the presence of our gracious and living God forever. This is a real promise—not a fantasy or a vain dream that is meant only to make you feel better—Jesus said the Lord your God is the God of the living and not the dead. He will give you the victory. The Sadducees said, there was no resurrection. No, there is a resurrection, Jesus proved it by rising from the dead Himself and thanks to Him, that resurrection is yours!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Ex. 3:1–15 the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
Psalm 148 Praise the LORD from the heavens
2 Thess. 2:1–8, 13–17 the truth, to which He called you by our gospel
Luke 20:27-40 not the God of the dead but of the living

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

At the Reformation, God began to shine a light of Gospel truth that for a long time had gone excessively dim. Luke chapter 18 began with Jesus asking the question we heard last week, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” With the world in which Martin Luther and other reformers lived, the situation for the Church of our Lord’s faithful was just as bleak. And it wasn’t just the political intrigue of the popes and the emperors, the indulgence-sellers and the relics-superstitions. Was there any faith left? Would God build His Church amid all this works-righteousness? Our Lord answered His own question when He told this parable: two men went up to the Temple to pray. One man came back down the hill to his house justified.

The first was a Pharisee, a professional believer, proud of his perfect record. Christians who are like this man today tend to come from a long, pious and upstanding heritage. He would not be a recently converted believer, and he will make that abundantly clear to you. What is more, there are probably tons of fellow church-workers in his family tree. His moral life would have been pristine, an excellent example of good stewardship and a very productive asset toward making the church grow. He would be convinced that those like himself who do not steal or cheat or commit adultery are held in high esteem by their neighbors and even deserve a little recognition every now and then. He would be the exemplary Christian man, publicly making his firm commitment to be loyal to his wife and family and God and making sure you know all about that, too. He would tell you over and over again that if you don’t covet, you’ll become content with what you have, that charity enriches the giver, store up treasure in heaven, you know, he’d say all the right things, and truly mean them with all his heart.

This Pharisee was perfectly satisfied and happy with the way he fulfilled the law. He had found righteousness in this life by his own good works. He received honor and glory among his own people, and he deserved it. He had his reward. And he was such a nice man, that in his kindness, he looked for ways to help others achieve this peace that he had with God. He wanted others to read the Bible as diligently as he did, and to pray as impressively as he could. He wanted others to feel as close to God as he felt, and he was grateful to the Lord that he was not some miserable person without a clear purpose in life like that tax collector.

That was the second man in the Temple whom Jesus mentions. He was a traitor to his people, he oppressed them, actually he helped a foreign world-superpower government called the Roman Empire, and they oppressed his people, which was what made them consider him a traitor. Today you would find this cheating low-life at some dumpy used-car lot or pawn shop. He cheated his own flesh and blood and he knew it. He was not at all satisfied or happy with himself. He was ashamed of his behavior, of the selfish, hurtful choices he had made, of the disgrace he had become. His life was a total mess. No one trusted him. He was a sinner, the worst of them all. He knew it, and because of that, he felt alone and afraid. How could he find a gracious God to smile on him?

So this tax collector came to the Temple, to the House of Prayer for all people, to the place of sacrifice and the holy Ark of the Covenant, in order to pray. Twice a day an animal was sacrificed there during what was called an atonement sacrifice, a morning sacrifice and an evening sacrifice. At both times it was allowed for God’s people to lift up their hands in prayer to the Lord who promised a Savior to make the final, one-and-only atonement sacrifice. And so this poor man, who was materially rich from his unfair tax-collecting fees, stands on animal blood-stained pavement, standing at a distance from the other people and from the curtain that hid the Ark, hid God’s holy presence, from his sight. In that Ark were the very tablets on which God Himself wrote the law for Moses to proclaim. It was the law that condemned this man. It is the same law that condemns you.

But over that Ark of the Covenant, between the magnificent golden cherubim (the angels), God promised to place Himself. He shielded His people from His own law. He was there on the “mercy seat,” because that was the location where the God of mercy sat to remove this man’s judgment. He protects you from the Law’s condemnation; He satisfied the law’s demands on your behalf. He ushered in the Gospel that gave great power to the Reformation that went viral after that fateful day, October 31, 1517.

The tax collector in Jesus’ story came to the Temple, at the time of the atonement sacrifice in order to obtain that mercy from God. That’s what the Reformers were looking for in their day, as well. This man came to wrestle with God in prayer, he held God down to His Word. He pleaded for God to be true to Himself, to be merciful to him, a sinner, the worst of sinners. He had nothing to hope for but for God to be forgiving, to be satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ in his place, and to keep His never-ending promise of salvation. And you know what? God kept His promise to that man. For the sinner, the unworthy tax collector, and not the long-time professional believer, went home justified. As far as God is concerned, the tax collector was righteous, holy, innocent and pure, without any shame, regret, and even his sinful past no longer existed anymore.

This parable was spoken to some people who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and had despised others. But those who would find mercy with God, must rather despise themselves. For as God’s law reveals in you, you are unrighteous, sold as a slave to sin. Your only hope is to trust in Jesus, who alone is righteous and holy, and God has already promised to have mercy on you. Here is where you see the irony of the Christian Faith: those who are without sin, those who have been baptized, declared to be God’s child, and forgiven, you know, people like you and the believing tax collector, you feel your sin. If anyone felt the pain of sin, it was Martin Luther, for sure! He had personal experience with the pain of sin. It hurts you inside. You don’t feel like a Christian. It is shameful and awkward as you struggle with it. But those who are in sin, who embrace it and seek to justify themselves in the eyes of other people, like the Pharisee, they are the ones who are satisfied and happy with their lives. The devil doesn’t bother them.

That is how it is in the Kingdom of God. It is a kingdom of ironies and opposites: God became Man, Death brought you Life, He who knew no sin became sin. The cross made from dead wood that brought extreme torture and bloody death was the Tree of Life and the new “mercy seat” on which the merciful God sat enthroned in ironic glory. The King in this heavenly Kingdom does not send soldiers off to die in wars that only benefit Himself and His subjects, like what happens in this world. Instead, this King, the Good Shepherd, lays down His own life! He dies in order to enrich the rebels and traitors who spoke against Him and wanted Him to die. He allows His enemies to destroy Him, and pleads to His Father to forgive them and accept His death as payment for their crime.

His life is given as the one and only atonement sacrifice that the repentant tax collector claims as his only hope, and what you claim as your only hope: because you pray every week for forgiveness for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of your beloved Son Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being. This is how the Lord will answer His own question, how He will find faith on the earth, that is, He will find it in the most undeserving or unlikely people, namely tax collectors, sinners and infants who hardly can make any contribution on their own. He’ll find faith, even in your heart, because by His Holy Spirit in Baptism He put it there in the first place. A true Reformation only happens when once we come to terms with how far astray we have roamed in our sin.

