8th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 10) LSB #’s 650, 545, 746
Text – Ephesians 1:13 In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, & believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. THE WORD OF TRUTH A highway billboard, near a casino, advertised, “A good clean place to get filthy rich!” It’s a clever slogan with a nice play on words. In some respect it’s even true, although the average odds of winning are stacked against you 37 to 1. In other words, out of every 37 tries, you should win one time, & there’s no guarantee that one will make you filthy rich. When it comes to gambling, far more people walk away broke than those who walk away filthy rich. Is that the kind of truth you feel comfortable relying upon? In baseball, an excellent batting average is 300. 37 to 1 odds have you batting 27. In the realm of sinful human beings, truth, & not just beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. You have your truth & I have mine is how our culture likes to speak of truth. Two thousand years ago, in His trial before Pontius Pilate, Jesus stated, “For this purpose I was born & for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37c ESV) To which Pilate replied, …“What is truth?” (John 18:38a ESV) Truth has been a complicated issue for human beings since Adam & Eve agreed with Satan that God was not being entirely truthful with them. During an election cycle where lies are broadcast every day as news, in a world where it’s impossible to know the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth, God sends His Holy Spirit to us with the Word of truth. And what is that word of truth? Some religions teach that you find truth through meditation. Some believe that you find truth in the unspoiled expanses of nature. Every single human version of truth finding is centered in the heart, mind or soul of human beings. In other words, it’s a very self-centered, self-absorbed & therefore very narrow-minded truth. When someone says, “You have your truth & I have mine,” they are not telling you the truth. Truth is not something you are able to discover on your own. Sin has utterly destroyed our ability to discover truth anywhere, anyplace, or anytime. If you struggle to accept that, just look at the human track record. Look at all the lawyers & judges & courts that are overwhelmed with work. Look at the biological men competing in women’s sports. Look at the lie of evolution & imagine that every single thing in the universe came into being by accident & random chance. Sin has cut us off from truth. Only God, who created us, can reconnect us to Himself. That’s why the heavenly Father sent His Son to be born at Bethlehem. God became man to reconnect the human race to its Creator. After living the perfect life in our place, never committing a single sin, Jesus suffered, died & rose from the dead to pay the penalty that you & I can only pay in hell for eternity. That good news is the gospel of your salvation. That good news is God’s Word of Truth. All sinners have been reconciled to their Creator. He is no longer angry with us in any way. That good news of our reconciliation is our compass. That Gospel is our anchor. The Word of Truth is our hope, & it is an everlasting hope. That is the message St. Paul brings to the people of Ephesus. Prior, they had only the chaos of false religion with gods powerless to bring hope & peace into the tragedy of life in a broken, sinful world. We should relate to that in our time. More & more, the young people of our nation are being raised with nothing but false gods, that fail to bring peace or hope. Yesterday, a man only 20 years old, tried to assassinate Donald Trump. It’s a high-profile version of many of the shootings going on across our nation. From our distance, the chaos seems to be random, often with no apparent rhyme or reason. All we see is the anger & the hatred. It is into that scenario that St. Paul speaks to each of us today, here & across our nation. Will the men, women & children of our country listen to the Word of truth? In spite of the tragedy of all the shootings, there’s been no obvious movement of people returning to the Lord. It appears more like our people are growing numb & insensitive to the brutality. Make no mistake, that is Satan’s desire for every one of us. Whether it’s a violent person with a gun, or a very kind & sincere person who is leading others into false teaching, Satan’s goal is always the same – steal, kill, destroy. In light of our frailty, how are we to confront our fears of the devil’s destruction? St. Paul gives the answer: “In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, & believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:13 ESV) The last phrase is the key – “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” In baptism, the Creator of the universe claimed you as His own. He put a spiritual mark on you to prove His ownership. However, it’s not ownership as people used to own slaves. Paul wrote in Galatians 4: “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, & if a son, then an heir through God. (4:7 ESV) In the rite of baptism, that’s represented as the pastor says to the candidate: “…receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead & upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.” Are you listening to the Word of truth? It is nothing less than the good news that God has redeemed you from sin, death & the devil. It is not something you can discover on your