+ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +

Which is the more important sense for a Christian, the sense of sight or the sense of hearing? Which takes precedence in the church, the eyes or the ears? The Scriptures say, "We walk by faith, not by sight." It is also written, "Faith comes by hearing." Clearly, then, the ears are primary for the people of God. For we are people of the Word. And words, first and foremost, are heard. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by the external words of the Gospel which He sounds into us. When it comes to the senses, Christians are all ears.

Many of the Pharisees, however, were condemned by our Lord for being all eyes. For they were ones who demanded special signs. And signs are seen rather than being believed. The Pharisees trusted not in the Lord's spoken words but in their own vision and experience. They walked, therefore, not in the way of faith but of unbelief. Jesus said that He would give no sign to such people of the eyes except the sign of Jonah, the sign of a man buried in the belly of death but who comes forth to life again on the third day. For this sign is such that its meaning in Christ is hidden to the eyes and revealed only to faith.

In today's Gospel the Pharisees ask Jesus about the coming of the kingdom of God. And it is clear from their question that they picture the kingdom in future terms, as something still to come, because they can't yet see it. But Jesus tells them not to rely on their vision so much. For unbeknownst to them, the kingdom has in fact already arrived. Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is a present reality. It is hidden and veiled from ordinary sight, to be sure. But it is here nonetheless. Jesus says, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst."

Notice what our Lord says about the kingdom, "(It) does not come with observation." This is especially important for us to recognize in our cultural setting of TV and videos and virtual reality. We like to view what we're dealing with in a way that's provable and demonstrable. But the kingdom of God cannot be observed and analyzed scientifically or defined in worldly terms. Nor can it be identified by visible signs of expansion or power or prosperity. For in this present age, the kingdom of God comes in a way that is concealed from common human sight. According to the Lord's plan and purpose, it is masked and disguised behind that which is weak and ordinary so that it may be perceived only by those who believe.

So it is that Jesus announces to the Pharisees that the kingdom they are waiting for is in fact already in their midst. It is among them right there, for Christ the King is among them right there. And He is the kingdom of God Himself in the flesh. Hidden beneath and within His true humanity, all the fullness of God dwells and the entire content of the kingdom is present with all of its blessings. The kingdom of God, then, is wherever the flesh-and-blood Christ is-wherever He is speaking His words to His people and giving Himself to them in order that they may have His forgiveness and share in His life. Being thus joined to Christ through faith, they have entrance already here on earth into the heavenly kingdom of God.

The old Adam in us, however, doesn't like to think of the kingdom in these terms. Our fallen nature prefers to have something of its own making that it can see rather than trusting in the spoken Word of God. We are very much like the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. Moses had gone up the mountain to receive the Word of the Lord. No longer visible to them, the people grew impatient as he delayed coming down from the mountain. So they said to Aaron, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us." No longer did they want to walk by faith in an unseen leader but by sight. They desired a more experiential religion. Aaron failed to be a faithful priest and gave in to the people's demands. Taking their items of jewelry, He made a golden calf as an idol. Then the people said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!" They traded the true God for their own version of what they wanted God to be. A golden calf was a fertility symbol. Aaron then tried to salve his conscience and make all of this kosher by building an altar and declaring the next day to be a feast to the Lord. However, it is recorded, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."

In our own inclination to walk by sight, we too have golden calves as we await the return of the Lord. We may not worship a symbol of fertility, but we are tempted to bow at the feet of growth and success. Our natural tendency is to be fixated on numbers and other measurable or visibly quantifiable aspects of congregational life, and to assume that when the stats look good, then we're being faithful and are blessed, when in fact the opposite could well be the case. Like Aaron, we too are tempted to bow to the influence of the surrounding culture and to seek its approval or follow its ways. But when the church and the world are mixed, the result is not a more relevant church. Just consider what Aaron ended up with when he tried to do both. Sure they had a so-called feast to the Lord. But in reality it was nothing more than paganism, a coarser counterpart to today's "entertainment evangelism" and "drama ministry" and the like. The false god of pragmatism, of keeping people happy and doing what keeps the pews and offering plates filled, is still an idol to be reckoned with in the church. We must be warned by the golden calf event. Aaron may have been a real popular "pastor" at the time. They may have had the music and the worship practices that they really enjoyed experiencing. But it was not the true worship of the Lord. It was not the faithful reception of His spoken and heard words.

