Tax Table Today!

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Tax Collectors, Table Fellowship and Today, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 19:1-10). 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 we 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 I sometimes do, I look for a relationship between our passage and our popular culture. I did not find any decent movies about tax collectors, but did find a few about evading taxes. A number of well-known actors and athletes were convicted for evading taxes, but the best story I found is a song that fits our topic, George Harrison’s “Taxman.”

The lyrics protest the progressive tax on The Beatles by the United Kingdom’s Labour government. In 1966, the Treasury took over 90% of their earnings. Harrison’s lyrics stemmed from reality: “There's one for you, nineteen for me ‘cause I'm the taxman …  Should five percent appear too small be thankful I don't take it all. Is it no wonder many people hate the taxman?!”

Now whatever you think of tax collectors, the system in the Roman Empire resulted not only in revenue, but also revulsion. Taxes levied by Rome were many and varied. Because the land of Jesus was an imperial province, the taxes went into the coffers of the emperor. This is the basis of the question about the legality of paying taxes to Caesar. The poll tax had to be paid by every male over fourteen and every female over twelve. That and land tax were collected directly by Roman officials, but other indirect taxes on imports and exports, road and bridge tolls, market and slave taxes were imposed by local rulers like Herod.

As a class, tax collectors were hated by their fellow Jews because they represented Rome’s foreign domination. The tax collectors overcharged people and pocketed the surplus. In rabbinical writings they are classified with robbers. In the synoptic gospels they are bracketed with sinners. Jewish people considered them to be renegades, who sold their services to the foreign oppressor to make money at the expense of their own countrymen.

None of this was lost on Jesus. Yet, in rebuking the self-righteousness of the Pharisees, Jesus stated that the tax collectors would enter the Kingdom of God before them because he recognized that there is forgiveness for even the worst sinners.

Ironically, this tax collector’s name, Zacchaeus, means “pure.” He straddles two symbolic worlds in Luke: he is a tax collector and one who responds generously to God’s call. We read of such people in chapter three: tax collectors who approached John the Baptist to be baptized and asking what they must do (3:12-13). Zacchaeus was also a rich man who found it difficult to liberate himself from his possessions. He’s sort of a combination of Levi the Tax Collector who follows Jesus as Matthew and the Rich Young Man (chs 5 and 18). It seems that Zacchaeus made his money not by physically intimidating people, because we know that he was short, but by operating a pyramid scheme.

The other thing we know about Zacchaeus is that he climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus. The last time I climbed a tree, my niece, Simone, was a preteen. Her dad built her a fabulous tree house, and she invited me into it. I was about 50, and the tree house had a ladder. Now, when is the last time you climbed a tree? My point is that children climb trees. And what did Jesus think when he saw this finely dressed tax collector in a tree looking at him? My guess is that he thought Zacchaeus was acting like a child.

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God belongs to children. That said, what grown man would act like a child and climb a tree only to get a glimpse of someone? Perhaps a curious or cynical person or perhaps a self-reflective person who knows that it’s time for a change in life. Scripture is silent on Zacchaeus’ motives, but perhaps Jesus saw someone whose name did fit him? Perhaps Jeus saw someone who was pure and thought of the Beatitudes he taught on the mountain and on the plain: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. … Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. (Mt 5:8; Lk 6:22-23) Before I move on to my second point, I ask that you consider this passage the next time a person asks you about your faith. See them as Jesus saw Zacchaeus.

My second point is Table Fellowship. To invite a person to a meal was an honor in the ancient Near East. It was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness; in short, sharing a table meant sharing life.[1] Prior to the Exodus Passover meal, God provided food in Eden, and fellowshipped with Abraham and Sarah. Passover developed into weekly synagogue worship of which the Jewish Sabbath meal was a part.

Table fellowship is vital to Jesus’ ministry throughout Luke’s Gospel. Luke narrated ten meals which included dining with tax collectors and Pharisees, his Twelve Apostles and some slow hearted believers. Understand that not every meal is the Lord’s Supper, but each is a supper with the Lord, and each relates to his cross and resurrection. Around those meal tables, Luke included three essential ingredients: the presence of God in Jesus, which makes it a meal with God, the teaching of Jesus, and eating with Jesus.

At the table, Jesus taught about the kingdom of God in which he, the King, is present to offer the forgiveness of sins. He taught the larger significance of the meal is a celebration of his forgiveness. Those who fully participated in fellowship and benefited from it were repentant sinners, except for someone like Simon the Pharisee who was not.

