Sabbath Day Surprise

 

Jesu Juva

St. Mark 1:21-28                                                 

January 28, 2024

Epiphany 4B                         

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        And then there were four.  Eventually, there would be twelve, of course.  But Jesus was just getting started.  His entourage was not yet fully formed.  He had just called His first four disciples to be fishers of men—two sets of brothers:  Simon and Andrew, James and John.  Jesus had called His four new friends along the Sea of Galilee.  This gang of five now navigated their way inland, to a little hamlet called Capernaum.

        As this crew crept into Capernaum, St. Mark tells us that it was the Sabbath Day.  And you know what that means.  Team Jesus headed straight for the synagogue.  You can see the ruins of this very synagogue on the cover of today’s bulletin.  It was an impressive structure for a small town in the First Century, but probably no bigger than this room.  Simon Peter was a resident of Capernaum.  Did he and his family regularly attend the synagogue?  Was he a familiar face between those four walls?  We don’t know. 

        But standing next to Simon Peter was the Savior of the world, a visiting rabbi from somewhere up north.  Nazareth was it?  Visiting rabbis didn’t just drop in every day, so they invited Him to teach.  That’s what the Sabbath day was for after all.  Every pious Jew knew the third commandment:  Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.  At its heart the Sabbath was a day designed for rest.  But, “resting” on the Sabbath didn’t mean sleeping late and going out for brunch.  They rested from work in order to worship.  And, of course, the heart of the third commandment still applies today: Don’t despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.  Hearing and learning God’s Word in worship is not work, but rest.  It’s rest from all the hassles and struggles of this world to be refreshed and renewed by the Savior.

        The Capernaum crowd was wowed by Jesus’ teaching, for He taught them with authority.  To hear Jesus preach was to hear God speaking.  Jesus’ words were God’s words.  And His hearers were delighted at the doctrine Jesus was dishing out.  Some Christians today don’t care much for doctrine.  They have no interest to dig deeply into the Scriptures.  “It’s boring,” they complain.  Or, “Doctrine divides,” you hear them say.  The truth is that doctrine unites; error divides.  The truth unites us and sets us free.  Division in the church doesn’t happen because doctrine is being taught and confessed.  Division in the church happens when doctrine is ignored or questioned or denied outright.  The Jews of Capernaum were getting a delightful dose of doctrine directly from Jesus Himself that day.

        But it was just at this point that a Sabbath day surprise was sprung.  Just as Jesus was catechizing His hearers, a demon threatened to derail the entire gathering.  Surprises sometimes happen when the faithful gather for worship:  People pass out.  Cell phones go off.  I once played the organ for a service where a bat started circling just overhead in the sanctuary.  That poor pastor could have done a headstand or cartwheels across the chancel, but it didn’t matter.  Nobody was paying attention to him.

        But the Sabbath day surprise was no match for the Messiah.  A man with an unclean spirit started shouting right there in the synagogue: What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God.  That sort of bellicose behavior might lead some of us to suspect some sort of mental illness—especially if you’ve got advanced medical training from “Web MD.”

        But it would be a mistake to assume that the disruptive man in the synagogue was suffering from mental illness. It was something far worse.  It wasn’t a mental problem, but a spiritual affliction.  For as surely as there are angels, there are also evil angels, demons, unclean spirits.  They’re not looking to scare you, but to strip you of your most valuable possession—your faith in Jesus.  Writing them off as a silly superstition would be unwise.  It’s far better simply to take the Word of God at face value.  Believe what it says.  The man had an “unclean spirit.”

        Jesus would encounter many such spirits during His earthly ministry; but I’ve always been intrigued at how this very first public encounter with the forces of evil happened in the synagogue—happened in church—in worship.  I wonder why.  Why then and there?  Because the doctrine of Jesus Christ was being taught, preached and proclaimed—and the devil can’t stand that.  Nothing hinders the work of devils and demons more than for people to be hearing and learning the Word of God—for you to know what you believe about Jesus Christ and why.  It’s often assumed that the devil does his best work in strip clubs and crack houses.  But just the opposite is true:  the devil works to do his worst in the sacred space between pulpit and pews.  He saves his most sinister assaults for where the truth is preached, where sin is condemned and grace is proclaimed, where Christ is present with His people giving forgiveness, faith and life.  Right there—right here!—is where the devil tries hardest.

