Sermon Proper 16 2019
Hebrews 12:4-29
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

This morning we meditate on the Epistle Lesson from Hebrews, previously read.
In the history of Lutheranism, it’s often been said that the doctrine of justification is the doctrine, the teaching—after all, that’s all that the word doctrine means, is teaching—but that the teaching of justification is the one upon which the church stands or falls.  And as I say that on the one hand I can imagine you’re thinking, “Wow, that’s one way to start a sermon,” or maybe you’re thinking “I’ve heard of this, but what does it even mean?  What does it mean when we talk about justification?”  Well, when we speak of it as Lutherans, it means we are so sinful that the only way we can be made right with God is through the forgiveness of sins which Jesus won for us on the cross.  In more common parlance, we can’t get to heaven by doing good things, instead we get there because Jesus died for all of our sins, and the benefit of what He’s done is given to us through faith in Him. And as the Church, if we don’t teach that correctly, we’ll fall.

Now, as I say that, this is one of those things that you hear week in and week out.  Perhaps to the point where you wonder if we have to hear it again.  And if you feel that way, it proves the point.  We are so sinful that we forget just how sinful we are and how desperately we need that forgiveness.  Like I’ve said a lot recently, we always, always, always underestimate the effect of the fall into sin.  And because of that, we don’t realize how much that sin is showing when react in that way.  And what does that show?  It shows that just like with the rest of the world, we don’t like this teaching.

To this point, a couple of weeks ago, I was in Indianapolis for my brother’s wedding.  While I was there I ran into some friends from High School.  As we were bemoaning our aging bodies, one of them said to me, “You’ve got connections in your job, can you figure out what this is about?”  And I said, “Well, from a theological perspective, I can tell you: our sin has cut us off from God who is the source of our life, and so we die.”  And her response was, “I’d like to think my sin isn’t so bad.”  That’s us, isn’t it? We’d like to think our sin isn’t so bad.  We think that just like in the world, where we pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and we can succeed, the same must be true before God.

And on the flip side of that, if it’s not the case, that’s scary.  If God isn’t happy with me because I’m so good, then He’s angry with me, and that’s terrifying.  Of course, that’s what the author for the letter to the Hebrews is referring to.  He’s referring to the terror at Mt. Sinai.  If you remember that, you remember that the Israelites were brought out of their slavery in Egypt, they were carried through the wilderness, and at a point, God gave them the Law, and in particular, He gave them the Ten Commandments, and when He did that, they were scared.  The author even says that Moses himself was terrified.  This was an extremely scary experience.  Think about it.  The voice of God speaking from the mountain. The threat that should an animal even touch that mountain, it should die.  There is something jarring in that, isn’t there?

And so that weighs on us.  It weighs on us to always try to be good enough.  Which we see manifest in so many fashions.  I was listening to a podcast making the point that our trying to prove our own worth can even be seen in how we treat food.  “Oh I was so bad this week.  I ate terribly.”  “Oh I was really good this week, I had salad every day for lunch.”  You can hear it, there’s a moral quality to it.  Or it also pointed out parenting things, like vaccines.  “You vaccinate your children, oh that’s terrible.”  “You don’t vaccinate your children, oh that’s terrible.”  We’re all looking at the world and justifying ourselves, making ourselves out to be right that we can feel good over and against the jabs we take constantly; over and against what we as Lutherans call the Law—the Law spoken by God in the Commandments, but even the law as it manifests in our interactions with the world and others in the world.  It all weighs on us.

And this is where this justification comes in.  This is where we need justification from God, where we need the forgiveness of Christ.  Listen again to what the author to the Hebrews says about that.  Here he’s just been talking about Mount Sinai, like I said, and then he comes to a shift.  He says, you haven’t been to Mount Sinai.  No, where have you been?  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Do you hear justification there?  You’ve come to Mount Zion, and who’s there? Well there’s God, there’s the heavenly Jerusalem, there’s the angels, the assembly, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and there’s Jesus.  There’s Jesus.  There’s the One whose blood speaks a better word than that of Abel.  I’m guessing you remember the story of Cain and Abel, how Cain and Abel offer their sacrifices and God is pleased with Abel’s which is the first fruits, the best stuff because He trusts that God will give Him enough, then there’s Cain’s which is there but not the best.  And so God isn’t as pleased, and Cain gets jealous and he kills Abel.  But what does God say?  “Where’s Abel?  I know something happened to him.  Where is he?  His blood cries out to me from the ground.”  Abel’s blood cried out.  And to what end?  For justice.  But there’s this blood of Jesus.  This blood poured out to satisfy the justice our sin deserves.  The blood that was poured out to fulfill all sacrifices.  The blood that was poured out crying out for you before God saying, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”  There’s that blood and it’s where these Hebrews have been, it’s at Mount Zion.

