Luke 11:14-28

In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit

    The Lord knew that the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, would not let the people of Israel go unless he was compelled to do so.  And so the Lord stretched out His hand and sent the 10 plagues upon Egypt.  Beginning with the third and fourth plagues, the plagues of the gnats and the flies, the Pharaoh’s magicians knew that the Finger of God was at work. How? Because they couldn’t replicate them with their demonic arts. They tried everything they could from their little bag of tricks, but to no avail. The finger of God was working to bring His people out from their slavery and from the burdens the Egyptians had placed on them.  The Lord was redeeming them to be His own and to dwell in the land He had promised to their forefathers.

    And so by the plagues, by these great acts of judgment, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and the king of Egypt, the strong man, was overcome in his own kingdom by One stronger than him.  And those oppressed by Pharaoh, those enslaved by the strong man, were led out of their bondage into freedom by the Stronger Man’s mighty arm through the waters of the Red Sea.

    But as they gathered together with Him in the wilderness, many found that their last state was worse than the first. Even though they’d been miraculously delivered from oppression, even though they pillaged and plundered the strong man and his palace as they left–taking with them much silver and gold from the Egyptians as God directed–they quickly forgot the Word and Promise of the Lord. They grumbled and actually longed to be back in Egypt. They became idolaters, worshiping false gods and worshiping the true God falsely. And so the Lord scattered their bodies throughout the wilderness.

    All this is the background to the Jesus and Beelzebub controversy in today’s Gospel. The Jews accuse our Lord of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, which in Hebrew means “Lord of the Flies.”  Of course, they meant it as a condemnation. That he is casting out demons by the power of the evil one. That he is some trickster or snake charmer. That he keeps demons as pets so that he can get people’s money by winning their affection and praise.

    But our Lord flips it on them. He asks them by whose authority then do their sons cast out demons?  If Jesus is a trickster, so are they. And then He offers this warning: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” That is, if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then you’re dealing with the Lord, the one who sent gnats and flies for the judgement and destruction of Pharaoh. If it is by the finger of God, then beware, for that Lord of the flies will judge you too, just as he did to those who chased after false Gods and false worship, who rejected His Word and Promise in the wilderness. Jesus said, those who are not with me are against me. Those who do not gather together with me, where I am, scatter. For only those who hear My Word and keep it are blessed.

    So what about you? You, too, have been rescued from your enemies, from the sin that enslaves you, through the waters of Holy Baptism. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the stronger man, has overcome the strong man of sin, death, and the power of the devil by His cross. For just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so also the Son of man was lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have everlasting life. By water and word, the fruits of His cross were delivered to you, and the demons, the unclean spirits departed, making way for the Holy Spirit.

    But when Jesus gives the finger of God to the devil, the devil doesn’t just go away nicely. Satan is enraged, his heart is hardened, and he chases after you, as Pharaoh did with all his armies at the Red Sea.  When the devil returns he doesn’t come back alone, but with some of his friends, to ensure that this time, he will not be overcome.  And he always comes back at an opportune time.  He waits for a time when you’re weak.  And so you think you’ve cast out a particular sin–gluttony, drinking, lust and pornography, greed, anger and fear, doubt–then all of a sudden the demons are back in force and you find yourself caught up in that stuff even more awfully and dangerously than before.  

    Perhaps it’s because our great weakness is what we consider to be our strength.  We think that we modern people are much more enlightened than ancient folk.  At least the Pharisees understood that there is such a thing as demons, that evil actually exists, that it’s real, and that God has enemies. We, on the other hand, tend to look for natural, psychological causes, social reasons for our problems. And any mention of demons and devils, makes us think of fairy tales and ghost stories. And right there is Satan’s clever ploy. If you don’t even think he’s real, he can operate all the more freely.  But remember this, to paraphrase G.K. Chesterton: “Fairy tales don’t teach children that dragons and ghosts and demons exist. They already know they exist.  Fairy tales teach them that they can be killed and how they are overcome.”  

    Let us never forget, then, that we’re in the midst of a battle, unseen, but very real.  For if we ignore that reality, we’ll become indifferent to the things of God.  If we pay little attention to the reality of sin and Satan, we’ll also pay little attention to Christ and the Gospel.  And then we’ll get caught up with the world’s imaginary versions of good and evil, where it’s all about politics and and social justice and political correctness.  We’ll become more concerned about so-called “tolerance” than faithfulness to God, about tax rates more than abortion rates. We’ll be more worried about our kids and grandkids growing up to be happy and successful than that they grow up to be good and devout.  We’ve nearly forgotten what is real and what really matters. But here is the truth: there is no neutral territory. You either belong to God, or you belong to Satan. You either gather together where God and His Word is, or you scatter. You are either with Him or against Him.  That’s what Jesus says here; there’s no middle ground. Those who choose the “enlightened,” middle way of moderation are deceived.  They belong to the enemy.

