WAITING FOR JESUS

 

Do you like to wait? If you don’t, you’re in good company. Most people do not like to wait, but we all wait for the bus, the end of class, for the doctor, in line, in traffic and for events to begin. Most of the time, waiting is boring, but sometimes it’s exciting.

It’s exciting to wait for a party or big game to begin. It’s exciting to wait for a new puppy or kitten to arrive or for a baby brother or sister to come home from the hospital.

Advent is an exciting time to wait. We wait for Christmas when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But we all know that Jesus was born, lived, died on the Cross and rose from the grave. We all know that Jesus will come again – and that’s what we’re waiting for – His return!

So, how will you wait for Jesus? Well, maybe your family has an Advent wreathe at home. Each day before dinner, you can light a candle and listen to mom or dad read the Bible and pray before you eat. Maybe your family has an Advent calendar with a different Bible passage and small gift each day. Those are some ideas on how to wait for Christmas. How do we wait for Jesus to return in glory?

Martin Luther taught people that every day they should remember their baptism as they begin to pray. We make the Sign of the Cross and say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” We then say the Apostles Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. He also included this prayer that we can say each morning.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Say that every morning as you wait for Jesus to come at Christmas and in His glory.

Pater Potter

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Pater Potter (Father Potter), and my focus is Isaiah (64:1-9). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

I get to spend time watching the interaction of my stepson and his children. When Matt was a teenager, he was a decent athlete. Naturally the activities in which my grandchildren are athletics. My granddaughter plays soccer, and my grandson plays baseball. When we attend the games, Matt does the fatherly thing, that is, he yells instructions to them, even though he is not the coach.

I mention this because, like the Potter in Isaiah, well-intentioned fathers try to mold their sons and daughters into, well, themselves. I have never been a biological father to my own children, but I have experience working with all kinds of fathers: absent fathers, successful business fathers, stay-at-home dads, disciplinary dads and so on. I pastored in churches that had preschools and primary schools, and served as chaplain to students in colleges. I even worked at an early children’s education center founded by Dr. Benjamin Spock who hired a young man named Fred Rogers.

All of this to point out that the Prophet Isaiah calls God “Father” not only in our passage today, but also in chapter 63:16, “For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.”

This is Isaiah’s prayer for mercy from our Heavenly Father. Why? Why is Isaiah pleading with God to be merciful when he says, “O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.” (64:8-9)? What’s going on in the southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem?

I’ll tell you what’s going on – prosperity. Isaiah’s ministry began about 742 BC, the year King Uzziah died, and continued until sometime during the reign of Hezekiah (715-687). The time before the death of Uzziah had been one of great development and prosperity for both the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah), especially since the power of Assyria (Iraq, Iran, Kuwait) had declined. During the reign of Uzziah there were victories over the Philistines, Arabs, Ammonites, and Edomites. Uzziah promoted agriculture and industry, and fortified Jerusalem. In the north, another forceful king, Jeroboam II, restored the boundaries of Israel. Prosperity and wealth were everywhere. So, why would Isaiah plea for mercy with an Almighty God when both the northern and southern kingdoms enjoyed power and prosperity that they had not known since the division of the kingdom? In a word – corruption.

Power and prosperity come and go. Young men who become kings and presidents make mistakes, get overthrown, grow old and die. New men rise to power. The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were not secular like the United States, China or Russia, they were theocratic or religious kingdoms; and in many ways Uzziah seemed to have been religious, but he did not remove the high places devoted to pagan gods. At the height of his power, he became proud, attempted to offer sacrifice in the temple, even though the high priest warned him against it. When he did attempt to offer sacrifice, he was stricken with leprosy and a devastating earthquake came at the precise moment of his sin against the priests. This ended his public exercise of kingship (cf. 2 Kings 15:5). Yet, the prosperity of Judah during his reign was greater than that of any period since Solomon.

During this period of time God revealed His plan to Amos and Hosea who told the people of impending dangers and called them to repentance and faith. God then revealed these dangers to Isaiah, but many of his contemporaries mocked his predictions. Isaiah saw not only the international situation, but also the sins of his people, which would lead to divine judgment and punishment. Yet, Isaiah also foresaw a kingdom restored by a God who loves His people like a father loves his children and offers them mercy.

In today’s passage, Isaiah opens his speech with an “if only” statement. We have all spoken that phrase. If only I was given a chance … If only if I studied more … If only I bought that stock when it was initially offered … In this case, Isaiah knew that if only the Lord made His presence known, that would have been enough to change everything. If the enemies of the Lord – foreign and domestic – knew who and what kind of God Isaiah knew, they would show respect and be subject to irresistible change.

