Biblical Brackets and Blessed Believers

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Biblical Brackets and Blessed Believers. My focus is Matthew 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.

Bracket. The word bracket is one of the most versatile words in the English language. We use the word to refer to various supports and name them as corner, countertop, counterbalance, mending and wall brackets. Brackets are used by architects, basketball fans, mathematicians, photographers, programmers, scientists, shipbuilders, writers, gunners and spotters. Based on your income, you are placed in an economic or tax bracket. The Latin root word for bracket is brachium meaning the upper segment of the arm extending from the shoulder to the elbow. Hence, we use brackets to separate and to join.

In biblical studies, bracketing consists of creating a frame by placing similar material at the beginning and end of a section. The purpose of a bracket may be structural – to alert the reader to a particularly important theme – or it may serve to show how the material within the bracket relates to itself. An important case of this occurs in Mark’s 11^th chapter. There we read of the "Cursing of the Fig Tree" and the "Cleansing of the Temple." By giving the first half of the story before the Cleansing of the Temple, and the conclusion after, Mark creates a "frame" that effectively highlights that he wants the Cleansing of the Temple to be seen in light of the Cursing of the Fig Tree. In other words, Jesus' actions in the Temple are not just a reform measure, but a judgment against it.

Matthew bracketed several sections to make theological points. The Infancy narratives, the Sermon on the Mount and the Passion narrative are three brackets. Today’s passage falls within the bracketed section beginning with verse two of chapter eleven and ending with verse twenty of chapter sixteen.

Matthew bracketed this section to ask and answer the question – Who is Jesus? Matthew introduced this passage with John the Baptist asking the question regarding Jesus’ identity, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”[1]

Matthew ended the section with Jesus asking his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and Peter stating, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Because he confessed this, Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”[2] Now that we know why Matthew bracketed this larger passage, let’s examine verses 25-30 more closely.

In verse 25, Jesus praises the Father because he hides and reveals these things. “These things” refers to the significance of the ministries of both John and Jesus – ministries that the wise and understanding in Israel were rejecting and in which infants were rejoicing through faith.

Recall that as John’s disciples went away from Jesus, the Lord spoke to the crowd about John. At one point he said, “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”[3]

So, Jesus is responding to a specific situation in history when many Galileans refused to repent and receive him as Israel’s Messiah. Recall that in chapter 10, Jesus sent his Twelve Apostles to the lost sheep of Israel living in towns and villages throughout Galilee. Many people rejected the Apostles’ teaching, preaching and healing. They refused to repent and receive Him and His message though His Apostles. They reacted with arrogant self-sufficiency. They were content with what other teachers, preachers, rabbis and priests were offering them. In a word, they were self-sufficient.

It is a deadly thing to think that one is self-sufficient. The self-sufficient are those Jesus labeled as the wise and the understanding. Jesus encountered many people like that in Israel who thought they had figured out both Jesus and John. Yet, neither, and to a greater degree, Jesus, can be contained by anyone’s preconceived thoughts or theological systems. Jesus is the foundation for all other things in life and eternity. His words are spoken with divine authority, and proclaim that even the knowledge of God the Father must come through Jesus and him alone.

In an encounter with Jesus, either during his earthly ministry or today through the preaching of His Word, no one can claim independence or self-sufficiency of any kind. Since all comes from Jesus, only He is wise and understanding.[4]

When people react to the good news about Christ with arrogant self-sufficiency, the Father responds by hiding the message from them. Jesus does not say that this hiding will remain forever for we cannot rule out that God may yet bring these people to repent and believe. As the Lord teaches, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”[5]

Those who have “these things” revealed to them are little children. Other versions of the Bible translate the term differently, including babes, childlike, infants, ordinary people and unlearned.

Infants here are not young children, but people who are unable and insufficient in themselves to accomplish anything good. They are the poor in spirit. Jesus also speaks of such people in chapter 18, when asked by disciples about the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He placed a little child in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”[6]

Such people were definitely not arrogantly self-sufficient, but saw Jesus as a touchstone, a reference point or new wine. They saw Him as God’s Messiah and follow him as his disciples. They brought nothing but their need for Christ who offered, and still offers, forgiveness, healing and salvation. To them God himself reveals their poverty and infancy.