    Our only defense in all of this is Jesus and His Word.  He alone is our refuge and our mighty fortress.  In Him there is absolutely nothing that can harm us, nothing that can separate us from God’s love.  The devil would like you to think that he’s a god alongside the true God.  But he’s not.  He’s just a fallen angel–powerful and dangerous to be sure–but nothing more.  He claimed authority over you through sin.  But now in Christ who has taken away your sin, the devil is beneath you.  You belong to Jesus.  Through Christ Satan is underneath your feet.  For Christ crushed His head with His own bruised heel.  In Christ you are restored to your proper place as human beings, with dominion over all creation, including the demons.  

    Jesus is the Stronger Man who overcomes the strong man.  He not only won the victory for us in the wilderness, the Son of David slinging the smooth stone of the Word and felling the Goliath Satan.  He also outmaneuvered and outflanked the devil, turning the devil’s own weapons against him and utterly destroying him.  Jesus deceives the deceiver.  He overcomes the crafty one with His own divine and holy craftiness, sneaking into the devil’s kingdom of death, allowing Himself to be crucified, and then from the inside nuking and laying waste to the devil’s power, rising from the dead in glory on the third day.  It is written in Hebrews 2, “The Son of God Himself likewise shared in our flesh and blood, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime held in bondage.”

    Now, therefore, you are no longer slaves; you are free.  Satan is defeated and undone and humiliated.  Christ the Conqueror has rescued us from the realm of darkness and brought us into His own kingdom of goodness and righteousness and truth.  Our Lord has cast out our unclean spirits at the baptismal font and made our bodies the temple of His Holy Spirit.  And if you have strayed from your baptism, foolishly thinking you could co-exist with the demons, then return to the font in repentance and faith.  For the demons must flee from you there.  They cannot stand to be in the presence of Christ.  He is the One who welcomes you back, speaking His powerful, forgiving words into our ears.  He is the One who feeds you with His holy, life-giving Flesh and Blood to sanctify you and fortify and strengthen your spirits.  Gathered together with Jesus in His church you are safe and secure from the crafts and the assaults of the wicked one.

    “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.”  Just like our Lord’s mother, we too are blessed as we cling to the Word made flesh, as we hold to His powerful, life-giving words.  For just like Mary, we too carry the Lord’s physical presence in our Body as we partake of the sacrament of Holy Communion.  And we too hold the Lord in our bosom, you might say, as the Word of God is preached into us and rests in our hearts.  Blessed are you who hold to God’s Word and abide in it.  For no lasting harm can come to you from the evil one.  Nothing can snatch you from the hand of God.  For on that hand of God are the fingers that cast out demons and that point you to the cross where your salvation was won, and to the font, pulpit, and altar where your salvation is given to you personally.  You have been liberated from all your sins by the Lord Jesus Christ.  You are now free to walk in love as children of light.  Let your eyes ever be toward Christ, who plucks your feet out of the net, who conquers your enemy, and who will deliver you from all evil in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.

In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit

(With thanks to the Rev. Jason Braaten, whose sermon notes were adapted for much of the above.)

John 1:1-18; Deuteronomy 18:15-19

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    You and I suffer from a fundamental religious problem.  We want God to deal with us in a way that would wind up destroying us.  We think that it would be a great thing if we could see God in all His glory and hear Him speak to us.  We say to ourselves, “if only God would come to me in some special and direct way.  If only He would show Himself to Me and speak to me face to face.  Then I could really trust in Him and lead a more faithful Christian life.”  We think that coming into direct, unfiltered, unsheltered contact with God would be a wonderful experience for us.  

    The people of God standing at Mount Sinai, however, would strongly disagree.  They came very nearly into direct contact with God, and they were freaked out.  There was thunder and lightning and fire and smoke and an ear-piercing trumpet sound.  They stayed at a distance from the mountain of God, and they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen.  But let us not hear again the voice of the Lord our God, nor let us see this great fire anymore, lest we die.”  When unholy people come into direct contact with the holy God, it’s like grabbing onto an uninsulated high voltage wire.  The power is good, but unshielded it is deadly.  Nothing unrighteous can stand exposed in God’s presence without being destroyed.  And that includes you.  It is proof of sinful human foolishness that we tend to think otherwise.

    The Old Testament tells us several times that no one can see God and live.  Even Moses, who was permitted safely to hear the voice of God, was only allowed to see the “back” of God on Mount Sinai, Scripture says.  Anything more than that would have undone him.  In a sense, then, God hides Himself from us for our good.  For if we were to come into contact with Him directly in our current fallen condition, we would perish.