As we read through Luke’s ten meals stories, we notice that the later ones in chapters 13-15, contain references about fellowship and salvation in the future. When we read today’s passage, that heavenly eating is inaugurated in the meal with Zacchaeus, which is why Jesus proclaimed that salvation has come to this house.

As believers we see that Jesus’ continuing practice of teaching and eating with his disciples at table has given the church the pattern for our liturgical worship. In Acts, we read that the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts (2:42, 46). We read in chapter 20, how Paul and other believers in Troas gathered together to break bread. These passages and others confirm that from the beginning the church followed the divine pattern through worship that included teaching and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper that reaches back into the Old Testament and looks ahead to the wedding supper (Isa 25:6-9; Rev 19:6-9). Friends, Jesus’ table fellowship is at the very heart of the kingdom of God now as it was then.

With that, I proceed to my third point, Today. The Greek word for today, sḗmeron, denotes a span of human activity embracing a day up to the evening. In the Old Testament, day is the time of dealing with God. What takes place “today” is from God, and means fulfillment, whether in revelation, salvation or judgment. Today looks back to the past and forward to the future.

In the New Testament, we find that today is like the petition in The Lord’s Prayer, asking God for daily bread. And to escape the day’s anxieties, believers were called to orient themselves to God’s provision for the day, such as the weather (Mt 16:3).

We read in Luke, chapter two, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” This theme is repeated throughout Luke. Jesus said to those attending the Sabbath service at the synagogue in Nazareth, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21).

To his disciples, he said, “If God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!” (12:28). To those Pharisees who reported Herod’s plan to kill Jesus, he replied that they should tell Herod, “I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course” (13:32) To the thief on the cross who asked to be remembered, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (23:43) This last use is that of one who is on the point of death, and contrasts the immediate future with the present situation.[2]

Today, as spoken by Jesus in today’s Gospel, means God’s salvation is not in some distant future, but is already being inaugurated. Zacchaeus underwent a change – a change in his heart and in his community. He is no longer marginalized, but front and center with Jesus and the Church.

Today, we observe Reformation Sunday, we look back to the historic date of October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther knew that the church would be full on the Feast of All Saints, and purposefully chose October 31^st because he knew his words would then be read.

Reformation Day has been observed as a holiday since the mid-16th century, but its official date of October 31st was not set until about 1717. This is when it became an official German observance and the date from which it would spread on an international level. People observe Reformation Day religiously, and others see October 31^st as a day to shop or sightsee. It is a good day for you to take some time to learn more about Martin Luther and the teachings of the Lutheran Church – and so, I am going to read to you the entire Book of Concord.

Today, we also celebrate Reformation Sunday by confirming John Blazier and look forward to admitting him to the Table of the Lord. We do not view Confirmation as a sacrament, but as a public rite of the church for the baptized who have been catechized about our confession, life and mission as Church. As you heard during the Rite of Confirmation, John confessed the Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and the doctrine of the Lutheran Church. He studied the Small Catechism and intends to faithfully conform his life to those teachings, using the means of grace that comes to us through Word and Sacrament to help him do so.

Today, you have the opportunity to participate in Christ’s table fellowship not only here with the Sacrament, but also as we gather for some informal table fellowship after worship. Everyday, you have the opportunity to recognize in another’s heart their desire to see Christ. Like Jesus, you have the opportunity for table fellowship in your home or theirs, at a coffee shop or restaurant. You have the opportunity to see in others a pure heart because like Jesus, you pray “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10). You have the opportunity every day to proclaim, “Today, salvation has come to this house, to this heart, to this humble sinner.” 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] Arthur A. Just, Jr., Luke 1:1-9:50. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (1997), pp. 231-241. His words are italicized.

[2] E. Fuchs, “sḗmeron”, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, editors; Abridged in One Volume by Geoffrey W. Bromley. Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (1985), pp. 1024-1025.

GOD'S HOUSE

 

When we were having our house built, my wife and I went into the construction site and looked at it every day. We walked into the basement, and then when the first floor was built, we walked around it. Eventually the roof was finished, and then the walls. We were really excited as the completion of the house got closer. Then we had to paint all the walls and doors. That was the real exciting part – for my wife.

I mention that because in our Psalm today (5), we read, “I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.” Have you ever entered our church and thought that? Have you ever entered any church and thought that?