        Consider this:  From how many so-called Christian pulpits this morning will sin be condoned, encouraged, and celebrated?  How many so-called preachers will disparage and denigrate the very doctrines Jesus has given us?  How many sermons could aptly be summarized with that diabolic question:  Did God really say?  Sermons like those can prove poisonous to the faith of many. That’s why you should always demand that your preachers preach nothing but sound doctrine—the pure, unadulterated, unvarnished truth of God’s holy Word.

        But notice how in the devil’s mouth even the truth becomes a weapon.  The unclean spirit said to Jesus, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”  That was an accurate statement, right?  That’s a phrase lifted right from the pages of the Old Testament.  But in reality it was a devilish distraction.  Jesus was indeed the Holy One of God.  But the Holy One of God had a destiny to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world.  That unclean spirit spoke up, not to praise Jesus, but to short-circuit His trip to Calvary—to prematurely proclaim the secret of Jesus’ identity and why He had come.  The devil was desperate to keep the Christ from the cross.

        But see here how no one—how nothing—would be allowed to keep Jesus from His cross.  Nothing would deter Him.  Nothing would distract Him.  No surprise, no demon—not the applause of the crowd or the blood-thirsty cries of the angry mob would be able to keep Jesus from the cross.  That cross is why He came.  He came not to delight you and not to dismay you; He came to save you—to save you from your sins by becoming sin for you—by bearing your sin and dying your death.  Redeemed by Christ the crucified you are now safe with the Savior.

        If you hear a demonic voice declaring otherwise—accusing you and misleading you—twisting the truth to trip you up—remember how Jesus dispatched the devil and his minions.  Remember how—with a word—Jesus silenced the unclean spirit in the synagogue.  And that word, by the way, translated into modern English is . . . “SHUT UP!”  It’s almost never appropriate to say “shut up.”  It’s disrespectful.  It’s impolite.  But the devil deserves neither our respect nor our politeness . . . so feel free to talk to him the way Jesus did, and tell him to simply shut up.  Be silent.  When that unclean spirit disrupted the synagogue service, Jesus didn’t look to the ushers for guidance.  He wasn’t flustered, flabbergasted or surprised.  Jesus just spoke His Word.  And that was enough.  That did the trick.

        His Word comes backed by His cross.  On several occasions Jesus predicted both His crucifixion and His resurrection.  He told His disciples that He would lay down His life only to take it up again.  And that’s exactly what He did.  He shed His blood to earn your forgiveness. The devil could not distract the Christ from His cross; and nothing can distract the Christ from saving you.  If Jesus is for you, who can be against you?

        So the next time you are troubled by the devil’s lies or by your own sinful nature, you just tell them all to “shut up” in the name of Jesus and go away.  Jesus Christ is Lord, the Holy One of God, and He declares that you are forgiven and holy and justified.  That’s a word you can count on.  That’s a doctrine you can delight in. That’s a word by which you can depart in peace. 

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

Messengers Needed

 Jesu Juva

Jonah 3:1-5, 10                                                          

January 21, 2024

Epiphany 3B                              

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        There’s a sense of urgency on this third Sunday of Epiphany.  Intensity and immediacy ring out in all the Scripture readings.  There’s no hesitation.  Jesus calls Simon and Andrew; and immediately they left their nets and followed him.  As soon as Jesus calls the sons of Zebedee—immediately they left their father and followed Jesus.  Everything happens immediately in Mark’s gospel.  If all you had was Mark’s gospel, you’d think everything happened in six months or so—one thing immediately after another.

        The first words out of Jesus’ mouth in Mark’s gospel are urgent:  The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.  Don’t wait.  Don’t procrastinate.  There’s no, “let me think it over for a week and get back to you.”  Now is the time of God’s favor.  Now is the day of salvation.  When the King says follow me, you drop everything and go.

        You sense that same urgency in today’s epistle reading.  The Corinthians were bogged down by petty divisions and soul-crushing confusion.  That congregation was a hot mess.  Paul seems to be saying that there’s no time for that.  Get it together!  The appointed time has grown very short—like the two minute warning in a Packer playoff game. It’s the difference between playing to win . . . and playing not to lose.  The present form of this world is passing away.