    And yet it’s not good if God were to remain hidden from us forever.  Ultimately, that’s what hell is:  eternal, painful separation from God and all that is blessed and good.  What we want, what we need is to stand in God’s glorious presence and experience the holy joy of communion with Him.  How, then, do we come into contact with God in a saving and beneficial way?

    The answer to our question comes to us at Christmas.  It is as God said to Moses, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth.”  The people could handle a human presence and a human voice.  And so the solution to our problem of how to come into contact with the holy God is the wonderfully human presence of the Child in the manger.  For that infant boy in swaddling clothes is the fulfillment of the prophecy.  He is the Lord–not God with thunder and lightning and fire and smoke, but God veiled in human flesh–Emmanuel, God with us, God who is one of us.  This is not just the back of God that Moses saw, but the very image and face of God.  In Jesus we are able to approach God without fear.  For He has come down to our level.  He’s not on a mountain; He’s in a manger.  We don't need to climb up to Him.  He has descended to where we are at.  We aren’t overwhelmed and repelled and annihilated by His holiness and power; for He has wrapped His glory in a most inviting way, in the body and soul of a baby.  There He is, the Lord of might, Creator of the universe, helpless in the arms of His mother.  This He did for us, that we might be restored to Him.  Jesus is God whom we can come into direct contact with and not die.  If we seek God anywhere else, we will perish.  But when we come into contact with Jesus, the Son of God in our flesh, just the opposite happens when we believe in Him: we live.  His holiness doesn’t annihilate us, it cleanses us.  Joined to Him by faith, trusting in His love for us, we enter into God’s very presence, where we experience not His anger and wrath, but His everlasting goodness and mercy.

    Jesus is a Prophet like Moses, who speaks the Word of God.  And yet He is of course much greater than Moses, for He is the Word of God, the Word made flesh.  The words in His mouth come from the Father whose divine nature He shares in fully, since He is the very Son of God, of one substance with the Father, God of God, Light of Light.  The reason that God and man can safely come together in Christ is because Jesus is both God and man unified and reconciled in one undivided person.

    And Jesus is much greater than Moses also in this sense: the Law came through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  The Law of God that Moses revealed is good, but it can only take us so far, even as Moses could only take Israel so far, but not all the way to the Promised Land.  In the end the Law condemns us.  Only Joshua, Yeshua, only Jesus takes us to the Promised Land.  For only He crossed the Jordan ahead of us and for us, passing through death into life in our flesh, that we may share in His life forever.  Jesus reveals the truth of His name, “The Lord saves.”  In Him is manifested the free grace of God, that the Father sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that world might be saved through Him.

    So on this blessed Christmas Day, give thanks to God that He comes to you not in the way of Mt. Sinai but in the way of the manger. The Son of God hides Himself like this in order to reveal Himself in love and make Himself truly known to you.  He veils Himself behind swaddling clothes and the shame of the cross in order that you may see Him by faith and perceive His great love for you.  He veils His voice of power and thunder behind the still small voice of the Scriptures and the preaching of the Gospel, so that you may hear Him without fear.  He conceals and covers Himself in your flesh and blood so that you may come into contact with Him and not be destroyed but purified and redeemed by His mighty power.

    The Word is still made flesh quite literally for you here, mangered in the bread and wine.  As the shepherds knelt before Jesus and worshiped God truly present in the flesh, so you are given to do the very same at this altar.  That is the true way to celebrate Christmas, by partaking of the Christ mass, the true body and blood of Christ given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.  Receive Him who comes to you in this humble and lowly way; gladly welcome the Christ-child and hold onto His free gifts of mercy and life.  For the Lord Jesus conceals Himself like this for you now, so that when He reveals Himself on the Last Day, you will not be destroyed; rather, you will be delivered into the most beautiful and awesome glory of His presence and will share in perfect communion with Him who is in the bosom of the Father.  

    Look to Jesus, and see God, and live.  Merry Christmas!

    ✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    The world of Martin Luther’s day and of our day are obviously quite different.  His was a time dominated by princes and popes and the widespread fear of purgatory when you die.  That’s why the indulgences being sold by the church were initially such a success.  People were sincerely afraid of the judgment of God.  Their worldview was very much focused on finding a way to be saved from the punishment their sins deserved.  The promise that indulgences could free people from that was an appealing solution for many.

    On the other hand, ours is a time dominated by notions of freedom and equality and the assumption that almost everyone will have a nice afterlife.  Fear of God’s judgment isn’t what drives things anymore but self-fulfillment.  The god most people conceive of today isn’t the God of the Bible, but just a sort of nice, generic, supernatural force.  And while people certainly still may not like the thought of dying, the belief at least on the surface is that unless you’re a super evil person, you’ll end up in heaven.  Isn’t it just standard conversation at a funeral to say that the deceased is in a better place?

