Meals, Mercy and Ministry

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Meals, Mercy and Ministry. My focus is on Matthew (14:13-21). 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.

A friend of mine would always bring to work a meal that looked like it was prepared by a gourmet chef. He packed it in his lunchbox. One day I praised his wife for preparing such splendid meals. He replied, “Some people eat to live. I live to eat.” … Meals. Ancient Israelites ate two meals a day, a light meal in the morning or midday and a more substantial meal around sunset. In ancient Palestine, the normal diet included bread, grains, wine, cheese, figs, dates, raisins, beans and other foods. People reserved sheep and goats, the main sources of meat, for special occasions, feasts or sacrifices. Poultry, eggs and fish became common later in Israel’s history.

Meals were more than occasions for satisfying hunger. People who ate and drank together bound one another through friendship and mutual obligation. Eating before the Lord, when one brought sacrifices and offerings, reflected the view that through sacred meals humans could commune with God.

Festive meals marked weddings or the return of an absent family member. Appointed feasts prescribed by the Torah or tradition included Purim and Passover and celebrated God’s goodness to his people.

New Testament banquets given by the well-to-do required guests to wear proper clothing. They obligated hosts to greet guests with a kiss and provide for the washing of their feet. Hosts seated guests according to rank.

At formal meals in Jesus’ day, the Greco-Roman custom of reclining on couches around a large table was widespread. One reclined on his left elbow, ate with his right hand, while his feet dangled from the couch. This explains how the woman anointed Jesus feet, how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet while they ate, and how John reclined at Jesus’ breast.

Jesus’ table fellowship with his followers was an important feature of His ministry. It symbolized the blessing of joyous communion, which drew criticism from detractors for eating with tax collectors and sinners. Labeling Him as a glutton and drunkard suggested that, unlike John the Baptist, Jesus took pleasure in eating and drinking. I could say more about meals, but this is a sermon, not a theology lecture; hence, my second point, mercy.

The primary definition of mercy is compassion shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power. It also means compassionate treatment of those in distress.

English speakers derived the term in the late 12^th century from the French word merci. Its Latin root is mercedem meaning reward or wages. In the 6^th century, the Church applied the word to the heavenly reward of those who showed kindness to the helpless.

In our Gospel today, we see that Jesus showed kindness or compassionate treatment to the helpless and distressed. Most English versions of Matthew 14:14 read that Jesus had compassion on the crowds and healed their sick. How He felt towards them gives us a rare glimpse into His inner life. Other than compassion, the only other feelings Matthew described were Jesus’ amazement at the centurion’s faith and anguish and distress in Gethsemane.

The verb “had compassion” revealed not only Jesus’ feeling, but also what he was about to do. At the end of chapter 9, Jesus had compassion for the crowds because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He responded compassionately by calling twelve disciples and sending them out with authority to cast out unclean spirits and heal people’s diseases and afflictions. Likewise, in the parable that follows His instruction to Peter to forgive seventy-seven times, we hear that the master released and forgave the servant who owed him ten thousand talents. It teaches that God responds with divine compassion to spiritual needs (forgiveness of sin) and physical needs (sickness and hunger). In chapter 15, we read, “Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.’”

Jesus’ compassionate response tells us that the reign of God in the world was concerned with spiritual needs as well as physical ones. In Christ, God reestablishes His rule over creation, and desires to restore everything that is broken, twisted, amiss or dying.

The scene then transitions to the “feeding of the 5,000.” The day is waning and the logical act would have been for Jesus to dismiss the crowds and let them fend for themselves, and that is exactly what the disciples asked Jesus to do either because they thought He could not do anything or did not want to have anything to do with the crowds and their need for food.

Refusing to dismiss the crowds, Jesus emphatically told his disciples to do something about the problem. Yet, they did not understand that He could provide.

Now, fade out the disciples and focus on Jesus. Methodically, He prepared the crowd, took the loaves and fish, pronounced a blessing and gave the food to the disciples. With this story, we are familiar, but often overlook the phrase, “they all ate and were satisfied.” Not only did all 5,000 men eat, but also the women and children. Not only were all were satisfied, there were abundant leftovers.

