Father’s Welcome

Biblical Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The parable of the Prodigal Son is the text. It remains one of the few biblical stories in common purchase. Which is good because at it most simplistic it is the Old Old Story. It is the pure gospel of the Father’s Welcome. But Jesus’ parables are always deeper than the simple application if we are willing to ponder them a bit. This sermon is an attempt to do that. Starting with the fact that the Bible doesn’t seem to like eldest children. There are three main points:

The Providence of God is for everyone. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.
There is only one way into the Father’s house, as a son.
The feast is going to happen, the question is if you are there. (And to be there means to live as a member of the household whose currency is love.)

Give it a listen and think along with it. I could be wrong, but we tend to emphasize the love of God, but we don’t really think about the means. We think about it as some generic force that has no implications. But the parable brings one son back, but at the end leaves the son who had never left outside the festival tent.

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Meditation on Now and Not Yet

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17

It’s a person theory, but all the trouble in Christendom stems from what this verse is talking about. Here the Apostle Paul is talking Old Creation and New Creation, but he has other ways of talking the same thing. The Kingdom which is passing away and the Kingdom Come. The Old Adam and the New Man. And there are many others. The way that it fixes in my mind is actually from John. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared (1 Jn. 3:2 ESV).” – the now and the not yet. Now we can already claim the resurrection. Now the promises are all fulfilled in Christ. But stubbornly some of them are not yet ours by sight. They are ours by faith.

If you are within the church we all wish that we were now perfect. There is an expectation that if we are not part of the Kingdom things should be smooth. So when minor disagreements crop up, not even mentioning gross sins, how is this place the Kingdom is a natural question. That fact that the church now is the gathering of sinners, forgiven by Christ, but still dealing with the Old Adam is often forgotten. Yes, the new has come, but the old is still passing away. Daily the old Adam must be drowned.

Externally the church now still deals with the old creation. And the Old Creation recognizes the church for what it is, the Omaha Beach of the New Creation, the place where now the Kingdom Comes, if not yet in full power. Now the church forgives sins. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).” And that reconciliation comes through the proclamation. Now, your sins are forgiven. “As a called and ordain servant of the world, I pronounce the grace of God onto all of you.” Not yet have we been made perfect. Not yet does the truth of that proclamation shine forth to all who hear it. The Prince of this Old World knows it and now fights hard against. But the residents of it? Not yet have all seen the way, the truth and the life.

Living in the overlapping of the now and the not yet is constantly frustrating. Not only in dealing with others both inside and outside of the church. The most frustrating part is when that now and not yet are within ourselves. Now we know what we should do, but we do not yet do it. Not yet have we mortified the flesh, because now sin still lives in our members. We often find we are at war with our very selves. We are the new creation, but the old hangs around. And the fact of the old hanging around, if we are wise, prevents us from claiming and acting on the now, when what we are desiring is not yet. If we are foolish we plunge ahead only to find ourselves worse than the starting point. The law has not been put away, and not a jot or tittle will disappear until the fulness of the Kingdom.

The now and the not yet is the right division of the law and the gospel. Now the gospel comes to us in word and promise. The not yet becomes the now by faith. But the day comes when that Kingdom will come in power. But the power is not yet. Now it comes in poorer form. A message of reconciliation. A rumor of resurrection. “God making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20).” And we implore you, be reconciled to Christ, now. Trust the Word.

Living a Confession

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Biblical Texts: Psalm 115, Luke 22:54-71

This is a meditation on how one’s belief – one’s confession – shapes who we are. Psalm 115:8 lets us know that you become like what you worship. Your belief forms you. But that belief is not an immediate change. Formation is not an overnight experience. Even the Apostle Paul was not as immediate as you think. The meditation then looks at Peter’s betrayal and Jesus’ confession.

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Competitive Suffering

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Biblical Text: Luke 13:1-9, Ezekiel 33:7-20

The Gospel Lesson for the day is one of the great teachings of Christianity even though it is not explicitly in the creeds. It is one of the teachings that you won’t really find in world religions and goes contrary to our natural intuition. And that is its teaching about suffering. Our intuition and most of world religion teaching about suffering would fall under the idea of karma – “you get what you deserve.” That might be a little crass, the more refined teachings might allow for some randomness or spread over time, or multiple lives, but the gap between crass and refined isn’t that great. Nothing compared to Jesus outright rejection that suffering tells us anything about the status of an individual soul. Suffering in Christian thought, the kind the spurs thought – that of the innocent – is only good for two things. First the recognition of the general sinfulness of the world, and second as a sign calling for repentance. The cross, the place of the suffering of the truly innocent, is the ultimate call to repentance. It is also the place where we see the guilt of the entire world paid for. The Christian cannot look at suffering and derive a moral status hierarchy. Because we all deserve that cross.

