Wisdom of James

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. – James 3:13

We’ve been reading through the book of James – our Epistle readings in September – in Sunday morning Bible Study. And the book of James is a unique book within the New Testament, although I would argue not within the entire bible. The word I’m going to be talking about is genre. What is a genre? In film you would talk about Westerns or Action or Horror. In novels: mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, literary. A genre is a recognizable grouping that usually has the same characters, plot or conventions. Westerns have dry towns, citizens, guns, horses, outlaws, savages and sheriffs. The story is always the sheriff or the man who stands between the citizens and the outlaws or savages. The man who is on the border of each belonging to neither. And the tools are the tools of violence and transportation. Which is why the Western Genre can capture things like Space Westerns. The books of the bible largely fall into recognizable genres. The gospels are ancient biographies. Paul’s works are philosophical essays attached to letters dealing with specific instances of living the philosophy often called casuistry or case history. Acts is a work of ancient history, a narrative of people, places, acts and speeches. Revelation is an apocalypse, a work of unveiling the deep meaning of reality. James may look like one of Paul’s letters, but it’s arguments are not long enough to be essays, nor are its cases real events in a real life (like the Corinthians getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper), but they are generic examples (where do fights come from). James is unique in the New Testament, but if you read it alongside the Old Testament book of Proverbs, I think you find its genre. James is a wisdom book.

And what is the genre of wisdom book? I come up with four key things. 1) Wisdom books are typically written by the mature for the naïve. You could say by the old for the young, but that isn’t universal. Timothy at 20, as the son of Eunice and grandson of Lois, was a third generation Christian from the cradle. Paul was constantly reminding the young Timothy that he was the one mature in the faith compared to many of his older flock. 2) Wisdom books are written for those who believe. This is why Luther didn’t much like James. Wisdom books assume the gospel. They are speaking to the person living a life of sanctification. 3) Wisdom books are descriptive and not prescriptive. Prescriptive would be the 10 Commandments. You must do this. You must not do that. Descriptive describes how things usually work. The mature person has enough store of experience to say “this is how the world usually works.” Does it always work that way? No. Your particular experience may be outside the realm of this wisdom. But, it is always good to ask, “am I really the exception?” They are words a man might live by if he is not so foolish as to think himself special. 4) Wisdom books are meant to be pondered. As no experience is ever really repeated, how does this wisdom apply to me and my situation?

And this is the great weakness of wisdom and also its strength. It is meek. It invites instead of commands. It desires not your compliance, but for you to make it your own. Mom wants the 3 year old’s compliance about not sticking things in the power outlet, but 3 years olds typically need at least one zap to make that wisdom their own. Lady Wisdom desires that you might learn from her by means of words, but more often those words are things remembered after the fact. After we get zapped we might turn to Lady Wisdom for the other nuggets she has.

One nugget buried in the middle of our epistle today (James 3:13-4:10) is about quarrels. James rightly points out quarrels come from our uncontrolled and unmet desires. It is almost Buddhist in its recognition. You suffer because you want. But the wisdom of James is not to kill the want. The wisdom of James is to ask, and to ask rightly. “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. (James 4:2-3)” Oh Lord, won’t you buy me, a Mercedes-Benz? Probably not. But why do you want a Benz? What passion is unfulfilled? How better would that passion be turned? Those are the mature questions of wisdom.

God Revealed

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Biblical Text: Mark 9:14-29

The text is something of a famous one for the cry of the Father who has brought his demon possessed son to Jesus. “I believe, help my unbelief.” Springing off of that a couple generations of preachers obsessed over doubt. But I think most of those sermons were dramatically off in their focus of doubt. They typically accepted a materialist de facto atheist – an enlightenment project – framework and apologetically argued for God. The problem with all of that was they were arguing for the hidden god, the god we know nothing about. And honestly, if the choice is between a hidden god and no god, no god wins every time. But if you are preaching about doubt from this text, it is not about the existence of god. God exists. And he is on your case. In a million different masks he tells you that you are nothing. The hidden god is the god of power and majesty and we are but grass. The doubt is that god could ever care about grass. But the entire text is about the revealed God. Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father. And that heart is that we are his children and he saves us from the fire. You would never ask the hidden god. But the Father of Jesus bids us ask, because he wants to demonstrate his love for us. And that is what the father does, “have compassion on us.” And Jesus does driving out the demon. And his summary to the disciples is “this kind only comes out with prayer.” It is not exorcism technology. It is getting the hidden god off our backs. Pray. Ask the Father of Jesus. You will see.