Strangely, there is no response or mention of astonishment or amazement from the crowd. Nothing. Yet, Jesus continued to feed, nourish, heal and teach. Today, Christ works through His Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. They relate to our body and soul. In Baptism, we die and rise with Christ. In Holy Communion, we kneel in repentant faith before we receive His Body and Blood, which preserves our bodies and souls to life everlasting. During that time, do we ponder God’s compassion and mercy for His people and their needs that arise from brokenness and sin that still trouble our world?

Do we ponder God’s compassion and mercy for His people and their needs that arise from brokenness and sin that still trouble our world? Folks, permit me to move to my third point, from mercy to ministry.

On January 6, 2014, our first grandchild, Emma, was born in Anderson, Indiana. At the time, my wife, Cindy, and I lived in Edmond, Oklahoma. The travel time between our house and Emma’s hospital was 12 hours … under normal circumstances. We left Oklahoma at 6:00 a.m. planning to arrive in Indiana by suppertime. Instead, we hit one of the worst blizzards in Illinois. We made Effingham by evening where traffic came to a standstill. We spent our first night at the Effingham Performance Arts Center on cots with 200 other travelers. Truckers, parents, infants and toddlers all crammed into one open space on cots. Cindy and I got no sleep that night.

The next morning, I learned that we would not be able to continue our trip and make Anderson by nightfall. We did not want to spend another night at the Performing Arts Center. So, being a Lutheran pastor, I looked up the Lutheran Church in Effingham. We called St. John’s Church. I explained to the secretary our plight. A few minutes later, the church president called and offered us a place to sleep. He met us and we followed him to his home. He then invited us to lunch. After lunch, we returned to his home, showered and napped. A few hours later, he asked if we would like to go to dinner with some friends. We agreed. The next morning, we headed out. We avoided the interstate and kept to state roads. We arrived in Anderson that afternoon. There and then, we saw and held our first granddaughter.

I preface my third point with this story because we experienced Christian hospitality firsthand from the president of a Lutheran congregation in Effingham, Illinois. Hospitality is who we are as Christians. Hospitality is our ministry.

Several years ago, when my younger brother died, I contacted my friend, Mark Spaziani, co-owner of Vesuvio’s Restaurant in Center Township. I asked Mark to accommodate 20 people between the funeral home viewings at his restaurant. He arranged for us a room and dedicated servers. Around 4:30 p.m., we arrived, sat, ate and returned to the funeral home for the 7:00 p.m. viewing. Although we paid for the meal, time and convenience, Mark provided a ministry or service for us.

Simply defined, ministry is the service, function or profession of a minister of religion. Ministry is from the Greek word diakoneo, meaning to serve. In the New Testament, ministry is service to God and to other people in His name. Jesus provided the pattern for Christian ministry: He came, not to receive service, but to give it. We read in Matthew, “As the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The epitome of Jesus’ service is John 13, where He washed his disciples’ feet.

Christians should minister by meeting people's needs with love and humility on Christ's behalf. In Matthew, we read, “It shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Paul opened Romans with these words: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.”

In short, Christians minister to others out of their devotion to Christ and their love for others, whether the other people are believers or unbelievers. Ministry to others should be impartial and unconditional, always seeking to help others as Jesus would.

Ministry in our day has taken on more of a vocational meaning as we call pastors "ministers" to full-time service. Pastors spend their lives in the ministry. They minister to others and rightly are designated as ministers, but pastors are not the only ones involved in ministry. From the early New Testament churches to the churches of our day, each Christian should be in the ministry of helping others.

To the Romans, Paul wrote, “By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Ministry prioritizes spiritual things, not just practical things. It emphasizes sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others so they can come to know Him and receive Him as personal Savior, experience Him as Lord, and know Christ as the essence of their Life. Ministry can, and should, include ministering to the physical, emotional, mental, vocational, and financial needs of others. Jesus did, and so should we!