    And so we can be tempted to think that the things that Luther and the Reformation were about–things like sin and hell and the cross and reconciliation with God–while they may have been important at one time, really are no longer things we should focus on so much.  The world has changed.  Many think that we as a church need to move on to other things and address more contemporary and relevant questions.  

    But in truth what ails the church today is that the problem Luther faced has stopped being our problem.  Technology may have advanced, times may have changed, but fallen human nature hasn’t.  We need to learn to start asking the right questions again:  How can we be rescued from the slavery of our sins and the bondage of death and the very real judgment of God?  For Luther, the question was very personal: “How can a sinner like me be redeemed?  How can I find a God of mercy?” 

    Don’t be drawn away by the self-absorbed God questions of our age: How can I find a God who can make my life better?  How can God give me a life of purpose?  How can I be happy and fulfilled?  Do you notice in those questions, God is just a means to an end, just a way of getting where I want to be.  But God is never merely a means to an end.  God is the end; He’s the goal we seek, the God of mercy.  Our desire is to be with this God.  That’s what heaven is.  He is Himself the fullness of the life that we’re looking for.  Part of the problem, then, is that we’ve stopped asking the right questions.  As one theologian put it, God’s Word isn’t about meeting our needs, it’s about giving us needs worth having.

    Here’s the diagnosis of your need from God’s Word; from the Epistle:  “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”  Since God’s Law declares all to be guilty and condemned before Him, your greatest need is to escape that and be delivered from that.  And the Law itself can’t help you.  All the Law can do is point the finger at you and tell you to shut your trap.  You’ve got nothing you can say in your own defense–no excuses, no justifications, no “but I did the best I could.”  Just zip it, the Law says.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  There’s nothing you can say to help.  

    In Luther’s day, the typical way to try to escape God’s wrath was through human effort, things like his duties as a monk, his life of self-denial, his attempts to list and repent of every sin in confession and do proper penance–but none of that satisfied him or gave him peace.  For Luther had been given a gift by God: the gift of a tender and strong conscience.  Today, we might call that a curse.  The key to success in this world, and even sometimes in church hierarchy, is compromise.  But with each compromise, the conscience is deadened a little, and God’s Word is set aside a little more.  With each compromise you and I make, we have to tell ourselves, “The warnings of God’s Word don’t really apply to me.”  Deluding ourselves that it is for a greater good, it is easy to set aside what we have learned from Scripture until it no longer bothers us at all.  But Luther’s conscience wouldn’t let him stop being bothered.  And that was actually good.  For as Hebrews 12 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”  These things are not trifling matters.  The fact that we do not tremble more often at God’s Word is a sign of how we have compromised our own consciences, how much we have taken God’s Word of Law and Gospel for granted.

    What made the Reformation finally occur was when the pure light of the life-giving Gospel shone through clearly and began to lift the burden of the Law from Luther.  That didn’t happen through some mystical experience or an emotional conversion or a commitment to obedience, but through a rediscovery of the Scriptural teaching about God’s righteousness.  And here’s what that teaching is:  what God demands in the Law under threat of punishment, He gives by pure grace in the Gospel, as a gift.  In the Law, God condemns our unrighteousness, but in the Gospel, God freely gives us His own righteousness.  It is written in Romans 1: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. . . For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” In other words, the Gospel makes known the righteousness of God, not as demands on you but as a gift to you.  God isn’t saying, “See how righteous I am; now you better measure up,” but rather, “Here, take my righteousness, wear it as your own; it’s yours.”  In His Word God reveals and gives you His righteousness, so that through faith in the Gospel, you are 100% holy and guiltless in His sight.  These words of Scripture revealed the answer to Luther’s terrifying question: “How can I find a God of mercy?”  It’s all there and given to you in Jesus, God’s mercy in the flesh. 

    St. Paul writes in the Epistle, Since, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” we are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  Pay close attention to those words.  You are justified freely by His grace, without any strings attached.  That’s what grace is, an undeserved gift of love.  You don’t have to justify yourself, look for loopholes, prove yourself, build yourself up by what you do; God Himself justifies you, He declares you righteous, He puts you right with Himself solely and completely based on the works of Christ Jesus His Son.

    And here in particular is what Christ has done for you: the Epistle says that the Lord Jesus redeemed you.  He bought you back out of your slavery to sin and Satan and the grave.  He purchased you with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.  He traded places with you and allowed Himself to be enslaved, captured and condemned as if He were the sinner, guilty of every wrong that’s ever been done and every failure to do what’s right.  He took your place in the chains of death to set you free, so that you would take His place in everlasting life.  Through His sacred death, Jesus broke your bonds and conquered your slave masters so that they have no eternal power over you any more.  In the Son of God you are truly free–released, forgiven, alive.  Jesus Himself said, “If the Son sets you free, then you are free indeed.”