It is only the blind who are given sight. Only the sick are healed by your great Physician of Body and Soul. Only the dead are given life, and only the repentant are forgiven. Sinners like you are the only ones whom God sees as saints for the sake of Christ and therefore you too go back to your homes justified. Come, then, O Sinners! Participate in your own Reformation! Come to the Holy of Holies in this place at this Table to feast on Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Come like that tax collector, bring your pain, your fear, your worries, and shame, and loneliness, your failures and disgrace. Come to where God promises to be, where He extends His mercy, where He gives Himself to you. The Lord has shone the light of the Gospel to illuminate your heart, when you read that you are saved by the Grace of Christ Alone, received through Faith Alone, as it is found in Scripture Alone. Come to the Temple that is made without human hands, the Temple Jesus who was torn down by men on the cross, but raised in three days from the tomb. For Jesus, the propitiation and payment for your sins, He and His generous forgiveness comes this day to your ear and in Holy Communion comes right into your mouth. You the sinner now have been reformed into the pure Temple of the Holy Spirit. Go home this day justified, for you are in the good company of Luther and all the Reformers, yes, the Church of all places and ages.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Rev. 14:6–7 worship Him who made heaven and earth
Psalm 46 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God
Rom. 3:19–28 a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
John 8:31–36 you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
or Matt. 11:12–19 there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

When you read and study the Bible, are you looking for advice on how you should live your life? As you search the Scriptures, do you seek insight into making difficult decisions? Many people look to God’s Word for only those reasons. The only thing they hope for from the mouth of God is the law. At least when you’re trying to fulfill the law, and live a Christian life, you’re still in control, even though you try to convince others and yourself that the Lord is. Bookstore shelves are overflowing with twelve-step programs, testimonial stories, and money-management tips that the authors claim are drawn right out of the Old and New Testaments. The only reason Jesus may be mentioned by name is because He could portray a model of effective leadership, or give some helpful etiquette tips. And if you happen to hear of His miracles, or His death and resurrection, those all-important events of faith take a back-seat to the overemphasis on His teachings concerning love and dispute-resolution, or what have you.

Now, when you look in the Bible for examples of moral living, there are a few characters who make you a little uncomfortable to mention in mixed company. Jacob is one of those people on whom you probably had to keep a pretty watchful eye. His name means “ankle-grabber” and it was given to him because that’s what he was doing to his twin brother Esau when they were born. Later in life, Jacob became notorious for his deceptive tactics, and was prodded on by his mother to steal his father’s blessing of inheritance with a simple meal. Later, his father-in-law deceived him and switched out one daughter on Jacob and tricked him into working for the other one. Before all is said and done, Jacob ends up with twelve sons and at least one daughter by four women! So much for Jacob being an example of good morality—he’d be a better case of behavior that you should avoid. And yet you may be surprised to hear that this story of Jacob is one of the best examples God has given of prayer.

And prayer is another well-covered topic, because it often falls into the category of the law. It’s something you should be doing, and if you would do more of it, things would turn out better for your life. You feel compelled to discourage a little child from being selfish in bedtime prayers as he or she is running through a whole list of things they want from God. And yet right afterward you go and do the same thing: if only my job could be more secure, if only my family and friends would like me, I would be happy if we brought in just a little more each month. And prayer is where you often turn for help because you want to get stuff. That might make prayer a popular thing to do for a while, but then the reality of life hits you and you either suppose that you didn’t pray the right way or that God has actually abandoned you, left you high and dry, and you feel totally helpless. Then it is often easy to become disenchanted with prayer, and you eventually drop it in hopes of something else more effective.

So, how is the deceptive, conniving, polygamist Jacob an example of prayer? Rather than looking at what Jacob does, you must instead turn your attention to what Jacob believes. For what he does is more or less up to him and it’s an all too common fact that like you, Jacob’s sinful, selfish nature often is what wins out in everyday life. But what he believes, that is not up to him, it was not anything he could take credit for. That is, Jacob’s faith, just like your faith, is completely a gift of God placed in the heart. And prayer is the sometimes joyful, sometimes agonizing struggle that exercises this God-given faith and puts it to work.

Prayer is a struggle? Absolutely, and not only prayer, but all of your Christian life is a struggle. And not a struggle merely with yourself, you know, saint versus sinner and so on. You are locked in a daily wrestling match with the Lord, just like Jacob was. The only difference is in the sort of wrestling moves you are using in your struggle. Instead of an exchange of physical blows or shifting your center of gravity, trying to force each other flat on their back, rather these are what your moves might be like, listen carefully:

God says: you have sinned. You respond: Yes, but you love sinners and you desire for me to be saved. God says: you deserve punishment. You respond: Yes, but Christ has taken that punishment for me on the cross. God says: you shall surely die. You respond: But in Jesus’ resurrection you, Lord, have guaranteed my resurrection to eternal life!

Do you notice what is going on in this struggle that I’ve just described? Your wrestling opponent is giving you all the moves you need to pin Him down to the mat! He sets you up to win this match that’s called prayer. That’s what’s even more strange than thinking of prayer as a struggle with God, is that He makes sure you beat Him through His promises. You pin your hope to one of His unchangeable promises, and thus you’ve pinned your heavenly Father. Sure you may come out of it a little beat up with life’s persecutions or surrendering some of the sinful world’s passing comforts, but wasn’t it better for Jacob, who was renamed Israel, to enter the Promised Land with a limp than for him with limber joints to run the opposite direction and live only for himself? Jesus said something like that before: it will be better to enter life lame, blind or crippled than with a whole body to suffer in hell. You prevail in your wrestling match of prayer with God the same way: with a few occasional difficulties now, but you’ve pinned God to His promise that He will bless you eternally in Christ Jesus.

That was exactly what I said happened when the Gentile woman asked Jesus for healing and said even the little dogs eat crumbs that fall from the Master’s table. That was her wrestling move! She had faith, God-given faith, that reminded God of His own promise to save all people, that even a crumb from the heavenly table would be enough for eternal salvation. And so Jesus said to her, just as He says to you: your faith has saved you. You see, this is not because you said the right prayer, or that you believed with great fervency and strength, but because you rubbed God’s face in the promise that He’s already made to you ever since you were baptized. He cannot go back on His promise, so He’s pinned. And you know what: nothing could delight Him more! Sure He commands you to pray, and yet it’s not a requirement. He’s simply inviting you to contend in a match in which He’ll guarantee you’ll win. And the prize for the winner? Forgiveness of sins, life and eternal salvation!

And so when you read or study the Bible, when you hear God’s Word being proclaimed, don’t just search for helpful tips for everyday life. Don’t perk up your ears merely for matters of the law. Morality is definitely important, and it must be an integral part of us as well-disciplined Christians. But here’s the big secret: the law never gives you the important wrestling moves you need in prayer. You’ll never fulfill God’s demands that He makes in the Ten Commandments. What you’ll need to listen very closely for are His promises. The Gospel, the good news of salvation by believing in Jesus Christ the crucified: that’s how you’re going to pin your Lord down every time. The Gospel writer Luke reports to you that Jesus is so many times better than the unjust judge for this purpose, remember what it said?: “to the effect that [you] ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

At this altar, you have the true Body and Blood of the Son of God who came down briefly to wrestle with Jacob long ago, but who also came later on in your own human flesh to take away your sin and lead you, the true Israel, to the ultimate Promised Land. No better assurance exists in all the world of God’s promise to your body and to your soul. In these precious gifts that you receive in your ear and in your mouth, He has given you the gift of saving faith to prevail in the struggle of prayer. And whether in this short life you’ll become a good leader, an effective parent, a millionaire, or simply a better help to someone in need, let Him take care of all that.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Gen. 32:22–30 Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel
Psalm 121 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
2 Tim. 3:14—4:5 All scripture is given by inspiration of God … Preach the word!
Luke 18:1–8 parable of the unjust judge

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

The Old Testament book of Ruth begins with death, disgrace, abandonment and a critical decision. The prophet Samuel, who is believed to be the author, ends this divinely-inspired short story with life, a new identity, love and the promise of God’s eternal kingdom. All of this drama is covered in a mere 85 total verses. Ruth is a hero of faith in that she willingly denounced her home country and pagan religion, faced an uncertain future in Israel at the side of her mother-in-law, all because of her devotion not only to Naomi, but most especially was she devoted to the one true God. For this act of selfless faithfulness we have a holy obligation to praise the Lord for His mighty work through lowly Ruth, and yet, God is doing much more through this young woman than giving us a good example.