That said, I close with a few words of a former boss, Mark Walter of My Chef Catering in Naperville, Illinois. I asked Mark to tell me how his work is ministry. He wrote, “I have been thinking about your sermon. I feel that My Chef helps people celebrate life through our food and services, starting with baby showers through birthdays, graduations, weddings and mournings. Through our services, we help people relax and enjoy their day. A lot of these events we set up, serve and clean up so that our clients are able to be a part of their celebration. Through our food, we help conversation by giving people a common talking point. I also feel that though great food comes comfort, joy and peace. Food helps calm the soul.

[My Chef also delivers a lot of meals to corporations, and] on the corporate side, we help nourish the body and mind.  Also, it gives the employees’ minds a break and allows them to talk about something other than work.”

Friends, whether you offer Christian hospitality to others professionally or personally, as a professional chef or president of your congregation, wherever you live and work, do it in the spirit of Christ. Follow the lead of my friend, Mark Spaziani, or my boss, Mark Walter, and help people mourn or celebrate life through food and service. In order to do so, Jesus must not only be my chef, he must also be my Lord and Savior. When you recognize Jesus as such and serve others as He did, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

God Provides

Matthew 14:13-21

While we were hosting our granddaughter, we asked her to plan a menu with us for the week. When we asked her what her favorite food is, she offered at least a dozen dishes: pizza, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, spaghetti with butter, grilled cheese sandwich and so on. I am sure you would answer the same way.

When we have many choices, we have a difficult time choosing one favorite food. But what is our favorite food when we have only one choice or no food? What will we eat when we are hungry or starving? We eat whatever someone puts before us.

In our Gospel today, the crowds came to Jesus because he taught them and healed their sick people. Late in the day, the people had not yet eaten and they were very hungry. They were starving.

Jesus’ disciples wanted him to send home the crowds because there was not enough food to feed all of them. They told Jesus that all they had were five loaves of bread and two fish. But after Jesus took what they had and blessed it, he was able to feed everyone. He fed thousands of people. And he did this more than once! This was a miracle, a sign that showed Jesus as God.

You and I will never be able to feed people as Jesus did – by multiplying bread and fish, but we can show mercy and compassion and love to other people. Perhaps we can help at a local soup kitchen, food pantry, food drive or even make peanut butter sandwiches for people who are hungry.

Today, I ask you to take some time to think about how God has blessed you. Pray about how God has provided for you – a place to rest at night, meals and a family. Be grateful in prayer for God’s mercy, compassion and love.

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.

Find the Kingdom of God!

Matthew 13:44-52

This hard rubber ball is the treasured possession of our Golden Retriever, Travis. He loves to chase and retrieve it. He loves to lie on the floor and chew on it. He loves to hold it in his mouth as he greets family or friends in our house. Other than people and food, Travis loves this more than anything else.

When we take Travis outside and he does not have his ball, we say, “Find it!” He immediately searches the house looking for his prized ball. He returns to us, tail wagging, hair flying, and drops it at our feet before we open the door to the backyard and begin a game of retrieving the ball.

When I say, “Find it!” Travis knows what I mean. If I asked you to find your prized possession, what would you show me? A football or a ball bat? A doll or an action figure? A musical instrument or an iPad? We all have prized possessions.

If I asked Jesus to find his prized possession, what would he show me? The Hebrew Scriptures? Perhaps what his followers wrote – gospels or epistles? Bread and wine? His disciples?

I think Jesus would show me the kingdom of heaven, and then explain that it is not a material possession like a doll or an action figure, a book or even a house. The kingdom of heaven is how God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – welcomes all of us as brothers and sisters to live together with Him.

Jesus would then tell us that we can have the kingdom of heaven right now if in our hearts we ask him for it. Let’s do that today and every day. Let’s ask God for his kingdom each time we say the Lord’s Prayer, each time we pray the Our Father.

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.

Didactic Disciples Doing

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Didactic, Disciples, Doing. My focus is on Matthew (13:44-52). 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.