I have been in many beautiful churches across the United States and throughout Europe where I entered and stood in awe marveling at the beauty of what I saw. Most of these churches were over 100 years old. They were magnificent, and I really thought that God must live here.

You know that Jesus marveled at the Temple in Jerusalem when he entered it. For the Jewish people, the Temple was where God truly lived. God was found in the “Holy of Holies.” Today, Jesus lives here, and in our hearts, and in other believers’ hearts.

So, when you meet other believers, you should be in awe of God just as Jesus was in awe of God in the Temple, and just as King David was in awe of God when he came before the ark of the covenant. As God’s children, we should love and honor God in every believer, and hope that others see God in us, but that only happens when we show how much we love God.

With that, we pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and 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.

 

Adoption, Attraction, Attorney

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Adoption, Attraction and an Attorney, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 18:15-17). 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 we 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.

The Blind Side, Tarzan, Superman, Annie. These popular, warm-hearted movies all have one theme in common. They all involve adoption. Last week, as I mentioned abortion in my sermon, I said to some that this Sunday I would talk about adoption. The word adopt means to take by choice into a relationship, as in adopting a child. The word has other uses as well. One can adopt a practice, or accept formally and put into effect, or sponsor the care and maintenance of a highway.

The Latin word adoptare means chose for oneself, take by choice, select, adopt, especially to take into a family, or adopt as a child. It comes to us from the Latin words ad meaning to or towards and optare meaning choose, wish, desire.

St. Paul used the metaphor of adoption to characterize the relationship of Christians to God.[1] In Greco-Roman law the father of the family could purchase and legally adopt a son. He knew that Israel enjoyed such a sonship to God through the covenant election. We read in Romans 9:4, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.” Gentile Christians entered into this intimate and confident relationship with God through Christ’s redemptive death and resurrection. In Romans 8:14-15, he reminded Christians that “those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” We read about this in Galatians 4:5-7, as well.

As adopted children of God, we are joint heirs with Christ of God’s promises. The ultimate outcome of our adoption is final salvation, which transforms us and all of creation. Because we are adopted, we have access to the same freedom from fear, the same confidence in prayer, and the same assurance of the loving union with God as Jesus does.[2]

From adopt to attract, my second point. The word attract means to pull to or draw toward oneself or itself. We learned as children that magnets attract iron. It seems that picnics always draw ants and bees. If I want to get my dogs’ attention, I do so by offering treats. Some people make a living by attracting visitors to museums or baseball games.

The word attract comes to us from the Latin attrahere, which means to draw or pull. The word was formed by joining ad and trahere, which means pull, draw or even drag. I often drag an implement behind my tractor.

I use the word attract because it seems that Jesus and children enjoyed a mutual attraction. In the Gospels we see how Jesus attracted children and was attracted to them.[3] All three synoptic gospels record Jesus’ interaction with children, and how he chastised his disciples for shooing away these little ones. At Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem children praised him by shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” This triggered the ire of the chief priests and scribes to which the Lord replied, “Do you hear what they are saying? … Have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

Each Evangelist records how Jesus used children as an example of what we call childlike faith. His feeding miracles involved children. Matthew recorded that children were present (Matthew 14:13–21; 15:32–38), and in John we read that when the crowds were coming to Jesus who then asked Philip where they would buy bread to feed them, Andrew reported, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” (John 6:1-14).

Jesus also healed children. He restored the son of an official in Capernaum (John 4:46–54). He removed an unclean spirit from the little daughter of a Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24–30) and cast a demon out of a boy who had been afflicted since childhood (Mark 9:14–29). He raised Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter from the dead (Luke 8:40–56).

When the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest among them, Jesus 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.” (Matthew 18:3–4). He pointed to the way earthly parents cared for their children to teach about the depth of God the Father's love of us. St. John wrote, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (1:12-13). The New Testament continues the theme of being God’s children and the ability to know God as our Father.

Regarding today’s text, Pastor Arthur Just[4] teaches that infants mean baby in the womb or after birth, which is very important when we are discussing the sanctity of life. “Unborn babies are deemed to be fully human persons.” These parents wanted Jesus to touch them because through his touch, Jesus healed the leper, raised the widow’s son, and restored the severed ear of the high priest’s servant (5:13; 7:14; 22:51). To touch or to be touched by Jesus brings you into contact with God’s power to restore.