own. It has to be revealed to you by God Himself. Everyone of us is powerless to save ourselves, & powerless to bring order out of chaos. Behind every assassination attempt, or mass shooting, lies a human soul, twisted & corrupted by sin. All the human big talk is about eliminating guns. You almost never hear about the human soul behind them that Jesus came to save. That is where the problem lies. That is where the Word of truth needs to sink in & take root. Nevertheless, “…the gate is wide & the way is easy that leads to destruction, & those who enter by it are many.” (Matthew 7:13 ESV) Our culture no longer wants to consider why so many souls end up wanting to commit murder, because our culture wants nothing to do with the solution, which is the good news of our salvation in Christ. If we know nothing else as children of God, we can know Jesus Christ as our Savior from all the lies of this world, as well as from all the lies of our own heart. God sent the Word of truth to us that we might find peace & joy even in this life, & perfectly & forever in the next. In fact, the only truth that exists in this world comes from the heavenly Father, & He offers it to us freely as a gift. We need that gift to counteract all the destruction caused by sin. The Word of truth is the antidote to the poison of sin. Through that Word, Yahweh is constantly at work reuniting His children with the perfect kingdom of God. In that you can rest. Amen. Word that caused blind eyes to see, speak & heal our mortal blindness; deaf we are: our healer be; loose our tongues to tell Your kindness. Be our Word in pity spoken, heal the world, by sin now broken. Word that speaks God’s tender love, one with God beyond all telling, Word that sends us from above, God the Spirit, with us dwelling, Word of truth, to all truth lead us; Word of life, with one bread feed us. Amen. LSB 545:3-4. 7th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 9) LSB #’s 612 tune 400, 583 tune 451, 573
Text – Ezekiel 2:3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They & their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.” THEY & THEIR FATHERS Have you seen a young boy walking alongside his father & then realized that the two of them walk exactly alike? Have you seen a girl caring for her younger siblings & thought to yourself, “She speaks just like her mother”? Those circumstances are not all that common, but it happens enough to cause people to wonder, “Is it nature, or is it nurture?” In other words, do genetics determine if a child acts exactly like a parent, or is it the nurture, the training of the child, that causes it? Script writers have picked up on the theme in movies. Often, it’s the son of a criminal wondering if he’s doomed to a life of crime because of who his father is. Do we break free & chart our own path, or do we follow in their footsteps? With God’s chosen nation, the people of Israel & their fathers had broken the very first commandment & followed after false gods. Since their fathers worshipped idols, for hundreds of years, it was natural for the children to follow in their footsteps. Genetics played a role, because all of them were sinful to begin with, but God’s intention is for nurture to counteract it. Not that training & instruction in the ways of the Lord can erase the effects of sin, but through them the Holy Spirit can work to bring about repentance & humility. Such instruction & training, in the commands of God, is emphasized in Deuteronomy 6: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, & shall talk of them when you sit in your house, & when you walk by the way, & when you lie down, & when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house & on your gates.” (6:7 & 9 ESV) God suggests that constant instruction & training in His word is the appropriate way to raise children, to nurture them in the ways of heaven. Do you know why? The heavenly Father sees that Satan also is constantly working to lead you & your children astray. In fact, the Devil is successful at it every single day, because not a day goes by that you & I do not sin. To make things worse, you & I are so acclimated to sinning that often we barely notice when we do. We are quite aware of the evil we do. It’s the good we leave undone that escapes our attention most of the time. When children are not trained in the word of God, & when parents are not doing that training, the family will drift far away, & after generations of that drifting faith is completely lost. Those are the people to whom God was sending Ezekiel: “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They & their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.” (2:3 ESV) Their transgression was violating God’s 1st commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Deuteronomy 5:7 ESV) Two verses after the commandment, God expands upon it: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the 3rd & 4th generation of those who hate me.” (Deuteronomy 5:9 ESV) The children of Israel were faithless, because their parents were faithless. It becomes a vicious circle that perpetuates itself unless a higher power intervenes. They & their fathers had drifted from, & then rebelled against, faith in Yahweh. It became a vicious circle that bred contempt for the Creator’s authority. Jesus encountered similar attitudes in the Gospel reading, where the people of His hometown, “…took offense at Him… And [Jesus] marveled because of their unbelief.” (Mark 6:3c & 6:6a ESV) Originally, God’s