Of course, what’s actually being said here?  Did these Hebrews get to have a special trip?  Did the golden chariot that took Elijah up to heaven swoop down and carry them up?  What’s the author talking about?  He’s talking about worship.  He’s talking about the Divine Service.  I’ve made this point before, but it’s worth repeating.  When you’re here in the Divine Service, when you gather around this Word of Jesus, when you gather around His body and blood, He’s here.  Heaven opens up and Jesus is here.  You’re with the angels, with archangels, and all of the company of heaven—that’s why we say that in the prayer.  And you’re around the throne of Jesus in a particular way.  In fact, I make this point in the Narrative Service where I explain the parts of the liturgy, but that’s why we sing what we sing in the service.  These are songs given in Scripture, some of them in glimpses we see in heaven.  The Gloria, “Glory be to God on High,” the words sung by the angels at the birth of Jesus.  “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the words sung by the angels around the throne of God.  God, there, with the whole company of heaven.  That’s why the Church picked the songs so long ago. 

Now of course, this isn’t something we grasp easily in our sin, is it?  We can’t see, and so it’s not true.  And this is all the more influenced by the Enlightenment, isn’t it?  By the philosophies that have become so prevalent since the 1600’s or so?  If you can’t see it, it’s not so.  Heaven can have no bearing on earth.  That’s the underlying assumption of so much of science—and as I say that, I’m not against the study of science or the world around us, but the academic world of science says it is required to interpret the world solely naturally.  So in view of that, there’s no awe.

But what do we see in the Scriptures when they talk about being in God’s presence?  We see reverence, awe, we see, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”  Think about what that means.  Reverence, awe.  God is a consuming fire.  Think about it, when it comes to our worship, how should we gather?  In that reverence.  In that awe, in that fear.  This should affect our attitude—the joy with which we should come to church.  We get to come in the presence of God!!! The manner of how we come.  Think about coming in that fear, in that reverence.  Not just like you’re meeting your buddy, but the almighty God.  Think about how you approach the service, the altar. How you carry yourself, how you dress even.  Think about this.  And think about what we come for.

What do I mean by that?  Well, I started this whole thing talking about justification, and I alluded to it, but to hone the point with worship a bit, first ask yourself why you’re here.  Why are you in that pew today?  Just because it’s the right thing to do?  Just because God commands it?  Are you here to give something to God?  You know that’s all common stuff.  Does God just want you to do this because it’s right?  Does God need you to come?  But does God need your gifts?  These are a start, but are they  the end?  I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  Do you hear it there?  God has all that He needs.  He doesn’t need your gifts.  So what’s the point of coming here?  Well, He speaks of offering thanksgiving. But thanksgiving for what?  For forgiveness.  You see, you’re here, and God brought you here to meet with you, to give you His forgiveness.  To absolve you, give you Jesus’ body and blood.  He’s dwelling with you that you might be His people.  He did all of this first.  It’s only after all that that you can give Him thanks.  And you need all of that stuff first.  You need it constantly.  You need it week in and week out.  Does that mean if you miss a Sunday you’re going to hell?  That’s the wrong question!!  Why would you be anywhere else?  Why would you want to put yourself somewhere where you’re not meeting with this God, not hearing the joy and the promise that He has justified you?!

​And in that, then you hopefully see why the Church stands or falls on justification.  The Church is the only institution that has this justification, and justification is the only unique gift the Church has for the world.  You can get classes on self-improvement, on being a better person, on picking yourself up by the bootstraps anywhere, but it’s only here that you can meet with God and He’ll tell you “it’s done.  It’s forgiven.  I have baptized you and made you my own.”  That’s what the Church stands and falls on, and as we live in such a mess of a world, that’s what we stand and fall on too.  Amen.  