Notice that the infants or babies were brought by their parents. They do not get to choose for themselves if they are going to see Jesus or not. They must be brought into Jesus’ presence. The parents’ desire to have him touch their children illustrates that these adults were convinced that the Lord’s fleshly presence conveyed blessings or gifts or grace.

The disciples saw this as an inappropriate act because they thought they knew what they were doing, but the fact is that they did not understand the nature of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ rebuke of his own disciples is the strongest since he scolded the lawyers for taking away the key of knowledge and hindering those seeking to enter God’s kingdom (11:52).

The word Jesus spoke is better translated as release. Release the little children to come to me. Release them so that they may share in the kingdom and the new creation that come through his flesh – flesh that he gives for the life of the world (Jn 6:51). To touch the baby conceived and born as the King of that kingdom meant that one participated in the blessings of that kingdom. I recall my trip to Bethlehem in 1993, and how the crowd wanted only to touch the star that marked the spot of Jesus’ birthplace. Jesus had that kind of rock star appeal – and has it even today when we touch his body and blood in Holy Communion. So, the disciples’ action of trying to prevent children from coming to him was to keep them from what was there for them.

By their simplicity, humility and inability to come to Jesus, infants and young children demonstrate for us the characteristics and posture of those who enter the kingdom. The kingdom comes to those who are the least among humanity and have nothing to offer God. Salvation is by his initiative and by his gift, and children are the best example of the humility Jesus speaks of at the end of his parable on the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke’s point is that for a person to receive the kingdom of God by faith, you must be as humble and helpless as a child. If disciples turn away children from Jesus, they do not understand the nature of the kingdom and do not enter into it. Childlike humility and faith, given by God, are the means by which God brings people into his kingdom.

How does this apply to infant baptism? Early Christians must have asked if infants could enter into the kingdom without mature intellectual comprehension. To answer that, they looked to Luke who told us about the Ethiopian eunuch who wondered what could prevent him from being baptized, and Peter who asked what there was to prevent Cornelius and his family from being baptized. Like tax collectors, sinners and infants, they too seemed like the least to qualify for the kingdom. Jesus’ words, “Stop preventing them” implies the mandate, “Do not prevent infants or Gentiles from receiving the gifts of the King through Holy Baptism.” The reason why we baptize infants is that there is nothing in Scripture to prevent or delay baptism. Bring your infants to Jesus in the Sacrament. Bring your children and grandchildren to Church to receive Christ’s touch, Christ’s blessing, Christ’s Word. Before I begin my third point, I ask what prevents you from coming to hear and touch Christ in our church?

Now, an Attorney. Last week as I addressed the issue of abortion, I realized that there is a life-giving alternative to tragically ending the life on an unborn person, and that is adoption. One of twenty-five families with children in America has adopted a child. You may know someone who has. I know pastors and dedicated Christians who have adopted siblings of mixed races, children with special needs, and children born into other cultures and countries. All of these parents have one trait in common. They love their children.

Americans overwhelmingly see adoption as a good in society. Yet abortions outnumber adoptions in America 50 to 1. Why the discrepancy? Attorney Elizabeth Kirk is the director of the Center for Law and the Human Person at the Catholic University Columbus School of Law, where she also teaches family law. She says that the reasons for the discrepancy are complex, and that they are important for the pro-life movement to understand in a post-Dobbs world.

She and her husband adopted four children – three were newborn infants and one through the foster care system. She was also the child of an unexpected pregnancy and her single mother chose life for her and later married a “just man” when Kirk was 3 years old. The man then adopted her. She credits her father’s generous love and his gift of fatherhood, which shaped her views on adoption from an early age – and prepared her to welcome their own children.

She said in a recent interview, “My experience as a foster mother, an adoptive mother and an adopted child, the state of the current foster care crisis, the horror of abortion, and the urgency with which vulnerable women and children need help compels me to be active on these issues.”

Kirk says that there is a “soft stigma” surrounding adoption. The “soft stigma” is that 86% of Americans have a favorable to extremely favorable view of adoption. They consider adoption to be a noble institution, one that responds to a real human need – providing a home for a child who needs one, however, from the perspective of women with unexpected pregnancies, adoption is the “non-option.”

In 2020, there were 3.6 million live births and more than 930,000 abortions. The number of infants placed for adoption that year was less than 20,000. That ratio, of abortions to adoptions, is nearly 50:1. “The wildly disproportionate number of abortions to adoptions reveals that most women facing an unplanned pregnancy do not consider adoption at all.”