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Talking About Money

Talking about money in church is always an interesting conversation, interesting used in the ancient Chinese curse sense. It is not that Jesus doesn’t have some pointed and meaningful things to say about money. Things like “and I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Lk. 16:9 ESV)” Neither is it that our use of money isn’t an expression of Spiritual values. For it explicitly is. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:21 ESV)” The interesting part is that talking about money in church feels like making public what we’d rather be private. It is shining the light of the gospel into areas that we’d rather keep in darkness (John 2:19, 12:46). The apostle Paul’s final direction in regards to money is that each one must decide in his heart how much to give. And not to give reluctantly or in response to pressure, but cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7). But doing so means that our giving has to be intentional. You don’t decide in your heart on a moment’s notice. And it is that prayerful consideration that shines the light on our own hearts. It is that prayerful consideration that we are attempting to form this year.

Pastor’s Corner in the coming weeks is not going to be given over completely to monetary things, but over the next couple of months there will be at least a couple of stewardship related meditations. From what I’ve been told, the pastoral office at Mt. Zion has never talked about stewardship, nor has there ever been some of the practices (pledges) that we intend to introduce this year. What the rest of this Pastor’s Corner is going to run through is some information, a calendar on important dates, and a start on the spiritual purpose.

Some information. The numbers I am using all come from our treasurer and have been accepted by the church council. Over the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 the church income (mostly from offerings) has been between $221K – $246K. The expenses for those years have been between $246k – $279k. Mt. Zion has run a consistent $24k deficit. Mt. Zion was able to do this because of a generous bequest. And my understanding is that this pattern has been typical in prior years as well, with refinancing of the mortgage occasionally being used. The trouble is the current year. Our deficit for 2024 is already at $34K. And this deficit is not caused by running over budget. Expense wise we approved a budget of $268k. Over the prior 12 months (Sept 23 – Sept 24, not the budget timeframe but a full year) we have only spent $248k. The trouble is that our offerings over those same 12 months have only been $204K. There are some concrete reasons for that. There are also some understandable background reasons. But the light that is shining I believe is two-fold. We as a congregation can’t operate with that type of deficit indefinitely. The timing on such a deficit would be a couple of years maximum. And what that brings up is a question. Do we want to be a congregation? Or maybe more specifically, do we want to be a congregation that looks roughly like what Mt. Zion has historically?

With that question, I’m going to turn to the calendar. The council has reviewed a proposed budget and on Oct 10^th will meet to give its final collective approval to present it to the congregation. The Congregational budget meeting will be on Nov 17^th. We will publish some form of that budget well prior for your consideration. But as the council agrees, there are no gold bricks hiding the budget. Nobody is vacationing in Tahiti. It represents the costs for the utilities, insurance, upkeep, the mortgage, and your Pastor. Over that same timeframe that we as a congregation are setting aside to think about the proposed budget, we are going to pass out pledge cards on Oct 20^th and collect them starting Nov 10^th for three weeks.

Finally, a bit about spiritual purpose. The big question stated above is do we want to be a congregation that looks roughly like we do? A vote for such a budget should also come with a pledge to support that budget. But following the apostle’s advice, I do not want your pledge given in response to pressure. If you read the fullness of 2 Corinthians 9, the context of Paul’s advice, he is putting forward the collection for the Jerusalem church. The opportunity to support the work of the gospel done by Mt. Zion is what is being presented. Maybe your heart’s answer is that Mt. Zion should look substantially different. Maybe the answer in your heart is your current support is what you can give. Maybe you can cheerfully support at a higher level. We the council hope that enough of you might answer yes.

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but Mt. Zion monetarily has been something of a minor. It has been graced with a building and substantial contributions from those largely taught the way elsewhere and from those maybe little known to the current congregation. I don’t think I am trespassing on anything recognizing the generosity of Gene Ockrassa, but there are others. But all minors must eventually become adults. And that is the question of this budget and pledge call. Are we collectively willing to come into our inheritance as a congregation of Christ? Are we willing to accept both the gifts of his grace and the responsibilities? And are we able to take them on cheerfully? The Kingdom of God will certainly come without our help, but in this we are being offered it amongst us in a bountiful way (2 Cor 9:6).