Word in Ezekiel applied to the Jewish people of 590 B.C., but increasingly those words apply to all of Western civilization today. For years, the United States was bringing up the rear in the decline of Christianity. In many respects we are now leading the charge. Christian thought & teaching is being labeled as hate speech. Christmas hymns are sung less often by public school choirs. Science class no longer offers support to the teaching of God as Creator. It has substituted evolutionary theory as The Cause. Government support of marriage no longer focuses upon one man & one woman in holy matrimony. Each of those aberrations from Christianity are part of God’s judgment upon our nation’s people. A sure sign is how blind we are to our rebellion. We’re like an alcoholic who denies that he has a drinking problem. There is no hope for such an individual. The United States have entered a vicious circle that perpetuates itself unless a higher power intervenes. God did intervene, sending Ezekiel, to foreshadow Jesus. In the fullness of time God sent His Son, to intervene in the disastrous affairs of sinful human beings. The difference is that, while Ezekiel foreshadowed God’s rescue mission, Jesus fulfilled it. There are no more prophets on their way. The reconciliation is finished, yet the danger of unbelief is still too real. Satan is constantly working his deceptions, & since Ezekiel was a sinful human being, like the rest of us, this is how God called him: “‘Son of man, stand on your feet, & I will speak with you.’ And as [God] spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me & set me on my feet...” (Ezekiel 2:1-2 ESV) Ezekiel, on his own, cannot even stand. Neither can we. Ezekiel is under the same judgment because he too is in exile. The intervention is entirely God’s work, & the text records this intervention in a world suffering under His judgment. Yahweh sends a prophet to call this people back to Him, as He judges them in order to save them. If our nation is under God’s judgment, it is also that God may save His people. Are we willing to be saved? Or, will we continue to serve our own gods? The false god of politics is constantly in the news this year. Certainly, our own wants & desires continue to take precedence over the true God & His plans for us – plans like being in His house every seven days to receive His blessings of forgiveness, life & salvation. After this sermon, God will be calling forward the officers & board members of this congregation to receive His blessings for their service to Him & to our community. Are we willing to be saved in order that we might serve? As the OT lesson comes to its end, God tells Ezekiel: “The descendants also are impudent & stubborn: I send you to them, & you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (2:4-5 ESV) Around the year 597 B.C., Ezekiel prophesied the fall of Jerusalem. Ten years later, Nebuchadnezzar sent his armies to destroy the city & it was then that the people knew that Ezekiel had been a prophet among them. The Fall of Adam & Eve from Paradise to a world totally corrupted by sin, dwarfs the fall of our own nation & that of Israel. In the face of sinful rebellion, throughout human history, God’s faithfulness led to His ultimate intervention through the life, death & resurrection of His Son. His Father’s complete judgment for our rebellion was placed upon Christ in order to set free you & me from the vicious circle of sin that has engulfed every generation of mankind. By the grace of God, all who believe are those who know that, in Christ, a prophet has been among us. When Jesus returns on The Last Day, then, even those who rejected the Holy Spirit’s efforts to stand them up will know that a prophet has been among them. “…at the name of Jesus every knee will bow…” (Philippians 2:10 NASB) As children of God by His work, our lives are characterized as both the righteous & the rebels. Any word of faith & hope that we offer to others must first be the Word of God for us. His Word is a two-edged sword, yet God’s law & gospel, always seek to promote life. As God’s Word convicts us & brings us to life, then we can offer that witness to others in genuine humility & love. We carry that Word not to condemn, but to bring life. It is Jesus who will bring final judgment on those choosing to remain eternally in the category of They & Their Fathers. The same word of Yahweh that spoke all the universe into existence, will also bring about the reality of heaven & hell. He sent Jesus to save us from sin because He desires that all would be saved. His Word will bring life or death depending on how each person receives it: “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 2:5 ESV) There was no hope for any of us, unless Jesus took on human flesh to redeem our race from sin. Now, through His Word & Baptism & Holy Communion, God continues to nurture those who believe to keep us humble & repentant. He works through the means of grace that we might be the light of the world & the salt of the earth. He does this to counteract the effect that sin still has even on the children of God. Just as Ezekiel & Christ faced stubborn audiences, St. Paul wrote, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions & calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV) Sin makes us weak, but that weakness, combined with the means of grace, shows us our need for a Savior. Then, the Holy Spirit ‘sets us on our feet’ that we might be strong in Christ. Amen. God has spoken by His prophets, spoken His unchanging Word; each from age to age proclaiming God, the one, the righteous Lord. In the world’s despair & turmoil, one firm anchor holds us fast: God is king, His throne eternal; God the first, & God the last. God is speaking by His Spirit, speaking to our hearts again, in the ageless Word declaring His own message, now as then. Through the rise & fall of nations one sure faith yet standing fast; God abides, His Word unchanging; God the first, & God the last. Amen. LSB 583:1 & 3. 6th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 8) LSB #’s 684, 699, 809