        And finally, there’s Jonah, at long last preaching to the evil city of Nineveh.  The Lord had a message of repentance for the people of Nineveh; and Jonah was the messenger He wanted to deliver it.  Of course, everyone knows this was a job Jonah did not want.  Jonah initially told the Lord to take this job and shove it, as he set sail for sunny Spain.  But Jonah learned the hard way that the Lord can be rather persuasive in redirecting His wayward messengers.  Three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish was all it took to convince Jonah to catch the next flight to Nineveh.

        When the Lord has need of you, there’s no time to lose—no time to pause and ponder.  The clock is ticking.  Now, Jonah had good reasons to re-think his assignment.  Nineveh was a terrible place—a city full of lies and blood.  Jonah thought (and even hoped) that it was far too late for Nineveh.  Any message of repentance he delivered would only fall on deaf ears.  Why bother?

        We might ask the same question:  Why bother?  Why bother speaking God’s truth in a culture of lies?  In a culture that casually calls the murder of the unborn “reproductive rights,” and calls the castration and mutilation of little children “gender affirming care,” in a culture that thinks the ultimate key to happiness is legalized weed, can’t we pretty much conclude that this culture and its people are a lost cause?  Can’t we just close up shop, keep the good news of the gospel to ourselves, and hunker down to await fire and brimstone?

        It turns out we can’t.  It turns out that this dying world and her sinful inhabitants are loved by the Lord.  They are died-for.  God desires not the death of sinners but that they turn and live.  Repent and believe in the gospel!  He sent His Son to speak the truth to a world of lies.  He sent His Son into this wicked and bloody world—so that His blood would be shed at the hands of the wicked, to save the wicked from their sins.  Judgement is coming and that right soon.  The appointed time has grown very short.  But between now and that deadline with disaster, the Lord has laid down a wonderful way of escape and deliverance through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.

        But not everyone knows this.  Not everyone understands this.  Not everyone realizes just how high the stakes really are.  And so the Lord sent a reluctant preacher to Nineveh.  And so Jesus called Simon and Andrew, James and John, from their secure and predictable lives to follow Him to the ends of the earth. 

        And in a sense, nothing has changed since Jesus called His very first disciples.  The Lord still needs messengers.  The Lord still needs witnesses.  He needs fishers of men and fishers of women.  He needs as many people as possible to simply let down the nets and to pull as many people as possible into this boat of repentance and faith we call the church.  The kingdom of God is at hand!  Repent and believe in the gospel.  And the need is now—immediately, urgently.  It’s critical.  There’s no time to lose.

        Yet that sense of urgency for the Lord’s mission is often lost on us.  Outside of Sunday mornings we give scant attention to things spiritual and things eternal.  The present form of this world is passing away; but the majority of our mental and physical energy is spent on the present form of this world.  We’re all about things temporal—time bound.  What will we eat?  What will we drink?  What will we wear?  Will Trader Joe’s have my favorite cheese in stock?  What about dinner reservations, concert tickets, and spring break travel?  Fair enough.  There’s no sin in asking those questions. 

        But today’s take-away from God’s Word is the immediate, intense, urgent need for messengers—for people like us to walk right into Nineveh—or stride right into Corinth—with an invitation—with the good news about Jesus that changes hearts and minds forever.

        And don’t say I could never do that.  Jonah was the worst, most lackluster messenger the Lord ever called.  Nobody did discipleship worse than Jonah.  He preached the most half-hearted, uninspiring sermon in the history of sermons (“Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown. Amen”).  Jonah leaves no doubt that the results are in the Lord’s hands.  And what amazing results!  The people of Nineveh believed God!  They repented.  They turned.  They changed.  They fasted. They covered themselves in sackcloth and ashes—from the greatest of them to the least.  Nobody saw that coming!

        This is every reason for us to speak up in word and deed—to bear the message of the gospel on our lips and in our lives.  Don’t be afraid to speak up about the sanctity of human life, or about God’s design for marriage, sexuality, or gender.  The need for messengers is immediate.  It’s urgent.  Better still, we have a powerful and positive message to share.  And the success of this message doesn’t depend on our power or persuasiveness.  The results are—always—in God’s hands.  It’s not our message; it’s God’s.  He simply invites you to speak it on His behalf.  If not you, then who? 