Salvation: Vengeance and Recompense

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Biblical Text: Isaiah 35:4-7

“Say to those with an anxious heart…”. That is how the text starts. And I think that is just about everyone. We start off with a background level of anxiety. Like background radiation. It is just there. But we all have our own specific anxiety. And here is a word from God to exactly those with an anxious heart. And that word is “Be Strong! Fear Not!” The immediate response from the anxious heart might just well be “why? tell me why I should fear not?” And the text gives us one of God’s rare answers. God will come and save you. God will come and save you with vengeance and recompence. And that is what this sermon preaches. What is a salvation of vengeance and recompence.

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The Writing on the Wall

[This was a sermon delivered this morning at chapel at Valley Lutheran High School (vlhs.org)]

Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. ⁵ Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. ⁷ The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” ⁸ Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. – Dan. 5:3-8 ESV

Introduction

This is the way I usually describe the book of Daniel. The first six chapters are a catechism for life as a faithful Jew in the midst of Babylon. The last six chapters are the ones that prove nobody understood the first six. Those last six are apocalyptic, and so the natural question is always “What does this mean?” And the shelves are full of books that don’t get it. Written by enchanters, Chaldeans, astrologers and the wise men of Babylon.

Text

Those first six chapters used to be staples of Sunday Schools everywhere. But those were the days when Sunday School was near universal and three out of four weeks. I’m old, so forgive me the nostalgia. Today I can’t assume that you’ve heard the story of “the writing on the wall”. You might have heard the phrase. And you might know that the writing means nothing good. But unless you’ve seen the best Heath Ledger movie – A Knight’s Tale – you don’t know what it means. (Even my references are old, sorry.) That handwriting itself is an interesting puzzle. That’s a rabbit hole you could go down for a day. What exactly was the writing that so puzzled all the King’s advisors?

I’ll leave that to you, because my interest today is in the run up. “They brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem…and drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.”

I said that the first six chapters of Daniel are a catechism for faithful Jews in the midst of Babylon. As such they are also a catechism for Christians in the midst of this world. There is an iron progression in everything the world does. First the world blasphemes the real, the God who created. Belshazzar the Babylonian King – even though his great predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had proclaimed the wonders of Daniel’s God – Belshazzar thinks nothing more of that God’s sacred items than to get drunk and have an orgy. And why not, we conquered the Jews and took down their temple. Even if the man who did it would praise that God, ignore him, he’s old and dead.

So turned away from the creator to blasphemy, the World then worships the creation. “They praised the gods of gold and silver” and all the way down to humble stone. Idolatry takes many forms. The human heart is an idol factory. Oh we think we are much better than the ancients. We don’t build a temple or find a grotto and stick a statue in it and call it God. No, if you are old like me, you install on you wall the largest image creator you can, and 24/7 play the stories of the gods – whether of politics, or money or fate or love. If you are your age, you carry that talking image in your pockets. And we are all addicted to the feed, to knowing what is happening with the gods.

And the final step of the world – from blasphemy, to worshipping the creation, the final step is ignorance. “Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make know the interpretation.” The most important thing to know is written on the wall, and nobody can read. Nobody knows what it means. They can see the signs, but not understand them. They had given up the eternal for the temporal. And so their understanding was darkened.

Eventually the queen – who might be getting a dig in at her wastrel king – reminds him of Daniel and they call the faithful Jew in who is able to read the handwriting on the wall.

Application

What does this mean? That’s a good Lutheran question that you might recognize if you have memorized the Small Catechism. A good exercise even if you can call it up on your pocket device. Luther asks that question over and over and gives a short answer. What does this mean?

Let me offer up three things.

First, as Christian in the midst of this world, the opportunities to Blaspheme and Worship idols are ever present. Now being the King’s enchanter, Chaldean, astrologer or wise man might seem like the best thing. All your parents want you to succeed and success is usually defined in worldly terms. We don’t call them those things anymore. We might use words like the doctors, the economists, the technicians and the advisors. But the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. If your success is based on technique, there is always a new technique that you will not be able to read. The idols always offer technique. But the way of the LORD is wisdom. And only wisdom can discern the correct technique. Only wisdom brings our things old and things new from the treasury.