Isaiah understood that it would be easy for a God as mighty as Israel’s to show his face and make all things right, but in a poetic style, Isaiah asks, “Why should such a God intervene for people such as these – such as us?” If Isaiah’s Lord is the One we expect to help us, we need to know what He is like. Here is what he is like. First, God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. You don’t get to throw up a quick prayer and expect a miracle so that you can return to your normal lifestyle. God is merciful, but not manipulated. Second, God comes to the help of those who gladly do right. If we know God in our hearts and minds, but grumble about doing His will or worse, don’t even care about God’s will as we go about our day, why should we expect God to help us? Finally, Isaiah’s God acts for and helps those who conform their lives to the pattern of God, that is, those who devote themselves to God. To the world, faithfulness to God’s will seems foolish, but God “changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” (Dan 2:21).

You know how upset ardent Steelers fans get when some player on the opposing team desecrates the Terrible Towel. It’s a flagrant offense to Myron Cope and all the work he did to help people with disabilities. Well, here Isaiah exposes the aggravated offense – that we sinned knowing full well that it would enrage God – which people waved in God’s face. He asks them, “Should we really expect that God would intervene for people such as us? Have we devoted ourselves to God?”

Isaiah knew if the Lord would have shown His face, nations would tremble; people would repent and conform, but the reality is that we – myself included – are fading like fallen leaves and melting like Margaret Hamilton because God is not showing, but hiding His face.

Throughout these past months, we have been reviewing the Small Catechism, and recently finished the Ten Commandments. We are now studying the Apostles’ Creed. In the First Article of the Creed, we say, “I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” Martin Luther set up the Small Catechism so that we would first understand the Ten Commandments because this is how God wants us to live, and then the Creed because this is how God wants us to believe. In other words, the Commandments naturally flow into the Creed.

(In his Large Catechism) Luther wrote, “if we could by our own powers keep the Ten Commandments as they are to be kept, we would need nothing further, neither the Creed nor the Lord’s Prayer.”[1] He then wrote that the first sentence in the Creed “sets forth most briefly what is the essence, will, activity, and work of God the Father. For since the Ten Commandments have taught that we are to have not more than one God, the question might be asked, What kind of a person is God? What does He do? How can we praise, or portray and describe Him, that He may be known? Now, that is taught in this and in the following article, so that the Creed is nothing else than the answer and confession of Christians arranged with respect to the First Commandment.”[2]

In other words, if you had to answer who God is, you should say that God is our Father and Creator of heaven and earth, and all things visible and invisible. From this, you should agree with Martin Luther’s next statement: “This is what I mean and believe, that I am a creature of God; that is, that He has given and constantly preserves to me my body, soul, and life, members great and small, all my senses, reason, and understanding, and so on, food and drink, clothing and support, wife and children, domestics, house and home, etc.”[3]

So that we do not gloss over that essential teaching, let me repeat it. I am a creature of God. I am a creature. God my Father created me. Created me for what sole purpose? To know, love and serve him. I know God. I love God. I serve God. Beyond that, nothing else matters.

Yet, as Luther writes, God the Creator, “causes all creatures to serve for the uses and necessities of life: sun, moon, and stars in the firmament, day and night, air, fire, water, earth, and whatever it bears and produces, birds and fishes beasts, grain, and all kinds of produce, and whatever else there is of bodily and temporal goods, good government, peace, security. Thus, we learn from this article that none of us has of himself, nor can preserve, his life nor anything [else] … however small and unimportant … it might be, for all is comprehended in the word Creator.”[4]

God created the earth to serve our needs. We don’t worship the earth or any created thing. We worship our Creator. Plants and all animals serve our needs. Every form of government serves us. When government stops serving us, it is no different than Communist China, which places government and country above people and religion. So, while some may think that Sunday worship of our Triune God may be passé, or keeping the Ten Commandments can be subjective, or the Creed can be changed, I disagree because first and foremost, I am a creature of God, here to know, love and serve my Father.

The people of Isaiah’s time abandoned the Commandments, particularly the First. Kings and queens set up altars to wooden and stone figures to whom they prayed for peace, prosperity, fruitful crops and unblemished animals. Even while God was delivering the people through the Exodus, they rebelled and chose to worship a golden calf over a gracious deliverer. The Father’s love, care and concern treated as worthless.

In many ways, throughout the history of the Church, we find apostasy. We abandon our faith in the Father for something else. You can run through a list of ideas that we value more than seeing our Father God as Creator and ourselves as creatures made to know, love and serve Him. In short, we set up ourselves as God. We become like Lucifer in that we think our ideas or someone else’s are superior to God’s will and purpose for us – to know, love and serve Him alone. We lack humility and become proud … before we fall headlong into the dust from which we were formed. And yet, throughout the history of the Church, and in our midst today, there are men and women who rise to the occasion and restore our faith: Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Mother Teresa. They remind us not only to give intellectual assent to God’s Commandments, God’s ways, but to live in accord with them.

Sin is the primary offense not only to God, but also to life itself. There is nothing we can do to overcome sin. As believers, we are not simply to give up and give in, but we call on his name. Through His own grace, we call to Him like lepers, like crippled humans, like the blind and the deaf, like poor beggars sitting in the gutters and along the roadside. We call out, “Father.” And when God asks what we want, with the words of Isaiah, we say, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand” (64:8).