Jesus proceeds to talk about fruitfulness. The parable he tells is mostly about a truer theodicy. God who is after repentance, faith and fruitfulness is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The soul is given plenty of time, support and chance by God. But if suffering cannot be used as an external sign of faithfulness and love. Fruitfulness can. The parable contemplates the soul planted in grace that bears no fruit. It just takes up ground. It is not works righteousness to encourage fruitfulness. The soul where repentance has taken root will produce the outward signs of faithfulness towards god and love for the neighbor. The sermon meditates on these two movements: suffering and fruitfulness.

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What Story are You In?

I’ve never been one to re-read or re-watch things. Outside of the Scriptures, a few select books or poems, or a couple of movies, the 2^nd or 3^rd time through just never added anything. Someone told me once it is the Germanic besetting sin of novelty. Although anyone who knows how much I love my daily routine would never say that. Which is why the last few months have been strange for me. I’ve found myself re-watching some TV series.

Television has changed. It started before streaming with HBO. A season of say The Sopranos was 13 episodes. That’s about half a season of older TV. A third of a season of really old TV. And the stuff coming out today, say Stranger Things, are 8 to 9 episodes per season. The difference being between the older serial nature of television and the current story nature. Every episode of Gunsmoke was exactly the same story. You tuned in every week for 20 years because you liked the characters of Marshall Dillon, Doc and Miss Kitty. Every Episode of Star Trek was the same. But you liked the adventures of the characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy or Picard, Riker and Data. If you wanted a story, you went to the movies. HBO and streaming changed that. But the shows I’ve found myself rewatching – because they are easily available on streaming – are something of a blend. They have a story that runs through usually a season, but also what I’ll label a meta-narrative story over the entire series. They also were producing 20-24 episodes a year, so each episode has roughly the same serial nature. They eventually fail as a show when the story is played out. House and Cuddy were never going to get married and raise a family. It took a season to play that one out. The Baker Street Irregulars of his team eventually had to stand on their own. The real story was always Sherlock and Watson, House and Wilson. It is the rare story of male friendship that was not sexualized. Will the genius ever recognize his own need? “He saved others, let him save himself.”

Being a Pastor’s Corner and not The Critical Drinker, this should eventually turn to Jesus. So here goes, maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. We’ve all been cast in our own serial story. Shakespeare as always has the deep intuition. “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.” I know that it’s a joke – main character syndrome – the guy who thinks that nothing else happens in the world because the spotlight is always on him. But this world is more complex than any single stage. Another show that I’ve been rewatching has been Person of Interest. And the Machine is watching you, every minute of every day. Every one of you. You are all main characters. It is an interesting metaphor for God. Does the machine intend your story for ill, or for good. Will He intervene on your behalf? And the only way The Machine intervenes in the world is through Mr. Reese and Mr. Finch. Although occasionally The Machine is seen to break its own rules. Bad characters are redeemed, others wish to serve in inappropriate ways and good characters hate the machine.

The story – our story – eventually runs out. We reach the judgement; the show gets cancelled. And we want to say “The Way of the LORD is not just (Ezekiel 33:17).” We’ve been given this life – those serial episodes each day – to solidify our character. Are we the character, like Mr. Reese, who turns from his injustice? And even though he dies, lives. Do we decide in faith that we are living in a Comedy, even through we have our daily tragedies, we know the wedding feast is at the end. Or is this life a tragedy, and we should get our pound of flesh today? Whether your story is in Act 1 or Act 5 it is right to ponder the arc. As Paul says, “these things took place as examples for us (1 Corinthians 10:6).” What story are you in?

Agony of the Soul

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Biblical Text: Luke 22:39-53

Sometimes you come up with something you really like. For example, this sermon. I think this is really good. Except that it might miss the time a bit. For a midweek meditation, it is probably a little too serious. I’m sure that agony of the spirit is a real thing. I’m not sure if our age experiences it. What we call agony is usually more a paper cut. But the image of Gethsemane, even if our agony between the Spirit and our Spirit doesn’t rise to the same level, it is still ours. And the promises are still given. The Angels are there. Prayer is available. The Will of God will be done.