Second, as a Christian in the midst of this world, you don’t have to fear anything you study. It was all made by God and it was made for you to understand. Daniel was never afraid to be a faithful Jew in the midst of Babylon. Now being that faithful person might mean having to dedicate yourself to excellence. Daniel was always better than the rest. Excellence is always in short supply. It is always needed, even if it produces envy that might scheme to throw you into the lions den. But as much as the world might hate it, this world is God’s and he makes things work for his people. Study what you want. Dedicate yourself to excellence. Remember the LORD.

And last, but maybe most important. You are getting a chance here at Valley that Daniel never did. You are getting a chance to study under those who can help you answer “what does this mean?” You are studying with faithful teachers full of wisdom. Soak it up. Apply yourself to learning and excellence. I think you will find in life this chance you have is rare and fleeting. So seize the day. Don’t find yourself later puzzling out the writing on the wall. Because then it is too late.

A Word Near; A Far Word

The mystics, maybe more approachable the spiritual writers of every age from St. John of the Cross to Anne Dillard, seem to have two modes of talking. Call them when God draws near and when God is far. The common expressions of these would be the euphoria of the mountaintop experience when God is so near the planets sing. The dark night of the soul is when God is far. The music of the spheres is barely a memory. The cave and the tomb seem the only end. Who shall give you praise if I am in sheol the Psalmist might ask.

But our gospel reading for today gives us a different experience of near and far. In these it is not that God himself seems to move. Jesus is equally present in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a far gentile territory, and in the Decapolis of the Galilee, his hometown region among the Jews. God is the God of all the earth and we all – even the atheist – has an inkling of this. “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! (Ps. 139:8 ESV)” Simply ponder our existence on this ball of dirt in the midst of the vast universe. The entire universe seems to have been tuned to keep us alive here. Yet God sustains all of it by his majesty.

The question is not God’s presence or absence, because “you are there.” The question is why is God there? Are you here for my good, or are you here like Zeus for Leda? Are you here as a mere watcher, or as a trickster, or as the lover of mankind?

The first picture in our Gospel text (Mark 7:24-37) is of the unnamed Syrophoenician woman who has a little daughter possessed by the evil of the universe. Matthew is more explicit than Mark. Syrophoenician is a then current territory marker that would say not Jewish to a Roman hearer. Matthew calls her a Canaanite, the ancient enemy of Israel who God once told Israel to kill all of them. Is that still God’s stand? Kill all of them? While being near, is this God still far away? The woman intends to find out. She risks bridging the distance. She begs Jesus cast the demon out. And Jesus’ response seemingly reinforces that distance. That this God is far away from this person, even though he is right there. “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But the woman’s response is the only one that makes sense, at least if we have any hope. If the God who is present everywhere on who our being rests is against us, we have no hope. But the earth gives all their daily bread. If this God was against us, surely the rain would not fall on the Canaanite. Or the rain that does fall must be enough. “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And those crumbs of this god – however far away he might be – are enough to cast out the evil. And this is what Jesus does. The Word of God is a gracious word for those who are far. “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter. And she went home and found the child well.”

The second picture is of a man who is deaf and whose tongue doesn’t work. This is a man of the Jews. One of the children. And as we all know children expect things and they aren’t going to say thanks. And we all know that sometimes as parents our patience with that runs out. For a moment instead of being the mother of the runaway bunny who loves him to the moon and back, we might be content for the entitled brat to go. If we are near and have always been near is this how God feels sometimes?

Jesus takes the man aside from the crowd privately. God does not treat us by groups. This child of God is his child and the only one that matters at this moment. And he heals him. Unlike the far word to those who are far, this is a near word for those who are near. He puts his fingers into his ears to open them. Jesus puts his spit into the man’s mouth to loose it. And he says to ears that hear something for the first time, “Be opened.” Even though near we might have been closed to this God. But the Word draws nearer into our very selves. The word of God is a gracious Word for those who are near.