Kirk recalled that when President Obama received an honorary degree from Notre Dame and gave the commencement speech, he listed a number of proposals to reduce the number of abortions, including making adoption more available. For a very long time, adoption has been viewed as “common ground” in the fraught culture wars over abortion, and pro-adoption legislation is often bipartisan.

Yet, the opposite has occurred in the wake of the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling. There continue to be numerous attacks on adoption. It has become politicized and divisive. There is an enormous uptick in anti-adoption voices in academia, the popular press, and social media. This anti-adoption message will be even more difficult to overcome.

Kirk says that overturning Roe is the opportunity to embrace a model of family law that recognizes that vulnerable women need communities of support — rather than to be abandoned to an isolated, sterile ‘privacy.’

Friends, Christianity’s vision of the human person and of the family is radically different from the awful, lonely view that anti-adoptionists promote. Pregnancy and childbirth are difficult and adoption does involve suffering. Adoption always occurs in broken circumstances, but it can be the occasion for great beauty and healing.

Only in a culture where we are at our best, where we are fully alive and human, and when we give away freely and sacrificially our very selves for another does it become possible for women who are unable to parent, to have the courage to embrace the difficult choice of adoption which respects both the dignity of motherhood and the life of the unborn child. We will get there only when we model our lives on Jesus who welcomed not only infants, but also mothers and their preborn children. My friends, model your life on Jesus, because when you do, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Donald Senior, C.P., “Adoption as Children of God,” The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality. Collegeville MN: The Liturgical Press (1993), p. 10.

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.compellingtruth.org/Jesus-and-children.html

[4] Arthur A. Just, Jr., Like 9:51-24:53. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House(1997), pp. 686-690. His words are italicized.

Prayer Power

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Three Ps of Engaged Christians: Parable, Passage and Prayer, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 18:1-8). 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 we 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.

Parable. I have spoken about the definition of a parable previously, but it bears repeating. 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, Prophets and the intertestamental Book of Enoch. 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 question. “Which of these three … proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” Today’s parable asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

While Jesus’ questions did not pressure listeners to choose any one direction, they 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 Luke. He emphasized continued prayer in this passage, and humble prayer in the next. The conclusion of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector reads, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We also find a parallel between today’s passage and chapter 11, where Jesus said, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’” In both, the main character is the petitioned, not the petitioner. The petitioned represents God, who listens and answers, but the attention goes to the petitioner, who asks, seeks and knocks. In other words, do not be afraid to bother God. Do not give up on prayer.

Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray earnestly to the end. Luke recorded that when Jesus was in the Mount of Olives, he was in agony but prayed more earnestly. In Acts, when Peter was in prison, the church prayed earnestly to God for him. Like the widow seeking justice, the disciples’ goal, even in the midst of difficulties, was never give up before the Son of Man returns.

Jesus then described the judge as unrighteous, unaccountable to God and inconsiderate towards people. The listeners understood that this man was not a religious figure, but a secular judge who ruled through the authority of the occupying power, a common practice in the Ancient Middle East. Think Pontius Pilate. In many cases, people sought justice in these courts because the judicial process was quicker and smoother. We find an indication of this practice in chapter 12. Jesus said, “As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

The oppressed widow symbolized the helpless and defenseless. She knew she had right on her side, appealed for vindication and expected swift justice. As a favor to her oppressor, a rich and influential man, the judge delayed her hearing.

The judge did not decide according to the exhortations to give widows their rights according to the Law and Prophets. There, we read, “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.” In another, we read, “Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.” And, “I will be a swift witness against … those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and fatherless, [and] those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord.”

Yet, the unrighteous, exasperated judge yielded to the widow’s relentless pursuit of justice. He could do nothing to appease her short of giving her a swift hearing based on Roman law. He did so because he was tired of having his reputation sullied and his name ridiculed among his peers because this poor, defenseless widow never gave up seeking justice.

If the unjust judge does right by the widow for whom he does not care – a case in which the chances for a positive outcome are very slim – how much more will God respond to the unceasing cry of his elect, since, in contrast to the judge, he listens favorably to them.[13] The unjust judge did not care for the widow and hardly wanted to listen to her. Our righteous, loving God has a lively interest in his elect and is always prepared to listen to them.