Friends, Advent is not simply a season anticipating the birth of Jesus Christ. Advent is when we focus on Christ coming to us so that He can finish His work and restore our malleable mortal bodies and minds, hearts and souls into the beautiful people His Father originally created. For the next few weeks, take time to celebrate. Celebrate Christ’s coming as a child. Be in awe of his form, his shape, his innocence as a child. Allow Jesus to work a miracle in your life as he did for every sinner who sought him. Celebrate Christmas by feeling God’s love for you, and allow the Holy Spirit to finally shape you into the person God called you to be when He created you in His image. And then, thank the Lord and sing His praise; tell everyone what He has done. (see Mk 5:19-20). Rejoice and proudly bear His name. When you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord. Trans. By William H.T. Dau and Gerhard F. Bente. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2005), p. 425. See also www.bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/apostles-creed/.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., p. 426.

[4] Ibid.

A SAMARITAN THANKSGIVING

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled A Samaritan Thanksgiving, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

We were taught in grade school that a good reporter always asks six questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? That came to mind as I spent some time reading this passage. Who are these Samaritans? When did they first appear? Where did they come from? What are they doing here? Why is there such animosity between them and the Jews? How does any of this relate to Thanksgiving?

First, Who? What? When? Where? In the 1^st Book of Kings, we read how the land was split into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon. The southern kingdom was called Judah, and that is where Jerusalem is; and the northern was called Israel, and that is where Galilee and Samaria are. The word Samaritan comes from Shemer, name of the owner who sold his property to King Omri. 1^st Kings reports, “In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. [Omri] bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.” (16:24).

 Samaritan tradition holds that this hill, the summit of Mount Gerizim, is the true location of God's Holy Place. They take this from Deuteronomy 11:29, which reads, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.” Therefore, Samaritans trace their history as a separate entity to a period soon after the Israelites' entry into the Promised Land.

According to their history, the High Priest Eli started a schism when he left Mount Gerizim (Canaan) and built a competing altar nearby (Shiloh).[1] The dissenters who followed Eli would be the ones who then headed south to settle Jerusalem. These people became known as the Jews, whereas the Israelites who stayed on Mount Gerizim, in Samaria, would become known as the Samaritans.

To better understand what I mean, it helps to look at a few maps because you can see that Samaria lies between Galilee and Judea, and stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It has been inhabited by Israel for thousands of years.

Samaritans also consider Samaritanism to be the true religion of the ancient Israelites and regard modern mainstream Judaism as a closely related but altered religion. Their central holy text is the Samaritan Pentateuch (or Torah), which Samaritans believe is the original, unchanged version of the Torah. Samaritans hold that their religion is the holy faith that began with Moses, unchanged over the millennia that have since passed. Today, a small community of hundreds of Samaritans still endures. Most live on or near Mount Gerizim, where they continue to study and practice their Torah.[2]

Now that I have sufficiently answered the who, what, when and where questions, we move onto the next question: Why the animosity? If you ever have a chance to visit the Heinz History Center, you will come across a display of high school football helmets telling the stories of rivalries: Monaca-Rochester, Aliquippa-Ambridge and so on. Sticking to my sports image, think of the rivalries between the Bears and the Packers, the Raiders and the Chargers. Wanna see a fist fight? Go to a Dodgers-Giants game. Wanna see a fight to the finish? Visit Gettysburg. Rivalries are not always friendly. Last week, a friend was telling us that when she moved South for work, one of her co-workers referred to her still as a Damn Yankee and observed not Veterans Day but Confederate Veterans Day. The animosity between North and South, the Union and the Confederacy is well known. The animosity between France and Germany started 1,000 years earlier – in 843 – and lasted through 35 wars, battles or skirmishes.

The animosity between Jews and Samaritans makes the feud between the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s look like Cub Scouts playing mumblety-peg. A lot of the blame for this animosity is placed on that evil Queen Jezebel. As the wife of King Ahab and Queen of Israel nearly 900 years before Jesus walked through Samaria on his way to Jerusalem, she alienated everyone by supporting Baal worship and slaughtering the prophets of Yahweh. Even after the prophecy of Ezekiel came true, and dogs licked her blood, she continued to influence the nation through her son, Ahaziah.[3]

The animosity between Samaritans and Jews did not stop there. After Samaia was besieged by the Assyrians, its inhabitants were deported. The Assyrians resettled the land with foreigners, and each group brought their own gods as they spread throughout Israel and eventually Judah.[4] This lasted for several generations until the Assyrians were driven out, and fast-forwarding 100 years or so past the Exile, Cyrus becomes King of the Persians and Medes, and issues an Edict (538 BC) that allows the Samaritans and Jews to return to their native lands and rebuild the Temple. The best part is that Cyrus is paying to build the Second Temple.