Text – Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. WAITING FOR THE LORD “The sun rises, & the sun goes down, & hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south & goes around to the north; around & around goes the wind, & on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, & what has been done is what will be done, & there is nothing new under the sun.” Even if you don’t know where those words are written, you may recognize them by their tenor & tone. King Solomon wrote them in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, verses 5-9. His thoughts drone on with hopelessness, much like our world does. Human beings come up with slogans to counteract hopelessness. America First entered the national discussion in 1915, when Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, used it in a speech arguing for neutrality in World War I. The American Dream became a national catch phrase in 1931 thanks to historian James Truslow Adams. He tried to diagnose what went wrong in the depths of the Great Depression. He felt that America had become too concerned with material well-being, forgetting the higher dreams of freedom & equality that the nation had been founded on. The 1960’s exploded with slogans – ‘Make Love, Not War’ – ‘Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30’ & ‘Black Power’ – each played a role in galvanizing the public to take action; to make the world a better place. The ‘golden years’ is a phrase coined in 1959 as part of an advertising campaign for America’s first large-scale retirement community. Would people ‘55 & better’ embrace ‘an active new way of life,’ move away from their families, & buy one of the modest homes on a $2 million golf-resort in the middle of the Arizona desert? The first weekend, 100,000 people showed up to tour the model homes of Sun City. For many in the 1950s, retirement was a lonely time of decline. They had the financial support of Social Security, but once they left the workforce, they had little purpose in their lives. Retirees saw themselves as “too old to work, too young to die.” No wonder they grasped with both hands the idea of retirement as essentially a 2nd childhood! It seems to be part of human nature to take charge of our lives & do something with them. It began with Adam & Eve as they picked fruit from the forbidden tree. It continues with us whenever we are frustrated by waiting for the Lord: “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, & what has been done is what will be done, & there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-9 ESV) In a sinful world, that is common to our experience as we wait for the Lord… Is that how our saintly nature experiences life? The answer is a resounding, “No!” It is our sinful nature that complains, “You load 16 tons & what do you get, another day older & deeper in debt…” Quite the opposite, our saintly nature sings, “Lord, I love the habitation of Your house, the place where Your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8 ESV) Our saintly nature finds rest in waiting for the Lord. Our sinful nature chaffs against such discipline. Waiting is a mental & emotional challenge, but ultimately, it is a matter of faith. When we exercise the faith the Holy Spirit created in us we wait for the Lord. Waiting & hoping for God to act is what faith does. How well do you do at waiting? I learned about it at Navy boot camp as our company commanders instructed us to hurry up & wait. I learned about waiting while living on a submarine. We had to wait for the boat to return to port. We had to wait until our enlistment was over. As Jeremiah was writing the book of Lamentations, God’s people were waiting to be released from exile. They were waiting for the Lord to relent in His discipline for their failure to follow God’s wisdom. As king Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes of the despair of unbelief, so Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations chapter 2, of the despair of being under God’s discipline: In the dust of the streets lie the young & the old; my young women & my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity. You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, & on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held & raised my enemy destroyed. In our time, despair comes from incompetent & corrupt politicians who lead our government. Our despair comes from our own sins & from the sins of others. Our despair comes from battling disease & ignorance, greed & selfishness. In the Gospel reading we see a woman & a family, in both circumstances, dealing with despair from disease. The woman had been suffering for 12 years, but it wasn’t just from her disease. Due to the Jewish laws, she was also completely ostracized from her family & friends. Finally, Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee & arrives in her town. With nowhere else