The story of Ruth is also a genealogy, a family tree. A crisis of huge proportions lies just under the surface of this little book of the Old Testament. When Naomi’s husband and sons die, there is more in trouble than just an inheritance of land and carrying on the family name. God made a promise to the family line of Judah that He would provide the promised Messiah as their own flesh and blood. Naomi’s husband Elimelech is Judah’s direct descendant. Once he and his sons die, where then will our Savior come from? How then will the world’s history get to King David and the realized promise of eternal life in God’s kingdom? God Himself will provide the unbroken family tree, here in the time of the Old Testament book of Judges. Matthew chapter one points this out: the foreigner Ruth is listed there as an ancestor of Jesus Christ. Her marrying Boaz is in order to fulfill God’s will that ultimately brings forth the Redeemer of the whole world.

What a monumental weight to place on anyone’s shoulders! Not to mention a woman who was born outside of the Lord’s people. As a Moabite woman, Ruth had inherited not the promise given to Abraham, but rather her bequest consisted of the series of unfortunate events that came to Abraham’s nephew Lot. I will remind you of the history, from Genesis 19. Hundreds of years before the time of Judges, Lot had separated from Abraham and chose to live in the valley, while Abraham roamed the hills [Genesis 13]; he then had to escape Sodom and Gomorrah when those places were destroyed. His wife looked back and became a pillar of salt, and he and his daughters ended their days living in a cave out of fear. Why he does not join back together with Uncle Abraham, the Bible never tells us. His daughters felt alone and desperate living in that cave, even though Lot had catechized them always to be faithful to the Lord, even while they were living in that faithless smut-pot of homosexual sin known as Sodom. They felt, nevertheless, that the only way they would have children would be if the seed (to put it mildly) came from their own father. And so, they may have escaped the fire and brimstone, but sin’s curse still got the best of them, and the consequences pulled them away from God’s gracious promises. Each daughter had a son, one called hers by the name Ben-Ammi which means “son of my father”, who became the father of the Ammonites, but the elder daughter had a son named Moab, which means “from the father.” The Moabites descended from a man whose dad was also his grandpa! That’s certainly no proud pedigree for Ruth to brag about as a Moabite woman. Her people became despised enemies of the people of Israel, much like the Samaritans were during the time of Jesus. It wouldn’t make sense to carry on the royal line of the Messiah with horribly sinful baggage like that.

But Ruth, as a young widow walking along with her widowed mother-in-law, was not concerned about anything that made sense. She had a sister-in-law named Orpah who listened to Naomi’s urgings to go back. Ruth wouldn’t budge. Not a hope existed for her to get another husband of the same blood as the deceased. Even if Naomi should have a baby late in life just like Sarah and Abraham did, would Ruth wait to marry a man whom she would likely help Naomi raise from infancy? Impossible! Yet Ruth clung on, making a solemn vow that called down God’s very judgment upon herself if she should break her promise. The best anyone could imagine would be a life of poverty for two widows who only have the support of each other. Not a smart plan for the future; any professional advisor could tell you that.

What faith would be worth anything if it is not tested, tried and purified by the difficulties that you face, the crosses that you bear in this world? If for this life only we have hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be the most pitied. For you aren’t a Christian to make your life in this sinful world any easier. It may be quite easy to talk about “blind faith” but it’s a whole other thing to carry it out. All the sensible advice in the world can’t justify or cover up the sinful, selfish desires that come to you naturally. Sure, you’re impressed by the faithfulness and dedication of someone like Ruth, but when it comes to those critical moments in our lives, haven’t we acted as the children of light that we are only at the times when it suits us? Think of the man with whom Boaz confers in Ruth chapter 4. This other man was the one who was better suited to buy back Naomi’s land. And he was ready to do it, until he hears of the obligation to marry Ruth that went along with it. That wouldn’t help his investment strategy. He would have to put up his own inheritance to purchase property that won’t end up passing on to his heirs after all. It’s too risky, so he gives up his right to Boaz. Let him take the hit. Not only Ruth, but Boaz also acts by faith rather than by sight.

So Ruth and Boaz marry, without regard to sense, in spite of better judgment, and without guarantee of any measurable success. But God has been working all along; He always has the bigger picture in mind. He works all things together for your good as well. For as the genealogy of Ruth attests, their marital union was blessed and the family tree of King David was preserved. And from David’s line would be born the Messiah, Jesus the truly Faithful One who has made foolish the wisdom of this world. He poured out in sacrifice not only His heavenly inheritance as the Son of God but also gave His very life and suffered terribly for your sake. Though you find yourself counting the cost and following good worldly sense, He set it all aside so that He could redeem you for His very own. You were bought at a price, and when our Lord rose from the dead victorious, He pulled you out of your sinful human family line of death and claimed you as His pure, forgiven bride, washed in baptismal water and given a new name as a child of God.

Like Ruth’s ancestor Lot, you also have been vindicated in your trials and struggles. His disgraceful, last days living in a cave eventually brought about a loving, faithful young woman who was devoted to the Lord, and through her Lot’s family line did in fact rejoin that of Uncle Abraham, after all. The disgrace you may have to bear because of the name of Christ will be exchanged for heavenly glory. Jesus, the Son who truly came Mo-Ab “from the Father,” He who was the despised and rejected Moabite descendant, He who described Himself as the Good Samaritan, He clings to you without turning His back. He promises to feed you His own flesh and blood so that your faith in Him will not go hungry. And when your pilgrim journey on this earth comes to its end, your Savior will be there, ready to lavish you with an everlasting inheritance beyond your mind’s ability to comprehend. What a happy ending that will be!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Ruth 1:1–19a Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Psalm 111 The works of the LORD are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
2 Tim. 2:1–13 if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him
Luke 17:11–19 ten lepers healed … but where are the nine?

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

The prophet Habakkuk admitted that he was a complainer. He didn’t care about that label being put on him. Once there was a group that called themselves the complaint-free church, and they gave out purple bracelets to everyone who promised to live a complaint-free life. Habakkuk wouldn’t have worn that purple bracelet! Everyone else around this prophet had caved in to pressure to reject the true God and worship idols, but he did not. In his lifetime the officials who had been set in office to render just decisions and ensure the honest rule of law were actually paralyzing the law and making justice go forth perverted. But Habakkuk was not going to be shamed into silence. He was no politically-correct talking head. You could see him out getting involved and making his message heard, not to puff himself up, but to call attention to the truth. He said, as plainly as he could, the nation was headed for ruin, and as it turned out, that ruin came for Judah within 10 or 20 years when the Babylonian army conquered them. You see, even though he always complained, Habakkuk really did care about something. What God’s prophet cared about in these trying times was faith. And he’s going to bring that concern bald-faced and lay it out before the only one he knew who would listen to him. Habakkuk minced no words when he dumped his complaint out into the lap of God the Lord of heaven and earth.