You would think that everyone would live happily ever after from that point! But noooo! The altar of holocausts is restored and the foundation is set.[5] We read in Ezra these “adversaries” approached Zerubbabel, Joshua and others and said, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”  Zerubbabel replied, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”[6] In other words, “Hit the road, Jack.”

The Samaritans don’t go quietly into the night. They harass the people to get them to stop rebuilding. They write to the new King of Persia, and conclude with: “We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.” This prompted the Persians to enter into Jerusalem and forcibly stop the work on the Temple. Eventually, under King Darius, the Temple was completed. In thanksgiving to God, “[The Jews] offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.” (Ezra 6:17). Soon after, the exiles returned home, and eventually Judea was formed into a theocratic state.[7]

The enmity did not slow. When Alexander the Great rose to power and captured Asia Minor, the Samaritans established a relationship with him. This relationship soured, and they revolted. Alexander’s appointed prefect quelled the revolt and destroyed their city. It was eventually rebuilt in Greek style architecture and resettled with Macedonians (Greeks).

After Alexander’s death, the kingdom was divided, and Antiochus Epiphanes became the king who ruled over the land of Israel. He “wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and abandon their particular customs. All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king, and many Israelites delighted in his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.” (1 Macc 1:41-43) It was another great persecution of faithful Jews.

The Books of Maccabees recount the events of the attempted suppression of Judaism in the second century BC, and gives us further insight into the animosity. The first book tells us that an army from Samaria chose to fight against Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers. My point is that when it came time to choose, the Samaritans chose to stand with the Gentiles against the Jews. I summarized centuries of animosity between the Samaritans and the Jews so that you understand why they were prejudiced against each other. History actually teaches us something about other people. And that brings us up to the Gospel of Luke.

Before Harry Potter became popular, children read a series of books called “Where’s Waldo?” You had to find Waldo amidst a crowd of people on a journey to somewhere. I mention that because we first have to ask where Jesus was when he started this journey and where he was going. In chapter nine, Luke reports that Jesus took some of his disciples to the top of Mt. Tabor, which is in Galilee. After that, he sets his face towards Jerusalem. This meant that to get to his destination, Jesus would pass through Samaritans towns and villages.

He sent messengers ahead of him, who entered a Samaritan village, but they did not welcome him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. James and John requested permission to have fire to come down from heaven and consume them, but Jesus nixed that idea, and they went on to another village.

Jesus then sent 72 missionaries to towns and villages reminding them that whoever welcomes or rejects them likewise treats Him in the same manner. Upon receiving their successful reports, he told them to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. He then thanked his Father for handing everything over to him, turned to his disciples and told them how blessed they were to have seen devils and demons powerless at His name. It was at that point that a Jewish lawyer tested Jesus with the question of eternal life. This, of course, introduces the Parable of the Good … Samaritan. (I had you say what the lawyer could not.)

As Jesus travelled, he taught and he healed. Our Gospel today makes the first mention of Samaria and Galilee since Jesus first embarked on his journey. He heals ten men who were suffering from leprosy. What’s the big deal?

Leprosy or Hansen’s disease does not spread easily from person to person. You cannot get leprosy through casual contact such as shaking hands, sitting next to, or talking to someone who has the disease. Prolonged, close contact with someone with untreated Hansen’s disease over many months is needed to become infected. 95% of us will not become sick because we are naturally immune. Leprosy can be cured with antibiotics.[8]

People are healed by doctors and drugs all the time. Hips, knees, elbows and shoulders can be repaired through surgery. I take baby aspirin, CoQ10 and prescription medication to treat my high blood pressure. Exercise and a proper diet can extend our lifespan. If people can be healed through those means, why praise God?

Here’s the point made by my friend, Dr. William E. Katz, a cardiologist with 37 years of experience. I once asked him to reflect upon a Gospel passage, and he wrote that people hold their physicians in high esteem because they can do many things, including repairing the heart. He went on to say that doctors cannot heal the heart the way pastors can through the words and actions of forgiveness, mercy, love.

Friends, for you and me the point of this Gospel is not so much that Jesus healed ten men from leprosy or that only one returned to thank God for what He did through Jesus. The point is that this same God heals your heart, your soul, your relationship with Him and others. God’s grace is alive and active through His Word and Sacrament. Jesus proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Lk 3:3). You were dead and buried with Christ, and raised with Him through faith in the power of God (Col 2:12). Baptism saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 3:21). The means of grace – the Words of God spoken over water, bread and wine – are as freely available to you today as it was to those ten lepers who met Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. The human hearts of the Samaritan leper and the Jewish Jesus were both touched in the moment they met the second time. Centuries of hostility disappeared in a moment of grace.

Our heavenly Father desires to send you that same grace so that whatever sin or hostility is shackling you to the past will disappear faster than the scales fell from the leper’s skin. All you have to do is receive. That’s the Lutheran way. May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] See 1 Samuel 1:3.

[2] For a report on this community, click this link: The Samaritans survived centuries of war and slavery. Today, they face a new challenge: Too many men - ABC News.