Then we get to verse 27, which reads, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Know this: In the personal union of the divine and human natures in the one Person of Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, all of the divine attributes of God the Son are communicated to the human nature of Christ, for all things have been given to him by the Father.

In turn, Christ is the only one who reveals to humans the saving ways of God that are now at work in our world today. God the Father communicates to us through his Son in Word and Sacrament.

Were we to read verse 27 in isolation, we might conclude that God may not want to save everyone. There is nothing further from the truth. God wants to save everyone. The paradox is that God alone brings some people to faith through the message but all people are invited. And that brings us to verses 28-30.

Here, we read the Lord’s words: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The burdens experienced by Jewish people during the time of Jesus included an unbalanced emphasis on the necessity of obedience to all the commands of the Torah – both written and oral interpretations of it. The heavy emphasis on obedience to the Law’s commands watered down our utter dependence to God’s free grace.

And so, we must yoke ourselves – or allow ourselves to be yoked – to Jesus as his disciple. To be Jesus’ disciple is to learn from him how to be gentle and humble in heart. In learning that Jesus gently receives and forgives all who come to him in need, disciples find rest for their lives. All who come to his unparalleled authority and power with only their need in their hands find a Savior. He saves because of his own humility of heart that leads to the cross and the empty tomb for all. Taking on Christ’s yoke lightens life’s burdens and those of eternity.[7]

A personal example. Cindy and I planted a garden earlier this year. As any gardener knows, weeding is an essential task. Weeding alone is tedious and tiresome. Weeding with another person makes work easier and the burden lighter.

Jesus’ yoke is called easy. The underlying Greek word means kind. A good yoke is one that is carefully shaped so that there will be a minimum of chafing. Jesus’ yoke will be kind to our shoulders, enabling us to carry the load more easily. In this sense alone the Blessed Believer’s burden will be light. Jesus does not diminish the weight of our accountability to God but helps us to bear this responsibility.

The rest that is promised to the weary is not, however, the rest of inactivity. Jesus did not come to abolish the law of Moses but to fulfill it by providing its ultimate interpretation. Remember his words on the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”[8] What he offers is not a vacation from the law but a less burdensome way of fulfilling it. At certain points his interpretation will be more lenient (Sabbath observance), at others more stringent (divorce) than that of the Pharisees, but law observance as a whole will be simplified by his emphasis on ‘the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness’ (23:23) and on the double commandment of love of God and neighbor, for “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”[9] Rest is made possible through the provision of Jesus’ new yoke.[10]

As Blessed Believers we will struggle with sin and temptation as did Paul. He reminds us of that in our epistle today (Romans 7:14-25) when he writes, “Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”[11]

Yet, there is hope. Turn to Romans 8, and you read of the hope offered to us. Blessed believers, “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”[12]

The opportunities to love God and neighbor are more numerous than the 613 commandments of the Old Testament. How many times throughout each day can we embody Beatitudes, offer forgiveness to offenders, love our enemies, friends and family members? How gentler and humble can I be? How less anxious and angry can I be? What opportunities are there for me to give alms, pray and fast? Have I lived the Golden Rule today or offered healing to the hurt?

Friends, our opportunities to love God and neighbor are countless because God’s love for us and others is innumerable, boundless, immeasurable. As my friend, Dave Gruseck, once said, opportunities are like pitches. If you miss one, there’s another on its way.

As we celebrate our independence this weekend, may we always find ourselves like little children totally dependent upon our Savior. May we avail ourselves to His Presence in Word and Sacrament. Let us ask others to let us pray with them and ask them to pray with us because we need each other’s prayers and support. Let us live our Christian lives as enthusiastically as basketball bracketologists. And as we live, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Matthew 11:2-3.

[2] Matthew 16:13-17.

[3] Matthew 11:18-19.

[4] See Gibbs, 586.

[5] Matthew 23:12.

[6] Matthew 18:1-4.

[7] Gibbs, 591.

[8] Matthew 5:17.

[9] Matthew 22:40.

[10] Hare, 128.

[11] Romans 7:24-25.

[12] Romans 8:11.

The Baptist and the Birthday Boy

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is The Baptist and the Birthday Boy. My focus is Mark 6:14-29. 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.