        I first told you in December about an opportunity coming your way soon to give away a beautiful edition of Luther’s Small Catechism. Nobody’s sending you to Nineveh.  You don’t have to leave behind your calling and career.  In fact, you get to carefully and prayerfully consider the recipient of your catechism.  To whom can you be a messenger of good news?  Who do you know that could benefit from this beautiful summary of God’s Word?  Who might just accept an invitation to come here and learn more?  Think it over.  Pray about it.  No messengers have ever had such a great message to share.  And remember, the results are in God’s hands.

        In Jesus Christ we can see what God really thinks about the residents of this fallen world.  Through Jesus we come to see how the hands that knit you together in your mother’s womb—those hands were also stretched out on a cross for you—to pay the price of all your sin.  The hands of the resurrected Jesus are still scarred and always will be—loving reminders that He can remove every sinful scar and stain from those who repent and believe.  And with those same hands, Jesus will one day embrace you, face to face in heaven.

        In this world you usually get what you deserve.  But with our God, the plot doesn’t run quite so predictably.  The bad guys of Nineveh didn’t get what they deserved.  Jonah got to be the Lord’s messenger despite a lackluster effort.  Ordinary fishermen followed Jesus and became fishers of men.  They all received grace and compassion.  And that’s how it works for every child of God—including you.  The punishment and wrath we deserve for our sin—that’s not what we get.  Jesus takes the punishment.  Jesus takes the wrath.  Jesus takes our sins.  He got what you deserve; and you—you get grace and forgiveness.

        We call that the gospel—the good news of God’s love for you in Christ.  That’s the message that matters most—a message you are privileged to share and bear on your lips and in your life.

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

Glorify God in Your Body

 

Jesu Juva

1 Corinthians 6:12-20                                         

January 14, 2024

Epiphany 2B                       

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Grocery stores are places where food is bought and sold.  Schools are places where learning and teaching transpire.  Barns are places where livestock are kept.  Hospitals are places where the sick receive care and treatment.  Temples are places where God is glorified.  Each place has its own distinct purpose—by design.

        And if you dare defy that design, or deviate from that design, the results will not be good.  If you try to re-purpose a place for which it is not designed, well, you’re undertaking a fool’s errand.  Who would be so foolish as to care for the sick in a barn?  Or keep livestock in a hospital?  Could you glorify God in a grocery store?  Or buy and sell food in a temple?

        Today’s reading from 1 Corinthians is all about God’s design and purpose for a very unique structure:  your body.  Your body serves many purposes.  Your body is fearfully and wonderfully made.  God Himself has given you your body and soul, eyes, ears, and all your members.  He’s the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb. 

        But of all the purposes your body has been designed for, one purpose outshines them all.  One function rises above the rest.  One task takes the cake:  Glorify God in your body.  That’s the final sentence from today’s epistle reading.  Glorify God in your body.  Touching, tasting, seeing, hearing, and smelling are great; but you’ve got a sixth sense that surpasses any other bodily purpose:  Glorifying—glorifying God in your body.

        To glorify God in your body is to order your bodily life around God—to continually draw strength and nourishment from His holy Word, and His holy Baptism, and His Holy Supper, and His holy Absolution.  You glorify God in your body whenever that body stands, sits, or kneels to pray, praise and give thanks.  When you lift your voice to sing God’s praises, you are glorifying God in your body.  You glorify God in your body when you kneel down low to serve and support the other, broken bodies God places in your pathway. When you forgive as you have been forgiven—when you love as you yourself are loved by Jesus—then and there your body is doing what it has been designed to do.  God is glorified in your body.

        To help you grasp this tremendous truth about your body, today’s epistle tells us even more.  It turns out that your body and this building have something in common.  Your body and this building are a lot alike.  For this building is a temple; and your body is a temple too.  Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God.