[3] For more, read 1 Kgs 16:23ff; 17-19 and 22; 2 Kgs 1, 20, 22.

[4] See 2 Kgs 16ff.

[5] See Ezra 3; Haggai 2:15.

[6] Ezra 4.

[7] Chronological Table in The Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc. (1966), p. 461.

[8] Search Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) at www.cdc.gov.

Caught, Clothes, Courage

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Caught, Clothes and Courage, and my focus is our Epistle (1^st Thessalonians 5:1-11). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

“Stay safe.” We heard that expression many times since April 2020, when Covid took many people’s lives. We took many precautions to keep ourselves safe. People wore masks and got injections. We kept our distance and our hands to ourselves. If we got Covid, we stayed home and rested. After we recovered, we isolated. We took precautions to “stay safe.”

In other areas, we take precautions to keep our families and ourselves safe. In addition to hygiene, we are faithful to necessary prescriptions and supplements, diet and exercise. We hear that we should take self-defense lessons or firearms classes. In addition to insurance and smoke detectors, companies encourage us to install surveillance systems, burglar alarms or fireproof safes. Municipalities frequently issue emergency alerts to our cell phones. Actors and athletes advise us to invest in gold. We want to keep our families, ourselves, our communities, properties and investments safe.

No matter how many precautions we take, the element of surprise catches us like a thief in the night. On October 8, 1871, the most devastating forest fire in American history swept through northeast Wisconsin, claiming 1200+ lives. On May 31, 1889, the Johnstown Flood killed 2,200 Pennsylvanians. On September 1, 1923, earthquakes led to fires and explosions that killed nearly 143,000 Japanese. The Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004, took the lives of 225,000 people. On September 11, 2001, none of us felt safe. The Great Depression, the closing of the steel mills in the 70’s, and the pyramid schemes of Bernie Madoff robbed us not only of money, but a way of living. Everyone caught unaware. Stay safe?

Two thousand years ago, Paul of Tarsus wrote to the Thessalonians, “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (1 Thess 5:2) This does not tell us when Jesus will come, but rather how. “Thief in the night” is something Jesus spoke about in the Gospels. It stresses suddenness and unexpectedness as well as unknown timing, and has a sense of threat for the unprepared.[1]

Paul frequently used the term – “the day” – which he adopted from the Old Testament tradition of “Day of the Lord.” This “day” denotes the completion of the kingdom of God and the end of all attacks upon it. It is a “day of punishment” (Isa 10:3), and a day of the Lord’s wrath (Eze 7:19). The entire concept in the Old Testament is dark and foreboding.[2] On the other hand, the New Testament idea is saturated with elements of hope, joy and victory. It is the Day of Christ, the day of His coming in the glory of His Father, which we will hear in next Sunday’s Gospel (Mt. 25:31ff.). So, Paul saw “the day” as the moment Christ brings the final redemption and judgment to earth. The irony of this verse is that Paul uses the phrase “you know” or “You are fully aware” and yet the timing is unknown.

Friends, you are aware that Christ will come again, just as you are aware that your life could change or end in an instant. Some time may pass before that happens, but you know that it will happen. Knowing this, I leave you with a question to ponder before I move to my next point. As you look back on the first time that you became aware that your life could change or end in an instant, what did you learn about living as a Christian in the world right now?

Clothes. Earlier this month, Cindy and I showed up to help a group of church members to clean the church and grounds. I wore an older pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and a ball cap. Everyone said, “I’ve never seen you dressed like that.” We all have different clothes for various activities. We have work clothes and workout clothes, night clothes and day clothes. And when we lived in Chicagoland, we would sometimes go to Walmart after church and see people dressed in loungewear as well as their Sunday go to meeting clothes.

Paul’s words in vv 6-7 reminded Christians in Thessalonica that they were to be different than others in that Greek city. Just as your clothing differs between night and day, Christian thought and morality must differ from the secularists’ in the world. Paul urged his readers to prepare and to be ready, and so he used the analogy to be ready for the Parousia, the Day Christ returns.

When Paul wrote, “since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation,” he meant that daytime people (Christians) must be ready to battle the enemy. The armor imagery, which Paul also uses in Ephesians 6:14-17 is directly from Isaiah 59. Now, we all know that certain clothing is needed for certain tasks. Unless you are Happy Gilmore, you don’t show up at a golf tournament in a hockey sweater. Christians must be dressed and ready for the time Christ returns.

Armor, however, is not enough. What protects a believer is the hope of salvation.  If you have no hope or no trust that God will make things right one day, then your faith is fragile and you can be overwhelmed by problems and injustices of the present. Hope protects against that. Paul’s converts needed hope and faith fulfilled by love not only for Christ, but also for one another; and in order for that to occur, they had to accept an identity that made them look more like Jesus Christ. As believers, we grow in our identity with Christ, beginning with our Baptism.

As we grow in our identity with Christ, Paul reminds us that God has not destined us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 9). God provides believers with the necessary equipment – the means of grace through Baptism and Lord’s Supper – so that we will obtain the final gift of salvation.