to turn, she puts all of her trust in Him & she is healed. She knew what it is to wait for the Lord. Meanwhile, one of the rulers of the local synagogue, had come & pleaded with Jesus because his daughter was at the point of death. Jesus went with him, but then the woman who’d been suffering for 12 years interrupts & Jairus must wait for the Lord. While he’s waiting, word arrives, from his home, that his daughter has died. Jesus was so close & yet, more despair. You & I have experienced that despair in the death of family members, & by suffering from disease that is not simply cured with a pill. Our people are not being hauled off into exile by a godless nation, but our nation is turning into a godless one all around us, right where we are. How well are you doing at waiting for the Lord? Satan tempts you to be impatient. One of the fruits of faith that the Holy Spirit offers you is patience. As a child of God that battle rages within you, between good & evil, between patience & impatience. For some of you that battle has been going on for decades simply because you’ve been on earth far longer than others. With the lessons from Lamentations & from the Gospel of Mark, the Holy Spirit is teaching us: “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” (Lamentations 3:25 ESV) Waiting is not often a lot of fun. How to wait patiently is not something that our culture teaches or encourages. Sadly, even the church seldom teaches it anymore. God, however, has never stopped being good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It took thousands of years after The Fall, but in the fullness of time the Father did send His Son. Through the Holy Spirit & the virgin Mary, Jesus became a creature in His own creation. He did so in order to break the cycle of sin that Ecclesiastes describes so well: “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, & what has been done is what will be done, & there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-9 ESV) Do you know which words Jesus said that guarantees the end of that cycle of sin & hopelessness? “It is finished!” (John 19:30 ESV) The eternal cycle of sin & hopelessness has been broken ever since. There is no guarantee that you or I or those we love will be healed of disease in this life, but we are guaranteed that we will be healed for all eternity on the day of the final resurrection. And that freedom from the hopelessness of sin exists already today – here & now. Believers are offered, by God Himself, the patience to endure until the visible end of all the seemingly endless cycles of corruption, sin & hopelessness of this world. The gifts of the Holy Spirit may appear weak & powerless, but they are far more eternal in their effect than all the slogans that human beings have ever dreamed up. The American Dream & the Golden Years will prove to be failed slogans, but Jesus Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! And means that we too shall rise one day, & that day of glory, beauty & perfection will never end. Ultimately, that is what all God’s children are waiting for, & the Lord is good to those who wait for Him. That is the essence of the Christian message & faith. It is also the central theme of the book of Lamentations. Chapter 3 holds up words of certain hope, even though surrounded on each side by two chapters of the deepest lament. You know Christ’s lament from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Then He waited in trust until His resurrection. In the Gospel reading, Jairus’ faith took action, kneeling before Jesus & waiting for the Lord. Meanwhile, his daughter died. Jesus raised her from the dead that day as proof that He has power over death, & to foreshadow what is to come for all who trust in Him. God is good & the suffering He sends is good for His people. Even though God rejects us for a time, He will not reject us forever. Sending affliction & punishment are God’s alien work, in which He finds no delight. It is with eternal joy that God blesses those who wait for Him – who wait for Him & put their trust in Him no matter what they feel or see. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is [His] faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV) Amen. I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me & rest; lay down, thou weary one, lay down thy head upon my breast.” I came to Jesus as I was, so weary, worn & sad; I found in Him a resting place, & He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give the living water; thirsty one, stoop down & drink & live.” I came to Jesus, & I drank of that life-giving stream; my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, & now I live in Him. Amen. LSB 699:1-2. 5th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 7) LSB #’s 584, 587, 715