Jak szybko mijają chwile, jak szybko płynie czas,

Za rok, za dzień, za chwilę razem nie będzie nas.

How swiftly moments are passing, how swiftly time goes by.

A year, a day, a moment from now, we’ll not be here you or I.

I open my sermon with the lyrics from a traditional Polish song to emphasize the point that time is passing quickly. This week, we will turn our calendars, and say to ourselves something like: “Wow! It’s already August?!” or “Time flies.” Most of us can look back and realize how quickly time has passed – months, years, decades. Generations have come and gone as new ones arrive. I will soon observe the 70^th anniversary of my late parents. My brother turned 65 this month. Cindy and I will celebrate our 10^th anniversary next month. Our oldest granddaughter will soon enter first grade.

How does this relate to Didactic, Disciples, Doing? Well, didactic is a philosophy that adheres to the notion that texts should be instructional as well as entertaining. The ancient Greeks used didactics through plays, poetry and prose to teach moral lessons. You may have read the famous didactic works of Pilgrim’s Progress, To Kill a Mockingbird or Rudyard Kipling’s poem entitled If. So, to answer how my Polish ditty relates to didactic works, know that learning is a lifelong process. Whether you are entering first grade or your ninth decade, you never stop learning, and to a greater degree, you never stop learning from our Triune God.

Many of Jesus’ parable often involve a character who faces a moral dilemma. Sometimes the character makes a bad decision, and sometimes a good one. The defining characteristic of the parable is the suggestion of how a person should behave or what he should believe. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper conduct in one's life, Jesus’ parables frequently used language that engaged people to discuss difficult or complex ideas. His concrete stories are easily understood despite our separation of 2000 years and 6000 miles.

As we turn to our text, we see that in the first two, the initial problem is to decide whether the point is the priceless value of the treasure or the pearl, or the behavior of those who sell all to possess the object found.^[1]

Prior to these, Jesus addressed the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven to the crowds. Here, he addressed the treasure and pearl parables to his disciples. The stress on the earlier ones was on what God was doing. Here, it is on the human response to what God is doing. Like buried treasure, God’s activity is hidden and must be discovered. It must be sought in order to be found. In short, the emphasis is not on the finding through diligence or accident, but on the overwhelming response made to the discovery. The finder sells all to possess the finding.^[2]

The parables instruct us that our response to the gracious gift of participation in God’s rule must be total. Those whose eyes have been opened to see what God is doing in Jesus must commit themselves wholeheartedly in faith and obedience.^[3]

We should not interpret these parables literally because they can be misconstrued as teaching that the kingdom of heaven is an individual possession that must be earned through the renunciation of material things.^[4]

The kingdom is not a possession but a sphere one enters. As Jesus says in chapter 18, “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.”^[5]

Yet, we cannot overlook the childlike joy one experiences when realizing the richness of the kingdom. It is such a priceless treasure that a wise man would gladly give all for the chance to seize it; it is the chance of a lifetime. Hence, half measures will not do for the kingdom of God.^[6]

Both characters in the parables appreciated the outstanding value of what they had found and after careful consideration decided it was worth more than the sum of all their other possessions. Single-minded and prepared to sacrifice absolutely everything in order to gain their found treasure, their actions portray how one is to respond to God’s kingdom.

These didactic parables yield four lessons about the kingdom and discipleship. First, the value of the kingdom is not apparent to the untrained eye. Just as the treasure hunter and the merchant had special insights that revealed the value of their discovery, so Christ’s disciples must be able to recognize the kingdom when they find it.

Second, the kingdom requires searching out. The valuable items discovered in the parables were not apparent to everyone. It is only to those who have trained themselves to discern the signs of God’s kingdom that it will be apparent.

Third, acquiring the kingdom requires a certain audacity. The treasure hunter and merchant were ready to take significant financial risks to achieve their goals. Just so, Jesus charged his disciples to be similarly fearless in their response to God’s call.