For God Himself gave the assuring promise: My answer will come, “it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” It’s exactly like what is written in another place of Scripture: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. And whether it’s 600 BC or 2019 AD, the Lord requires patience. Are you frustrated with God’s slowness? That’s the way it looks, doesn’t it? That God’s going to take His own sweet time in fulfilling what He has promised for you. That everyone else can have a better or easier time, but not you. You catch yourself saying, I’m tired of this life I lead. I have to suffer. I’m the one everybody ridicules or walks over. I have to go through some experience that other people think they can understand, but they don’t. When all is said and done, I’m alone on this one, and I just have to accept that. You end up focusing so much on what is troubling you that it becomes for you a twisted form of meditation. It occupies your every thought. It grows and grows within you like a nasty spiritual tumor that puffs up and you start getting a clue in some way or another that things are not right.

Now, at this critical point you could go one of two ways: you could cut everything off and say I’d rather do without God, or anyone else, thank you very much. I’m only going to listen to myself, and my wants and desires are going to take first place. I’m tired of this guilt trip that God’s Law seems to place on me. I do my best and it never seems to be good enough, so I’m through with it! I’ve got many more things to do with my time than to bother to pray or worship or wait around for Him to do anything for me. You could even feel this way as you’re sitting here, in church, looking like you’re doing the right thing, but your heart is far from heeding the words of your Lord that are being spoken to you from His Word and handed out in the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps you had felt this way in the past or you know someone who has cut ties with anything to do with church. You lift them up in prayer, like you’re supposed to do, but in the back of your mind you are anxious that this person might never come around. I have to tell you something: this is not faith! This anxiety is cutting yourself off from God and it is serious trouble! This is putting yourself in Christ’s place and Satan would love nothing more than for that spiritual cancer to keep growing and spreading within you, until he has completely taken over and you are left truly alone in your despair.

But that does not have to happen! Whether it’s for you or for your loved one, the assurance came straight from the Lord through the prophet Habakkuk: the just shall live by faith. That’s a word of life-giving Gospel truth. Only God your creator can make life, and He has offered that life freely to you, no strings attached. The crushing condemnation of the Law, that word of God that rightly condemned you, now it is completely removed. The gates of heaven are opened, and you can be assured that you have a place prepared for you there.

Wait a minute, what just happened? What happened to all my problems that I was complaining about? What of this spiritual danger that I’m facing? Doesn’t this Gospel sound just a bit too easy? And for another thing, don’t you have to be just to live by faith? Yes, and it is also true that your heavenly Father justifies the wicked. That’s how you are going to live- not by your efforts, not by your trusting in yourself, not in your anxious nights of fretting, either. The just shall live by faith!

But to settle the complaining mind and heart and for you to draw true comfort and peace from that verse that’s tucked away in an obscure prophet’s writings, you know, in one of those lesser known books of the Bible, you’re going to need to know a little bit more about faith. The word faith in “The just shall live by faith” comes from the Hebrew word Amen. When you think about Amen, you probably consider it only as the ending of a prayer. It’s the first Hebrew word you’ve ever learned, and you’ve probably never learned that it means “faith.” You may remember that the Catechism teaches that Amen, amen means “Yes, yes, it shall be so,” but that in fact is what faith is: faith believes that what God says is and ever shall be so. You have received that gift.

In some places of the Old Testament, the response “Amen” is an essential part of a binding contract or covenant. When certain curses were laid out before the people as consequences of breaking the covenant, [as in Deuteronomy 27,] the people responded by saying “Amen.” This meant that they were now on the hook. They had no way to back out of their end of the deal. They had to remain true to their word, or else they would be disowned as the chosen people of God. Although they and we have sinned against the Lord and spurned His love toward us, our holy and righteous God Himself made an Amen promise toward us. The Father vowed to send His own dear Son into our flesh, so that the Amen curse would not fall on you but on Him instead. When God says Amen, He lets you know that He bound Himself to His promise to rescue you. Your Savior is the one on the hook, and He willingly fulfilled His promise out of His great love for you. Jesus, who is even known as “The Amen,” [Revelation 3:14] was faithful and true in all that He did, all the way to the point of suffering for your sin, dying your death, and achieving your everlasting forgiveness and eternal life. The just shall live, and it’s because of the Amen faithfulness of Jesus who took your place, and now you have all the blessings of heaven that are yours by faith.

Your Amen response not only agrees with God that His Law assessment of your sins is accurate, not only does it admit that you know the information that is contained in the Gospel message, but most especially your Amen says that you believe it for yourself. It means that you have come to the realization, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, that you have nowhere else to go than to Jesus your Savior and Lord. You confess with all seriousness that this is no game. Pay attention to yourselves, Jesus warns. Eternity is on the line and in Christ’s name that gift of eternal life is yours. As it is with the Lord’s Supper, so it is with all matters of faith: the words of the Gospel “for you” require all hearts to believe. When you say Amen, that means that the Holy Spirit has done His mighty work of creating faith in your heart. Your prayer echoes that of those disciples who pleaded with Jesus, “Increase our faith!” and your prayer is answered.

Do you have a complaint? Do not be ashamed, for your loving, heavenly Father will hear your complaint, just like He heard the complaint of Habakkuk. Be sure that you don’t meditate on it, however, so that the complaint sits inside you and grows into self-pity or worry, for those things can kill your faith. Instead, lay all your complaint out before the Lord in prayer; with meditation on the Bible bring it to Him like the prophets and many psalms do right there in the Scripture that you read. Trust in the Lord’s answer in His own perfect timing, for it will surely not delay for your deliverance. Though the world and all other enemies you may face might seem like they are winning, take heart, because you are not alone. Entrust your loved ones to Him as well; even commend to the Lord those whom you see as your enemies, those who have not come to you and asked for forgiveness yet, and ask that He may lead them to repentance also. You have your Amen, the true and faithful God, your Savior Jesus Christ, who bound Himself with love to the cross for you, and He will strengthen and keep you steadfast in your Amen confession of the truth in the face of all lies and attacks of the Evil One. Because of Christ, God has declared you just. Therefore, you shall live by faith!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Hab. 1:1–4; 2:1–4 Write the vision And make it plain on tablets
Psalm 62 Truly my soul silently waits for God
2 Tim. 1:1–14 Stir up the gift that is in you
Luke 17:1–10 faith as a mustard seed

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Why are there angels? What’s their point, when God could fight His own battles against Satan and the forces of darkness any way that He wants? When can we know for certain that we have, in fact, met an angel or shown hospitality to them like it says in the book of Hebrews may be possible? We hope to explain to ourselves the existence and activity of an entirely unseen world that somehow overlaps with the world that we can see. There is something genuinely fascinating to our human minds that there could be an angel standing above you or sitting next to you, and protecting you wherever you go. Our curiosity then gets the better of us and we let our own thoughts and feelings become the experts and we believe all sorts of things about those mysterious spiritual beings.