As we age, most birthdays pass with little notice, save the obligatory greetings we post on Facebook, LinkedIn and elsewhere. We may receive a card in the mail or a text or voicemail on our phones, but it’s more likely that people will not remember our birthdays.

You may remember what you did for your most recent birthday, but probably not what you did in 2016 or 2015. I do not. There are, however, ways to make those days memorable. Have a theme party. Whether yours is a poker party or picnic, hippy based or a hula party, Star Wars or Disco themed, your next birthday party can be memorable. Everything you need to know can be found on social media and the web.

Of course, nobody threw a party as memorable as the infamous Herod. The Gospel today describes how John the Baptist was victim of the corruption and arrogance of the government of Herod. He died without being judged by a tribunal, but during a banquet given by Herod with the great men of the kingdom.

The text gives much information about the time of the life of Jesus and how the powerful exercised power. From the beginning of the Gospel of Mark we see a situation of suspense. Mark wrote: “After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God!”[1] In today’s Gospel, almost suddenly, we know that Herod had already killed John the Baptist. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: What will he do now with Jesus? Will he suffer the same destiny?

Rather than drawing up a balance of the opinions of the people and of Herod on Jesus, Mark asks another question: “Who is Jesus?” This last question grows throughout the Gospel until it receives a definitive response from the centurion at the foot of the Cross: “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”[2]

Who is Jesus? Some associated Jesus to John the Baptist and to Elijah. Others identified him with a Prophet, that is, with someone who spoke in the name of God, who had the courage to denounce the injustices of the powerful and who knew how to animate the hope of the little ones.

People tried to understand Jesus starting from the things that they themselves knew, believed and hoped. They tried to make him fit into familiar criteria of the Old Testament with its prophecies and its hopes, and of the Tradition of the Ancient, with their laws. But these criteria were not sufficient. Jesus could not fit in those criteria. He was much greater!

In verses 17-20, we come to the cause for the killing of John. Galilee, the land of Jesus, was governed by Herod Antipas, the son of King Herod, the Great, from the year 4 BC up to the year 39 after Christ. In all, 43 years! During the whole life time of Jesus, there had been no changes in the government of Galilee! Herod Antipas was the absolute Lord of everything; he listened to no one and did whatever he pleased! But the one, who really commanded in Palestine, from the year 63 BC, was the Roman Empire. Herod, in order not to be removed from office, tried to please Rome in everything. He insisted above all, in an efficient administration which would provide income for the Roman Empire. The only thing that concerned or worried him was his security and promotion. This is why he repressed any type of subversion.

A writer of that time says that the reason for the imprisonment of John the Baptist was the fear that Herod had of a popular revolt. Herod liked to be called benefactor of the people, but in reality, he was a tyrant.[3] The denouncement of John against him[4] was the drop which filled up the cup, and John was thrown into prison.

We come to the plot of the murdering. The birthday feast with dancing and orgies was an environment in which alliances were plotted. It was attended by great court officials and important people from Galilee. Here, the murdering of John the Baptist was plotted. John, the prophet, was a living denouncement in this corrupt system. This is why he was eliminated under the pretext of a problem of personal vengeance. All this reveals the moral weakness of Herod. So much power accumulated in the hands of a man who did not control himself. Under the enthusiasm of the feast and of the wine, Herod swore lightly to give something to the young dancer. And superstitious as he was, he thought that he had to maintain his oath.

For Herod, the life of his subjects had no value. He used them as he wanted and decided what to do with them just as he decided where to place the chairs in his house. Mark gives an account of how things happened and lets the community draw the conclusions.

Tyrants and terrorists can learn lessons from the life of Herod, but what can we learn from the Baptist? IN the 7^th century, Bede the Venerable wrote these words. “As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.

There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.

Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.

Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptized in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptize the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.

Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. My friends, I repeat that line because when we stand for truth, we stand for Christ. When we set aside personal preferences and political parties, likes and dislikes, …, and stand simply for truth, for Christ and what he preached – repentance from sin and the Kingdom of God, we will suffer in the present, but will experience the glory of martyrdom, whether we are ostracized or shunned, disowned or unfriended, whether we die naturally or at the hands of unbelievers, we will experience the incomparable glory of which St. Paul wrote, 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] Mark 1:14.

[2] Mark 15:39.

[3] Luke 22 and 25.

[4] Mark 6:18.