Fourth, sacrifices express hope in a future joy. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus emphasized the material and spiritual abundance that result from the adversities of discipleship. Many people would undergo hardship for financial gain. Jesus invited his disciples to do the same to attain the kingdom.

Now that I have dovetailed didactic and disciple, let me move onto my second point. The word disciple comes from the Latin word discipulus meaning learner. We understand it as one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another. In religious contexts, a disciple is one who is associated with a teacher who has a reputation or a particular view on life.

Jesus has indeed been discipling his disciples, and his teaching itself is a true treasure, but who are the scribes and what is the new and old? Well, when Jesus ended his sequence of parables by asking his disciples if they understood all he taught them, they answered yes. So, he ended this sequence of parables with a new one: “Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”^[7] A scribe is a person learned in Scripture and tradition. The wisdom of the Hebrew Bible is the old and the wisdom of Jesus is the new. “New and old” is Matthew’s way of giving new applications to old traditions about Jesus.

The disciples represent Christian believers, for whom the parables function as revelations of what God is doing. For them, the parables are not locked doors, but open windows. As Christians, we have direct access to the mysteries of the kingdom through Jesus’ parables and teachings, but we require assistance of “scribes” to help us understand the wisdom of Hebrew Scriptures to see what God was doing in the Church in 1^st-century Jerusalem, Rome, Corinth, Ephesus and other communities, as well as the 21^st-century Church. We need people like Paul, John, Peter, James, Timothy, Titus, Silvanus, and the stories of the women who stood at the Lord’s Cross and went to His Tomb to help us understand the impact of the Paschal Mystery. As Lutherans, we recognize the importance of later “scribes” such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, and others through the first eight centuries of the Church. These are all cited in the Book of Concord.^[8] As Missouri Synod Lutherans, we have needed the works of Walther and Pieper. As a pastor, I rely on the works of LCMS theologians like Reed Lessing, Jeffrey Gibbs. Arthur Just and others. In short, as modern disciples, we are constantly learning from scribes who help us appreciate the new and the old.

Like the earliest disciples and the parables two characters, we must appreciate the wonder of what we have discovered – the Kingdom of Heaven. Half-hearted attempts to appreciate God’s Kingdom and Christ’s Gospel have no place in our lives. As Christians, we are not only in this together, we are all in together. Disciples count no cost at embracing the Cross. Remember, we’re not about respectability. We’re about winning. We know that a championship, and to a greater degree God’s kingdom, is worth the wait, the labor and the sacrifice. The hardships are temporary, but the reward is eternal.

So, now for my third point, Doing. The word do has more than 30 definitions. I am not going to address all of them. Suffice it to say that it means to act. In some of the parables of chapter 13, God is doing something. In the parables of the treasure and pearl, disciples are doing something. Again, in the parable of the separation of fish Matthew reminds us that there is divine judgment. Finally, Jesus said to his disciples that “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” So, what are we to be doing prior to God’s final judgment?

Let me try to answer this by asking a question. What are you looking for in life? Everybody is searching for something. Children long for a special toy or game. Teenagers look for a boyfriend or girlfriend or success at school. Working people might be seeking out the next big career opportunity. People of any age could be wanting financial security or peace of mind. We are all looking for something.

Today, the disciple walks across the same field as everyone else, but somehow can see below the surface, and notice the treasure that is just below the surface. The disciple wanders the market like all the other jewelers, examining pearl after pearl, yet is the one who can pick out the pearl of great price — hidden in plain sight and gets it, while the experts fall for the fake and the cheap.

The disciple is like the fisherman who drags in that great net full of fish, but sees that some are already spoiled, and discards those while keeping what is really valuable – what truly leads to God.

The disciple dares to hold together some of the old and some of the new for faith is not for the passive. The disciple has to be able to notice, see, assess, discern, and decide without fear to go where faith leads.