    That merciful release and freedom given only in Christ is what Luther needed, what we need, and what every age needs.  It doesn’t change with the times; it doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle ages or this postmodern age, this unchanging truth remains:  God’s wrath against sinners has been completely turned away through the cross.  This He did for you.  God doesn’t hate you, He loves you in Jesus.  He has chosen you as His own and brought you out of darkness, so that you may live under Him in His kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.  You are no longer slaves, you are beloved children in the household of God.  That’s the good news of the Gospel of Jesus.

    So if we really want things to be put right again, with ourselves and with the church, and be renewed in our Christian faith, then let us always keep the Reformation question central to our own theology and belief: “How can I find a God of mercy?”  And hearing the answer in God’s Word, that we are justified and declared righteous “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” alone, given by grace alone in preaching and the Sacraments, received through faith alone, then we will be on the right track.  Then we will be freed to do truly good works–works performed not out of fear of punishment or to acquire our own salvation, but works performed in the sure confidence that we’re already saved in Christ, works done for the good of our neighbor as we live out the callings God has given us in the home and work and state and church.  This is the Scriptural, Reformation flow of good works–not us to God, but God to us and then through us in love to the world. 

    One final thought: The Epistle reading said that boasting is excluded.  That is important for us to remember at a Reformation celebration.  It’s not just that we shouldn’t boast in our own good works (since it’s all from God), it’s also that we shouldn’t boast in our Lutheranism for its own sake in some sort of puffed up and self-righteous way.  For then we’re denying our own confession of faith.  We aren’t justified by being Lutheran.  Martin Luther of course can save no one.  We are justified by the holy cross, by faith in Christ alone–and even that faith is a gift of the Gospel.  That’s where the focus must stay, always on Jesus and His Word.  As it is written, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”  For the Lord Himself says, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

(With thanks to Herman Sasse and his work, “Luther and the Teaching of the Reformation,” Part 2, The Lonely Way, and the Revs. William Willimon and Christopher Esget)

• Matthew 22:15-22
• Trinity 23

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    When we hear today’s Gospel reading, there is a strong temptation for us to interpret it in American political terms.  The statement “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” we take to mean little more than “the separation of church and state” or something along those lines.   You’ve got your church life here, and you’ve got your secular life and political life over there.  Take care of your responsibilities in each, but keep them separate.

    But that’s not what Jesus is saying here.  He’s not simply reducing himself to the role of Thomas Jefferson.  And he’s certainly not saying that your Christian faith should only be applied to a couple narrow areas of your life and be kept out of the other stuff.  In fact that’s actually the opposite of his point.

    Now to be sure, there are distinctions to be made between church and state.  In the church God rules primarily by means of the Gospel, bestowing mercy and forgiveness on repentant sinners.  For such there is no coercion, just grace.  But in the state God rules primarily by means of the Law; which means that when the government is doing its job properly, it’s about punishing bad behavior and rewarding and protecting good behavior.  The government by its very nature operates by threat and coercion, by force.  Step outside the boundaries of the Law and face the consequences; stay within the boundaries of the Law and reap the benefit.  This is as God intends.  Romans 13 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. . . Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”  God gives government and rulers the authority to use force, to punish, and to reward.  They are ministers of God’s left hand kingdom of the Law for your good, to maintain order.

    Of course, the problem occurs when sinful rulers are no longer a threat to wrongdoers but to those who are doing good.  In our country, the abortion industry is not only protected by the government, it’s even funded by the government.  Planned Parenthood, which performs over 330,000 abortions in this country every year, receives about $550 million dollars a year from the federal government and what we pay in taxes.  All tolled, the government and the civil law is complicit in the deaths of over 1 million unborn children in this country annually; that’s over 3000 every day.  Politicians who say, “I’m personally against abortion, but I don’t think I should force my moral views on others” are gravely mistaken and self-deceived.  Just apply that thinking to the topic of child abuse, and you’ll realize how ridiculous and foolish that supposed justification is.  I’m personally against child abuse, but I don’t think I should force my moral views on others.”  What do they think abortion is?  This bizarre separation of church and life is certainly not what Jesus is talking about here.

    In addition, the government also now protects and promotes a fundamentally corrupted understanding of marriage.  And the days are drawing nearer when those who simply speak out in favor of God-given natural marriage only between a man and a woman are going to be seen as criminally guilty of hate speech.  Christian business owners who decline to take part in providing services for same-sex ceremonies are already being are already being sued and driven out of business, very often with the blessing or assistance of local authorities.  Such actions by governments are certainly not to be seen as God’s will or the God-given role of the state.  In our democratic republic, it is certainly right and appropriate for us in these instances to resist the authorities and to work to change the laws as well as the hearts of people toward what is good and right.  And if the government ever attempts to require us to sin, then we say along with St. Peter in Acts 5, “We must obey God rather than men.”