        What’s true for this building is also true for your body.  This is God’s dwelling, and so is your body.  This is sacred space, and so is your body.  This is holy ground, and so is your body—from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.  To look in the mirror you’d never know it.  In a million years you never would have guessed this glorious truth about your body—your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, designed above all else to glorify the God who created you, redeemed you, and sanctified you.  Your body has been under new management since the day of your baptism.  In your flesh there now resides a Resident who transforms you.  The Holy Spirit has re-purposed your brains and your brawn to do holy things and glorify God.

        This truth determines everything we do with these bodies.  These temples are designed only for sacred purposes.  Deviate from that design and you’ve got trouble with a capital T.  You can’t keep livestock in a hospital (chickens in the children’s ward, pigs in pediatrics.  I don’t think so.)  Every earthly structure has its own unique purpose, by design.  Deviate from that design and you are courting disaster and destruction.

        First Corinthians chapter six addresses some of the most destructive ways that we are tempted to misuse these bodily temples—how we deviate from God’s good design.  It’s summed up nicely by Saint Paul in one, simple sentence:  Flee—flee from sexual immorality. Literally, it says continually flee from sexual immorality.  And don’t stop fleeing from it.

        “Sexual immorality” pretty much includes any sexual behavior with someone to whom you are not married.  It includes fornication and prostitution, adultery and pornography, homosexual behavior—premarital, extramarital, it matters not.  God does design our bodies for sex, but only within the loving commitment of marriage.  Why do we have such a hard time understanding this? 

        On the one hand, sin is sin.  But on the other hand, 1 Corinthians 6 makes it clear that sins of sexual immorality are uniquely damaging and destructive.  Sexual immorality defiles your body in ways that other sins don’t.  You cannot glorify God with a body that is being misused for sexual immorality.  It prevents you from doing what you were designed for –namely, glorifying God!  And you risk evicting that Holy Resident who resides in you—the Holy Spirit who makes your body His temple.   

        Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  And that Spirit isn’t there simply to police your every thought, word, and deed.  The Spirit helps us in our weakness!  The Spirit is in you to help you!  One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is self-control.  So take what the Spirit gives you.  Make use of His help.  Exercise self-control.  Bodily discipline is the name of the game.  Remember whose you are—in whose holy name your body is baptized:  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

        With water and those Words the Holy Trinity took possession of you—soul and body.  With water and those words you were adopted into the family of faith.  All your sins were washed away.  And because God has claimed you in your baptism, that means something revolutionary and countercultural:  You are not your own.  Your body is not your body.  I’ve used the phrase “your body” many times in this sermon.  But that “your” doesn’t imply possession, but reception.  The body you have is a gift received.  It belongs to the Lord, not you.  You are not your own. . .

        For you were bought with a price.  Real estate is super-expensive these days.  But no property has ever been purchased with the price Jesus Christ paid for you.  You were bought with a price.  And that price?  Not silver.  Not gold.  No, you were bought with the holy, precious blood of Jesus, and His innocent suffering and death.  And this price was paid so that you (in both soul and body) might be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom.  And serve Him.  Jesus died to redeem you.  Jesus died to pay the debt you could never pay.  Jesus died . . . so that you might glorify God in your body. 

        Jesus has a body like yours.  The baby boy born in Bethlehem is your brother in the flesh.  He knows the weaknesses and frailties of the body.  He knows how tempting it is to misuse the body God has given—to live life in the reckless pursuit of pleasure, and so deviate from God’s gracious design.  Jesus was temped in every way, just as we are, yet He is without sin.  And that sinless record now counts for you and for all who turn to Him in repentance, who trust in His power to save.  In Him is forgiveness for every sin.

        Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  He has defeated death.  He now reigns from God’s right hand.  But Jesus—He’s still got a body.  And that saving body and blood He gives to us to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins in His holy Supper.

        St. Paul writes, God raised the Lord [Jesus] and will also raise us up by His power.  That’s a not-so-subtle reminder that your body is not destined for destruction.  Someday this temple—with its Lannon stones and broad wooden beams—this temple will be reduced to rubble.  The finest hospitals, grocery stores, and school buildings—they all have a date with destruction or demolition.  Every structure on the face of the earth faces a sure and definite demise.

        But your body is different; your body is destined for resurrection.  Jesus Christ brings you life and immortality through the gospel.  And then, and there, with a glorified and resurrected body, you will finally and forever be able to do perfectly what you have been designed to do:  Glorify God in your body.  

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