​Sermon Proper 15 2019
Jeremiah 23:16-29
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  This morning we meditate on the Old Testament Lesson from the Prophet Jeremiah, previously read.

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet.  As you read him, sometimes you could think it’s because he sounds like he’s whining about his calling from God to be His mouthpiece.  And to be fair, Jeremiah was beaten and left for dead, abused in horrible fashion, such that we would likely whine as much or more.  But the reason he’s called that is because of the sadness he conveys in view of what’s coming to Jerusalem.  You see the Lord had revealed to Jeremiah that the people were unrepentant.  He revealed that they would not repent, and because of that Babylon was going to come and the Babylonians were going to destroy Israel.  They were going to come and take the Israelites from their homes and lead them into this captivity in a foreign land.  There they would be captives, there they would be slaves, and worst of all, there they would have no access to the Temple.  You see, as a whole, the people had rejected the Lord and His Word, so He gave them what they wanted, and Jeremiah knew all of this was coming.

He also knew that plenty of “prophets” weren’t warning the people of the truth of what was to come.  He knew, as we can see in the lesson, that people were telling them all would be OK.  They were telling them that Israel was strong and wouldn’t fall to Babylon, couldn’t fall to Babylon.  They said that God would never let that happen.  In other words they made promises that they hadn’t gotten from God saying that it was going to be OK.  But it wasn’t going to be OK.  God was going to let them fall.  God was strong enough to save them, but they had rejected God and His Word, and so He was angry with Israel.  You can hear it in our reading.  Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart.

Yes God was angry.  In fact, that word for anger there has connections to the word for nostrils.  You can get the picture then.  God is so angry at their sin, at their rejection, at the rebellion that, His nostrils are flaring, and like when we get angry, or even more so like when a bull gets angry, He’s expressing that anger in the air that’s coming out of those nostrils.  God was angry.  And Jeremiah was one of the few who understood this and was telling the people so.

But how did the people respond?  Who did they listen to?  Did they listen to Jeremiah?  No.  They didn’t like his negative attitude.  He was too much of a downer, so they beat him.  They cast him down in a cistern.  They threw him out of the city.  They didn’t like what he had to say and so they kicked him out.  And instead who did they listen to?  They listened to the other “prophets.”  They listened to those about whom God said, ““I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds…. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart.’”

No the people listened to those false prophets because it didn’t rile them up so much.  It didn’t make them cringe or hurt their feelings. 

And there’s nothing new under the sun, is there?  Look at today.  Turn on the television and what do you see?  When you have people talking about God what are they saying?  Look at us.  Look at our people with spiritual notoriety, the people on TV who are the experts.  We have our Oprahs, and we have our fads.  We have those who speak about how we can all find God in our own way, that no matter our spirituality it all points to the same thing.  We have the notoriety and reverence that someone like the Dalai Lama receives.  Or closer to the Church, we have our Joel Osteens, who makes sure to tell us that if we just trust in God enough we can have our best life now.  We can actualize all of the potential that’s in us, and bring a slice of heaven into our lives.  Did Jeremiah not believe enough?  Where was his heaven?

Or look at what we have in the people on what I call “Jesus TV.”  Maybe they’re not saying it’s just going to be OK, but they profess to be giving words, prophecies, and visions from God.  But are they?  Watch someone on there, and if they give some kind of prophesy “from the Lord,” look up their name and false prophecy on the internet.  Usually you can find someone who has recorded a word that person has spoken “from the Lord” that was shown to be false—something contradictory to the Scriptures, or a promise that something was going to happen that came to be proven untrue.  And do you know what Scripture tells us to do with false prophets?  With one who presupposes to speak a word from the Lord yet is proven false?  Well in short we to utterly ignore them.  In the Old Testament, the call was to stone them, but that’s something given for Israel as a theocracy, not for us as individual Christians.  With that in mind we can hear the severity.  Don’t listen to those who claim to be speaking for God, but aren’t.  Don’t listen to those who don’t speak what His Word does.

Instead listen to His Word.  Listen to the call to repentance.  Hear what He says to you.  For example in the epistle reading, the call that Moses lived by: By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.  Hear that call.  In fact know what Jesus said, that as you choose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin, this will sadly even divide you within your families: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.”
Hear that Word.  Hear the Word that tells you of the anger of God at sin: Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.  Yes, Christians, hear that Word.  And know it.