    But having said all this, Jesus’ point in the Gospel actually isn’t focused primarily on civil government, but on something much more.  Those who were trying to entangle Jesus in his talk were mostly concerned with political things.  Were you backing the right people and favoring the right policies?  That’s what they were getting all worked up about.  But Jesus wasn’t fitting very well into the agenda of either side, and so since He wasn’t useful to their cause, they wanted to get rid of Him–and that included both the religiously conservative Pharisees who hated living under Roman rule, and the secular elite and powerful Herodians, who were in league with the Roman empire.  They had common cause here in trying to trip Jesus up.  No matter how Jesus answered the question about paying taxes, they thought they’d have Him trapped.  If He supported paying taxes to the Romans, he’d lose popularity with the people who were oppressed under Roman rule.  If He didn’t think it was right to pay taxes, then He could be accused of treason and rebellion.  But Jesus, Wisdom in the flesh, rises above their political arguments and says, “Whose image and inscription is on the money.  Caesar’s?  Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”  And they were silenced.  All they could do was marvel and go their way.  

    But note how Jesus not only shut them down, but also how He changed the subject.  With His response, it was as if He was saying, “You are all caught up in the things of this world and the power of people who are nothing but dust.  If part of Caesar’s passing glory is to have his image and inscription on money, and he wants you to pay taxes with it, do it.  Don’t give that money and that mammon more importance than it deserves.  The stuff of Caesar is temporary; the things of God are eternal.  Turn your attention to that.  Render to God the things that are God’s.”  The real emphasis for Jesus is not on the first half of the phrase but that second half.

    “Render unto God the things that are God’s.”  Well, if you think about it, everything is God’s, so give Him everything.  Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”  Paying taxes is really nothing, then.  God wants all of you–all you are and all you have.  He doesn’t just want a couple of hours on a Saturday night or a Sunday morning and some money put into the plate so you can tell yourself that you’ve done your duty.  And then you can get back to your real life out there.  He wants to be your real life everywhere, 100% of the time, at the heart of all you are and all you do.  He Himself is your life, isn’t He?  He’s the Source, the Creator, the Redeemer.  To render to God the things that are God’s, then, means to honor Him as the true owner of everything you have and are and to manage that in a way that is pleasing to Him.  That may well start here with the 10% that you are given to put in the offering plate to support the mission of the church, but it’s about much more than just money.  It continues with the other 90% and your very lives that you are given to manage out there for the good of your neighbor and the glory of God.

    Remember, it’s all about the image and the inscription.  The coin bore Caesar’s image, so it was given to Caesar.  And what bears God’s image?  You do.  You are created in the image of God.  And so you are given to God.

    But also remember this.  You do not give yourself to God.  You are brought to God in Christ. For while you are in God’s image, Jesus actually is the image of the invisible God Himself according to Colossians 1.  The image of God in us was broken through sin, and it is restored only in Christ. Just as an image of a president is pressed into a coin, so Christ Himself is the image of God “coined” in our human flesh.  And as money is offered up to pay taxes, so Jesus was offered up to God to pay for our sins on the cross, rendered to the Father as a sweet sacrifice. Jesus purchased and redeemed you, not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood.  And there was even an inscription that was placed over Jesus head at Calvary by an agent of Caesar himself.  It read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”  There is Jesus on His throne for you.

    When it comes to settling accounts with God, you can do one of two things: either you can render to Him your own works and your own goodness, which always fall short in making up for your sin, or you can trust in the works and the sacrifice of Christ rendered to the Father as the full and complete payment for your sins.  So then at its heart, to render to God the things that are God’s is simply to rely on Christ and believe in Him.  It is to point to Christ the crucified and say, “There is my salvation.  He alone is the offering that wins for me everlasting life.”  To put it another way, we render to Caesar obedience, but we render to God the love and trust of our hearts.

    In baptism, the Lord put His own inscription on you, His own Triune name.  Your image was tarnished and corrupted, but Jesus stamped the sign of the cross on you and joined you to Himself.  In Jesus the very image of God is restored to your humanity.  You are now God’s holy coinage, His cherished treasure.  What shall we render, then, to the Lord, for all His benefits to us?  We offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, calling on the name of the Lord.  And living in Christ, we offer up our bodies as living sacrifices by the mercies of God in loving our neighbor.