Text – Mark 4:40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” FEAR OR FAITH? Fear is one of the most common motivators that causes people to act. Psychologists talk about the fight or flight response because it is easily observed. When you see human beings feeling threatened, they respond most often in one of two ways. They either feel the need to run away, or they try to fight against the threat they feel. In this 2024 presidential campaign, because fear is normally a good motivator, both sides are trying to drive the vote by showing how afraid we should be of the other candidate winning. Biden will continue to lock up in jail pro-life grandmothers. Trump will destroy democracy. The Philistines, led by the giant Goliath, struck fear into the hearts of all the Israelite nation. Fear is used to drive political campaigns & it’s used to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy during war time. The attack of Hamas on Israel back in October was all about creating fear. The Israeli attack on Hamas is about creating fear & about rescuing the hostages. The protesters on college campuses this spring were all about creating fear. In the Gospel reading, the disciples are so afraid of the storm that they wake Jesus up: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38b ESV) Satan’s temptation to Adam & Eve was about creating fear; the fear that God was withholding something good from them. Once Jesus calms the storm, He asks two questions to help His disciples put their fear into context: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40 ESV) The same questions apply to our lives today: “What are you afraid of, & have you still no faith?” Those are rather confrontational questions, but Jesus is not asking them of strangers. He is teaching His disciples; men who willingly followed Him when He called them. They have a lot to learn & in the future, Jesus knows they will suffer greatly. To do what God created them for, they will need to speak & teach fearlessly until they are put to death. “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40 ESV) Have you ever wondered if God has created you & called you to speak & teach fearlessly until you are put to death? Jesus knew what the future held for the 12 men He called to follow Him. Jesus knows what your future holds for you. I’m certain that each of us still has much to learn. As Mark describes the storm on the lake, the disciples have nowhere to run. Their initial response was to fight against the storm, but it became clear they were losing. What did they do next? They began to fight Jesus: “…they woke Him & said to Him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:38b ESV) It bothered the disciples that Jesus lacked urgency & in fact was not responding to the storm at all. You probably remember a time or two that you began to fight Jesus because He didn’t seem to be responding to your fears. Like the disciples you may have questioned if He cared about you because of some struggle you were facing. “Why?” is a common question. Why do I have cancer, why did my spouse die so young, why did my job get eliminated, why are my children so disrespectful? The list goes on & on, yet any of our questions are effectively a challenge to God’s wisdom. Contrary to what you may think, the heavenly Father can handle & even welcomes it when we challenge Him. In fact, King David models how to challenge God in many of the psalms he wrote. Our Lord & Savior wants us to share the challenges that weigh upon our hearts. In His wisdom, He will use those to sharpen our faith & our understanding of His will. When the disciples wake Jesus, first He addresses their fear & calms the storm. Then, He brings up a third & the best response to fear. Jesus does not suggest fight, or flight, but faith instead: “Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40b ESV) Jesus knows that as long as we are alive in this earth, we are at war because Satan is attacking us. We can run; we can fight, but we will never win. Faith in Jesus as our Savior from sin is the only path to victory. It’s the only path to life as our Creator intended life to be. Jesus used the challenge of the storm to sharpen the faith of His disciples & to sharpen their understanding of who Jesus is. In this Gospel reading, Jesus gives us an example of faith while He sleeps soundly & peacefully even during the raging storm. Yet, those moments of peace can be few & far between in our lives. None of us are holy as Jesus was during His earthly life. We need so much more than an example of how to live. We need Jesus to live the perfect life in our place. As Jesus awakens, & calms the storm with mere words, He reveals Himself to be something far greater than an example. In human flesh, the Creator of the universe is commanding to be still the very wind & sea that He created. The disciples are struggling to comprehend that Yahweh Himself is standing before them in the boat. Christians of our time have always known that to be true. It was incomprehensible to the disciples in their time. Mark is trying to capture for us the shock & awe that Jesus created in His disciples as “the wind ceased, & there was a great calm.” They knew that only Yahweh could command the wind & the sea, but they never imagined that God could be a human being. After being afraid they were going to die in the storm, they are even more afraid after Jesus stills the storm: “And they were filled with great fear & said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind & the sea obey Him?’” (Mark 4:41 ESV) Whatever illusions of control human beings might have, such illusions are destroyed in the violence of typhoons, hurricanes & tornados. No one in their right mind defiantly stands against them & says, “Peace! Be still!” This Jesus, on the Sea of Galilee, is Lord of creation. This Jesus, whom the disciples challenged because He was sleeping while the storm was trying to kill them, is someone to be feared. And yet, this Jesus is the Lord who saves. The Creator of the universe was in their boat, but not in judgment upon their fear. He was God with them in order to save them from their fears. He was God with them in order to put their fears into context. He was