For Paul, hope was not an emotion or a sunny outlook, nor was it reducible to information about the future. Hope is the God-given habit of mind that produces joy in the midst of suffering. It is characterized by patience, providing confidence that God has conquered death through Christ. In other words, hope looks forward to a glorious future, but also offers a changed life in the present. Knowing God reframes how we know reality. Hope brings a new way of life, one that is lived in light of our final end.[3]

Paul makes it very clear that Jesus Christ died for us so that we might live for him (v. 10). As believers, we benefit from Christ’s death for his death is for all of us, that is, it is vicarious. Paul made this clear to the Thessalonians, and reworded it more clearly in Romans: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. To this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” (14:8-9).

Now, before moving to my next point, let me ask you some questions. Are you pleased with yourself? Is your spouse and are your family members pleased with you? Is God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – pleased with you? My friends, even though we begin each Divine Worship by confessing our sins and receiving absolution, know this: God is pleased with you. God delights in you. You may not go through every moment of every day saying to yourself, “God is pleased with me.” But the fact that God is responsible for creating you, and sent his Son to suffer, die and rise to life again, is a constant reminder that He is pleased with you. You may not feel the love of the Holy Spirit being poured into your heart every second, but it happens here every week when you hear God’s Word and receive God’s Sacraments. This is no gimmick, but each time you put on your day clothes, tell yourself that God is pleased with you.

Courage. Knowing that, I turn to my third point, Courage. The word courage comes from the root word for heart. So, when Paul writes, “encourage one another and build one another up” (v. 11), he knows that his converts were already doing that, or else he would not have added, “just as you are doing.”

He already saw that Christian men and women checked in with one another. They made an active effort to go over and ask each other, “How are you doing?” The Thessalonian Christian was under fire from unbelievers, but it was not dysfunctional. So, building on what he already knew, Paul encouraged them to be mutual encouragers. As Christians, we do not build up ourselves. We build up each other. Encouragement is an action done in relationship with one another. It is a group-building, team-building, community-building exercise. It is why we begin each Worship Service by exchanging the Sign of Peace. From there it continues throughout our Liturgy – our work of worship.

From here, we can mutually encourage one another wherever and whenever we see one another. It’s why we send emails when someone is sick or has passed. It’s why we publicly recognize what a member has done for the congregation. It’s why we thank veterans and first-responders. You can think of many other places where we encourage each other to be faithful to Jesus Christ – at home, at work and school, in the neighborhood and gathering places galore. One of my exercises is to visit those men and women from our congregation who cannot be with us on Sunday. Some of them have passed, but the time I spent and spend with them encourages me. They were – and are – deeply grateful to receive God’s Word and Sacrament. They tell me that with joyful tears.

Friends, this week, we celebrate Thanksgiving. For us, it is a true Christian holiday, and the first person to recognize the need to proclaim Thanksgiving as a day devoted to God was President George Washington. On November 3, 1789, Washington set November 26 as a day that we would unite to most humbly offer our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions.[4] Despite our differences and divisions, let us see this week as a time to encourage each other to offer God our prayers and seek our pardon. Let us no longer say, “Stay safe,” but rather, “Stay faithful!” and when we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] See Mt 24:43; Lk 12:38-39; 2 Pt 3:10: Rev 3:3; 16:15.

[2] See Isa 2:12; 13:6,9; 34:8; Ezek 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:11; Amos 5:18; Zeph 1:14; Zech 14:1.

[3] Nathan Eubank, First and Second Thessalonians. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic (2019), p. 122.

[4] Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0091

DAY OF THE LORD

 

Last Sunday was the first day of Eastern Standard Time. Next Spring, we will go back to Eastern Daylight Time. We move our clocks one hour ahead in the Spring, and one hour back in the Fall. We spring ahead, and fall back.

We have 10 hours of daylight and 14 hours of darkness. Did you know that there are some places that always have 12 hours or daylight and 12 hours of night? The countries of Ecuador, Uganda and Malaysia have equal amounts of day and night.

I mention that because our first reading (Amos 5:18-24) tells us that the Day of the Lord is darkness. It was meant to scare people into living right and obeying God. When it is really dark outside and you do not have electric lights or even a candle, sounds may scare you.

As Christians, the Day of the Lord is light. The Day of the Lord is when Jesus will return and raise believers to new and everlasting life. So, the Day of the Lord is not something that should frighten us. The Day of the Lord gives us hope, and inspires us to live what Jesus taught us.

So, while you will have less daylight to play outdoors between now and spring, you have the true Light in your hearts. The Holy Spirit has poured into your heart the love of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

You remember that you have God’s love in your heart as you wait for Jesus’ return. We all prepare ourselves daily by remembering our baptism, reciting our prayers, reading the Bible and eating and drinking Christ’s Body and Blood. So, until Jesus returns, that’s all folks.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Colombo, Culture and Christian Living

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Thessalonians Three C’s: Colombo, Culture and Christian Living, and my focus is our Epistle (1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

One TV series that I could watch again and again is Colombo. It starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Colombo, a homicide detective with the LAPD, and originally ran from 1971-1978 on NBC, and 1989-2003 on ABC. Colombo wore a rumpled beige raincoat, smoked cigars, drove an old Peugeot, and often asked a final question with the famous catchphrase, “Just one more thing.”