As I was reading this week, I read something that made the point about this anger, that God’s anger requires satisfaction.  That’s a terrifying thought, isn’t it?  If God is angry at sin, and His Word tells me of my sin that I should repent, and that Word tells me that His anger requires satisfaction, where should that satisfaction lie?  Upon me, right?  I’m the sinner.  I’m the guilty one.  I am the one who should bear that punishment. 

When you think about that, when you think about all of this, you can see why The Lord in Jeremiah says that His Word is like fire, like a hammer that breaks rocks into pieces. 

Let that Word, that hammer crush you.  Why?  So that once you have been crushed, once you have been brought to nothing, you may see the refuge given to the lowly in the One who bore that satisfaction.  In the Gospel Lesson, Jesus speaks of His own anxiety with regard to the baptism with which He was to be baptized.  Yet He had already been baptized?  Why this fear?  Because the completion of His baptism was His death.  His death on the cross where all of the anger of God was poured out.  All of the sins of the Israelites, all of your sin, your rejection, your rebellion, all of it poured out on Him. 

And now He has been raised, and as the completion of His baptism was His death, the completion of His death is His resurrection so that the completion of your baptism might be your resurrection in Him.  But your resurrection comes in the burial of your sin in His tomb.  In view of that, repentance brings to your realization just how terrible your sin is.  It brings to your realization that the wretchedness of that sin shows the depth of His love, and that in that love, you can see the joy of the God whose anger is now satisfied, whose nose no longer flares and fumes at you.  You can see the joy of the fulfillment of the One who is faithful.

​Continue, then to hear that Word.  Continue to hear that Word where you know it will be: in the Holy Scriptures.  Don’t seek for it in fancy places, in TV spirituality experts, in the sinfulness of your own heart, seek it there, and know what it promises.  It doesn’t promise it will be OK.  Sometimes it won’t.  Often it won.  But in the end, there will be the fulfillment of all it.  The eternal joy and freedom of the eschatological kingdom of our Lord Jesus, where everything will be way better than OK, it will be all right.  Amen.