The kingdom is God’s activity received as a gift, and the disciple must choose how valuable it is. For example, Cindy and I agreed to host our six-year-old granddaughter for two weeks. We received her as a gift. At that point, we need to choose how to spend our time that will involve us in child’s play and our granddaughter in adult activities. One activity included making pierogies. So, last Sunday, Cindy and Emma made pierogies. As adults, we could exclude her from the activity reasoning it is easier to do it ourselves. Emma could have found an excuse not to join the activity reasoning it is more fun to play in the mud or easier to watch videos on her iPad. But together, we worked through the process. During and after the process, we all found great joy – something not to be overlooked by the experienced or invited disciple.

So, my friends, what are we disciples to do? If being a disciple means learning and living the teachings of Jesus, and as time quickly passes, I strongly suggest that we continue prayerfully reading Scripture every day. Read all of Scripture through the prism of the Cross. Invest some time reading printed or online Bible commentaries or studies, many of which are free. Live in the Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to come alive in you as you venture out each day. Pray for patient tolerance and understanding, traits found in the seeker, merchant and scribe.

We should do this not only for ourselves and our families, but also for other people who may stumble across the Good News of the Kingdom without looking for it. Meeting you – a committed, loving, caring Christian – may touch their hearts and open their eyes to the wonder of God's Kingdom. They may be moved by the hope and sense of purpose Jesus has given you, and realize that this is something they too must have. Gladly, they will make any sacrifice to get it.

Friends, we conclude our parables today with the words Jesus spoke after telling the parable of the Good Samaritan: “Go and do likewise.”^[9] As you go, may that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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^[1] JBC, 657.

^[2] HARE, 157f.

^[3] HARE, 158.

^[4] Ibid.

^[5] Matthew 18:3-4.

^[6] JBC, 657.

^[7] Matthew 13:52.

^[8] See https://lutheranreformation.org/history/lutherans-early-church-fathers/ and http://cyclopedia.lcms.org/display.asp?t1=a&word=APOSTOLICFATHERS

^[9] Luke 10:37.

Parable, Passage, Prayer (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Parable, Passage and Prayer. My focus is on Matthew (13:24-30, 36-43). 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.

What is a parable? Simply defined, a parable is a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual lesson. It comes to us from the Latin, parabola, and the Greek, parabole, which literally meant ‘a throwing beside.’ Its origin is from the term para, meaning alongside, and bole, a throwing, casting, beam or ray.

The geometrically gifted understand that a parabolic curve refers to a comparison between fixed points and a straight line. The St. Louis Arch and your satellite dish are parabolic curves. Jesus, however, did not teach math or build arches. Rather, he compared real life situations to teach a lesson about God.

Parables were part of Jewish tradition. The Hebrew term for a parable was mashal. We find mashal in the allegories, proverbs, riddles and taunts of Judges, Samuel, Proverbs and Prophets. We are familiar with Nathan’s powerful story to David of the rich man who stole and slaughtered the poor man’s prized lamb. It transformed David to a humble, contrite sinner. So, we see that Jesus did not invent parables, but like his ancestors, used them to win people over to his views.

Jesus spoke parables to proclaim the gracious advent, disturbing presence and challenging implications of the Kingdom of God. At times, he opened with, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” or, “To what shall I compare?” Often, he concluded with a challenging question. “Which of these three … proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” Or, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Today, Jesus completed his parable with an alarming, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

While Jesus did not pressure listeners to choose any one direction, he confronted them with the necessity to make a choice that determined their future. No doubt, his listeners who viewed matters one way now discovered a better way. Discovering a better way resulted in conversion, reconciliation and changed behavior. Once they experienced conversion and reconciliation, his followers transformed society and changed the world. As I conclude my first point on parables, I repeat that last sentence. Once they experienced conversion and reconciliation, his followers transformed society and changed the world.

From parable to passage, my second point. I repeated the last sentence because repetition is effective pedagogy. We learned our catechism by repeating answers to questions. As Luther employed repetition, so did Matthew. He emphasized the importance of this parable by following up with the disciples asking Jesus to explain its meaning.