On the other hand, all of this mysterious and other-worldly language could discourage someone from thinking any further about angels and what they do. It seems everyone nowadays is getting caught up in all things spiritual just because it is the latest fad. Our minds, occupied as we are with the breathless pace of life, are still programmed with that idea of “What you see is what you get.” There needs to be enough proof or else we will not become convinced. Of course you could believe in angels, but just as long as it doesn’t mean that your life will be any different because of them. They’re ok when you’re going to church or reading your Bible, but at other times, it’s just a little strange to fix constant attention to matters unseen. Nobody thinks about the water, sewer and electrical lines buried out of sight in your front yard making everything you rely upon inside your home work, until you want to dig- then you actually pay attention to those flags that the workers put in your grass.

It is so easy simply to make-believe in this whole other spiritual realm, just like you’re telling a story, but if someone starts getting really serious about it, then questions from our so-called real world would come to mind. Questions like: “If God sends angels to protect us, then why are there still accidents and terrorists and destruction? Where are the guardian angels when these things happen?” So when it seems possible that there could be more than meets the eye, we tend to abandon what our faith says in favor of what our experiences tell us instead.

Jesus told a story about two men. The rich man and Lazarus were vastly different in appearance. One had the finest clothes and the other had rags. One ate gourmet meals and the other went hungry with longing for scraps. One had the care of the best physicians possible, and the other only had dogs to lick his open sores. The chasm between them was more than a physical appearance divide, though. At their death, a whole other world of difference was unveiled. The rich man, who believed not in God but in his own abundance was now separated by fire from Lazarus, who Jesus said was carried by angels to heaven, to the open embrace of the spiritual ancestor of all those who believe in God’s promises, father Abraham.

Despite the Grand Canyon separation, Jesus reveals a conversation that occurred between the rich man and Abraham. Send Lazarus to soothe me! I’m in real need now! I need God now that things aren’t going well for me! Isn’t that how we are at times? I was just digging a hole for a simple mail box and now I’ve struck a gas line. I didn’t need to pay attention to it before, but now it’s going to really ruin my day! Can’t Lazarus help me?

But the chasm remains impossible to cross, says father Abraham. No one can cross over after their death. No one from heaven, not Lazarus, not even the angels, can come to the rescue. The time to believe in Jesus is now, while we’re still alive. We cannot put it off like the rich man assumed he could. He could have helped Lazarus, who sat at the gate of his own property. The reality for the rich man and Lazarus was completely the opposite from the reality they each faced during their earthly life. There is, also for us, a whole other world that truly exists, even though we cannot see it. And not only that, this unseen world is the way things really are in God’s kingdom of heaven. This is the realm we read about, in which St. Michael the archangel and all the angel armies under his command defeated Satan and cast him down like a bolt of lightning from the presence of Almighty God. It is the realm in which all those miserable demons flee at the mere speaking of God’s Word. Angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents, and we join their choir when we sing Holy, Holy, Holy in the Communion liturgy. In this spiritual realm, there are angels right here among us and protecting us even now. Angels will carry us to heaven one day. In the realm that we can see, all you get is a dead man hanging on a cross; in the spiritual realm, the devil’s head is crushed, he is thrown out of heaven and sin and death are completely wiped out.

Brothers and sisters, do not be ignorant of the real spiritual things, even though they are hidden. You may understand and believe with all your heart that your sins are taken away and that one day you will be in heaven. But it is still possible to believe that and still imagine, along with the rich man in Jesus’ story, that you are your own person, that you don’t need God’s help in your day-to-day life. God’s grace could easily become for you just a safety net for you to fall back on when you can’t help yourself out of your own mess. You have a deep-seated desire within you to be self-reliant, to be independent of God. You were born with this desire, and the devil always turns your attention to it. For he wants you to believe that you can get by in life without God’s help, so that then you become easy prey to fall into the hands of the evil one. Even though Michael defeated him forever and God cast him out of heaven, Satan can still bring you down to hell with him, and he knows his time of opportunity to do that is short.

There is a whole other dimension to God’s grace. Above and beyond giving you the free forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven, our Lord has given you more. He always gives you more. He has entrusted your safety to his most powerful servants even while you are still on this earth. He promises that He will send His angels to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra and trample them underfoot. Even though the devil like a roaring lion prowls about, waiting to devour you, he will not come near you, because God has given you Michael and all the heavenly armies to watch over you until the day you are with Him in Abraham’s legendary hug. Every day that you are alive is a gift with which God richly blesses you, and that gift is especially yours thanks to the work of His holy angels.

But, again, it is all too easy to get carried away when you think about those angels. As much as they do for you, they are still God’s humble servants. They deserve no worship, thanks or praise for their work—they themselves would tell you that all glory goes to God alone who made them and who gave them their power. And as great as Michael, Gabriel and other archangels are, they still could not bridge that cavernous gap between those who are condemned and those who are saved. But there was One who could. Their commander-in-chief Jesus accomplished the impossible when He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For miserable Lazarus, and also for you, dear child of God, Jesus has not only relieved your pains and sufferings that you experience in this world, but He has promised most importantly that you will not pay what your sins against God have deserved. He paid the price, and bridged that gap, and Jesus paved the way for the angels to bring you away from the flames of torment to the blessed rest of everlasting life.

Our praise and thanks never go to the angels. So this festival occasion today is yet another time to give thanks to Jesus for what He did for us, and for adding to that the amazing work of His perfect servants, the angels. In fact, that’s why the colors today are white- because that draws attention to Jesus’ purity, perfection, trimmed with the gold of our heavenly hope, a hope that by God’s Word is a certainty for all who believe in Jesus. You have God’s love as your precious gift and that love is seen in Jesus your Savior, who gave up all He had and became obedient to death, even death on a cross—and all for your sake. God knows that you are a sinner and that you deserve punishment, but with Jesus standing in your place, He no longer looks upon you with punishment and condemnation. Instead He abundantly showers His love on you for the sake of Jesus, who kept the law and suffered its punishment for you. Jesus gives you His very own Body and Blood, which was the price He paid for your sins, in order that you may join with Him and the angels of heaven in receiving salvation even now, both for your body and for your soul.

It is truly a mystery—as deep as a bottomless well—when it comes to thinking about God’s love. Even the angels themselves wonder in amazement at how great the love of God is for you, His precious creation. They as His special messengers gladly bring us Good News of God’s love, just like they did to the shepherds at Christmas, and to the women and the disciples on the first Easter. We then join with them in their heavenly song so that with angels and archangels we laud and magnify God’s glorious name.