God with them in order to save them from their sins. All of our earthly fears stem from sin. What are you afraid of? Old age, & the poor health it often brings, is probably one of the more common fears in a congregation like ours. What fears are driving you in your life today? That is a confrontational question, but Jesus asks not to judge. He asks in order to save, because Satan is at war & he seeks to destroy us. Have you still no faith? Jesus asked that very confrontational question because He wanted to make clear that faith in Him as Savior means that He is at work to save. Since He is almighty, we truly have nothing to fear, not even Satan or his attacks. That is easy to preach; much harder to live, but it still needs to be said. Jesus is God & He is man. Immanuel means God with us. He is faithful & His love for us knows no boundaries. Recognize though, that even as God is about the work of saving us, that too will cause fear. The disciples were scared out of their wits by the storm on the lake & yet, they were even more afraid when Jesus woke up & calmed the storm. “Fear or faith?” is the question Jesus poses to us this morning. Faith is the work of God’s Spirit in us, & we thank Him for that with the holy fear that He also grants to us. Amen. I know my faith is founded on Jesus Christ, my God & Lord; & this my faith confessing, unmoved I stand on His sure Word. Our reason cannot fathom the truth of God profound; who trusts in human wisdom relies on shifting ground. God’s Word is all sufficient, it makes divinely sure; & trusting in its wisdom, my faith shall rest secure. Increase my faith, dear Savior, for Satan seeks by night & day to rob me of this treasure & take my hope of bliss away. But, Lord, with You beside me, I shall be undismayed; & led by Your good Spirit, I shall be unafraid. Abide with me, O Savior, a firmer faith bestow; then I shall bid defiance to every evil foe. Amen. LSB 587:1-2. 4th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 6) LSB #’s 803, 540:3-6, 802
Text – Ezekiel 17:24a Then all the trees of the countryside will know that I, Yahweh, bring down the high tree & exalt the low tree, that I make the green tree wither & I make the withered tree blossom. THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “…make the withered tree blossom”? Is it an image of returning life & vitality? That’s what the Orange Blossom Special used to bring to mind from 1925 to 1953 as it ran from New York to Miami. It was a luxury passenger train operating only during the winter months, taking people from the cold & dreary northern coast of the Atlantic to the warm & sunny southern coast of Florida. Obviously, people took that train because during those harsh winter months they were searching for the renewed life & vitality that a warmer climate offers. Ben Brotemarkle, executive director of the Florida Historical Society wrote of the Orange Blossom Special: “It’s hard to imagine now, but this was a huge deal. This train had brand new diesel electric locomotives & Pullman cars. During an exhibition tour between Washington & Miami it stopped in every city of any size along the way for people to look at it. Now we think ‘It was just a train,’ but at the time it was like the space shuttle coming through town. When the Orange Blossom Special stopped in Jacksonville, schools closed so children & their families could visit. In the two days the train was parked there, approximately 30,000 people came to see it. They were awestruck because of its design & technology & everything it represented. Two men, Chubby Wise & Irvin Rouse were not immune. They visited the train when it came through &, as the story goes, they were inspired to write a song – The Orange Blossom Special.” “She’s the fastest train on the line It’s that Orange Blossom Special Rollin’ down the seaboard line.” Did you know that June 27th is National Orange Blossom day? It’s not far off. Over 400 years before a train was named the Orange Blossom Special, Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida, from Spain, searching for the fountain of youth, & life & vitality. In the OT reading, Yahweh Himself promises, “…I make the withered tree blossom.” (Ezekiel 17:24a) I’m certain that many of us have felt withered at numerous times in our lives. Nothing in this world has been untouched by the corruption of sin. You cannot live on earth without experiencing the effects of sin that, at times, literally suck the life out of you. Whether it’s a polar vortex swooping in from Canada or experiencing betrayal by someone you trusted, people are searching for life & vitality. Whether it’s a cancer diagnosis or a child that has rejected faith in Christ, people are searching for life & vitality. That is exactly what Ezekiel promises in the OT reading. It’s just not very obvious to the casual reader. The committee that chose this morning’s OT reading seems to have plucked three verses out of the book with no context whatsoever. Ezekiel is presenting a much larger picture in chapter 17 that is entirely ignored, & that picture will help you tremendously in understanding what the prophet is telling us. The northern ten tribes had been eradicated several hundred years earlier for their complete rejection of Yahweh as Lord & God. Now, discipline is coming to the two southern tribes. In V. 1, of chapter 17, the Word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel: “Son of man, pose a riddle & compose an allegory for the house of Israel.” To summarize, Nebuchadnezzar