Whether you feel yourself far or near from the God who supports your entire being, the Word Jesus speaks to you is his grace. The challenge is more how we receive this word. And how we tell others.

Onward Christian Soldiers: Martial Language

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Biblical Text: : Mark 7:14-23, Eph 6:10-20, Onward Christian Soldiers

One of the things that largely disappeared from Christian vocabulary in the preceding couple of generations was martial language. There are some reasons. This sermon makes some guesses. But losing that language has cost the church dearly I believe. First, it is biblical. Using military words for the Christian life is all over the New and Old Testaments. The Epistle Lesson for the day (Ephesians 6:10-20) is just the most direct. And second, the Christian Life is the life of sanctification. And the life of sanctification is a life of stuggle against Satan, the World and our own sinful flesh. Now while pride might want us to use that martial language against Satan, the honest answer is that we are called most often to use it against ourselves. This sermon works on those themes, and it does it using the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers as the opening.

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An Arizona Visit

I was sitting in my office fresh from vacation. The translation for the week was done. I was trying to scrape the rust off the brain. Half-heartedly skimming somebody’s commentary on the gospel of the week. When I felt a breeze. But it wasn’t the AC kicking on and refilling the tubes. Instead it was an old friend.

“Dr. Luther, I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again. I got the feeling the last time we talked it might be the last time. And that was quite a while ago. About 7 years”

“Seven years? You’ve got to remember, time for me isn’t quite linear anymore. Worms feels like yesterday. So that little conversation of ours was just this morning. But I did notice that you seem to have moved. And not a small one. You know, other than my trip to Rome, which was only about 850 miles, I don’t think I ever traveled more than 75 miles away from my hometown. And you are sitting on the other end of a continent! And it is hot. Are you sure you didn’t move closer to hell?”

“Yeah. That might have been an undercurrent in that conversation earlier this morning. Remember how von Staupitz sent you on that Roman trip. Said, ‘you need to see the city.’ Sometimes in our common work of the gospel you need to be somewhere else. At least that is what we tell ourselves.”

“But it seems to have worked. The black dog was at your door last time, and I hear no barking now. Although these little chats are never without purpose. I don’t get released from Leo X and Charles V for chit-chat.”

“You are going to have to tell me about those chats.”

“You’ll get your own one day. Mark 7. That’s what you are pondering.”

“Yes. It is just so unnatural. It is all law, but the law is usually natural. We call it cancel culture – driving out the unclean – but it is really larger than that. Parents spend inordinate amounts of time and money trying to control their kids peer groups. Our own synod excommunicated a 20 year old recently, basically for hanging out with the the wrong sorts. All of that seems natural, like practical wisdom. Hygiene. Yet Christ says, ‘there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.’ And the received understanding immediately jumps to Jesus eating with ‘tax collectors and sinners.’ But this passage has been used to justify all kinds of terrible stuff. Material that is clearly not good for anything, but the second you say so, somebody stands up and calls you a Pharisee or a legalist.”

“I did say the proper separation of law and gospel was the hardest skill in all of Christendom. And the one most necessary.”

“Yes. And I don’t think we’ve done that right here in a long time.”

“Keep talking.”

“The context that Jesus is talking about is piety practices. Hand and cup washings, pledges to God, for lack of a better word ‘religious acts.’ Things that might have started out as helpful to faith, but have become the entire purpose replacing faith. Practicing magic. Virtue Signaling. In your day, indulgences, pilgrimages and relics.”

“Yes, those were big things in my day. But it isn’t like every age doesn’t have their own.”

“But ours are so strange. In the Epistle Paul talks about putting on the armor. Know you are in a fight. Yet the religious act of our day seems to be ‘strip it all off and walk naked, otherwise you don’t have faith.’ Any law is a bad law and contrary to the gospel.”

“You might have something there Brown. Continue.”

“The core seems to be ‘whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach.’ It is about the heart. There are things from the outside that can enter the heart and displace true faith. There are also all kinds of things that exit the heart. ‘Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, etc.’ The breaking of the entire 10 commandments. The heart itself is initially unclean. But the Christian has had a new heart created in them by baptism and the Spirit.”

“Now you are dividing the law and the gospel. Can you bring it home?”