I mention that catchphrase because last Sunday, we stopped reading Thessalonians at verse 12. Today, we resume the Letter beginning at verse 13. Paul introduces a new topic not wishing his audience to be ignorant or uninformed, and like Colombo, repeats his own catchphrase: “I do not want you to be unaware.”[1]

Like Colombo, Paul’s “Just one more thing” is the parousia, a Greek word meaning coming or presence. A parousia can refer to anyone, such as a dignitary or family member. Here, the Parousia refers to the Second Coming of Christ. The Parousia speaks to the times and ways Christ has been, is, and will be present to us. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote of the Threefold Advents of Christ in these words: “In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty.” Christ became present to humanity by taking on our humanity; He continues to be present with us through the Holy Spirit and most exultantly in the Eucharist; and He will be present again when He comes to judge the world. So, it is good for us to be aware of Christ’s threefold presence to us.

Aware of this, how did the Thessalonians respond? To shorten our speculation about their behavior, let me rephrase the question. Knowing that Christ was, will be, and is present to us, how do we respond? Are we filled with excitement and anticipation? Do we liken it to someone special coming to visit us?

When we were kids, and learned that company was coming, my mother would clean the house, prepare a meal, set the table, and dress up. My dad wore dress slacks, a collared shirt and polished shoes. When our guests arrived, we didn’t wait for them to knock on the door, we went outside and opened the car doors for them, greeted them in the driveway, and escorted them into the house. If you’ve done that, you have an understanding of how the ancients greeted their guests.

When a dignitary would visit the city, a greeting or welcoming committee went outside the city gate to meet and escort the person. Cicero wrote of Julius Caesar’s victory tour through Italy, “Just imagine what a royal welcome he is receiving from the towns, what honors are paid to him.” He wrote of Augustus, “the municipalities are showing the boy remarkable favor. … Wonderful apantesis and encouragement.” The word apantesis refers to the actions of a welcoming committee as it went forth from the city to escort the dignity into the city for his official visit. During that visit, the dignitary dealt not only with the honorable citizens, but with the dishonorable as well.

John Chrysostom picked up on these nuances, and in his sermon on 1^st Thessalonians, wrote, “For when a king drives into a city, those who are in honor go out to meet him; but the condemned await the judge within. And upon the coming of an affectionate father, his children indeed, and those who are worthy to be his children, are taken out in a chariot, that they may see and kiss him; but those of the domestics who have offended remain within.”

So, how do you respond to the awareness that the real King is here, and is waiting to see you? It’s a good question to ponder during the month that we remember the dead and observe the end of the church year. That also allows me to move on from Colombo to Culture.

When I say culture, I mean the customs of a particular nation or people. The Latin word is cultura, an agricultural term for tilling and preparing the soil. Before I plant my garden each spring, I plow the earth at least twice. After that I disc it, and finally I till it several times before planting. Throughout the year, I compost discarded vegetation and add a load of manure to enrich the soil. All of this promotes growth of the crops.

As Americans, we see many different ethnic cultures, and blend some of those into our lifestyle. A generation ago, we did not know about Mexican, Korean, Brazilian or Indian cuisine. Likewise, Paul’s audience, Gentiles not Jews, did not know about the culture of Paul. He was Jewish, and observed all the practices of Jews.

Gentiles who had not been exposed to Judaism found the whole idea of resurrection more than a little strange. The Greeks were used to the notion of immortality, but not a person coming back from the dead in new and improved flesh. They believed that a person survived death and went into the underworld. Coins would be placed on the eyes to pay the boatman (Charon) to carry the person down and across the river Styx, and avoid obstacles on the way that would steal the body.

There are stories about contacts with the dead. Odysseus went to Hades to consult a dead seer. This resembles Saul contacting Samuel through the Medium of En-dor (1 Sam 28:6-25). Such stories were to give information about the fate of the dead because there was concern about what happened to them after death. Others held birthday parties for the deceased which included a straw into the grave so the deceased could imbibe.

Given that few Gentiles had been exposed to Jewish-Christian teachings on the resurrection, Paul took great pains to counter their inconsolable grief with assurance that the afterlife is a positive image like a large family reunion. John Chrysostom wrote, “If you seek [the deceased Christian], seek him where the King is, where the army of angels is; not in the grave, not in the earth (Homily on 2 Cor 1:6).

This teaching was necessary because Paul either ran out of time or failed to teach this while he was in Thessalonica. So, when some Christians had died unexpectedly, questions arose about the afterlife. In a couple of words, Paul instructed the Thessalonians to stop grieving. Paul was not talking about the emotional states that people experience when a loved one dies, but the pervasive Greek view that there is no hope.