is sent by God to conquer Jerusalem. However, the leader he installs, over the people left there, rebels against Nebuchadnezzar & seeks help from the Egyptian Pharaoh. As Ezekiel explains it, the people are rejecting even God’s discipline, which is always for good, but like the people of Jerusalem, we also, often struggle to accept it. As the OT reading begins, Yahweh is now describing Himself as the controlling force behind the work of Nebuchadnezzar: “…I myself will take part of the high crown of the cedar & set it out. From the topmost of its shoots I will pluck off a tender sprig, & I myself will plant it on a high & lofty mountain.” (Ezekiel 17:22) In the historical application, the cedar tree is unfaithful Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar is sent to take off the top of the tree, meaning the last of the earthly kings in the line of David. That king, Zedekiah, would see all of his sons slaughtered, have his eyes plucked out, & then be taken to Babylon to die. Zedekiah had refused to humble himself under God’s direction. In the theological application, “From the topmost of its shoots I will pluck off a tender sprig…” is a reference to Jesus. In a similar vein, Isaiah prophecies, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, & a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” (11:1 ESV) Jeremiah adds, “In those days & at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, & He shall execute justice & righteousness in the land.” (33:15 ESV) Where all the previous kings of Israel had withered & failed, Jesus would succeed in ending the effects of sin. As you may have noticed, the final & complete fulfillment of that is yet to come. Nevertheless, Ezekiel is describing a kingdom that is also among us here & now. Yahweh is at work in our lives just as He has been throughout human history. When we get too big for our britches – God works to bring us down. When we are withered & crushed by the weight of sin – God works to lift us up. Ezekiel closes chapter 17 by allowing the trees to witness what Israel had failed to see, “Then all the trees of the countryside will know that I, Yahweh, bring down the high tree & exalt the low tree, that I make the green tree wither & I make the withered tree blossom.” (17:24a) God had brought down the kingdom of Israel because it was unfaithful to Him, but in the tender shoot of a baby born in Bethlehem, Yahweh is rebuilding His kingdom in a permanent fashion that can never again be damaged by sin. He is making the green tree wither in order that He might make the withered tree blossom. Getting more personal, Jesus has the same authority & power to make you & me wither or blossom. When we receive the discipline & the blossoming of the Lord, then He will work through us as Ezekiel describes in V. 23 of the OT lesson: “On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches, bear fruit & become a magnificent cedar. Every kind of winged bird will live under it; in the shelter of its branches they will nest.” Today, Elliot was brought to God’s house to receive the waters of Holy Baptism. As a little child he is nesting in the shelter of the branches of God’s kingdom. God has put this congregation here as a magnificent cedar to produce branches & to bear fruit. Elliot’s mother confirmed her faith in Jesus Christ here & now he has received the Holy Spirit in the same place. As king David wrote in Psalm 51, all human beings are conceived in sin. In essence, all of us are born as withered trees, void & spiritually dead. Yahweh sent His Son Jesus to reverse our fortune & to make the withered tree blossom. That is what God accomplishes in Baptism. He enables a withered tree, corrupted by sin, to change course, to blossom & bear fruit. In the OT lesson, Ezekiel is describing the nature of God & His work throughout Israel’s history. It is also a description of the nature of God’s work in our own personal history. He takes down the proud & haughty that He might raise up the humble & lowly. As Paul acknowledged in 2 Corinthians, “…in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.” (5:2 ESV) Because of the effects of sin, many of us will eventually know the full effect of being a withered tree. The resurrection on the final day of time will be the ultimate in lifting up, the final & complete fulfillment of God’s promise, “…I make the withered tree blossom.” (Ezekiel 17:24a) Until then, as Paul wrote, “We live by faith, not by sight.” Nowhere does Holy Scripture say that will be easy, but the final & complete fulfillment will make all of this life worthwhile. Florida was a place that people longed to be & they could take the Orange Blossom Special to get there. But trains made by human hands can break down & derail. Jesus will not fail in getting His brothers & sisters into heaven, & He is constantly at work to comfort & encourage us along the way. Amen. Christ, the shoot that springs triumphant from the stump of Jesse’s tree; Christ, true vine, You nurture branches to bear fruit abundantly. Graft us into You, O Savior; prune our hearts so we remain fruitful branches in Your vineyard till eternal life we gain. Christ, the Alpha & Omega, Christ, the firstborn from the dead, Christ, the life & resurrection, Christ, the Church’s glorious head: praise & thanks & adoration & unending worship be to the Father & the Spirit & to You eternally. Amen. LSB 540:3, 6. |
AuthorPastor Dean R. Poellet Archives
June 2024
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