Why are there angels? So that you may believe and finally realize what came true at your baptism– that your name, like Lazarus, is written in heaven. Anything more or less than this simply misses the point. Whether you focus too much on the angels or deny that they have any bearing on your life, then that’s when doubt and unbelief have the chance to creep in and destroy your faith. Remember first of all that you are saved and you have crossed that Grand Canyon from death into life– no one can take that from you. Depend on Him for everything, and not on yourself. Then give thanks to God for sending His angels to remind you of that blessed truth and to protect you on every side from the attacks of the devil. Why? Because He loves you. O Lord, “Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Dan. 10:10–14, 12:1–3 At that time Michael shall stand up
Psalm 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Rev. 12:7–12 Michael and his angels fought with the dragon
Matt. 18:1–11 whoever humbles himself as this little child … if your eye causes you to sin
or Luke 10:17–20 I saw Satan fall

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

What’s it like to bear the Christian name? What is true worship like? How shall we act from day to day when we are confident in Christ of the forgiveness of all our sins? What’s going to happen to us, now that the world is getting stronger in its opposition to the Christian confession of faith? You thought those were questions we have had only recently in our day. Well, those questions were on the minds of the Hebrews, too. They had to survive as best they could in a very hostile environment, which might likely have been in the city of Rome itself. It’s true, our society in the 21st century is growing more and more impatient with our Bible and morals—that’s not what people believe anymore, we’re told—well, Christians who formerly were Jews, they were a lot farther down that road than we are today. It was very difficult for these Hebrew Christians, also.

That’s why this letter to the Hebrews, our epistle, was written to them. It was exactly the Word of God’s comfort and encouragement that they needed at the time. It’s also what you need, too, right now because the world counts you and your Savior as a stranger, His statements in Scripture are discounted as weird, totally out of style for today, and it’s up to us to remain firm on our convictions, not because we have what others like to call “deeply held beliefs,” as if there’s something wrong with that, but it’s really because we cannot, we must not, veer off the path our Lord has marked out for us on our way to life everlasting.

This is the fourth week this time around that our church year calendar schedule has had us hear from the letter that was written to the Hebrews. Whether it’s Paul that wrote it, or someone who was well acquainted with Paul, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that this was a very timely sermon. Quite some time has passed by since the Christian Church had its magnificent start after Pentecost. People were at this point getting a little nervous, some even a bit despondent, because it doesn’t seem likely from the looks of things that the church will survive. Thanks to the persecution of Nero and other Roman emperors, Christians were thrown into prison for no reason, their homes broken into and ransacked by the army. Jewish families were disowning their converted relatives, so many were traveling and wandering into big cities as homeless vagrants. Some were resisting their pastors and defying their teaching because the great generation of Jesus’ disciples and the founding pillars of the church were dying off and the following generation seemed to be weaker, even though they were still preaching the truth. Others were getting careless in living their lives because they had twisted the Gospel to mean that it would be okay to sin some more because they could always go back and get forgiveness. A reaction was building against that from the other side, and that wasn’t much better: they thought the Christian Church should go back to following the Jewish ways and started enforcing anew the purity laws of this is clean and that is unclean, hoping that by reenacting their old ceremonies they would get God back on their side again.

Hebrews was written for Christians who have real questions, who are really concerned about what lies ahead. They, and we, need to hear that the powerful God of the past is the very same God who is with us now, and will guide us as we encounter our future. Hebrews began with these familiar words: “In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old by the prophets, but now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” And we heard in today’s reading a great verse to keep and learn by heart: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” God has not changed. Our environment may have changed, new difficulties may have arisen that we haven’t had to consider in the past, but it’s not going to be insurmountable. Jesus Himself said we must be ready for some important changes that are bound to come as we approach closer to that Glorious Day of His Return.

Hebrews was also written partly to explain to Jewish Christians that their many Old Testament rituals and laws and holidays and remembrances had a much deeper dimension. The requirement to do those outward actions had come to an end, but the real things of which these were just shadows, they are still going on in a hidden realm of reality. Instead of a high priest entering a tent or temple, there’s now Jesus, with His resurrected body ascended into heaven, constantly bringing our prayers before the Father and pleading our guaranteed forgiveness on the basis of His once and for all blood payment. He suffered through the hard work of accomplishing our salvation, and now He has given us the real Sabbath rest that the first Sabbath requirement back in Moses’ time only hinted at. We will have times of suffering in our Christian race of life, too, but our Lord and Savior is suffering through it with us, feeling our every pain and weeping for our every setback. You are not alone. Do not fear.

Hebrews was finally written to encourage those who dearly missed those mighty and bold Christians of the previous generations. For these past few weeks we have read from the letter the classic explanation of what faith is: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We have remembered great examples of faith from the Old Testament history: the creation, the sacrifice of Abel, the heavenly walk of Enoch, the fearless preaching of Noah while he was building what looked like a useless ark. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelite nation, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, all those who, as Hebrews depicts, are filling up heaven’s Olympic stadium as it were with excitement and cheering you on as you keep running your race. Don’t grow weary now, the Hebrews were encouraged, strengthen those weak knees! Thanks to Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, you have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

But then Hebrews has more to say. It’s here in this final chapter that we see a list of brief commands and encouragements. What the author seems to be doing is taking the Ten Commandments and then applying them specifically to the Hebrew-speaking Christians’ own situation. It would have not worked to start the letter with these directions, but now that it has been fully demonstrated that Jesus has achieved completely our forgiveness and eternal life by His blood, these closing words can answer those questions that remain in the minds and hearts of these fearful, confused and embattled members of God’s kingdom.

He leads off the modified Ten Commandments with a simple theme: Let brotherly love continue. You baptized and redeemed children of God have already received God’s love. Now your love for others will be seen in clear and obvious ways. People will be able to tell that you have affection for each other. You treat one another as dear brothers and sisters of one family. Welcome strangers and give them lodging. These are likely fellow Christians who will have nowhere else to go. The commandment, You shall not steal, also means helping others keep what is theirs and You shall not murder, also means assisting and sustaining the life and physical needs of your neighbors. Who knows? People in the past were hosting angels and they were unaware of it. Don’t pass up an opportunity to be just as blessed when you help someone who is in need. The Sixth commandment, You shall not commit adultery, expands to let marriage be held in its proper honor in every possible way. You see all around you that, just like among the Hebrews long ago, marriage today is also being dishonored, twisted into what it is not, and faithful Christians need to continue teaching what Hebrews clearly says in print: Sex is good, but outside of one-man, one-woman, God-blessed and life-long marriage sex becomes a perverted and harmful degradation to society. Love of money and lack of contentment is the prelude to both stealing and coveting. Any billionaire can tell you that all they want is an extra million, just like you catch yourself saying I’d make ends meet a whole lot better if I just had $100 more a week. Instead, believe what God promises you: I will never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me? When you worship, don’t try to add your own version of sacrifices, whether it’s the former Jews trying to restart the ceremonial laws, or it’s the voices of today saying there needs to be something better on Sunday morning than handing out forgiveness. Instead, let God open your lips with the truth about Jesus, so that your mouth may declare His praise.

Finally, Hebrews reminds these frustrated Jewish Christians with a specific meaning of the fourth commandment: Remember your leaders, obey the Word that your pastors preach to you. Those God-fearing saints of the past would be honored in no greater way than if you also believed as firmly in Jesus as they did. Imitate that faith, and be ready to make a bold stand when your time to make a good confession has come. Be ready to suffer exclusion, unfairness, resistance, because that happened to Jesus, too. You don’t belong to the earthly city, you should follow Christ in a spiritual march to the cross every day. At His altar, from which those who do not believe should not commune until they are fully catechized, you receive His Blood that makes you holy, and you are made citizens of the city of which we pray, Thy Kingdom Come. Remind yourselves that you have called pastors to keep watch over your souls, to lead you with God’s Word, and they owe God an explanation of how they did in the role of shepherd and forgiveness-distributor. It would serve to your advantage if you support and pray for their work, even if you sometimes feel you have a reason to point out their faults.