Our passage is about God acting, about God doing kingly deeds. God graciously reigns in Jesus as He speaks this parable, and will reign one day in glorious power. We know that God reigned in Jesus and is reigning among us today; however, the reign of God takes place in unexpected, unsatisfying ways as far as we are concerned. I will explain that last part in a moment.

We break this passage into two parts: a description of the situation (vv. 24-28a), followed by a response (28b-30). In describing the situation, Jesus used past-time indicatives. We remember indicatives from our English Grammar classes. The indicative mood states facts or asks questions. (I drink coffee.) The imperative mood expresses commands or requests. (Pour me a cup of coffee, please.) The subjunctive mood shows a desire. (I wish I had a cup of coffee.)

Jesus stated that the reign of God has already become like a man who sowed good seed in the field: a past-time indicative statement. Remarkably, during the night an enemy sowed seed over top of the man’s wheat crop. In time, the plants came up, bore fruit, and then the situation became known. The initial dialogue between the servants and the master of the house confirms what we already know – the facts.

In the second interchange between the servants and their master, the question becomes, “What does the master want to do about changing things?” Their attempt to collect the weeds from the midst of the wheat is met with a lengthy, explanatory reply. “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

The servants are most emphatically not to change the situation for that would be dangerously premature. In short, it is not their call. The danger in separating the weeds from the wheat would uproot wheat. The servants are to let the plants grow together until the harvest.

The crowds who first heard Jesus’ parable took away two things. First, this is a little story about what it is like now that God has begun to restore his royal rule during Jesus’ time. Second, the story communicates that the crowds should not expect anything different from Jesus’s ministry other than what it has been. Although the crowds have been curious about and positive towards Jesus, they are not his disciples. They are not satisfied with Jesus and must find something lacking in him. Yet, they should expect no other Jesus.^[1]

The crowds expect something different from what they have seen and heard so far. Again, the reign of God takes place in unexpected, unsatisfying ways as far as the crowd is concerned. For the crowd believes that one day it will be different. One day, there will be a change. Yet, they should expect no other Jesus.

The basic impact of the passage is akin to Jesus telling the crowds, “Stop looking for something other than what I am offering you. I must seem strange to you, like a man who has an enemy so evil that he scatters weeds in the man’s field at night, and then the owner does not even weed out the harmful plants from the midst of his own crop! This must seem strange to you, but what you see in me is the present manifestation of God’s reign in the world.”

The crowd does not seek the meaning of this parable. Jesus’ disciples later seek the parable’s meaning. The crowd, however, does not understand it, and does not care to try to understand it. Pity, for – like the harvest – judgment comes to everyone, even the one who does not care to understand deeply Jesus’ words.

Judgment comes to everyone, even the one who does not care to understand deeply Jesus’ words. That said, what has this passage to do with us and my third point, prayer? Previously, I have said that prayer is communal and personal. We pray in our sanctuaries and rooms. It is from the heart, and it is also vocal. Prayer is God looking at me, and me looking at God. Several weeks ago, I introduced the Five P’s of Prayer: Passage, Place, Posture, Presence and Passage.

As I meditated on this passage from Matthew, I saw that the disciples were deficient in their insight and understanding. Their faith did not grow the way it should have – like the tiny mustard seed into something larger than expected. Yet, before I become critical of the remaining disciples, I reviewed what happened since this section opened in chapter eleven.

Many followers abandoned Jesus. The reign of heaven came under attack (11:12). Galileans failed to repent and receive the Gospel from the Apostles (11:20-24). Jewish leaders turned against Jesus (12:1-45). He disparaged his family (12:46-50). The crowds did not comprehend his teaching (13:1-15). And what followed was his rejection in Nazareth (13:53-58) and the beheading of John the Baptist (14:1-12).

Agreed, it’s easy for us from the comfort of our homes to criticize the original disciples for their lack of faith, insight and understanding. It’s even easier to criticize those who abandoned Jesus or did not inquire about the meaning of his parables. And when I place this passage into our time and place, it’s easy to see why parables are timeless lessons.