    For as St. Paul said in the Epistle, our citizenship is in heaven, in Christ.  We are like foreigners who are only passing through to our true homeland.  So we don’t have to live as if we’re so attached to the things of this life or as if everything depends on who wins elections, as important as they are.    You are citizens of this country only for a short time; you will live under Christ in His kingdom for all eternity.  Set the deepest love of your hearts, then, on that better, heavenly country. 

    Hear the wisdom of the Psalmist, “Put not your trust in princes and rulers, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.  When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.  Blessed, is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them.”  When everything seems to be coming apart in the world around us, it is good to meditate on the words of Psalm 11, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?  The Lord is in His holy temple.  The Lord’s throne is in heaven.”  Christ remains the King of kings and the Lord over all authority forever.

    Here, then, is our sure and certain hope and our heart’s desire: (Phil. 3) “We eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.”  These lowly bodies of ours will undergo a wonderful and mysterious metamorphosis at Jesus’ return, so that they will be like His glorious body after His resurrection from the dead.  Your bodies will finally no longer be threatened by all of the troubles and the sin and the sickness and the death they experience in this world.  You will live before God amidst the holy pleasures of the new creation eternally.

    So render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, taking care of those necessary duties in a fallen world.  But above all, render unto God the things that are God’s, honoring and trusting in Him above all things.  “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?  I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.”  Here is where you are given to participate already in the life of God’s eternal kingdom.  Here is where you not only kneel before your King, but calling on His name, you receive His very body and blood into your bodies for the forgiveness of all your sins.  And “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

    One thing I’ve discovered through the years is that most people, even unchurched people, don’t usually mind discussing questions about God and morality.  Even those who never have time for divine service will often still have time to express their opinions on this or that religious topic.  But that’s where the problem often is: what we end up doing is simply to make God an object of discussion and debate.  Folks talk about theology the same way they discuss politics or the economy or sports:  creation vs. evolution, the presidential race, gay marriage, Lutheranism vs. Roman Catholicism, police shootings, racial protests and riots, Islam and refugees, what’s wrong with the Packers offense–these are all just things to talk about and take sides on.  Spiritually speaking the problem is this: when the things of God become simply a topic to discuss and debate like anything else, that can actually become a way of keeping the Lord at arms length–religion’s an idea out there that we can safely control and manage.  It then becomes about concepts rather than about a person: the God we live under and are accountable to, Who desires that we live in communion with Him, the Redeemer who is our very life.

    And one of the easiest ways to talk religion without actually having come to terms with the living God is to debate morality, to discuss the Law–which, of course, is fine and good.  But as we see in today’s Gospel, for the Pharisees it had become a bit of a game and a litmus test.  Jesus had just silenced the elite Sadducees, who were sort of the liberals of the day.  The conservative Pharisees liked that.  Now, they thought, let’s see if Jesus passes the test and can fit properly into our group.  With their question, they wanted to be able to categorize Jesus and put Him into one of their boxes, so that they could handle Him and manage Him.  

    “Teacher,” they asked, “which is the great commandment in the law?”  It was a question intended to bring Jesus down to their level.  Notice how Jesus was supposed to pick just one commandment.  If Jesus answered the right way, the way that agreed with their group’s thinking and shared their priorities, then He would simply be one of them.  But if not, then they could debate Jesus’ answer as if they were His equals and dismiss Him, all the while reducing the living voice of God’s Law to a matter of ethical points.  Either way, they were using the Law in a lawless way, as a way of exalting themselves rather than humbling themselves before God.  Beware of trying to argue moral questions simply for the sake of being right or winning a debate or justifying yourself.  That’s not why God gave the Law.  The Law is always meant to lead us to repentance and to Christ.

    Our Lord’s wisdom would not play the Pharisees’ game or submit to their litmus test.  He did not choose a single commandment.  Instead, He summarized them all.  He cut through their vain request and exposed the foolishness of pitting God’s Word against itself.  Love is the fulfillment of the law.  So Jesus answers in two parts.  First, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  That’s not something you can reduce down to a bunch of do’s and don’ts.  For that Law commands you to love God with every fiber of your being, all that you are, all that you own, with nothing held back from Him.  He wants the entire devotion of your heart; all of your love, your allegiance to be with Him alone.

    And Jesus doesn’t stop there, in case someone thinks that loving God means leaving ordinary life and your fellow man.  He goes on, “And the second (great commandment) is like (the first): ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  These two go side by side, hand in hand.  The love of God and the love of the neighbor are inseparable.  You cannot claim to love God if you don’t love your neighbor.  For God seeks to be loved in your neighbor.  The Lord Jesus–who took up our nature and truly shares in our humanity–is present therefore in all those around us, particularly those in need, to receive our acts of kindness and self-giving.  As the proverb says, “He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord.”  That’s why Jesus says that the commands are alike: Because God is served both in love for Him and in love for the neighbor.  This love is limitless in how it is to be expressed and shown.  