Sermon Proper 11 2018
July 22, 2018
Mark 6:30-44
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning we meditate on the Gospel Lesson which was previously read.
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.” When the Lord gave that word to Jeremiah to speak, the conditions in Israel were bad. The people were rebellious. The kings didn’t help this much. There was no desire on the part of either to follow the worship ordained by the Lord. There was no desire to maintain that Israel was the chosen people of the Lord. Rather, there was vast idolatry. There was vast unrepentance. There was vast rebellion against the revelation of God given to Moses in the Torah, in the Law. And what did the priests do about it? They told everybody it was all going to be just fine. They told them that God loved them for who they were. They told them that God wanted them to find Him through sexual experiences. Ok, so they didn’t use those words, but you can see in the prophets that there were those who certainly made no effort to call people to repentance. You can see through the large number of “high places” that people were not worshipping the Lord alone—the people chosen by God and given this land by Him—they weren’t worshipping Him, but were having other gods. And you can see by the widespread inclusion of things as Asherah poles, that they were glad to find sexuality a part of ritual fertility worship, something explicitly contrary to true worship.
It was in this context then, that the Lord made it clear: these priests were failing, and they were not shepherding His people as they were called. So what do we see then? We see this promise: I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” It’s in that context that we see the promise fulfilled in our Gospel Lesson; the promise of Jesus. And what do we see about Him?
Well, specifically, we see in our lesson, Jesus feeding the five thousand. But within that what we see is that Jesus fulfills the promise to be the Good Shepherd. We see that Jesus is the compassionate shepherd who satisfies His sheep. Jesus is the Compassionate Shepherd who satisfies His sheep.
As I make that statement I’d like to unpack it. First, Jesus’ compassion. In the Gospel lesson, there is a mob of people who gather around Jesus to hear His teaching. Mark tells us, “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd.” But then what? Then Jesus “had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.”
So, like I said, first we see Jesus’ compassion. I’ve mentioned this word before, but when we hear that Jesus had compassion on the people, what this means is that He felt it in His guts. His guts ached for these people. Why? Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. These people had been led by those who were not faithful shepherds. Sure maybe the shepherds of Jesus’ day were not as blatantly sinful as the priests at the time of Jeremiah. Maybe they appeared to be upright and righteous. In fact, they even appeared to show dedication to the Lord and the Lord alone, but when Jesus sees the people as sheep without a shepherd, what does it tell us? These leaders at His time still fell far short. They still were misleading the people. In particular from Jesus’ interaction with the leaders of His day, what do we see? We see Him calling them whitewashed tombs. They were in it for the glory and the praise of men. They were teaching the people right morality, but their hearts were not turned toward the glory of God. They were not pointing people to the Lord, but to a self-righteous interpretation of the Law. So what did Jesus do? He shepherded them. And how? Look at what it says: they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.”
So how did He shepherd them? He taught them. He taught them that the Law wasn’t about their own righteousness, but the righteousness manifest in this Shepherd standing before them. It was about the righteousness that God Himself would provide for them. He taught them that they were to crucify their own lives, die to themselves, and rise again to life in the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.
And as I say this, I think we can draw such a great parallel today. As we look around at the state of the Church today, what do we see? Do we see that people are being taught to die to themselves? Do we see shepherds who are encouraging their flocks toward repentance, toward self-denial, toward picking up their cross and dying to themselves? I was listening to a book called The Benedict Option this week, and while my jury is still out on the book, the author, Rod Dreher, made a great point in his assessment of the modern day church. He said that there has been a dramatic paradigmatic shift in the church beginning in the late 19th century and blossoming to this day. He said historically the church taught a message of self-denial. Now the church is broadly teaching a message of self-fulfillment. In others words, the church in our day and place is telling people that the role of the church is to help them to fulfill their greatest desires, to find their true selves, their true happiness. We can hear this even in churches teaching people that God wants them to get that promotion, that pay increase, that material blessing. Or we can hear it in churches telling people that God loves them for who they are.
Christians, as we hear this being taught, what we see there is not what Jesus taught. We can sympathize with Him then as He looked at them and had compassion on them. He looked at them and felt sorry for them in His guts, and He taught them. And what did He teach them? In His compassion He taught them the truth. The truth that we still have to hear. The truth that we are lost and utterly dead sinners without our Lord coming to us and giving His Spirit to us to enliven us and grant us the holiness that we lack completely of ourselves. That is what the Compassionate Shepherd does.
And what did we say? Jesus is the Compassionate Shepherd who satisfies His sheep. We’ve explained how Jesus is compassionate, how He shepherds, but what do we see then about this satisfaction? Coming back to the lesson, look what our Lord tells us through the words of Mark. “And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.”