When Moses came down from the mountain and saw the idolatry and the immorality, he became hot with anger. He took the calf which they had made, burned it, and ground it to powder. Then he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. So it is that all contemporary golden calves will be crushed in the end, and those who follow them will be forced to imbibe the fitting judgment for such false worship. All who trust not in God-given words but in man-made programs and techniques and ideologies will be brought to ruin with those idols that they serve.

Indeed, just as Moses came down the mountain unexpectedly to judge Israel, so the Lord will come down unexpectedly on the Last Day to judge the fallen world. Those who rely on their eyes will not know what is about to come upon them. For as they look around, they will think that, for the most part, all is well. They will eat and drink, buy and sell, plant and build. But as it was in the days of Noah, when the flood suddenly deluged the world, and as it was in the days of Lot, when the Lord suddenly destroyed Sodom by fire, so it will be when the Son of Man is revealed. Those who want to walk by sight will be granted their wish. They will see the wrath of a holy God in all its fury.

However, for those who repent and believe, for us who walk as yet by faith, we know that the Last Day is not a day for us to dread but to eagerly anticipate. For our judgment day has already taken place on the holy cross of our Lord Jesus. There God poured out on Him all the fury of hell. The full judgment for our sin that stood against us pummeled Him as He hung there. He received it all in our place, as our stand-in, willingly and out of immeasurable love for us. That's why Jesus said in the Gospel that "He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." His love compelled Him to do it in order to redeem us from our idols and purchase us as His own and win for us the entire forgiveness of all our sin. Our judgment day is in the past, Good Friday. It's over and done with, for Jesus said, "It is finished." Just as the Lord provided deliverance for His people Noah and Lot, so also He has provided eternal deliverance and unconquerable life for us in His Son.

The kingdom of God comes to us only in this person, Christ the crucified. And notice that in the cross the kingdom cannot be seen but must be believed. All one can see is a bloody execution. No one can literally view the eternal triumph over sin and death and the devil which took place there. It must be trusted on the basis of the words of the Lord who declares it to be so. By faith in those words which He has spoken into our ears, we are sure and certain that our salvation in Christ is real and true.

You see, our Lord hides His grace behind that which is seemingly weak and lowly in order that the weak and lowly in the world's eyes might be saved, while those who are strong and wise in their own eyes might be condemned. In the end the kingdom of God will be revealed in all its glory. But for now it remains hidden, the church lives under a veil, until the fullness of time comes.

All of this is taught us in the meaning to the second petition of the Lord's Prayer in the Catechism: "God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity." The kingdom of God comes when the Spirit of Christ is given to us. And how does He give us the Holy Spirit but through His spoken words and through the Sacraments which He has instituted by His words. Simply put, then, the kingdom of God comes to us through preaching, baptism, absolution, and the holy supper. For each of those acts are, in fact, the doing of the Lord Jesus Himself. He is truly present and active among us, though His presence is hidden from our eyes. He is veiled beneath an ordinary man's voice, regular water, and common bread and wine. But He is here, nonetheless, dispensing all of His gracious gifts to those who believe. The Kingdom of God does not come with observation. But if we let our ears do the seeing, we will recognize that the Kingdom is in our midst, for Christ Himself is in our midst, who says, "My words are Spirit and they are life." This water is "the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." "This (bread) is my body; this (wine) is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins."

There are, in fact, visible signs of the kingdom, then. But they are not signs like the Pharisees asked for. Rather, they are signs like the sign of Jonah, which can only be understood by faith-sacramental signs which both reveal and conceal the kingdom. Indeed, we quite properly surround ourselves with all sorts of signs of the faith, crosses and candles and altars and vestments. But such things do not stand alone. Rather, they grow out of the Word and draw our attention back to the Word and what it teaches. For Christ's words alone establish the kingdom of God and everything in it.

We must learn, therefore, to trust our ears. Looking at ourselves, we may see nothing about us but sin and sickness and trouble. But listening to and trusting in the Lord's words, we hear of the hidden reality that we are His chosen, righteous people and royal inheritors of eternal life. Looking at the church, we may see nothing but imperfection and struggles and disunity. But listening to and trusting in the Lord's words, we hear of the hidden reality that the church is His holy bride, and even the very gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Thus we say in the creed not "I see," but, "I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church."

Brothers and sisters of Christ, you have been placed on the ark of this Church. And when the waters subside on the day of our Lord's return, you shall enter into a new and imperishable creation, the everlasting kingdom of God unveiled in all its majesty. It is true. Repent and believe that it is so; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

+ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +