The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 22:1-14
In Christ Jesus, who looks with compassion on the outcasts, the ugly, and the soiled, so they might become beautiful and pure in Him, dear fellow redeemed:
The wedding day is a few weeks away. Who do you suppose is most anxious about the details, things like the guest list, flowers, food, decorations, clothing? I’ll give you three choices: the bride, the mother of the bride, or the mother of the groom. It’s the women! And that’s okay—that’s why wedding celebrations are beautiful!
But these wedding planners and detail doers are not leading the way in Jesus’ parable about a wedding feast. In fact, no reference is made specifically to a bride or the mothers. This is about “a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” And through this parable, Jesus wants to teach us something about the “kingdom of heaven.”
It is obvious that if you were a member of an earthly kingdom, and the king invited you to celebrate the wedding of his son, you would go. You would go either because you felt honored to be invited, or because you were afraid of what might happen to you if you refused. It is shocking to hear how the invited guests in the parable refused the king’s summons. Some of them even killed the servants who brought the message from the king!
This is nothing short of treason, a total rebellion against the king’s authority. They wouldn’t do this unless they thought he was powerless to do anything about it. Well they made a severe miscalculation. “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”
Jesus spoke these words during Holy Week. He was talking about the Old Testament people of Israel, who through their history often rejected the faithful prophets of God and even killed many of them. For their rebellion against Him, God gave them up to their enemies. The people in the northern kingdom of Israel were either killed or enslaved by the Assyrians. And the people in the southern kingdom of Judah were later conquered by the Babylonians.
After seventy years in exile, God sent some of the Jews from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. The descendants of these returned exiles should have remembered what the Lord did for them, and learned to humbly trust and follow God’s Word. But now the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees were plotting how they might arrest Jesus and have Him killed. They were just as guilty as their forefathers, and even guiltier for rejecting the King’s Son in the flesh.
So the King extended His invitation beyond the original guest list. He sent His servants out to “the main roads” to gather “all whom they found, both bad and good.” This refers to the Gentiles, who were not part of God’s chosen people Israel. Now they were welcome at the wedding feast too.
But before we go any further, we have to be clear about what this wedding feast is. We see that it is entered by invitation only, that wedding garments are required for all the guests, and that the food is the best there is. This wedding feast for the King’s Son is the feast of salvation, the celebration of Christ’s victory over our greatest enemies—sin, death, and the devil. It is a feast that no one partakes of on his own terms or makes himself worthy to receive. Notice that the attendees included both those who were considered bad and those who were considered good. No one earned an invitation and a place at the feast; the King granted it.
But why is this feast of salvation likened to a wedding feast? If the King is God the Father, and the feast is for His only-begotten Son, who is the bride? The inspired Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, answers that question for us. The last section of the chapter speaks of the husband as the head of his wife “even as Christ is the head of the church, his body” (v. 23). Then it says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (vv. 25-27).
These are some profound words. They describe Christ as Bridegroom and the Church as His bride. We often joke about husbands that they “married up” in relation to their wives. But that is not the case here. Jesus chose a bride that was not virtuous, not wise, not beautiful, and He joined Himself to her. Through this sacrifice of Himself, He gave His bride all that was His. His virtue became her virtue. His wisdom became her wisdom. His beauty and holiness became her beauty and holiness. His glory became her glory. If anyone has “married up,” it was certainly the Church in relation to Christ.
And who exactly is “the Church”? It is all those who are cleansed “by the washing of water with the word.” It is those who submit themselves and their eternal future to the safe-keeping of Jesus their Savior. Or to use the words of today’s reading, “the Church” is the ones who were invited by the King to His Son’s wedding feast. They came when the King’s servants called. They entered wearing the wedding garments supplied by the King. They have a seat at the King’s table where they enjoy His delicious food.
So you see that a bride actually does make an appearance in Jesus’ parable. The guests in glorious attire at the wedding feast, they are the bride! The guests are the Church of all believers, presented to Jesus “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing… holy and without blemish.”
That is a description of you, dear friends in Christ. You were cleansed of your sins in the waters of Baptism and were clothed in the garments of Jesus’ righteousness. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). This is when you were called to the King’s feast, the feast of salvation. All that Jesus accomplished for you by His death and resurrection became yours. You were joined to Him at those waters. You became a member of His holy Church which is His bride.
And that means He has reserved a seat for you at His table in the eternal feast above. You participate in this feast now by receiving Jesus’ body and blood in Holy Communion—the holy “joining together.” You don’t see Him in all His glory, but He meets you here to strengthen you for this life and to prepare you for the life to come. Your partaking of the Lord’s Supper here is a dress rehearsal for the wedding feast in heaven.
But as you know very well, even though all are invited to the King’s wedding feast—even though Jesus died on the cross for all people—not all are found worthy to attend. Jesus said this about the unbelieving Jews who killed the prophets sent to them by God. They “were not worthy” because of their unbelief.
So the invitation was extended to outsiders to come. But when they came, one of them decided to attend the feast without a wedding garment. This was an insult to the King who was glad to provide these garments. Essentially the man was saying, “I don’t need the King’s garments. I’m just fine the way I am.”
That describes people who call themselves Christians, but who do not trust in Jesus alone for their salvation. They want to go to heaven on their own terms. Some of them place their confidence in the works they do. Others knowingly reject certain teachings of God but still expect to have God’s favor.
This is why we don’t automatically invite all Christians to our Communion table. We want to make sure we are in agreement about what we believe before we take Communion together. After all, we aren’t the ones in charge of this wedding feast. It is the King and His Son who are.
Jesus’ parable should be a huge eye-opener for us. Many decide that the feast of salvation is not worth their time. They ignore or they get angry at God’s servants sent to call them to come. And of those who do come, some want the King to submit Himself to them. Jesus sums up these warnings with the words, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
But you, dear members of the Church, are here today. You want to hear God’s Word of truth. You want the comfort of His absolution. You want to receive His body and blood for the remission of your sins. You don’t have something better to do than this. This is where you want to be. This is where Jesus meets you with His saving gifts.
He comes here through His Word and Sacraments to reaffirm His love for you. He comes to fight for you against the temptations and trials you face. He comes to provide all that you need to enter the marriage hall—His forgiveness, His righteousness, His life. Even though His bride—each one of us—may forget Him from time to time and pursue other things that seem more important, He does not forget us. He is perfectly committed to His Church; He is perfectly committed to you.
And you know it. You know that you are not invited to the feast because you are so important or so worthy to receive the King’s gifts. You are invited to the feast because The Gracious King Wants You at His Table. He does not look down on you for the rags of sin you have worn; He clothes you in the righteousness of His Son. He does not judge you for your many failures; He welcomes you to the marriage hall based on the perfect merit of His Son.
This is not a wedding you have to plan. You don’t have to worry about all the details that make everything just right. You are the honored guest. Everything has been prepared for you, and your merciful Lord is thrilled to serve you, His bride, both now and forevermore.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from “Parable of the Great Banquet” by the Brunswick Monogrammist, 16th century)
The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:1-8
In Christ Jesus, whose grace abundantly covers all our sins, even the secret ones of our mind and heart, dear fellow redeemed:
How would you like to have the super power, the special ability, to know what the people around you are thinking? You could know if they liked you or didn’t like you, if they were lying to you or telling the truth, if they were looking to help you or harm you. That could be a very useful tool to have. But it could also be very depressing. Just imagine all the dark thoughts, plans, and desires you would become aware of. If you had this power, I think you would find it difficult to look anyone in the eye!
It is clear from today’s reading that Jesus had this power. First of all, the evangelist Matthew writes that Jesus “saw the faith” of the paralytic and the men who carried him. How could He see faith? He could see faith in action as the men brought their friend to Jesus. But kind actions alone do not prove that people have faith, since unbelievers sometimes do nice things too. Jesus could see their hearts. He knew they had saving faith. They believed that Jesus had come from God to do gracious work among them.
Seeing their faith, Jesus offered the paralytic an unexpected gift. The expected gift was healing. That is what Jesus had been doing throughout Judea and Galilee. But He wanted to give the paralyzed man something better than physical healing, something more. Jesus looked with compassion at the man and said, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” Jesus knew what the man needed most—He could see what the man needed most—and He gave it to him: forgiveness, no strings attached.
The scribes and Pharisees didn’t like this, but they didn’t say so out loud. They judged Jesus in their hearts. “He is blaspheming!” they thought to themselves. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mar. 2:7). Just as Jesus had seen the faith of the paralytic and his friends, so He knew the thoughts of the scribes and Pharisees. Nothing was hidden from Him. “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” He asked.
Jesus knew their evil, even though it wasn’t expressed in words or actions. This knowledge of their thoughts had to mean that Jesus was God, because who besides God can know a person’s hidden thoughts? David acknowledged this about the LORD in Psalm 139: “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar…. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether” (vv. 2, 4).
God knows everything we do, say, and think. And yet this doesn’t seem to trouble us as much as if the people around us knew all our deep, dark secrets. Why is that the case? Why are we more concerned about how others see us than how God sees us? Perhaps we think the consequences would be worse if our neighbors knew our sins. We think about how it could affect our reputation, our job, our family, our opportunities.
Having God know our sins doesn’t seem quite as bad. He has put up with us so far, so He will probably keep putting up with us. When we get comfortable in our sin, it shows that we have no real fear of God. We act like He is far distant from us, too busy to bother with our little sins. Or we justify our sins in our own minds, so that they don’t seem like such a big deal. We might have thoughts like these:
- “I’m not the one who started the rumor, and that person probably needs to be taken down a few notches anyway.”
- “Well everyone looks at porn, and it’s not like I’m hurting anyone by looking.”
- “What does it matter if I bend the truth a little? They don’t want to hear the truth anyhow.”
- “Why can’t I give myself to someone else as long as we both love each other? We’re planning to get married someday anyway.”
It could be that the people around us approve of all these things. They might do them too, and if everyone is okay with them, how wrong can they be? Or if we do avoid these sins, we might get made fun of or judged. So we try to do what is right and be nice to others, but it isn’t making life any easier. And then we come to church each week, and we have to hear how we have fallen short. Isn’t it enough that we have tried to do and say the right things? Why do we have to worry about our thoughts? Why does the church have to be so focused on pointing out and uncovering sins?
Here’s another question: why did Jesus think that what the paralyzed man needed most was forgiveness? If we had been in the crowd that day, we would have been eager to see Jesus heal the man of his paralysis. That would have been the foremost thing on our minds. But Jesus sees deeper. “[M]an looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1Sa. 16:7). The man’s most pressing problem was not his paralysis; it was his sin.
And so it is for you and me. Sin separates us from God. The apostle Paul writes that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23)—what we deserve and earn by our sin is death. Trying to justify the wrong things we do or think does not enhance our life; it is sin that delivers us over to death. The eyes and ears and mouth and body I use to do whatever I want, they are not actually mine. They are God’s eyes and ears and mouth and body. They are gifts from Him. He formed them before we knew anything about life in this world.
How well have we used these gifts of God? How have we used our eyes, ears, and mouth, our brain and our heart, our hands and our feet? Have they been animated by the Holy Spirit and used in love toward God and neighbor? Or have these parts and members of our body often been inactive or paralyzed by sin?
So we find ourselves lowered down from the place of our pride and set right here in Jesus’ presence. What will He do? In fact, He has already done. Remember how we said how hard it would be to look anyone in the eye if we could read all their thoughts? The Son of God came down among us, and He not only looked us in the eye, He said, “Give me what is yours, and I will give you what is Mine.”
What He took from you is your sin. He took the big sins and the little sins, the open sins that everyone knows about and the secret sins that no one knows about. He took the sins of your eyes and ears and mouth and hands and feet. He even took the sins of your mind and heart, the sins that only He knew about. He put all those sins on Himself and went to the cross to make the payment for them. What we can’t bear the thought of—everyone seeing our sins—He became that for you on the cross. He wore your sins and let everyone mock Him, laugh at Him, reject Him. He did that for you.
And in exchange for your sins, He gives you His righteousness. He credits you with the perfect use of His eyes, ears, and mouth, the perfect use of His hands and feet, the perfect use of His mind and heart. All His holy works, all His holy words, all His holy thoughts—all of them yours. Who can measure this gift!
This is why we apply the magnifying glass of the Law to our body and mind and heart. We need to see how deep our sin goes, if that is even possible. We need to see what Jesus had to carry. We need to see why He had to die. We need to see our sin and know it—every one of us—so that we clearly see and know the great love of the Father in sending His only Son to save us.
The many ways we have sinned against God seem unforgivable. And yet here is Jesus looking down on a poor sinner and saying, “Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.” He says the same thing to you. You hear it in the absolution at the beginning of the service. You hear it in the Lord’s Supper, His body and blood “given and shed for you for the remission of sins.” And you hear it in the sermon when your pastor proclaims the Gospel, the good news, to you.
The crowds were right that God had given men the authority to forgive sins. They saw the Man Jesus forgive the sins of the paralytic and prove it by healing his body. Then after Jesus’ death and resurrection which won the victory over sin and death, He gave the authority to forgive sins to His Church. He said to His disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Joh. 20:22-23, NKJV).
This is what you have called me to declare on your behalf. You have told me to preach the Law, so that you are reminded how you have fallen short of the glory of God. You don’t want to become secure in your sin and lose sight of your Savior. Once the Law has done its work, you eagerly listen for the Gospel which cleanses your heart and frees your conscience. No words could ever sound sweeter in your ears than these.
So now, as Jesus has commanded and as you have called me to proclaim—by the authority of God and of my holy office, I declare to you the gracious forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Third Sunday after Michaelmas/Trinity 21 – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 4:46-54
In Christ Jesus, our Refuge, our Strength, our very present Help in trouble, our Lord and our Savior, dear fellow redeemed:
Between the church and the government, which one needs the other more? The church relies on the government for keeping order in our society, carrying out justice, and maintaining the infrastructure that allows us to travel freely. The church shows its respect for government officials by speaking well of them and praying for them. The government relies on the church to promote responsible citizenship, show kindness and charity to people in need, and provide hope to the hurting. The government shows its respect for the church by upholding the free exercise of religion and waiving certain taxes that would otherwise apply.
We don’t want a government that runs the church or a church that runs the government. One is focused on this life and operates especially by the Law. The other is focused on the life to come and operates especially by the Gospel. We need them both. The problems happen when the government tries to act like the savior, and when the church thinks its highest calling is social work or social activism.
Both the church on earth and the government are flawed, because both are made up of sinners. What church officials and government officials often forget is that they answer to a higher power. The first chapter of Ephesians reminds us that God the Father raised His Son Jesus Christ “from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body” (1:20-23).
Today’s Gospel reading features a government official who came to Jesus for help. But he didn’t really understand who Jesus was. He didn’t come to Him for the right reasons. The official’s son was sick, even to the point of death. No doubt every remedy, every treatment, had been tried. They were running out of options, running out of time. It breaks our hearts to see any child suffering with a severe illness or disease, and the anguish would be so much greater if it were our own child.
At this time, Jesus was returning to Galilee after traveling through Samaria from Jerusalem. He came to the town of Cana where He had performed His first major sign—turning water into wine at a wedding. The Galileans were excited to see Him, because some of them had been in Jerusalem with Jesus and had seen Him perform miracles (Joh. 4:45).
The official also heard about Jesus’ arrival, and he hurried from Capernaum to Cana, a distance of about twenty miles. He went looking for Jesus because he heard that Jesus could do miracles. Maybe He could heal his son! But it wasn’t that Jesus was his only hope; it was more like a last resort. He went to Him only when all other options had failed.
Jesus, who knows all things and sees what is in the heart, replied to the official’s plea for help with words that sound a little harsh, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” These are words of Law, and the Law is always harsh. Jesus was telling the government official that he was focusing on the wrong thing. He was focused on signs and wonders and not on the Savior who performs them.
But Jesus wasn’t speaking just to the official. He was speaking to everyone. He used the plural in His response: “Unless you [people, you all] see signs and wonders you will not believe.” It is the same message He told Thomas after He rose from the dead, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Joh. 20:29). While everyone on earth is looking for signs, Jesus is looking for faith.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Faith is not, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Faith is, “I see when I believe.” But what exactly does faith “see”? What should it look for? Some preachers say that if your faith is pure enough, if you believe hard enough, you can obtain whatever blessings from God that you want. You can believe yourself into better health, better relationships, better jobs. And you know what that is? That is focusing on the signs and wonders.
As much as you might want your situation to improve, as much as you might believe that things will get better, things might not get better. Your health or the health of someone you love might continue to decline. Those who have wronged you might not apologize, and those you have wronged might not forgive you. If your faith is tied up too much in the result that you want God to bring about, you might be on the way to losing your faith.
We cannot expect God to do for us what He has not promised to do. Faith does not rely on what might be. Faith relies on what is. The only foundation for faith is the unchanging Word of God. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). We gain strength in our suffering and confidence for the future by “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).
Why Jesus? Because Jesus is not just another prophet like the prophets of old. He is not just a miracle worker. His concern is not just for helping the sick, the poor, and the needy in this life. Jesus is God, God incarnate. God became man for a higher purpose than signs and wonders. He came to save souls. He came to save your soul. Whether you are healthy or unhealthy, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are powerful or weak in the world, you are a sinner. And sinners deserve to go to hell.
You don’t deserve happy days or great successes. You don’t have the right to expect any good thing from God. But God loved you. He “so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (Joh. 3:16). Jesus came willingly to be everything before God that you have failed to be and could not be. He came to be a perfect keeper of God’s Law for you, perfectly obeying God’s will and loving His neighbors. He came to be a perfect sacrifice for your sins, perfectly atoning for every wrong you have done.
Jesus made atonement with His blood for the times you grew impatient in trials or angry in suffering, when you looked everywhere else for help instead of to Him, when you pinned your hopes to the fleeting and failing things of this world instead of to God’s unchanging Word. “I forgive all these sins,” says Jesus. “The price has been paid in full. It is finished.”
If Jesus could solve a problem as awful as your sin and as terrible as your death, then He can handle the smaller problems you have in your day-to-day life. Jesus is not your last resort. He is not even just your starting point. Jesus is your everything. He is your medicine when you are sick. He is your comfort when you suffer. He is your peace in distress. He is your certain hope whenever death comes.
The lesson Jesus taught the government official—and us too—is not to put our trust in a sign, but to put our trust in His Word. Jesus said to the official, “Go; your son will live.” How could the official know that this would happen? How could he be sure that his son would live if Jesus was not there to lay His hands on him? He knew it because the Holy Spirit worked faith in his heart through the Word of Jesus. “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” And his son was healed the very moment that Jesus spoke.
You don’t need Jesus to come to you visibly to know that He is real. You don’t need Him to lay His hands on you to receive His blessing. You have His Word, His powerful Word, the same Word that healed the sick, expelled demons, and raised the dead back to life. His Word is at work in you by the power of the Holy Spirit to increase and strengthen your faith and to bring you all the eternal blessings of God.
No matter what you are going through—mental turmoil, physical pain, emotional distress—Jesus is present in His Word and Sacraments. He is not far away somewhere in the sky. He is not twenty miles away. He is right here with all His power and glory for you. He is here with forgiveness. He is here with healing. He is here with life. He is here to continue the good work in you that He will bring to completion when He returns visibly on the last day (Phi. 1:6).
Jesus reigns over all things—church, government, the world, the universe—and yet you are not too small to receive His attention. He looks upon you with eyes of mercy. He sees you, which is far more comforting than you being able to see Him. Why Jesus? You can trust Him because He sacrificed Himself to redeem you from sin and death. When Jesus? You can trust Him today and every day, knowing that no problem, no trial, and no wicked scheme of the devil is bigger or more powerful than Him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from “The Healing of the Officer’s Son” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Second Sunday after Michaelmas/Trinity 20 – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 22:1-14
In Christ Jesus, who graciously calls you to the feast of His salvation and clothes you in the garments of His righteousness, dear fellow redeemed:
Black SUVs pull up to your house, and professional-looking folks step out, walk up to your door, and ring the bell. So you brush the crumbs off your shirt, check your hair, and go to open the door. It turns out that these people have been sent by the governor. They hand you an invitation and tell you that you are personally invited to be the honored guest at a banquet one week from now.
Once the shock wears off, you realize you have some preparations to make. You can’t show up in blue jeans, so you’ll have to go shopping for formal attire. And it’s about time for a haircut. When the day comes, you leave your house and head for the car. You feel a little awkward being dressed up so much, and you kind of hope the neighbors don’t see you. But when you get to the banquet, you are glad you made the preparations you did. You look like you belong. It’s going to be a great evening.
But let’s back up. Maybe you don’t think much of the governor. When the personal invitation arrives, and you are told you will be the honored guest, you let it be known that you are not interested in going. You would rather do just about anything else, and they can tell their boss you said so. Then you shut the door with a little extra force and go back to your couch and your crumbs.
That’s how the invited guests reacted to the king’s invitation when the wedding feast for his son was ready. Some of them did even worse. Not only did they reject the invitation, but they also killed the servants of the king! When Jesus told this part of His parable, He was referring to His people, the Israelites. They were the people of God’s promise. They were the ones from whom the Savior would come.
But so often, they lost sight of this promise. They chased after the gods of the world. Out of love for His people, God sent prophets to call them back to repentance and faith (ex. 2Ch. 24:19). They didn’t have to lose their place at the wedding feast. But the people did not want to listen. They “seized [the Lord’s] servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” This happened to more than a few prophets. So eventually God sent the Babylonians to “[destroy] those murderers and [burn] their city.”
Jesus’ words are a sobering message for all of us. There are severe consequences for ignoring the Lord’s invitation and for mistreating His servants. St. Paul writes, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). The people of the world think their work and their possessions are far more important than the Word of God. They don’t need the Church! They don’t need someone pushing religion on them. If there is a god, they figure they will come out better with Him than all the hypocritical Christians. But God will judge them for ignoring His Word when it was right there for them. He wanted to save them, but they rejected Him.
We see how generous God is with His invitations by the king sending his servants to gather up as many as they could find out on the road, whether bad or good. The people whom God invites to His feast of salvation are not just the outwardly good, not just the nice ones and the generous ones. He invites sinners of all kinds to come to His table. If we could interview the saints in heaven about their past—which more than likely they will not remember in that place of blessedness and perfection—we might be shocked that they are even there.
How could God let people like them in? Because none of us gets to heaven by our own personal goodness. We get to heaven by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith. Jesus told the religious leaders, “the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you” (Mat. 21:31). Shocking! Why is that the case? Because “the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed [God],” while the religious leaders did not (v. 32). The religious leaders thought their personal goodness was good enough.
Jesus shows us how empty our own righteousness is by the guest in the wedding hall who came without a wedding garment on. This wasn’t a matter of poverty. The king would have gladly provided a change of clothes to this guest. What happened was that the guest refused it. He wanted to attend the wedding feast on his own terms. He thought he was better than the king. He thought he deserved to be there. And what happened to him? He was bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness.
This is a picture for us of why our practice of Closed Communion is so important. We insist that all who commune here are properly prepared for what they receive. Each one of you knows how to prepare. You come with humble and repentant hearts, knowing that you have sinned and wanting to do better. You trust that Jesus’ promise of forgiveness is true, and that He actually forgives your sins through the Supper of His body and blood. You come to this feast wearing the righteousness He provides you by faith.
You are also aware that you could receive Communion to your harm. If you are not truly sorry for your sins, if you do not want to stop sinning, if you do not believe that Jesus gives you what He says He does in Communion, then Jesus comes to you as Judge rather than as Savior. Our King does not invite us to Holy Communion on our own terms. It is not our Supper; it is His Supper—the Lord’s Supper. If we do not talk with non-members about what they believe, and if we don’t strive for real unity on the basis of God’s Word, we will be guilty of confirming them in their errors and sins. We will make them think they can come before God whether they are dressed in the proper attire or not.
But isn’t it enough that a person says he or she is a Christian or a Lutheran? Can’t we leave it up to them to decide if they should come forward? Let’s think of it this way: Suppose your favorite football team is having a special event for its fans. Everyone comes wearing the same colors. They share the same confidence in their team, the same loyalty. They know everything about the team’s history, the team’s failures and victories, the team’s traditions. It’s like a family.
But then a group of fans shows up wearing another team’s colors, maybe the colors of the rival team. They have very different traditions. They have different chants and cheers; they sing different songs. And they expect to be let right in to this special event. Of course they meet some resistance at the door. “Why can’t we come in?” they ask. “Don’t we love the same sport? Aren’t we all football fans? Isn’t one team just as good as another?”
We do not believe that one church is just as good as another. The different churches around us do not teach the same thing. They do not look at the Bible in the same way, and that’s even true of other Lutherans. Out of love for God and His Word, we insist that all who commune at our altar be willing to learn what the Bible teaches and express their full agreement with it. Then we have true unity, and that is a great blessing! You know that the people to the left of you and to the right of you at the Communion rail share the same faith. They are fellow believers—members with you in the family of God.
We are called together to partake of the King’s feast. The King, our heavenly Father, sent the invitation to us who were far away from Him, lost in the darkness of our own sin and unbelief. He called us to attend the wedding feast, to enter the kingdom of His Son, to receive the gifts of His righteousness and salvation.
Many are invited to the feast of God’s Son, “many are called, but few are chosen.” This should be very humbling for us. We do not deserve to receive the rich blessings of God. By nature, we were opposed to His rule, but He changed our minds and hearts by His grace. We were dressed in the filthy rags of our sin, and He made us fit to stand before Him by washing away our sin and clothing us in the perfection of Jesus.
Not one of us is worthy to receive the body and blood of our Savior in Holy Communion here on earth or to join Him at His eternal feast in heaven. But He warmly invites us and welcomes us. He knows our hearts, our struggles, our sins, and He calls us to be cleansed again by His blood, covered again in His righteousness.
“Come to the wedding feast,” He says. “The table is set for you and for all who hear the invitation with repentance and faith. Come and delight yourself with rich food! Come and be filled! Be strengthened and satisfied!” And we humbly reply:
Jesus, Bread of Life, I pray Thee,
Let me gladly here obey Thee.
By Thy love I am invited;
Be Thy love with love requited.
From this Supper let me measure,
Lord, how vast and deep love’s treasure.
Through the gifts Thou here dost give me
As Thy guest in heav’n receive me.
(Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #328, v. 9)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from “Parable of the Great Banquet” by the Brunswick Monogrammist, 16th century)
The First Sunday after Michaelmas (Trinity 19) – Vicar Cody Anderson sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:1-8
In Christ Jesus, who knows your heart and is the cure for your soul, forgiving your sins, dear fellow redeemed:
Jesus is early on in his ministry. After giving the sermon on the Mount, he has been performing many miracles. He healed 10 lepers, he healed a Centurion’s servant and the Centurion showed great faith. He continues to heal many and with his disciples he calmed a storm out at sea. There is so much for Jesus to do in his ministry, he continues to work. After healing two men who were possessed by many demons, Jesus is now on his way home.
Jesus upon going home is met with a crowd. As Jesus fame begins to spread, the crowds don’t just disperse once Jesus helps them, they travel. What a time for them to be alive. The world has not witnessed anything like this since the prophets of the Old Testament were prophesying for the Lord. The last prophet was roughly 400 years before the birth of Christ. Now this man is doing those same signs and wonders but in abundance. This is exciting so the people want to see. Jesus entered a house, and the people crowded inside around him. Some men came along carrying their paralyzed friend on a bed, but they could not get through to Jesus. So they looked for another way. For them this is so important. They cut a hole in the roof for him to be lowered down to Jesus.
What we expect is for Jesus to say to the paralyzed man, “Get up and walk!” But that is not what He says, not at first. He said, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees and scribes did not like this. “Blasphemy!” they thought. “Only God can forgive sins, not this man Jesus.” The Pharisees make a great charge against Jesus. They have had a problem with him ever since he came on to the scene. They were the religious leaders. They were in charge of the people’s spiritual needs. Now Jesus is stepping into the mix and stealing their thunder. They believe that Jesus is not the Son of God and that he doesn’t have a direct line of communication with God. The Pharisees think they know the Scriptures better than the people. Yet, they fail to see what is being said by the prophets. The Pharisees have failed their job in being the religious leaders of the people.
The Pharisees have failed their jobs as the religious leaders because they are looking at the works that they do. They think that they are living lives perfectly obeying the laws that they have put in place. They have created these laws that are not found in Scripture. They then take a step back and look down on the people. They are much higher than they. Their religious lives are so much better. So now they wonder how can Jesus say what he said. How can he say that the man’s sins are forgiven?
Like the Pharisees, we can get worked up when we hear Jesus say these words. As we try to hide our own sins, we can start to do the same thing, looking down on others with that evil in our hearts. We think forgiveness shouldn’t come so easily. We think people should have to prove that they are worthy of God’s love by living good lives like we do. If it were up to us, there are certain sins that we would not forgive. If people are let off too easily, won’t it just encourage them to sin even more?
The Pharisees call out Jesus as a blasphemer. Only God can forgive sins. They are right about this. However now we see where they struggle with Jesus. They are watching a man do miracles, helping the people, things that they weren’t doing and Jesus gives them the question of which is easier, to forgive the man his sins, or to tell him to get up and walk? Jesus proves he is God. He tells them that he knows what is in their hearts. Then he shows them his power, that he is God guaranteeing that the man’s sins are forgiven he tells the man to rise and walk!
Jesus sees the root of the problem. He sees the sin in people’s hearts. The sins that they hold on to. Jesus sees the faith that the men had when they lowered their friend down to him. Jesus then addresses the man’s problem. A problem that only he could see. The man had guilt for his sins. Even though the man was coming to be healed physically, Jesus gave the man assurance that the sins that he had committed, that weighed him down, they were forgiven.
The man who is paralyzed has the same problem we all share. You and I are sinners. There will be many times where we will not want to acknowledge it. We will want to call others out for our troubles, we will want to play the blame game. We will try to hide our sins. We will bury them deep within us. Like that man we can be brought in front of Jesus and wonder can he really forgive my sins. Are you and I worthy to even have them forgiven? We have our faith that Jesus will do it, yet more often than not we doubt him. We would rather stay in our sins instead of confess them and then we end up at the point where they fester so much that we wonder if Jesus will even love us for what we have done.
It sounds so simple to hear the words “Your sins are forgiven.” But how can we be sure?
The Son of Man shows that he has the power to forgive sinners. He sees the problem at play. It isn’t the earthly problem of paralysis. It is the spiritual problem. Jesus addresses this problem by removing the sins. Jesus puts our sins away for good. There is no reason to wonder on if they can be forgiven. Jesus words are final. Your slate, like the paralytic, has been washed clean by Jesus’ blood shed for you on the cross. Jesus paid for all of our sins. The ones that you committed a long time ago, the ones committed last week, the ones that will be committed today, and the ones that will be committed in the future. All of these sins have been washed away by Jesus who paid for them with his perfect life and innocent death.
The paralytic man had a deeper problem than his paralysis. Jesus addressed it. Jesus answers the question of what is easier. He shows his power, he shows that he is God when he tells the man to rise and walk. The miracle happens showing that he is the Son of Man, that he is God. Because of what Jesus has done you do not need to ever question if your sins are forgiven. Jesus has paid for them with his death on the cross.
The Means of Grace bring you this forgiveness. This forgiveness is not something you have to look ahead for or try to earn. This forgiveness comes to you, right now. Every divine service in the absolution, you hear the words of Jesus, “I forgive you all your sins.” Confession and Absolution ties into your Baptism. Holy Communion gives forgiveness of sins right at the altar. A beautiful treasure receiving Christ’s body and blood, having your sins taken away. The sermon shows you your sin and shows how those sins are forgiven, the Law and the Gospel. The Benediction is spoken to give you peace, assuring that your sins have been taken away. There is no waiting, forgiveness is yours here and now. This is the assurance that you have because of what Jesus has done for you with his death on the cross. This is what you can be sure of, Jesus has died and risen, for you.
The physical and spiritual ailments of this life will only stay in this life. The troubles that plague us might look like they will never leave, and maybe some of them will stick with us until the day we die. Jesus has taken care of the spiritual problems for us so that God sees us through rose-colored lenses. We could be condemned because of the sin that we do, the sin that we do each day. God’s vision does not see what we have done because of what Christ has done for us. Our sins have been washed away in the blood of the lamb which is the greatest gift that you or I could receive. Just as the man was healed of his illness, so too when we die, we will be healed when our bodies are glorified. All of the pain, trials, and temptations will not come with us. We will have a home with Jesus forever.
The Son of Man does forgive sins. Jesus proves the sins of the paralytic are forgiven by healing him. This is our comfort as well. You know you are forgiven here and now. It is not something earned. It has been given to you. Your sins are not too big to be taken away. All of your sins have been washed away. The burden is lifted. You do not need to think that you have done something so evil that Jesus would turn his back. He has taken the punishment that you deserved. As he said to the paralyzed man, so he also says to you, “take heart, your sins are forgiven!” Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Third Sunday after Michaelmas (Trinity 21) – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 4:46-54
In Christ Jesus, who did many signs and wonders for the purpose of revealing who He was, so that all who believed in Him would have eternal life, dear fellow redeemed:
Years ago, I remember reading about an out-of-the-way place in Central or South America. A man was cooking something on a greasy grill. Then something on the grill caught his eye. There it was, an undeniable shape of that area’s patron saint right there in the grease! As scores of people paraded through to get a glimpse of the greasy figure, they said among themselves, “It must be a sign!” But what was that “sign” supposed to mean exactly?
Many people are on the lookout for signs to help guide them forward in life. Some look to the stars and a daily horoscope for direction. Some see signs in the clouds. Some will observe a bird or a deer outside their window and take it as a sign that the spirit of a loved one is present. Some find signs in the random experiences and conversations they have in an otherwise typical day.
Probably all of us have wondered before if God was trying to send us a message through a sign—or at least we hoped that He would. Maybe we even asked Him for a sign and were disappointed when nothing out of the ordinary happened. God certainly can and has communicated through signs, but His primary means of communication is not through unique signs. It is through His never-changing Word.
This is the central point of today’s text. We hear that Jesus “came again to Cana in Galilee.” This is where He had performed “the first of his signs,” changing water into wine at a wedding (Joh. 2:11). These “signs,” as the apostle John calls them, were more than miracles. They were special acts that revealed who Jesus really was—the Son of God incarnate, the long-promised Messiah. After the first sign in Cana, John reports that he and the other disciples of Jesus “believed in him” (v. 11).
Then Jesus went to Jerusalem and did more signs. As a result of these signs, “many believed in his name” (v. 23). But we find it was not a soul-saving faith (vv. 24-25). It was the signs that captured their attention. Who Jesus was did not interest them, as much as what Jesus could do. When Jesus returned to Galilee, He was welcomed by all the important people there. They rolled out the red carpet for Him because they wanted to see more signs (4:43-45).
It is no wonder that Jesus responded the way He did when a royal official asked Him to heal his son. Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” This message was for all the people and not just for the official. It was a preaching of the law. It was meant to convict the sign-seekers for not seeing past the signs, for not recognizing the most important thing.
Jesus’ statement convicts us too. Who among us hasn’t suffered, experienced some difficulty, and we said to ourselves, “I thought God loved me, but apparently He doesn’t”? We were looking for a special sign of His love, for Him to provide instant relief and take away the pain. Or we were stuck in an intense struggle, full of inner turmoil, tempted to do what we knew we shouldn’t, but we were too weak to resist. Where was God’s strength and power when we needed it?
I suppose we want God to be something like a superhero. When we are at our most vulnerable, facing the greatest dangers and trials, we want God to swoop in and whisk us out of harm’s way. This is what the royal official wanted Jesus to do. He wanted Him to hurry over to Capernaum and heal his dying son. This man was looking for a sign. Jesus wanted to give him something more.
“Go,” said Jesus; “your son will live.” That was no sign like the people were hoping for. It was a Word, a simple statement. But there was power in it. The next thing we hear is that “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” It doesn’t stand to reason! Why should the man believe what Jesus said? Jesus hadn’t bothered to go and visit the child. He hadn’t even sent along some special object that would heal the child when it touched him.
Why should the man believe what Jesus said? Because Jesus’ Word is powerful. Not only did Jesus’ Word bring instant healing to the sick boy, it also brought instant faith to the man’s heart. The apostle Paul explains how this happens. In his letter to the Romans, he wrote that “[the gospel] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (1:16), and “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (10:17).
The Word of Christ is where help is found in trouble, where comfort is found in sorrow, where strength is found in weakness. When we are struggling and suffering, Jesus doesn’t tell us to look for signs in our lives that He loves us and cares for us. He tells us to look to His Word. His Word contains all the evidence of His love for us that we need.
His Word reveals the love of God the Father in sending His only Son to take on our flesh. His Word shows His own love in His perfectly pure life lived on our behalf and His suffering and death to pay for our sins. His Word changes us by the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit who brings and applies the good gifts of Jesus to us.
The Word of our Savior is all we need, but it doesn’t seem like all we need. We want more than His Word when someone is seriously ill. We want more than His Word when we are troubled and hurting and don’t know where to turn. We want more than His Word when someone we loved, someone we leaned on, is lowered in a casket into a vault. For our extraordinary problems and pains, we want more than the ordinary Word.
But God’s Word is hardly ordinary. His Word had the power to heal a dying boy who was nearly twenty miles away. His Word absolved a paralyzed man and then caused him to walk (Mat. 9:1-8). His Word brought a young man from Nain (Luk. 7:11-17), a little girl (Mat. 9:18-26), and Jesus’ friend Lazarus (Joh. 11:17-44) back from the dead. His Word will also raise you from the dead (1Th. 4:16).
The Word of Jesus is a powerful Word of life, and it is at work in you even now. As Jesus spoke life into the dying boy, so He speaks life into you. When you hear the Gospel message of His death and resurrection for you, that is Jesus saying to you, “I suffered in your place. I died for your sins and came alive again. Your sins are forgiven! Depart in peace. Because I live, you also will live (Joh. 14:19).”
His living Word does for you what nothing else in the world can do. His Word of absolution cleanses you from the sin and guilt that no amount of self-righteousness or self-punishment can fix. His Word heals the invisible wounds, the deep pains, that no psychiatric care or medicine can heal. His Word gives a hope and a confidence that no possession or power in the world can supply.
When Jesus joins His Word to water, it becomes a gracious water of life, a washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Ti. 3:5). When He joins His Word to bread and wine, it becomes a rich feast of forgiveness and salvation. You don’t need other signs than these of God’s love for you. In His Word and Sacraments, Jesus gives you more power to fight the devil than you can fathom, more treasures than the world can imagine, and more peace than any fleshly mind can comprehend.
His powerful, life-giving Word is the way that Jesus is at work in the world today. And yet we still think signs might be better. We want to see signs that He is turning government officials toward righteousness and justice. We want to see signs that He is influencing corporate leaders to promote what is good. We want to see signs that He is destroying the evil designs and wicked works of the devil.
If we are looking for signs of these things apart from the powerful activity of God’s Word, we are looking in the wrong place. It is through the Word that Jesus conquers and changes hearts. His Word is “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17), a more powerful weapon than anything we can concoct. This Word is at work right now in our hearts, in our congregations, in our country, and in the world.
Through His Word, Jesus speaks righteousness into you and forgiveness and hope and life, and He does the same thing for countless others who are helpless and hurting. He calls us away from the devil’s temptations and the world’s deceit. He comes not to bring earthly glory and peace, but to bring eternal glory and peace. Through His Word, Jesus always gives what you need, even if it doesn’t come in the way you expect.
It was through Jesus’ Word that the royal official believed. It was through Jesus’ Word that the little boy was healed. You don’t need to look for signs of God’s power and love in the stars, in the clouds, or in things like grease stains. Your living Savior Jesus, who died on the cross for your sins and who rose from the dead on the third day in victory over your death, is found exactly where He promises He will be. He is found in His powerful Word of grace and in the Sacraments He instituted for your life and salvation.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from “The Healing of the Officer’s Son” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Second Sunday after Michaelmas (Trinity 20) – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. Matthew 22:1-14
In Christ Jesus, who by His life and death prepared for you the Feast of Salvation and by the power of His Word invites you to partake of it freely, both now and forever, dear fellow redeemed:
In our text today we see Jesus teaching those around Him during Holy Week. Just a few days later He would go to the cross and lay down His life for the entire world. He is teaching believers and unbelievers alike the chief doctrine of salvation, which points directly to Himself. He is showing the people how they can be saved. He describes for them a king who is preparing a wedding feast for His Son, a very exciting celebration and many people would be invited.
The king in this parable is a picture of God the Father and his son is a picture of Jesus the eternal Son of God. This is the Son’s wedding feast and He is eagerly awaiting the invited guests, His bride the church. The king has prepared a great meal for this celebration and His Son sits in the place of honor because He has accomplished everything. All things are ready because the Son offered what was necessary.
The Son of God was given as a sacrifice for all sin and the Father in heaven accepted the sacrifice and granted forgiveness to the whole world. It is an open invitation; salvation is accomplished and offered to all people. The call to the Feast of Salvation is for everyone, but not everyone will be a guest.
Throughout history many have ignored the invitation to this feast, the invitation of the gospel. God sent prophets throughout the Old Testament and many people were too preoccupied with their businesses and their daily tasks turning away not wanting to listen.
So God sent His one and only Son and still many persecuted, ignored and eventually nailed Him to a cross. Then God sent apostles and other messengers throughout the New Testament and again many people ignored, persecuted and even killed them. The same things happen to faithful preachers and missionaries throughout the world today.
Despite all this sin and blatant disregard for the truth, God never forgot His promises to us. He could have said, “enough is enough these people are unworthy of my Word,” but on account of His undeserved love God continues to send His Word to us. No matter what kind of person you have been in your life forgiveness is yours by faith through the working of the Holy Spirit.
God’s Word invites you, it calls out to you exposing your sin and convinces you of the truth that you cannot do anything apart from Jesus and must trust in Him and in Him alone for salvation. He calls all people into the feast, offered to us by the Father in heaven prepared by the Work of His Son Jesus. He sends out His servants to go to the busy streets and roads, where there would be lots of traffic to find as many people as they can. He wants them to fill this feast with as many guests as possible both good and bad.
Now “bad and good” does not mean sinners and non-sinners, it means that some of these people may have appeared good on the outside and some appeared bad on the outside. This is how people perceive others and judge them by what they see on the outside, but no matter how we see them all people are sinners. We know then that this feast of salvation is prepared for, and filled with, sinners.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans it tells us that, “while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). This is how he demonstrates His love for us, by coming to save sinners like you and me. He did not come for the self-righteous people who think they are just fine on their own. Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
These sinners are like people struck with hunger so badly they can no longer stand and are wasting away, like someone nearing death due to starvation. Where can they receive the food and nourishment to give them strength to stand firm again, what food can satisfy the hunger of a sinner? God’s Word is life-giving food to those hear it, and His Sacraments bring this food directly to them. “For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things” (Psalm 107:9). God’s Word truly satisfies those who are hungry.
This Feast of Salvation was prepared for you by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and it is served to you right here and right now. Jesus is served to you directly, on a plate and in a cup. His righteousness and forgiveness are poured out upon you. His body and blood are given here for you and me; we receive the blessings of salvation now upon our lips and in our stomachs. We consume his very body and blood and the righteousness received from it, fuels our soul.
On account of this reality it is necessary to take the presence of Christ’s body and blood seriously. We do this each time we hear the exhortation in the Service of Holy Communion. Those who do not examine themselves properly, who do not believe they truly feast on the body and blood of Jesus eat to their judgment. Christ’s body and blood is no longer a benefit to them but instead causes spiritual harm. This is the reason our churches practice closed communion.
St. Paul taught the Corinthian church and all hearers of his letter that the Lord’s Supper must be approached seriously and soberly. He wrote: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:29–30). Out of concern for our neighbors and ourselves we want to make sure that people correctly believe what the Lord’s Supper is.
It should also concern us how we do not always approach the gifts of God’s Word and Sacraments in the right way. Sometimes we neglect coming to hear His Word and fail to truly recognize the importance of what He is giving us, taking them for granted. We think we are doing just fine on our own, that the clothes of our own self-righteousness look pretty good. We think our seat at the Feast of Salvation will be there for us whether God’s Word is a priority right now or not.
We become so preoccupied with the things of this life that coming to receive the Lord’s Word and Sacraments becomes less important. When we do come it’s tempting and easy to appear at the feast but have no regard for the garment that God requires, the very thing the host of the feast has provided for us.
It can be tempting for us to come in and go through the motions of a church service. It’s easy to think that just by walking in the door, and half-heartedly participating we have done what God expects of us and that He is now pleased with us. It’s because of our own sinful nature that we fall into the habit of doing the bare minimum; naively thinking God expects just the bare minimum from us.
Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah saying, “these people honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him” (Matt. 15:8–9). These people do lip service to God but lack in their heart true repentance and faith. Repentance is needed before the king comes and finds them speechless, “binding them hand and foot and casting them out into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:13).
You cannot stand before the Father in your ragged torn up clothes of self-righteousness and sin. But you can stand before Him in the wedding garment that Jesus provides, the garment of His righteousness.
Christ purchased and won salvation for each and every one of you by living sinless under the law and laying down His perfect life in death. Jesus has prepared the Feast of Salvation for you and by His powerful Word and Sacraments has called you into it and clothed you with His righteousness forever.
You have been offered this beautiful wedding garment and are now dressed in it by faith receiving it by the power of the Holy Spirit. This ornate attire could not have been provided by you but has been graciously provided by your Savior.
The prophet Isaiah knew this well, he wrote, “My soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Is. 61:10).
This righteousness is not only on the outside; this garment of salvation covers all your sins on the inside as well. It covers all the sins of your heart and mind, your secret sins, sins of laziness and discontentment, the sin of putting other things before God and taking His grace for granted.
The Son of God’s righteous blood has blotted out each one of them. The perfect life and the sacrificial death of your Lord won righteousness and salvation for you; they are yours by faith, covering you completely and erasing your sin forever.
God the Father sees you entirely righteous and pure in His sight. Everything is prepared, the celebration has begun and you are an honored guest of the Son. You are joined with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and you will recline at the Feast of Salvation forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from “Parable of the Great Banquet” by the Brunswick Monogrammist, 16th century)
The First Sunday after Michaelmas (Trinity 19) – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 9:1-8
In Christ Jesus, who went to the cross bearing our sin and guilt, and who now declares us innocent of all wrongdoing through His Word of absolution, dear fellow redeemed:
Sometimes our mistakes leave marks that are visible to others. A few years ago, an NFL player was playing with fireworks. One of them went off in his hand and caused extensive damage to his fingers. His injury is a constant reminder to himself and others of the mistake he made. But most of our mistakes, most of our sins, do not leave visible marks. Most of the time, we are able to cover up our sins, and no one ever knows about them but ourselves.
And as long as no one ever finds out, it’s like the sin never actually happened, right? This is what we tell ourselves. It starts when we see something we want. We make sure no one else is around. We check over our shoulders and check again. Then we indulge ourselves. The pattern is the same whether it is a child sneaking cookies, someone looking at explicit content on his smartphone, or an employee stealing things at work. “As long as I don’t get caught, then everything is okay.”
But of course everything is not okay. We might have been able to hide our sin from others, but we can’t hide it from ourselves. We see it. It plays over and over again in our mind. We wish we hadn’t done it, but we can’t take it back. We want to come clean, but we can’t bear the thought of other people knowing our deep flaws. How do we deal with these invisible scars? How do we deal with the guilt of our own sins? Today’s Gospel reading shows us the way forward.
We hear about a paralyzed man. We’re not told how he got that way. It could have been an accident that was totally out of his control. Or maybe it was because of reckless behavior. Whatever the cause, this young man had some dedicated friends. Four friends carried him on a bed to the house where Jesus was preaching, but they could not make their way inside. The crowd was too large. So they climbed up on the roof and removed enough of the clay roof tiles, so they could lower the paralyzed man before Jesus.
Imagine the scene: Jesus is preaching, and everyone’s attention is fixed on Him. Then there are footsteps above on the roof. Then pieces of dust and dirt and clay start showering down on people’s heads. Everyone looks up, probably Jesus too. Then blue sky, the room gets brighter, and heads peer down from a hole in the ceiling. Then a large object fills the space and is lowered down through the opening. What a scene!
Now put yourself in the place of the paralyzed man. You’re up pretty high. There’s nothing you can do but trust your friends to hang on and not drop you. You inch lower and lower, looking to see past the edge of your bed at the people in the room. And then Jesus comes in view. What is the look on His face? Is it irritation? Surprise? Anger? No, the look on His face is warm concern; it’s compassion.
What would you say to Jesus if you had His attention like this, looking Him right in the eye? What would you say if it were just the two of you with no one else around? We have rehearsed this before. When the troubles in our lives keep getting worse and nothing is going the way it should, we want to ask Him why. Doesn’t He see? Doesn’t He care? Why doesn’t He help? We wonder why He doesn’t take away our pain, make everything better. We think of all the things we would say to Him face-to-face if only we had the chance.
Perhaps it was the same for the paralyzed man. Maybe he wondered why he should have to suffer like this. Why him and not everyone else around him? But when the opportunity finally arrived, he said nothing. Nothing needed to be said. Jesus knew. He knew the hardships of this young man. He knew the deep concern of those who brought him. He knew what brought them to Him. “[W]hen Jesus saw their faith—the faith of the friends and of the man set before Him—“He said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven.’”
Is that what the man needed the most? It seems like what he needed most was physical healing. He needed to be able to walk again, so he would no longer be such a burden on his friends. But that was not his greatest need. We don’t know the young man’s history. We don’t know what troubles he had faced, what anguish he had felt, what guilt weighed down on him. If we knew about his past, maybe we would think he deserved his paralysis. Maybe we would think he should have neither spiritual nor physical relief.