Now as we see this we have to make the obvious point that the people who are fed by Jesus are fed literal, physical food. We have to acknowledge that this points to the fact that Jesus made sure the bodily needs of these people were cared for. But we also have to acknowledge that the leftovers filling twelve baskets is more than a little convenient. While we would certainly believe that was what actually happened, we also see the Lord’s providence in this. Twelve is the number of the Church. Twelve apostles, twelve tribes. Five thousand satisfied, and twelve baskets left over. That’s enough for the Church. This satisfaction of Jesus is enough for you. But what is that satisfaction? Is it just food? Well, of course there’s the Lord’s Supper we can’t help but thinking of, but is Jesus feeding you fish and loaves? No. So this isn’t just about the filling of your belly. No it’s about real satisfaction.
And as I say this, there’s a fitting connection to the Prodigal Son—fitting because we’re meeting to discuss The Prodigal God this week. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the son is working feeding the pigs, and he’s hungry. It says that he looks at the food that he’s giving the swine and he wants to be satisfied himself. In fact he longs for it. In a sense we can see that the son’s literal hunger reflected the insatiability he found in the things of this world. Yes he had gone out, indulged in reckless living and sin, but what did this ultimately lead to? It led to emptiness. To hunger. It led to dissatisfaction. And Timothy Keller makes this point, where is the satisfaction found? In the beauty of the cross. The satisfaction is found in being drawn outside of our selfishness, outside of our self-indulgence. I know I’ve mentioned this self-indulgence and seeking of self-fulfillment, turning in toward ourselves or even seeking the divine within us, that we call this navel gazing. What we see in this Compassionate Shepherd is that navel gazing is dissatisfying. What is satisfying is His righteousness, His goodness. What is unsatisfying is our lives, but what is satisfying is picking up our cross and finding life in the blood He has shed for us on the cross. The perfect blood which pays for all of our sin, all of your sin. And which gives life to you in His resurrection. In this we see that Jesus is this Compassionate Shepherd who satisfies His sheep.
And to conclude, we see also how He sends His under-shepherds to do this work in His stead and by His command. Look at the apostles in this lesson. First they come back from their exploits in preaching, and we see that they “returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught”—and just like with Jesus note the teaching there. They were sent and taught just like we see this Compassionate Shepherd doing. And then we hear Jesus instructing them to take care of these sheep without a shepherd. He says, “You give them something to eat.” In other words, just as Jesus is the Compassionate Shepherd who satisfies His sheep, He still sends under-shepherds to bring that satisfying teaching, that satisfying word, to you. And Christians, this satisfaction doesn’t come from the things of this world. It doesn’t come from comfort, or money, and certainly from sinful and reckless living. In fact, this true satisfaction doesn’t come even in looking at our own faith. It comes from looking at the word, at the promises of that word, at what He has done through your pastor outside of you: baptizing you, absolving you, and feeding you. In fact, I referenced the Lord’s Supper before, and there we see the most satisfying meal of all, that body and blood and blood of Jesus. Look at the promise of the Word and see it, Christians. Jesus is the Compassionate Shepherd who satisfies His sheep. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sermon Proper 7 2018
June 24, 2018
Mark 4:35-41
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning we meditate on the Gospel Lesson which was previously read.
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” It seems like a fair question, doesn’t it? Apparently, these windstorms, these squalls with hurricane force winds can appear on the sea quite suddenly. And it seems this was such an occasion where one did. The ship with the Lord on it, and others with them, vessels about 25 feet long, 7 ½ wide, and 4 ½ tall, these boats would certainly shrink in comparison to the waves which were pouring in over their sides. Such conditions can seemingly rightly induce panic. And that’s what the disciples did. They panicked. They freaked out.
And so do we, don’t we? Don’t we look around us and freak out? Don’t we look at the demise of our culture and assume the world is going to hell and in a hand basket? Don’t we watch the news and see shootings in schools, shootings in the city, hear of robberies in our own neighborhoods? Don’t we see the sadness of children separated from their families, or famous people committing suicide, and worry? We do, don’t we? We look at all of this, and we see sadness, the injustice and the brokenness of all of this, and it weighs on us to the point that we cry out, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Just personally, I find myself tempted toward this as I look around at how much our society has lost its sense of rationality. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we see all kinds of division in our society which can be tied to the influence of Marx and those who came as students of his after him. Well, sort of in that same vein, I read an article that someone I knew posted on Facebook. The article said that the younger generations in our country are expressing a real interest in the possibility of adopting communism. I read that and it freaked me out. How can these people have an interest in communism? Do they not see the oppression that communism brought to the people of the Soviet Union, to China, to North Korea? Do they see how in the sinfulness of man when you create a collective a small group will take charge? And then what’s going to happen? They’re going to make sure they take care of themselves and their friends. And they’re also going to make sure that they keep anyone else from dissenting their rule. Which is exactly what we have witnessed. We witnessed it with the deaths of millions, millions of people, in particular millions of Christians in those places. This is what happens, and we have a generation of kids who are considering this? “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?”
And as I speak in my own life, I am sure you all have many other examples you can think of in your own. Perhaps cultural too. Or perhaps more individual. The diagnosis of a loved one with a terminal illness, ““Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” The loss of a loved one suddenly: “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” The anxiety of losing a job, or fear that our needs will not be provided for: “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” The loneliness that comes without a spouse or without children nearby: “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” ”