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Fox and Hen

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Biblical Text: Luke 13:31-35

Luke to me is a master of phrases that drip with pathos. By that I mean phrases that have entire Russian novels behind them. Phrases that church your guts with recognition. You know he was talking to eyewitnesses, and that he was a very good listener. He felt it with them. And the gospel text today has more than one of those phrases.

There is one about the time. We all have a fox like sense of low cunning. But that low cunning might put on Herod’s path, or there is a slight change it just might tell us what time it is. That the time is short – “today, tomorrow, maybe the third.”

There is one about being gathered, and refusing to gather. And there is one about houses left forsaken. That last one is the toughest one. I think I might have even hedged a bit in the sermon. A line or two I contemplated were just too tough.

But the sermon, if we have ears to hear, tells us who God is, and what today is.

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Funeral of Dale & Marge Kussrow

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Dale and Marge were wonderful members of the Mt. Zion family who passed away in a terrible car crash. Marge had left wonderful instructions. Three wonderful hymns that she wanted sung.

LSB 687 Thine Forever God of Love
LSB 895 Now Thank We All Our God
LSB 770 What a Friend We Have in Jesus

This sermon, after a short memory that hopefully sets the stage, attempts to let Marge and Dale speak to us through those hymns.

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Table Definitions

Biblical Text: Psalm 113, Luke 22:1-38

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The Psalms for our midweeks this year are those traditionally associated with the Passover. The readings are going to be the passion story from Luke which is unique in many way. In this case around that Passover table, the disciples start to talk about “who is the greatest.” That conversation happens elsewhere in the other gospels. But in Luke it gives Jesus the opportunity at the table to define what his Kingdom looks like. The communions of the world are status-based hierarchies. The communion of Christ is based on service. And we are all assigned “kingdoms”, tables that are in communion with this one, if we wish to have our seat at that one.

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Power in the Blood

Just last week South Carolina carried out the first execution by firing squad since 2010. This is not a lament about the barbarity of the method. If I was ever to be put in the position of having to choose a method of my execution, I’d take firing squad. Neither is it a lament of over the death penalty itself. The State, Caesar, has the job of meeting out punishment. The executed in this case in 2001 murdered the parents of an ex-girlfriend and proceeded to kidnap her. He admitted to the murders. And still had 24 years of procedural delays before justice. No, this is a contemplation of blood.

Our Old Testament text is the confrontation of Jeremiah’s prophetic mission with those he was sent to. His mission was to proclaim the coming exile to the elite of Jerusalem. That is summarized in what the priests quoted back to him, “This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant.” Shiloh was the location of the tabernacle before the temple. It was the center of Samuel’s prophetic work. But the Philistines would steal the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh and it would not return. The capture was taken as God’s removal of himself from the place. And Shiloh would become barren. Jeremiah’s prophetic message was that God was going to remove his name from the Jerusalem temple. And the life that came from that name would depart with it.

The priests, and the temple prophets, and the people themselves demanded that Jeremiah deserved death for this message. “He has prophesied against the city (Jeremiah 26:11).” Jeremiah’s response has three parts: 1) “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city the words you have heard (Jeremiah 26:12).” 2) “Do with me as seems good and right to you. (Jeremiah 26:14).” 3) Know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants (Jeremiah 26:15).” And in that third point is the introduction of blood.

The temple of Jerusalem was in the blood business. Every sacrifice that took place was an offering of blood. And as the Torah held, “the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Lev. 17:11 ESV).” The blood calls out. The blood is either life pleading for life – for atonement. Or the blood is life pleading for vengeance, as Abel’s blood called out in that primal murder.

If we are going to execute people, I’d say it is good to have blood. It is a reminder of what we do. It is everything that the various other methods, which we think are more humane, attempt to hide. If we are spilling blood, is this justified? Or are we bringing innocent blood upon ourselves?

Which brings us to the blood of Christ. Unlike Jeremiah which Jerusalem would never get around to killing, Jerusalem would kill Christ. The definition of innocent blood, which would lead to the temple’s absolute destruction within the lifetime of those present. And the name of God has not returned. But that innocent blood of Christ also presents with something new. The innocent blood pleads not for justice, but for mercy. “Father forgive them, they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).” This innocent life was sent to prophesy a new covenant. His words still call out our sins. “Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD (Jeremiah 26:13).” His word still allows us to do with Christ as seems good and right. His kingdom is not by the sword but by faith. But the plea of the Blood of Christ is not for justice, but for our pardon. Jerusalem may be desolate, but the New Jerusalem is full of life. Life made possible by the blood. As the old hymn has it, there is power in the blood.