But the Lord is ever merciful and gracious. He constantly gives the opposite of what is deserved. The times that we get angry with Jesus or question Him are the times that we think He is failing us. He is not giving us what we believe we deserve. That is dangerous territory. We are not entitled to anything from God. We don’t deserve anything good from Him. We deserve to be punished for our sins. We deserve eternal damnation.
But that is not what Jesus gives us. He lets us bring all our grievances to Him, and then He meets us not with anger or with annoyance. He meets us with absolution. He comes to us with grace. “Take heart, My child,” He says; “your sins are forgiven.” What sins of the paralyzed man did He forgive? The sins that only He could see, sins that we know nothing about. And what sins of yours does He forgive? Only the ones He can see.
Which sins are these? We ask that question in our Catechism. The answer is the sins that we commit in every area of our lives—the sins we commit as fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, employers and employees; the sins of our disobedience, dishonesty, laziness; the sins of unkind speech and hurtful action; sins of neglect, wastefulness, and so on.
Many of these sins only you know about. Only you know the depth of your sinfulness, the darkness that clouds your love for God and neighbor. Only you know the extent of your selfishness, your pride, and your judgmental attitude toward others. But today’s reading shows that Another knows.
When Jesus forgave the paralyzed man his sins, the scribes and Pharisees thought to themselves, “This man is blaspheming! Only God can forgive sins, and this man is not God!” They did not say this out loud. No one could have known what was in their hearts, no one except Jesus. “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’”
Just as He could see faith in the paralyzed man and his friends, so He could see sin and unbelief in the scribes and Pharisees. Nothing is hidden from Him. “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” (Jer. 23:24). The Lord sees. He sees all. That is terrifying. It means He knows all the sins that we have carefully tried to hide from others.
But this is also comforting. Because the Lord knows all my wrongs, I don’t have to try to hide them. I don’t have to carry my burden of guilt. I can own up to them, admit them. I can hand them over to Him. That’s exactly what we do when we confess our sins. We pull them out in the open. We bring them into the light. And we leave them there for Jesus to deal with.
And Jesus says, “I’ll gladly take them. I will take them away.” But He doesn’t take them somewhere and bury them where they might be found again and brought against us. He took your sins to Himself, and He erased them and all the evidence of them. The trail of evidence leading to your sinfulness goes to the cross, and it stops there. The evidence never points to you, because Jesus blotted out all evidence of your sinning with His holy blood.
On the cross, Jesus suffered only for the sins of yours that He knew about, only for the ones He could see. And He saw them all. He suffered and died for the sins you have never told another soul about. He suffered and died for the sins you have convinced yourself are unforgiveable. He forgives them. He paid for those sins.
When He looks at you, He does not see your sins anymore. He sees His dear child. He does not ask for anything. He does not seek payment or proof that you know how badly you messed up. He looks at you with mercy and compassion and says, “Your sins are forgiven! Rise up and go your way.”
This is the message that He has sent me, your pastor, to proclaim. The crowds were right to “[glorify] God, who had given such authority to men,” because He has. He has given His church the authority to forgive sins, and that forgiveness is announced publicly by your pastor. I have been around you long enough to see some of your sins, just as you have seen some of mine. But when I or the vicar speak the absolution, we speak the forgiveness of all sin, even the sins nobody else knows about.
Jesus knows your sins even better than you do, because He suffered in anguish paying for each and every one on the cross. The absolution that you hear today is a constant pointing to His sacrifice. And if His absolution does not settle the question in your mind about whether or not He forgives your sin, He also invites you to His table. There He places His own holy body and blood in your mouth, and He tells you what that faithful eating and drinking is for—“for the remission of your sins.”
You see your sins, but Jesus does not see them anymore. He forgives them.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Second Sunday after Michaelmas – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Ephesians 5:15-21
In Christ Jesus, whom we will trust and will not be afraid, for the LORD is our strength and our song, and He has become our salvation (Isa. 12:2), dear fellow redeemed:
It’s hard to be very productive when you don’t feel good. If you have a pounding headache, even simple tasks can take a long time to accomplish. If your back is out, walking across the room or up the stairs can seem nearly impossible. Even something as small as a hangnail or a blister can steal away the satisfaction and joy you would normally have in your work. What happens to just one small part of the body can have a big effect on the whole.
The apostle Paul speaks this way about the Christian Church. He says that all believers form one body. They are brought together and held together by Jesus, who is “the head of the body” (Col. 1:17-18). When each believer is in good spiritual health, the body of Christ remains healthy and strong. But when a believer forgets that he is part of something bigger than himself, and he makes decisions that suit him alone, the whole body suffers.
Today’s text teaches us more about this. Paul explains how the body of Christ needs to walk together, think together, eat and drink and sing together—in other words how the body uses its legs, its mind, and its mouth.
Paul mentions walking together six times in his short Epistle to the Ephesians. He says that we must collectively watch our step, look carefully how we walk. There are obstacles, traps, and pitfalls all over the place where the devil wants believers to stumble and fall. We do not run recklessly along in this world assuming the road ahead will be smooth and easy. We choose our steps wisely and listen closely to the voice of our Good Shepherd as He leads us through this dark valley (Ps. 23:4).
But even though we know there is danger ahead, the Church does not sit still. We don’t hide under the bed. God has put us in this particular time and place for a reason. We might wish we lived in a different era, but God knows better. He has a purpose for us, and as long as He gives us breath, that purpose stands.
God has created and redeemed us, so that we might walk in the good works He has prepared for us (Eph. 2:10). He calls us to walk in humility, gentleness, patience, and love toward one another, eager to maintain our unity on the basis of His Word (4:1-3). He warns us not to walk like the unbelievers, “darkened in their understanding,” stubbornly set on sin (4:17-19). We “walk in love, as Christ loved us” (5:2). We walk “as children of light” because Jesus is the light (5:8).
If we decide to walk each in our own direction, doing whatever we feel like doing, the mission of Christ’s Church is harmed. But what if we are not sure what direction we should go? It often happens in life that we stand at a crossroads and face two choices or a number of choices that all seem good. This may happen if you have multiple job offers, or if you have talents and interests that could take you in any number of different directions.
Then it’s time to ask some questions:
- Am I focusing more on myself or others?
- Which opportunity would be most beneficial to my neighbor?
- Which one would most glorify God?
- Which one would best enable me to stay focused on my spiritual needs?
Many make their decisions about the future based on worldly considerations—what will be the best for them, what will earn the highest wage, what makes them the happiest. But we are called to “Set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2).
Today’s text says, “do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” We need to think about what God wants for us before we set off. Knowing comes before going. So what is His will for us? God’s will is that we believe the Gospel message. Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Joh. 6:40). God wants us to know and believe His promise of salvation, so we will join Him eternally in heaven.
He also wants us to avoid anything in this life that could cause us to lose our faith in him. He wants us to understand the evil forces that are working against us. He wants us to be diligent in prayer and the study of His Word, so we are not caught unprepared when trials and temptations come (see 1Th. 4:3-8, 5:16-18).
The functions of the body are all controlled and guided by the head. This is good news for us Christians, since Christ is the Head of His body, the Church. Jesus does not steer us wrong. He does not wish any harm to come to the body but wants it to grow stronger and healthier. He may allow trials to afflict us, so that we learn to follow His lead and put our trust in Him. This is what the athlete does when pushing his body beyond its comfort level and even into pain. The will of the mind tells the rest of the body to keep moving, keep working, keep fighting.
What Jesus has won for us and still gives us is worth the discomfort and pain we may feel in this world. God’s Son came among us in the flesh, so that He might satisfy the righteous requirements of the Law for us. He came to redeem us from all our sins. And He came to win the victory for us over our sin, death, and the devil. Jesus is the reigning Champion; He cannot be overcome. That means the Church, which is connected to Him, can’t lose either. Jesus will never give up on His Church, so the Church should never give up. “In the world you will have tribulation,” said Jesus. “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Joh. 16:33).
So we put our trust in Him. He will never lead us wrong. He won’t abandon us. We go forward step by step in the confidence of His promises. When we stumble and fall, He picks us up. When we let worries and fears overcome us, He forgives us. We live in His grace, a grace which never runs out, grace which applies equally to every part of the body, to strong and weak, to fearless or fearful.
We remind one another of His grace when we join together for worship. It is unnatural for the members of the body of Christ to be apart. Last spring you may have seen the hashtag “alonetogether” on TV or social media. In a state of isolation, we understood the “alone” part all too well, but not so much the “together” part. God intends for His children to join together to worship Him. This is how they comfort and encourage one another (Heb. 10:24-25).