“The breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate is what covers the heart. Eating with ‘sinners and tax collectors’ will not make you unclean. As long as it isn’t your heart that is desiring to join in ‘all these evil things.’ If your heart is acting out of faith it is protected by that righteousness and would not join in those works. Not all the demons could make you. You can stand in the evil day.”

“Ok, but haven’t you just made another religious work, Brown?”

“I don’t think so, because it is all borrowed armor. It is not our breastplate, but that given to us by Christ. It is not our heart, but the one created anew by the Spirit. We’ve been given these gifts not to bury them, but to use them. Not to discard them, but to wear them for the battle that rages.”

The great man walked out muttering something about it being too hot and Leo called. And then the AC kicked on flapping the pipes and jolting me from my seat.

Sabbath Bread for the Journey

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Biblical Text: 1 Kings 19:1-18

What is a Sabbath? There is a simple answer about a date on the calendar. But that is not how Luther’s Small Catechism defines it. Neither do I think that is how the Jesus talks about the Sabbath. That’s where this meditation starts, but it is really about the Old Testament reading for the day and Elijah’s journey. It is about the contrast between the Power and the Glory and The things that were made for man. It is about the regular Sabbaths and those that we desperately need. It is about how we receive the Bread of Life for the Journey that is too much for us.

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Sacramental Knowledge

It may not be about the sacrament, but it is sacramental. That was the sparkly line of a chapel sermon that was brought back to my mind recently. John chapter 6 is called the bread of life discourse. We started reading it last week and will complete it next week. Which causes a problem in hymn selection. After you burn all the decent “bread of life” type hymns in the first week, and go with the secondary and standard praise ones the second week. What do you do the third? I guess take vacation. Half kidding, although the connection between the hymns and the texts certainly becomes looser than I like.

Some of the meat behind that sparkly line – not about the sacrament, but is sacramental – is that Luther himself was strident that John 6 had nothing to do with Holy Communion. It was not about the sacrament. Of course with Luther so much was about polemics. He was always in a fight with somebody. In this case the fight was over the Word. John 6 is one of those places where a spiritual or allegorical reading is very natural. When Jesus says “the bread of life that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh (John 6:51)” and commands you to eat it, immediately jumping to the Lord’s Supper is natural. Most of us can’t imagine a way to take that without jumping to the Lord’s Supper. Luther insisted that gave too much away and missed the reality of what John was writing. And any spiritual or allegorical jump could not just be made up, but it had to be grounded in the reality of the Word.

In this case the reality that Jesus is confronting is Jewish unbelief in who Jesus is. They are happy to be the recipients of Jesus’ miracles. They would like the bread he multiplied. They ask about what signs he will perform. But they do not believe what the signs testify about. If you look up the definition of sacramental you will have to go to an old dictionary for help. The current online ones are much like our simple reading of John 6, sacramental means “pertaining to the sacraments” and nothing more. You’d have to find one that still has multiple definitions or uses where you would find a definition something like “an outward visible sign of an inward grace.” The sacraments themselves – baptism and the Lord’s supper – are specific instances where the grace of God is promised attached to visible elements. We Lutherans define the sacraments themselves with three points: 1) Instituted by Jesus, 2) Visible elements, 3) For forgiveness. Baptismal water is not simply water only, but the water connected to the word. But before you talk about the sacraments which are means of Grace, you must talk about faith in Christ alone. The bread and the signs and the wonders that Jesus performed were the outward visible signs pointing at His grace. The sacraments themselves rest upon faith in the one who instituted them.

And that is what Luther insisted John 6 was about. Jesus himself is the sacrament of God. “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day (John 6:39).” The Grace of the Father has appeared in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And this grace of the Father is for you. “But the Jews grumbled about him, because he said ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven. (John 6:41).’”

And this is the crisis of all sacramental things. When you see them, you know. You no longer have an excuse. Christ has been placed before all mankind. “They will all be taught by God (John 6:45).” We have all been taught by God. This Christ, this cross, this resurrection, these Words are for you. “Truly, Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life (John 6:47-48).” We have seen. We know. We do not have an excuse. Walking away from the bread of life, is walking away from life. All sacramentals are two edged swords. Used properly in faith they cut the knot of our problem with sin. But used improperly, in disbelief or blasphemy, they are deadly to ourselves.