There are so many storms that appear. These squalls that come up and they bring great fear to us. Fear for our lives. Fear for the lives of our children. Fear that things are bringing peril to us, and we might not survive.
And coming back to the disciples, what made it that much worse when the storm came? What made it that much worse when they turned and looked at Jesus? Where was He? Well, He was there on His comfy cushion calm as can be. In fact, He was so calm, He wasn’t even awake.
And that’s something you can probably relate to also, isn’t it? You can probably relate to those times when you are being overcome by these storms, when you are afraid you’re going to be cast off the ship, or worse that the ship is going down with you in it, and you cry out to God and it feels like this. It feels like you’re calling out to Him and He’s asleep at the wheel. You don’t get any notable response. You don’t hear comfort, you don’t see relief. You don’t get a reprieve. Instead, what do you get? The sense that you’re crying out and God’s just asleep at the wheel. But still it gets worse doesn’t it?
When Jesus does wake up, how does He respond? Well, to be sure He takes care of the problem. He demonstrates just how much power He has. He demonstrates that just as God spoke at the beginning and the heavens and the earth were created, so now He speaks, “Peace! Be still!” and His word does just that. It silences the winds, puts a muzzle on this storm. In fact, when it says that the wind ceased there’s a connotation there that the wind demurs from Jesus in fear. So, sure, Jesus demonstrates this great power which keeps the disciples safe. But how comforting is that really? Obviously not that much, because thy all talk amongst themselves “filled with great fear,” and say, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
And if all of this isn’t bad enough, how did Jesus respond to all of this? Does He gently say to them, “Wow guys, thanks for waking me up, that was getting really bad! You must have been so scared!”? No. He says, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” He says to them, “I am God, I’ve got this well in hand. Why would you think I didn’t?” In fact as we look at this response, you can see why it’s paired with the reading from Job, can’t you?
In fact, I always think that passage is hard to hear. It’s one of those where if we as people were writing this, is that how we would make God out to be as appealing as possible? And I say that using that wording intentionally. After all, in our day with the Church in decline I think we have this mentality that we have to be as appealing as possible as the Church. As Christians, we have to make the faith look as attractive as we can. As believers, we feel like we have to defend God and His commands in as winsome a way as possible. Not to say that we shouldn’t strive for winsomeness, but is that God’s approach with Job? Look at that. Job, if you recall lost his ten children in one fell swoop. If that wasn’t enough he lost the livelihood of his animals. He lost his health, he was ill and had boils all over his body. And in the midst of all of that, his wife and friends all tell him how rotten he must be that God would curse him like this, and so he should just curse God back, die, and be done with it. And yet Job remains faithful. Sure, He tells God it doesn’t seem fair, but he never curses God. And what does God come to Job and say? Does He say, “Well Job, you sure did a good job!” To be fair, He does tell Job’s friends they were wrong for what they said, that Job was right, it wasn’t as though there was something in particular he had done. But in response to Job’s claims of unfairness, what does God say? “Sorry?” No. He says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.’” In other words, He comes to Job and He says, “Are you God? No. I am God. I have the wisdom and the knowledge of having created this whole universe. Don’t you tell me what you think is right. Don’t you tell me what you think is fair. I am the LORD the God of Sabaoth. I will say what is right and fair.” In other words, He is telling Job what Jesus, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
And Christians in your trials and your fears, He says the same to you. He confronts your question of “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” with His own question: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” He says to you, “Look at me. Look at my nail scarred hands and feet. Look at my spear-lanced side. Look at what I have done for you, dying for your sin. Look at that. If have done that, would I not certainly care for you in all things? Will I certainly not abide with you, remain with you in every trial and storm? Haven’t I told you, never will I leave you never will I forsake you? Haven’t I been raised from them dead to show you the victory that is yours? And if you were afraid this wasn’t meant for you, haven’t I baptized you, haven’t I fed you even my own body and blood? I have. I have done all of this for you. Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
So Christians, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? You must ask yourselves that. I must ask myself that. We all must ask ourselves what inhibits us, why the storms draw us to doubt. Why it upsets us so when it seems like Jesus is asleep on the pillow in the boat. Hasn’t He proven that this isn’t arbitrary; that it isn’t by happenstance? Hasn’t He proven that this is all under His care? And more importantly, hasn’t He proven that you are under His care? Hasn’t He even proven as He died for the sins of the whole world that He loves even those who reject Him far more than any of us ever could? So where is our understanding? Where is our wisdom? It’s all for naught. Rather, we are in the hands of the God who has spoken the whole creation into existence, who speaks silence to it. And He speaks silence to you as well in your worry, the silence and peace of His promise to care for you, His promise to work all things to your good. He is the God who sent His own Son for us, so He will surely do this in Him. As the Psalm says, “Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” It certainly is. It is our help now and eternally. Amen.