God is always prepared to listen; however, as I mentioned earlier, Jesus often concluded parables with a question. Here, he asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Will he find disciples actively engaged in prayer?

Will he find disciples actively engaged in prayer? That, folks, leads me to my third point, prayer. Prayer is the necessary foundation of our work as church and individuals. It is communal and personal. We pray in our sanctuaries and rooms. To paraphrase one holy person, prayer is God looking at me, and me looking at God. It is from the heart, but it is also vocal. We speak the Lord’s Prayer as Jesus taught it to his disciples.

Prayer involves reading Scripture. Daily, my wife and I read aloud the Psalms. Prayer involves thought and imagination, gifts Jesus employed as he formed parables. Praying over Nathan’s story to David may reduce me to a humble, contrite sinner. Pondering Jesus’ closing question in the Parable of the Good Samaritan may leave me wondering if I show mercy to diverse neighbors. Meditating on the Parable of the Prodigal may challenge the depth of my love for father and brother, mother and sister. So, friends, you see why my last point is prayer. When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith in me? Will he find me praying earnestly to the end – like Peter in prison or Jesus in the Mount of Olives?

Jesus based this parable on trust and confidence in God’s help and assistance. He could be so straightforward in his assurance that God hears the cry of his people because he took seriously the action of God in his own life and ministry. He saw it in Israel’s history and the world around him.

We do not live in that history and world. We live in a country with a different history and a different world. Therefore, we pray over this parable in order to relate it to our daily lives. When I pray over the passage, many questions rise to the surface, but let me focus only on a few.

First, who are today’s widows? Who are God’s elect who cry out to him day and night seeking justice? Whose voices are the exploited and oppressed?

Second, Jesus promises that God will give justice to his elect. If I – created in the image and likeness of God, baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, a redeemed sinner and child of God – If I am to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, how do I extend mercy to those who seek justice? If the unjust judge who neither feared God nor respected man knew how to extend justice to the poor, exploited and oppressed widow, to whom do I extend justice?

I asked myself, “Who are the exploited?” Recalling my work at World Neighbors, an international organization solving hunger, I saw the immensity of poverty in rural Asia, Africa and Latin America. As a fundraiser for a homeless service provider in Berkeley, California, I met many homeless vets and people with mental health disorders. As a program manager for Jubilee Soup Kitchen, I interviewed dozens of women exploited by pushers and pimps. I could list scores of exploited and oppressed people who cry out to God seeking justice, but only the unborn do not have a voice.

According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. In the US, there are over 3,000 abortions per day. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies in the USA (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.[1] [16] Lutherans for Life, Priests for Life, Operation Rescue, Guttmacher Institute, the CDC and others publish pages of statistics and stories on their websites. Read them. Think about the 125 babies aborted during the length of our worship service, or the 31 during the length of this sermon. Ask yourself if these exploited and oppressed elect of God cried out when aborted because of the primary reason: they were inconvenient to the parents.

I concluded my first point by saying that once people heard Jesus’ parables, they experienced conversion and reconciliation, transformed society and changed the world. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Will he find that Lutherans Engage the World is a reality or simply a magazine?

Friends, these exploited and oppressed people created in the image of God have no voice and yet cry out for justice. As men and women who experienced conversion and reconciliation, our prayers and actions can transform society and change the world. As we approach the election, seriously consider not only people, but also political parties and policies that ignore or respond to those who cry out to God. Let your vote express justice and mercy for those who cry out to God, yet have no voice.

Beyond the ballot box, pray and protest the inhumane slaughter of the innocents, and tax-payer funding of agencies that abort unborn persons. Do this, and know that when the Son of Man returns, he will find you engaged in prayer and in the practice of your faith. When He returns, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.[2]

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[1] See https://www.worldometers.info/abortions/

[2] For additional Scripture references, see https://cwynar.blogspot.com/2016/10/three-ps-of-engaged-christians-luke-181.html

HELP!

 

When you need help, who do you call? Ghostbusters? Some people think they don’t need help from anybody, but everyone eventually needs help from somebody. When I need help finding a contractor, I ask my friends to suggest someone. When I need help with my tractor, I call my cousin, Justin. When I need help making dinner, I look up a recipe. When I need help writing a sermon or a children’s message, I look at my Bible study guides.