    That is where the living voice of the Law nails us and condemns us for falling short.  It exposes our lovelessness.  It exposes our self-satisfying motivations when we do engage in loving works.  It brings nothing but judgment and death.  

    Repent, therefore, and turn to Christ.  For Jesus here gets us back on the track that leads to salvation and life.  The Pharisees had asked a Law question, but now Jesus asks a Gospel question, not one that focuses on us, but one that focuses on who He is.  Jesus gets us away from moral concepts and religious debates and gets us to meditate instead on personhood of the Messiah Redeemer.  Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah?  Whose Son is He?”  They said to Him, “The Son of David.”  And that was correct.  God had promised King David in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be one of His descendants.

    Jesus then asks them this question, “How then does David in the Spirit call the Messiah ‘Lord’ in one of the Psalms?”  You see, under ordinary circumstances in Jewish culture it would be the son who refers to the father as lord or master, not the other way around.  And yet here David, the father and the great ancestor of the Christ, refers to his descendant as Lord.  Jesus asks them, “Why is that?”  Just as the Pharisees had tried to trap Jesus into a debate with a Law question, Jesus here tries to “trap” them into thinking about the truth about the Gospel with this question, to get them to see the saving reality of who He is.

    The Jews had been conceiving of the Messiah as being a combination of a great prophet and a powerful political leader, but always in the end only a man.  But Jesus here leads us to see that while He is truly human, He is more than just a man.  David calls Him lord and master because Jesus, his literal descendant, is also truly and fully God.  The Son of David is the everlasting Son of  God.

    Here, then, is where the good news is for us.  Jesus, thankfully, does not come in a way that fits into our mental categories and according to the expectations of whatever groups we align ourselves with.  He isn’t a liberal or a conservative.  His ways are infinitely higher and better.  He comes not in the way of fallen man but in the way of His perfect self-giving humanity.  Jesus is the only man in whom God’s love is perfectly embodied.  Jesus kept the Law perfectly for us and in our place.  He loved His heavenly Father with all His heart, with all His soul, and with all His mind, devoting Himself entirely to doing His Father’s will.  And Jesus loved His neighbor as Himself.  He gave Himself completely to those around Him, healing them, helping them, teaching them saving truth.  In the end He gave His life away, laying it down for us on the cross.  There is no greater love than that a man lay down His life for His friends; and you are His friends whom He died for.  Through that perfect act of love and self-giving, Jesus won for you the full forgiveness of your sins.  
    Jesus said that on these two commandments of love hang all the Law and the prophets.  Jesus, who is love in the flesh, hangs on the cross for you to fulfill the Law of love perfectly.  Baptized into Him, the Law’s condemnation is taken away from you, as Romans 8 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  You are free, released, forgiven, right with God in Christ.  His self-sacrifice has rescued you from judgment and has brought you everlasting life.  For Jesus has made your enemies to be His enemies–sin and death and the devil–and by rising from the grave He has made them His footstool.  The grave is conquered; sin is taken away; Satan’s head is crushed.  All of this that you now know by faith you will see with your own eyes at Jesus’ return–when He who is at God’s right hand is revealed in all His glory, and all things that are under His feet will be put under your feet with Him.  

    Therefore, brothers and sisters of Christ, remember that theology is not just something we talk about, it is the God, the Redeemer we come face to face with, and whom we confess, the Jesus who is our life and who desires that we share in His life and have fellowship with Him forever.  He is present here now–not as a concept but as pure love in the flesh, giving you His true body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.  Here is living theology, where the love of God and love of the neighbor all come together in Christ, love’s flesh and blood.  You are sanctified and cleansed in Christ Jesus.  You are saints before God as the epistle said–not because of the Law and what you have done, but because of the Gospel and what Jesus has done.  Continue, therefore, to believe in Him and cling to Him, eagerly waiting for His return.  For He will confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful; He will do it.

✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠

Luke 18:9-14

Trinity 11

“Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.”  “Well,” you say, “that’s certainly not talking about me.  I know I’m not righteous.  Nobody’s perfect.”  However, don’t be so quick to dismiss what Jesus says.  Sure, I don’t think there’s anyone here who would stand up and say that they’re perfect and righteous.  We’ve all made mistakes; we all have our flaws.  But on the other hand, most of you think that the flaws you do have aren’t all that serious.  And you’ve got pretty good justifications for your mistakes.  “Some person did something to me and set me off.  This or that happened to me in my childhood; my parents are to blame.  The circumstances I was presented with left me no good options.”  Trying to justify yourselves and your sin like that is the opposite of being justified by God through faith in His mercy.  And it’s certainly the opposite of a repentant heart.