We need this support from each other. We receive it in the divine service by listening to the words of the pastor who speaks as God’s representative. We also receive it by hearing our fellow Christians speak and sing around us. This is what Paul is describing when he talks about “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” and “giving thanks” together. Every voice matters in our churches. The fewer the voices, the more isolated we feel. The more voices there are, the more we are reminded that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
We are part of a larger community as members of the body of Christ. So Paul urges us always to keep our brothers and sisters in Christ in mind. We are not to “get drunk with wine,” he says, “for that is debauchery”—that is to indulge oneself, to ignore those around us in fulfillment of our own desires. Instead we Christians should “be filled with the Spirit.”
Now alcohol is poured down the throat and enters our bloodstream. If consumed in large quantities, it impairs us—it makes our ability to walk and think and speak worse, not better. But being “filled with the Spirit” does the opposite. We are filled with the Holy Spirit by hearing the Word of Christ’s forgiveness. We even eat and drink this forgiveness when the Holy Spirit brings us Jesus’ true body and blood in His holy Supper.
The work of the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments makes us spiritually healthier. He works through these means to increase our collective strength, sharpen our spiritual focus, and cause us to clearly speak of Him with one voice. And He inspires us to sing of the hope we have “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with [our] heart[s].” He moves us to sing the Gospel to each other, the good news of our life, our forgiveness, and our salvation in Christ.
This powerful Gospel message is how the Lord draws us closer together. If we fail to partake of His Word and Sacraments, or if we decide to go our own way, we weaken the unity and fellowship God has blessed us with. But walking with Jesus by faith, meditating together on His Word, and proclaiming His grace to one another, our unity and fellowship are strengthened.
God does not intend for us to fight our spiritual battles alone or to go through this life alone. We are too weak for that. He brings us here to build us up. He reminds us that We’re in This Together. By His grace, He helps us to walk forward more confidently, think more clearly, and sing more joyfully.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture of Jerico church interior)
The First Sunday after Michaelmas – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Ephesians 4:22-28
In Christ Jesus, whose blood cleanses us from every sin and frees us from our guilty conscience, so that we can live our lives in joyful service to Him, dear fellow redeemed:
A person who enters the witness protection program is required to leave behind nearly everything familiar to him. His immediate family may go with him, but he must walk away from his extended family and his friends. There can be no phone calls exchanged, no text messaging, and no social media contact. He can never return to the place where he lived in case someone there might recognize him.
Those in the program would have to get used to a totally new community in a new place with no family and friend network to help. This would be hard to do and lonely. But at the same time, there is something appealing about the idea. Haven’t you ever thought how nice it could be to have a completely fresh start? To go someplace where no one knows your family, no one knows your past, and you can just be you? There is comfort in the familiar, but there is excitement and possibility in the unknown.
In today’s Epistle, the apostle Paul urges us to Leave Our Sinful Past Behind, to walk away from our corrupt and destructive habits that weaken and endanger our faith. And he urges us to live in Jesus, to go forward in His righteousness and holiness with His blessing.
What are some of the things that should be left behind? Paul told the Christians in Ephesus to abandon an immature approach to spiritual things. They need to take God’s Word seriously and study it, so they are not “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14). They should give up all sexual immorality, sensuality, and impurity (4:19, 5:3-5). And they should put away falsehood, anger, and thievery.
At the center of these words is the idea that the life and behavior of believers should look different than the life and behavior of unbelievers. What is it that makes them different? The believer and unbeliever may have had a similar upbringing. They may have grown up in the same community and worked at the same business. They may have participated in the same activities and had the same friends.
But as similar as they seem to be, they are very different. One of them walks in the light while the other walks in darkness. One of them is clothed in the spotless garments of Jesus’ righteousness, while the other displays the filthy rags of sin. One of them lives for his neighbor and looks for the life to come, while the other thinks of his own interests and focuses intently on this life. One of them lives under God’s favor, while the other lives under God’s frown.
Paul wrote to remind the Ephesian Christians of this tremendous difference. “You are not as you used to be,” he said. At one time they, like the unbelievers, were “separated from Christ… having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). But now they had been “brought near by the blood of Christ” (v. 13). Now they had become “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (v. 19).
Through Holy Baptism, they were adopted as God’s sons. They were joined to the body of Christ and given new life in Him. They were cleansed of their sins and covered in His righteousness. They were no longer agents of Satan carrying out his plans. Now they were set apart for the Lord’s work, called to serve His purposes.
The Christians in Ephesus already knew these things. They knew what the Lord had done for them and what they were called to do. So why did Paul have to remind them? He had to remind them because it is easy to slip into old habits, to fall back into one’s “former manner of life.” This is because we still have the old Adam in us, the sinful nature, and the devil and the unbelieving world are working tirelessly to draw us away from what is good.
They succeed all too often. We’re at the point in our day that the way many Christians think about right and wrong is no different than the way non-Christians do. We see this across the board in views regarding sexuality, marriage, family, business practices, stewardship of money and possessions, and the treatment of another person’s reputation. God has called us to stand up for what is right, to push back against the corruption and deceit of the devil and our own flesh, and to speak the truth.
But we do the opposite. We go along with the world. We don’t want to stand out. We don’t want to have a target on our backs. We don’t want to be the bad guy or the prude, who tells people that what they are doing is wrong. So we keep our mouths shut. We might talk big when we are around those who agree with us, but otherwise we clam up. The silence is deafening, and for those we fail to warn, it could very well be damning.
You can think of times when you should have spoken up but didn’t, when you failed to tell the truth even if it was a hard truth. Maybe you wanted to keep peace in your family or maintain your standing in your workplace or community. Maybe you didn’t feel qualified to speak up because of your checkered past. Maybe you told yourself that someone else would step up and do the “heavy lifting” for you. Maybe the time to talk never seemed to present itself.
But as much as you tried to justify your inactivity, you feel guilty about it. You know what God says in His Word. You know His standard for moral conduct does not change no matter what the world thinks about it. You know that the person who speaks the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) has nothing to be ashamed of before God. So you are disgusted with yourself for lacking the courage to do and speak and live according to His will.
This is why the words of today’s text are so comforting. St. Paul was writing to people in Ephesus who are just like you and me, people who are weak, who struggle, who fall into old habits, and who fail to speak the truth when they should. The solution for them and for us? Repentance and faith in Jesus. Paul describes repentance as “putting off your old self.” “Cast aside the garments of your sin,” he says. “Take your sinful past to the cleaners. Admit your wrongs. Acknowledge your transgressions. Expose your sinful passions. Hang all that dirty business out to dry!”
And then he says, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Let your mind and heart be cleansed anew by the blood of Jesus, so that no guilt and sin remain. “[P]ut on the new self,” created and gifted by God in the image of His own righteousness and holiness. It sounds like we are responsible for doing these things—being renewed in our mind, putting on the new self. But this is really God’s work accomplished through His Word and Sacraments.
God does these things through the Gospel. The Gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). The Gospel message of our salvation through Jesus at the same time brings us forgiveness and it strengthens us. It declares us righteous before God and increases our growth in righteousness in this life. It delivers both our justification and our sanctification.
The Gospel delivers our justification by delivering Jesus’ righteousness under the Law. His righteousness is the reason we are now counted righteous before God. And His atoning death on the cross is the reason we are forgiven. Whatever wrongs we have done in the past or whatever good we have left undone—all those sinful spots were washed out by the blood of Jesus. We no longer wear the filthy garment of sin. We wear the glorious robes of Jesus’ perfection. When the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus, His beloved Son.
The Gospel also delivers our sanctification by the work of Jesus in us. He comes to us to help us grow and improve in Christian living. He works in us the desire for and dedication to the truth by filling our ears with His saving Word of salvation. He frees us from the need for revenge by filling our hearts with His forgiveness. And He moves us to generosity by giving us more than enough for the needs of our body and soul.
He lays out a blessed future for us unaffected by the failures of our past. We may never live down the wrongs we have done among those who know us. But Jesus forgives every one of our sins—even the big ones. We don’t have to enter some sort of spiritual witness protection to hide our sins from others or from God Himself.
We deal with our sins before God by repenting of them, by putting them off and leaving them at the foot of Jesus’ cross. The cross is where Jesus paid for our sins completely and where He secured a bright future for us. Because of what He did, we are not stuck in our sinful past. In Jesus, We Leave Our Sinful Past Behind. Now we go forward in righteousness, in holiness, and in love according to His abundant grace.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(picture from “The Preaching of St. Paul at Ephesus” by Eustache Le Sueur, 1649)