I mention that because our Psalm (121) reads, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Did you know that Psalm 121 is the basis of poems, hymns, songs and even a movie? The Sound of Music features Psalm 121. I was 8 years old when the movie was first shown. We saw it at the ABC Drive-In Theater. If you have not seen the movie, you should ask your parents to show it to you.

In the movie, the Von Trapp family escapes the Nazis by going up into the hills of Austria and crossing the border into Switzerland. Before the family makes its way, the Mother Abbess encourages the family by saying, “Remember: ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.’”

My point is that when you need help, you can ask your family and friends, but remember that your help comes from the Lord. God is never asleep, and as you go out and return home, He is always at your right hand to protect you and keep you from evil.

Remember the many ways God helps you, and when your family members and friends need help, you can help them best by turning to Psalm 121 and to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

With that, we pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and 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.

 

SAMARITAN THANKSGIVING

 

Do you know what holiday tomorrow is? In the United States, the second Monday of October is Columbus Day. If you have never heard of Christopher Columbus, you should look up his biography. In our country, people remember Columbus for discovering America.

Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving … in Canada. There are similarities and differences between our celebration of Thanksgiving and the one Canadians celebrate, eh? The reason I mention Thanksgiving in October is because our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19) is often read on our Thanksgiving Day.

It's easy to see why we read this Gospel on Thanksgiving. It’s because the Samaritan man who was healed from his skin disease or leprosy, realized who gave him this gift of healing. He knew that God acted through Jesus, and so he returned to give thanks to Jesus for healing him.

When he thanked Jesus, he got down on his knees and bowed his face to the ground. He realized that Jesus was his Lord, and he was in great awe of Jesus.

It’s good to have reminders to be thankful to God, whether it’s on our American Day of Thanksgiving or the Canadian one, eh, or any day of the year. We recognize that doctors and nurses are the people who are involved in our healing, but God is the one who heals not only the body, but also the soul.

The man’s faith in Jesus not only healed him but also saved him. When Jesus said to him, “Your faith has made you well,” it also meant that his faith saved him. We are saved by faith in Christ, and after we receive His Body and Blood through Holy Communion, we sing a song of thanksgiving.

 With that, we pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and 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.

Request

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Requests, 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 we 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 make many requests in life. In my relationship with Cindy, I first requested that she dance with me. I then requested that she meet me for dinner. After that, I requested that she marry me. She has also made requests to me which resulted in us building a new house and getting Maggie, our Golden Retriever.

The word request is simply defined as asking politely or formally for something: a dance, a date, a hand in marriage. We request lenders for a home mortgage or a car loan, our bosses for a raise or a day off. We request our young ones to turn down the volume on their video games, and as we age, we request that the TV volume be turned up. With the introduction of music on the radio, disc jockeys accepted requests for songs to be played. The roots or request come from the Latin word requisita, meaning a “a thing asked for.”

The ten lepers request Jesus to have mercy on them. Before we get to that, let’s reverse to the setting of today’s passage. Luke wrote, “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” This verse puts today’s text within context. That Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem reminds us that he is moving toward his passion and that this context washes over the text. So, the opening verse reminds us not to forget the destination and the purpose of Jesus’ journey.

Outside of the Bible, geographical journeys make sense. The price of gas prompts us to make fewer trips using the shortest routes. River transportation was a good reason people settled on the banks of the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Danube. However, when we read about geography in the Bible, it does not always make physical sense, but it does make theological sense. The border between Galilee and Samaria is a fitting location for a story that involves both Jews and Samaritans.

Luke does not report which village Jesus entered, but we know that he encountered lepers. This is not Jesus’ first encounter with a leper. We read in chapter five that a man full of leprosy fell before Jesus and begged him to make him clean, which Jesus did. Lepers kept their distance from non-lepers. These ten stood at a distance before requesting that Jesus, their Master, have mercy on them. Leviticus required not only that a leper keep his distance, but also how to dress and where to live. Lepers formed their own colonies and positioned themselves where they could appeal to others for support. The law required that after healing they show themselves to a priest.

So, this text has two parts. In the first part, the ten lepers request for mercy is received. Jesus replies with the law, and off they go. Among them was one Samaritan leper. Was he required to show himself to the priest? Did the Jewish priest have to confirm his cure and release from his status of being unclean? Luke is silent on the matter. The healing, however, occurred during their act of their obedience. Jesus commanded them to follow the law, and they obeyed and were healed. When they realized that they were healed, nine kept going, but the one turned around, praised God with a loud voice and fell on his face, thanking Jesus.