What’s it like to be a Christian? What do we do in our daily life, knowing that we belong to the Lord? Seems like it’s the same for you now as it was for the Hebrews many centuries ago. As our Synod President Matt Harrison said recently, This is our moment to be bold. We are entering an exciting time to confess the true Christian faith, and share the merciful love of Jesus toward those who are seeking genuine answers to life’s most important questions. Will you be that bold? Will you leave behind, as you turn and follow the holy cross of Jesus, the temporary, crumbling city of this world? God’s love and forgiveness to you in Christ will never fail. He will not leave you, and He has placed among you a well of love for one another that He promises will never run dry.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Prov. 25:2–10 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter
Psalm 131 LORD, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty.
Heb. 13:1–17 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines
Luke 14:1–14 whoever exalts himself will be humbled

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

“Are only a few people going to be saved?” What was the point of this question? How did it concern this man? Maybe his mind was wandering, trying to explore those mysterious things that we will never know on this side of heaven. Perhaps he was trying to trap Jesus on what He would say next, like the Pharisees were always trying to do. Or maybe he was genuinely concerned for his own salvation, wondering if he was among those people who are saved, the chosen few that Jesus was talking about. It seems like he was sincere. He must have read all those prophets saying that God’s wrath would let loose and many people will be swept away by fire—the chaff will be incinerated, even the grain a little scorched, but still spared. The end times have some scary moments ahead, so this man asks Jesus about it.

Now if that is the case, then the man in the Gospel story asked the wrong question to Jesus. This question, “Are only a few going to be saved?” it tries to probe into the depths of divine knowledge and it’s as inappropriate as asking why some people are saved and others are not. It’s also like those who try to calculate the year when the world will end. And they’ll keep on trying! But if this man was so troubled over his own salvation, then why didn’t he come right out and say it?

However, does Jesus simply dismiss this poor soul for his bad question or point out his faulty logic? No, the Lord saw this man’s true need. He is the loving, caring Teacher—the Word of God in human flesh. He was sent by the Father, not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. One day He will be a judge. But right now, He’s a Physician sent to bring healing to souls, letting them drink from the wells of salvation. What God revealed through His Son wasn’t the inside scoop on perplexing questions but rather His divine plan of rescue for the whole world through faith in Jesus Christ.

So, in answering this question, our Lord says to all those listening to Him: “Strive—struggle, you may even say—to enter through the narrow door. For many… will seek to enter and will not be able.” Notice that Jesus makes the question personal, the way it must be. This is not a hypothetical situation, and so He doesn’t treat it that way.

Instead, He tells you that it’s a life and death struggle, as you may be aware of already in your life. That’s why His words sound somber, not too comforting at their first hearing. He doesn’t avoid the original question either, as He basically says: No, many will not make it, few will be able to enter the door—because it is actually impossible for you to reach for the perfection of heaven. Your Lord’s words are harsh because the consequences are harsh: “The wages of sin is death.”

But what is this struggle? It involves some truly vicious enemies, such as the devil, the world, and your sinful nature within you. Throughout your life you will face this “unholy trinity” of enemies, locked in a struggle with eternity on the line. Since the world began, Satan wishes you to be lost forever in sin and death. He is powerful and will stop at nothing to undo you. And left to yourself, you cannot resist the devil. But it’s true as the Church sings you have a Champion on your side, whom God Himself elected. As for the devil, one little word can fell him. Christ has already defeated Satan and the victory is yours.

The world is against you as well. Now, people have had to face natural disasters as long as history has been recorded. But in addition to fire, flood, hurricane and tornado, you also struggle against materialism, greed, lust and so on. The phrase “save money” has almost entirely lost its literal meaning, thanks to the common spending lifestyle. The accumulation of wealth, fame, political power, the ever-fantasized sex life, who’s “coming out of the closet” today—all this screams at you from every direction to find happiness and excitation now and pay for it later, and you are tempted to believe those voices of the world. But Jesus answers your anxious hearts in this greedy playground world with words He spoke in the Gospel a few weeks ago: Seek ye first the Father’s kingdom, store up your treasures in heaven.

And besides the devil and his present kingdom, the world, you are engaged in a bitter struggle against your own sinful nature. Every day of your life since your baptism you have undergone a civil war in your very being between your reborn New Man, who has complete trust in God, and your Old Adam, the doubting and rebellious part of you that is in league with the devil and the world. That is the part of you that would have nothing to do with your heavenly Father.

Your Christian life is perfectly summarized by St. Paul in Romans 7 & 8: “I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.” Your sinful flesh cannot be taught a lesson on how you can reform and renew yourself. You as a sinner can only be killed—crucified, dead and buried with Christ—so that the New Man may arise. In your daily remembrance of your baptism, the Old Adam is drowned through confession of sin and you arise forgiven and reborn, again and again.

So this is your struggle against the devil, the world and your sinful nature, but you see that really it is Christ who fought the battles and by God’s grace you overcome these enemies—not by your own effort. But as long as you are with Christ you know that those terrible enemies will be against you while you are still on this earth. That is why you hear that we all are part of the Church Militant—the Church fighting the battles, though you are also united as one with the Church Triumphant, those souls who are already in the safe-keeping of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus. They’re not two churches but one.

What is your role in this struggle? A good word for it would be repentance. It is a turning around, a reversal. It is a drastic change that God performs upon your heart when you hear His Word and eat and drink Christ’s true body and blood. It’s not a superficial change of mind, like you could simply think a different way all of a sudden. No, it is a change of your real being, from the Old Adam to the New Man. You are being transformed into the likeness of Christ, and He lives His life in you. Your life as a believer is automatically patterned after His life. You gladly take upon your shoulders the burden of suffering that He places on you. You go with Jesus all the way to the cross. You crucify your sinful nature with Him and rise victorious with Him in your baptism. Your life has never been, nor will be, the same.

That is why repentance is not one-time, but constant: because every day God has you face the harsh consequences of your own sinfulness: that you don’t deserve a seat at the banquet with the narrow door. Day by day you give in to the devil, the world, and your own sinful desires. You hide your sinfulness behind the wrong questions, and you pursue your own pitiful party as a substitute for the great, heavenly feast.

Once you are faced with this harsh reality in all its seriousness, then you can know that you trust in nothing else but Christ your Savior. That is true faith, that is how you receive forgiveness and new life. And the only way it is possible is not because God suddenly changed His mind, but because your rightful punishment was directed to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. You see, as Jesus was walking about and teaching all these people, He was on a specific mission. His mission then was to invite all who would hear to believe in Him and feast with Him at His heavenly banquet.

His mission now is no different, for He continues His mission of salvation through the Church. He at His death became the Door through which you enter, and no one comes to the Father, He said, but by Me. For you, that narrow door stands open by grace. He commanded Holy Baptism to wash away sins and clothe you with the garments of His righteousness, so that you and I and all who believe in Him, and publicly confess the Truth may feast on His Body and Blood given and shed for you in Holy Communion.