Pagans had no hope of a positive afterlife, but Christians did (and do). That is why Paul wrote that “you turned to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thes 1:10). And why later in this letter, he wrote, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:9). He expanded upon this in writing to the Romans (1:18-32). Folks, there is a difference between true Christian believers and unbelievers.

Verse 14 is basically a primitive Christian confession. It shows that what follows from believing that Jesus died and rose has a consequence about the fate of the Christian dead. When Jesus returns at the final Parousia, He will bring back or raise up only deceased Christians to a new and glorious state. That’s not my opinion, that is what Scripture tells us. Here, and in 1^st Cor 15, Paul operates with a concept of the resurrection of the righteous, not the unbelievers. He wrote about Christ as the first fruits and those in Christ as the latter fruits of the resurrection. For Paul the resurrection of the believer means full conformity to the image of Christ, which is something those outside of Christ will not receive when he returns. In other words, when Christ comes again, He will then raise your body and soul to be with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Verse 15 provides the reason we believers can be confident about the resurrection of deceased Christians, namely that Jesus himself spoke of this and affirmed this truth. The living will have no advantage over the deceased when Jesus returns, and vice-versa. All believers will be on the same cloud.

It was easy then and it is easy today to get caught up in anxiety or questions regarding the end of the world. The Thessalonians became so consumed with worrying about when the Parousia was going to come that they stopped caring about daily life and the things that really matter. That is why St. Paul wrote his Second Letter to the Thessalonians. He admonished them for their inaction, telling them that those who do not work should not eat. It was St. Paul’s way of trying to snap them out of their obsession with the Parousia and get them to re-focus their attention on the work of the Gospel.

If you have ever been coached or ever coached, you have heard the command, “Focus!” Focus not on what will happen in a year or ten, a hundred or a thousand. The Good News is that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and he will prepare a place for you. He will receive you. It’s His promise. Our “job” here and now is to focus on living the Good News. Live the Ten Commandments. Believe the Creeds. Pray the words Jesus spoke. Love people. At least ask them how they are doing. Focus![2]

It’s important to know that Paul was writing to Christians living in a Greek or Gentile world, and that they were heavily influenced by the surrounding culture. So, when Paul wrote – “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” – he was well aware of Cicero’s report of Julius Caesar’s victory tour through Italy in 49 A.D. It read, “Just imagine what a royal welcome he is receiving from the towns, what honors are paid to him.”

Paul co-opted the imperial rhetoric and applied it to Jesus. His opposition to Caesar and adherence to Jesus were all part of one package: Jesus was Lord; Caesar was not. The imperial cult suggested that a human being (emperor) was divine and walking around on the earth bringing peace and security. Hence, Paul’s letter and his teaching in this age were considered subversive.

Enough about Colombo and Culture. Let’s talk about Christian Living. November is an interesting month for us. We recover from a hectic Halloween by remembering all the saints who have gone before us starting with the first Christian martyrs up to those faithful witnesses who have influenced our lives today. Last Sunday, we remembered those who died. We now prepare for Thanksgiving and start thinking about Christmas and the New Year. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Retailers may want us to focus on what’s ahead. Our readings call us to focus on the here and now. Christian living is all about the here and now because while we acknowledge that Christ will come again, He is here and now. The five foolish virgins in our Gospel (Mt 25:1-13) lost focus, and when they finally returned with enough oil, they found the door locked. The lord would not open the door for them, and so they missed the fun.

Among the four teachings that we should recall daily in addition to the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds are the Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian living requires us to remember daily that we were baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who will one day raise our mortal bodies so that we share in His new creation.

Now, reading Paul’s words to the Thessalonians might give you the impression that he should have been more pastoral and less dogmatic when it comes to advising Christians not to grieve, but telling people the truth about what we believe is pastoral. As Christians, we don’t want to sugarcoat what happens after we die. In short, we are dead. Our bodies are in the ground and we are waiting for the Day of the Lord, the day when Christ returns and raises our bodies into a new and glorious state. That’s what we believe and teach, and it’s why we remember our Baptism daily. Baptism is a reminder that God loves you deeply.

In closing, have you ever considered that right now God is pleased with you? Most of the time that does not cross our minds. But considering the truth that the Son of God, who suffered and died for you, is returning to raise up your body is a reminder that He loves you and is pleased with you. And so, my friends, from now until the Day Christ returns, bear in mind that Christians live joyfully because the Spirit of the Risen Lord dwells in you even on your worst days. Copy that, and just one more thing, when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] See also 1 Cor 10:1; 12:1; Rom 11:25.

[2] Focus was a favorite phrase from my first music teacher, Pat Mancini, from whom I took trumpet lessons as a kid. If you want to read how the trumpet worked its way into Paul’s Epistle, you can read my footnotes. Read Isa 27:13; Joel 2:1; Zech 9:14. See also 1 Cor 15:52; Ps 24:7-10.