What came to me was that many people are willing to sell their souls for success or simply social acceptance. Many books and movies follow this theme with the seminal work being Faust, the 15^th-century German legend of a highly successful astrologer dissatisfied with his life. He made a deal with the devil exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. While I doubt any of us have made a deal with the devil, the words Faust and Faustian imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success for a limited term.

I may not be willing to sell my soul, but as I reflect upon life, were there or are there moments when I desired or coveted to be rich or famous? Perhaps it was to be the star athlete, actor or academic? Maybe it was a title or degree or position?

Maybe I never considered selling my soul, but maybe I never was attracted to the teachings of Jesus and the Gospel – what God has done for us through the Paschal Mystery of His Son, that is, Jesus’ acceptance of suffering and death leading to the Resurrection. Maybe Law and Gospel were never as palatable or pleasurable as fame and fortune. Maybe I found more attractive an interest or a profession and never considered how accounting, baking, coaching, cooking, counseling, engineering, nursing, selling, teaching might be applied to Christianity.

In many professions, including pastoral ones, we have been taught by someone that it is important to be relevant, relatable, recognized, retweeted, reposted, and in the process, popular, rich and famous. In our personal lives, there may have been a time when other things mattered more than my faith – a desirable house, a landscaped yard, a luxury car. In the world’s eyes, all these things and more may be good. But to be seen as successful or to have the trappings associated with success start subtly, like weeds sown among the wheat; and like weeds, temptations always return.

Part of the reason we don’t notice temptations is because we trust the people planting them in us. Martin Luther once commented on this passage this way: “… We are not to think that only true Christians and the pure doctrine of God are to dwell upon the earth; but that there must be also false Christians and heretics in order that the true Christians may be approved. …  For this parable [addresses] … those who are unchristian in their doctrine and faith under the name Christian, who beautifully play the hypocrite and work harm. It is a matter of the conscience and not of the hand. And they must be very spiritual servants to be able to identify the tares among the wheat. And the sum of all is that we should not marvel nor be terrified if there spring up among us many different false teachings and false faiths. Satan is constantly among the children of God.”^[2]

He continues on how we should respond to such teachers. “We are not to uproot nor destroy them. Here he says publicly let both grow together. We have to do here with God’s Word alone; for in this matter he who errs today may find the truth tomorrow. Who knows when the Word of God may touch his heart? But if he be burned at the stake, or otherwise destroyed, it is thereby assured that he can never find the truth; and thus the Word of God is snatched from him, and he must be lost, who otherwise might have been saved. Hence the Lord says here, that the wheat also will be uprooted if we weed out the tares. That is something awful in the eyes of God and never to be justified.”^[3]

In other words, God will gather the weeds and burn them. He will shut the door on foolish virgins late for the wedding, cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, and send to eternal punishment those who did not do tend to the needs of the least. Yet, before that time arrives, we must, as the Good Doctor suggests, pray for their conversion to the true Christian Faith.

Folks, our world is populated with God’s disciples and enemies. While I wish God would act now, I must be patient and allow God to punish as He deems. For left to my own will, to paraphrase Martin Luther, I would wreck it all.

I know God’s enemies are active. Some are obvious and others are subtle: powers and people who promote any lifestyle contrary to the Gospel and God’s Law whether they are the seven deadly sins compiled in Proverbs or vices in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Some promote personal sins and others modern social sins – destroying the environment, trafficking drugs and humans, violating fundamental rights of human nature and so on.

As Jesus’ disciples and our Father’s subjects, we must not only be aware of God’s enemies and the temptations they sow among us, and pray for their conversion, but also awaken society to them. As prayerful Christians taking our faith to school and work, to family gatherings and on vacation, to the political sphere and our virtual communities, we, like the original disciples, will struggle. That is why we rely solely on Jesus to steady us through Word and Sacrament. Friends, as you take your faith from these walls into the world, I pray that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Gibbs, 694f.

[2] https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/luther_martin/misc/003_wheat-n-tares.cfm

[3] Ibid.