But although the whole world is invited, it still remains as Jesus said: not all will make it. Even with those who heard Jesus in their own streets, or ate with Him in their homes—if they ask, isn’t it enough that we heard you teach, isn’t it enough that we ate with you? Or the questions you may ask: Isn’t it enough that we come to the important meetings and social events? Isn’t it enough that we give more than our fair share around here? Those, again, are the wrong questions because they are self-righteous, they lack repentance, those questions reveal a lack of true faith.

Once again, it’s a personal issue. Put simply, a life of repentance that you must have is a life of faith in Jesus, trusting that He died for your sin. The narrow door is closed to the unrepentant who refuse the free grace of God in favor of their own good deeds. Truly those good things you do for your sake are what the Bible calls the “filthy rags” of unrighteousness.

However, since your Savior is the master of the house, your unrighteousness is covered by His righteousness. The narrow door to the never-ending feast stands open to you. Where Jesus makes clear that you can’t be totally sure about the faith of other people or grasp some of those difficult questions of life, He assures you that you can be certain of your own faith that He gives to you. You today can know of salvation because He knows you—He has called you by His name, given when you were baptized. His trustworthy promises are given every day as you remember your baptism and live a life of repentance. That’s the answer only Jesus can give, even when you didn’t ask the right question!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Is. 66:18–23 I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.
Psalm 50:1–15 Every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.
Heb. 12:4–29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Luke 13:22–30 Strive to enter through the narrow gate

Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Could this be the Prince of Peace talking? He says: “I have come to cast fire on the earth.” Someone forgot to tell that to the multitude of the heavenly host of angels when Jesus was born. It looks like they were mistaken when they announced to the shepherds in the field, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill to men.” Instead of that, you heard it right out of Jesus’ mouth, He said as clear as day that peace on earth just isn’t His thing. “I have not come to bring peace, but division.”

Are you upset? Are you disappointed that you were led to understand that believing in Jesus was going to change your life for the better? Maybe at one time you were convinced that since God loves you, He wants you to be happy. That your family would be free of conflict. That your job would be secure and more than adequate to support you. That your plans for education or retirement would be well-financed. That people would give you the respect you deserve. You tend to follow the desire of most American Christians who long for a God who believes in you, who takes you for who you are and blesses your life. You want your church-going experience to improve your attitude and outlook for the rest of the week; you know, make you look on the bright side of things. Develop a deep relationship with God and grow closer with other people who feel the same way that you do. You are led to believe that these things are the best of what Jesus can offer to our hurt and broken world.

So Jesus simply is not helping His cause at all when He claims that He’s the cause of division and strife. When your Lord claims not to bring peace on earth but division, it really sets back the success of the Christian Church and puts it farther from its goal of reaching out. How can you market your message if you promise that this message will be so controversial? It’s going to offend too many people… why take the risk? If you are worldly-wise, you know already that it’s best to “choose your battles.” Don’t go out and ruin your prospects by nit-picking over details. Zero in on some common ground, and forget about all the other stuff that causes disagreements. Someone should tell Jesus what a grave mistake He’s making. Someone should rush the latest survey results straight to the Son of God so that He stops all this talk about tearing up homes and families. People want peace! It’s a very appealing and popular message. They’ll pay handsomely for it, and they’ll even come to Church in droves to get it. Leave well enough alone. You’ve got plenty of the Bible that you can use to say what you want, and then just ignore the rest of the Bible that seems to contradict it.

But suppose for a moment that Jesus is not making a mistake. Let’s just say for the sake of argument that He isn’t the bad guy, and that all this division and strife is really for your good. If that is true, then the peace of God is different from the kind of peace that you have in mind. If a family is at peace, without any contention or division, and yet at the same time does not have Jesus, then whatever peace that family does have is false and misleading. God is not blessing them, rather, the devil is deceiving them. And he may be deceiving you. It’s easy to fall for. It’s easy to have false peace.

It’s tempting to make false peace look as if it were the kind of peace that Jesus was sent from heaven to win for the world. But Jesus simply won’t let you do that. There’s too much at stake. Your eternal salvation is more important to Him than your temporary comfort in a pleasant state of false peace. Your heavenly destination takes greater precedent than your worldly success. “I came to cast fire on the earth, and I wish it were already kindled.”

And boy, can that fire burn you. While your conscience is scorched with the difficult task of keeping true to God’s Word, everybody else throws fireballs at you, saying you are unloving, Pharasaical, legalistic. They say you aren’t acting like Jesus would act when you point out the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin against God. The fire of division stings with the rejection and dirty looks that you may get at school or work because of your faith. In your own family, the issue may come up that a couple is living together without the protection and blessing of marriage. You thought they were raised better than that, but you hold your tongue because you don’t want to start a fight. It’s not my place, so you reason with yourself, while the whole time God’s command remains ignored and despised. Your kids resist coming with you to church. It gets harder and harder to make it happen like it did when they were small. So you relent and give in to them for the sake of peace at home and rationalize to yourself that, oh, well, the Church isn’t giving them what they like anyway.

If that’s the peace you want, then you aren’t going to get it from Jesus. For the peace of God, that passes all understanding, is a peace that burns like fire. It hurts you because it also hurt your Lord. It burned Him on the Cross with the furnace of God’s wrath against your sin, and He took on Himself the punishment that divided you apart from the Lord your Creator. The peace of God ripped open Jesus’ side with the centurion’s spear, so that the cleansing flood would wash away your sins and offenses. This peace divides the church because after all it was a group of church leaders and teachers that pushed for the passion of the Christ in the first place. This peace even divides you within yourself, as St. Paul describes of his own Christian life in Romans 7: “What I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, that I do.” That’s truly what the victorious life is like for all of us this side of heaven!

For though you have often rejected God and His peace in favor of your own, though you have done wrong against your neighbor and your family, you have the promise of God’s true peace because the blood of Jesus paid the price for you to get it. He is the author, founder and protector of our faith because He took the fire of your judgment in your place. He doesn’t promise you the success and creature comforts that false peace offers to you, but He does guarantee suffering now, and glory later in heaven. This isn’t to say that if you aren’t going through strife and struggle right at the moment, that you should go out of your way to pick a fight. No, like any good soldier, always be prepared to fight, but stay true to your orders laid out in God’s Word, remain faithful to Him in whatever your vocation is, and let your Almighty General Jesus choose the battles. As you run with perseverance the race marked out for you, don’t change lanes on the track and covet some other calling that hasn’t been given to you. Look to Jesus, who has gone ahead of you. Listen to the cheering of saints surrounding you, for He helped them along and gave them the same assurance of forgiveness that He gives you.

Give thanks that your Lord and Savior came to bring you not the worldly peace you want, but the heavenly peace that you need. Realize that it is for your good that the worship of the church is not merely entertaining and attention-grabbing, but instead it is a solid deliverer of the precious, divine gift of forgiveness. Be grateful that you have not empty success at home, school, work or church, but rather the painful fiery cross to bear in your life. For although Jesus has destroyed the false peace that you had at one time come to love and cherish, He replaces it with the real peace that the world cannot give, a peace that is sealed with this promise from the Prince of Peace: “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Dearly baptized children of God, you have already lost your life for the sake of Christ. Welcome to true peace.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Jer. 23:16–29 What is the chaff to the wheat?
Psalm 119:81–88 Revive me according to your lovingkindness
Heb. 11:17–40; 12:1–3 so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight…
Luke 12:49–56 how is it you do not discern this time?