Luke plainly states that he was a Samaritan, a foreigner. The first part of the story is about the healing. The second part is about salvation of a foreigner! The foreigner returns, praises God and thanks Jesus. He received the same blessing that the nine other Jewish lepers received. And Jesus’ response to this act of thanksgiving? The statement, “Your faith has made you well.”

Another way of translating this verse is, “Your faith has saved you.” We will find this in chapter 19 when Jesus speaks to Zacchaeus. The point is that nine were healed, but only one was saved, and the point should not be lost on us is that in Luke, God treats the marginalized favorably.

This man was a social outcast, a leper, and a religious heretic, a Samaritan. Note that one’s religious affiliation did not matter in leper colonies. There are no distinctions when you are in the leper colony. Furthermore, there are no distinctions when you are in the presence of Jesus.

The social outcast received the full blessing of Jesus, and it is regrettable that the other nine did not because they too were received and healed. Within the greater context of Luke, this story anticipates what is to come later in Acts: a growing blindness in Israel and receptivity among Gentiles.

You may ask why this is the case. The answer is that Israel’s special place in God’s plan for the world had turned in on itself. Duty became privilege. Favors settled into familiarity. Yet, this story does not give license to point fingers at others. It serves as a reminder to us as how much Luke enjoyed telling ‘Jesus stories’ based on the Old Testament. For example, this story is clearly based on Naaman the Syrian who was healed of leprosy by the Prophet Elisha. After he was healed, Naaman converted to Israel’s faith.

The story of Naaman, like the story of the Samaritan leper, reminds us that faith entails openness to God’s grace. All 10 lepers believed Jesus could heal them. Their mistake was in taking that healing for granted. Only one realized that his healing was an unmerited grace, and he returned to give thanks to Jesus who with His Father and the Holy Spirit made healing and salvation possible.

This passage reminds us not only of the power of God, but also that God does not make deals or offer transactions. Faith is not a thing God demands from us; it is a spiritual stance, an open heart that gives God room to maneuver. If discipleship without faith is servitude, then faith without thanksgiving is commerce.

It is easy to fall into this trap. It might become easy to feel that we have built up some kind of credit with God, that our acts of discipleship are like cash deposits in a bank. It is easy to forget to give thanks when a subtle whisper in our psyche suggests that God owes us.

True discipleship, as demonstrated by the Samaritan leper, is an expression of thanksgiving. The utter freedom of divine grace prompted him to acknowledge his own need to respond by giving thanks. In that, he was a model disciple, someone with enough faith to give God room to act and enough humility to be grateful. The grace we receive every day is a free gift from the God who loves us. It is the power with which we overcome obstacles, find healing, resist temptation and serve the needs of the kingdom. That we can receive that grace and act out of it is cause for a lifetime of thanksgiving.

Now, a request from you. On October 10, 2022, Gage Peters will have brain surgery. In my opening remarks last week, I mentioned that I visited Gage and prayed over him and with his parents, Jason and Keli. As I was writing this sermon, it dawned upon me that this story of healing and salvation is an appropriate time to request prayers for Gage, his parents and those involved in his surgery. So, I asked Keli to write a few words for you. Here is what she is asking.

“A prayer request for Gage to have a successful brain surgery. Please pray the surgery will end the seizures for once and for all without any complications or any deficits. Please pray for the surgical team as well and for all the nurses and doctors who will be in Gage’s care. And please pray for our family. To guide us through this difficult time.”

After I asked Keli to write a few words, I came across this meditation on Monday morning. It is from a treatise on Cain and Abel by Saint Ambrose, the 4^th century Bishop of Milan, who was a philosopher, theologian and diplomat. He is also known for baptizing St. Augustine. In the treatise, Ambrose makes an important point about prayer that we should never overlook – that we should always pray for each other and all.

“If you pray only for yourself, you pray for yourself alone. If each one prays for himself, he received less from God’s goodness than the one who prays on behalf of others. But as it is, because each prays for all, all are in fact praying for each one.

To conclude, if you pray only for yourself, you will be praying, … for yourself alone. But if you pray for all, all will pray for you, for you are included in all. In this way there is a great recompense; through the prayers of each individual, the intercession of the whole people is gained for each individual. There is here no pride, but an increase of humility and a richer harvest from prayer.”

My friends, as we request prayers for ourselves and those dear to us, let us remember to pray for all. When we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.