Epiphany to Lent; Head to Heart

The season of Epiphany, of which today is the final Sunday, takes you on a journey from the Magi at the cradle to the top of mountain shimmering in light. It is supposed to be a season of growing understanding and awareness. Or from the divine perspective a season of greater and greater self-revelation. What was first revealed through nature, a star rising in the east, and then by messengers, the angels, and then prophets like Simeon and Anna and The Baptist, and then by the Son in private like at Cana, is at last revealed in public. Jesus performs the works of the messiah, proclaiming the Kingdom in every town healing their sick and casting out demons. What was whispered, and dreamed about, and promised, is now proclaimed, and in the flesh, and fulfilled. And we have seen it.

I don’t exactly know why, but I’ve been in a stewing mood recently. And I wish I was talking about it being cooler and looking forward to a nice beef broth. No, just lots of things worming around. Things you know about. Things you can see coming around the corner. Things you can’t do anything about but walk through them. We always walk through the valley of the shadow. Something that is tough to remember in the Valley of the Sun. As I said to my mother before moving here, “how could anyone remain down for long living in this” while sitting poolside soaking in the strong rays. Maybe the Lenten journey will bring some insights that Epiphany doesn’t. You can know something in your head, but while in the head it remains something of a theory. Ideas and thoughts are a bit like ghosts in that way. They only have as much reality as you let them. It takes something like a Lent to move head knowledge into flesh knowledge.

Our Epistle lesson for today (2 Corinthians 3:12-4:6) feels a little like Paul stewing on some things. Things he has stewed on before (Romans 9). His fellow Jews have not heard him. Paul has seen the glory, that dazzling light on the Damascus road. He knows. It is interesting to me that the Lord when telling Ananias to receive Paul also tells him, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name (Acts 9:16).” Paul has seen the vision, and knows in the head, but he’s got a long lent in front of him. And we might say that this Lent is the recitation of the sufferings that Paul gives elsewhere. “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Cor. 11:25-27).” But none of that is what Paul stews over. It’s the veil that is over the heart of his people. And the one thing that can remove that veil, the thing Paul knows, is the one thing they won’t accept – Christ.

Our Epistle lesson cuts off before what is to me the greatest statement of a post Lenten faith in the bible, a faith that has moved from the head to the heart. “We hold this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul is always throwing himself at that wall hoping “for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh (Romans 9:3).” A head only knowledge might trick us into believing that almost anything is within our power. That we can remold this clay as easily as we refashion ideas. That we can make our ghosts real. But it is the mature faith that will still do all those acts – that will walk through the valley, but understands that they are not testimonies to our strength. That we cannot remold the clay. That we ourselves are but weak vessels. But in our weakness, the light might shine. “Let the light shine out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6).” It is on the far side of the stewing, after the valley, that we know the glory.

Two Ditches

Luther in his commentary on Galatians used the image of a narrow path between two ditches for the Christian life. The narrow path is justification by faith through the grace of Jesus. The left ditch is legalism which is believing that my salvation depends to some extent upon my keeping of the law. That law could be the divine law like the 10 commandments. That law could be human laws, like the laws of the Papacy at the time of the Reformation around indulgences, pilgrimages, relics and other “religious works”. To the extent that you think any of these merit anything before God, we have fallen into the left ditch. The right ditch is antinomianism. Big word which is probably best understood as lawlessness. Captured in the ditty, “state of grace, oh happy condition, sin as I please, and still have remission.” We are in the right hand ditch if we think Christ freed us from sin to go sin more or to deny that sin exists.

It is my anecdotal feeling that people within the church have more trouble with that left ditch. We tend to be “older brothers” in the prodigal parable. But people who are lightly connected to the church today get themselves in the right ditch. As a fellow pastor friend said, “you can directly read a very simple passage of scripture, and they will reply ‘it doesn’t say that.’” But there is a flip side of this. There are things that are neither commanded nor forbidden. For example, the number of candles in the sanctuary. It is rather easy to find someone within the church who will give you an exact answer. (A common one would be “two, one representing the law and the other the gospel.”) And if that exact answer is not followed, well, the place is going to hell. Someone lightly connected might simply say, “however many look pretty.”

In the back part of 1 Corinthians – our Epistle reading for this week is 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 – Paul is responding to questions relayed to him from the Corinthians in a letter we don’t have. And I take most of his answers as sanctified wisdom. There may be times it doesn’t apply, but the principles are solid and can be applied in a variety of situations. A big problem in Corinth was that the butcher shop was the local pagan temple. If you wanted meat, it had most likely been sacrificed to idols. Can a Christian eat such meat? Paul’s answer might be a little surprising. Basically, “Yes, you are buying meat, you are not supporting the sacrifice.” “We know that an idol has no real existence.” Hence buying meat that was offered to “nothing” is not tainted. There is no lingering voodoo magic or anything else associated with that meat.

However. Paul continues that “not all possess this knowledge.” We all know people that would fear lingering magic. We all know people who have very settled ideas on things that in truth are neither commanded nor forbidden. And if my eating that meat, or putting in another candle, or some other such thing is going to cause my fellow believer to question their faith, out of love I will refrain from doing this. Yes, I might have superior knowledge, but love trumps knowledge. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

But there is an immediate problem with this which is rampant in our day. Call it the Tyranny of the Weaker Brother. Weaker brother is how Paul refers to the one whose conscience would be wracked over something that in truth is neither commanded nor forbidden. When people realize that they can get their way by such a claim, these claims multiply. Because in Christian love the stronger brother has given in. But within Paul’s saying – “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” – is an answer. The love of the stronger brother is not to leave the weaker in ignorance. Such love would not build up. Love would seek to free the weaker brother from unnecessary stumbling blocks. There are enough things that are commanded and forbidden that we do not need to create greater burdens.

Christian love is the path between the ditches. It is a life together keeping each other on the narrow way.

Impermanance, Anxiety and the Hairs of Your Balding Head

Full Sermon Draft Download

Biblical Text: Luke 21:5-28

What do me mean when we talk about last things? There of course is the very literal, but other than 10,000 mile stuff, Jesus really doesn’t answer that. Because that is not what we are talking about. What we are talking about is impermanence and our anxiety caused by that impermanence. And that is was Jesus goes after. Even these “noble stones” of the temple will come down. This thing that centers our identity will fail. All earthly props will give way. And Jesus goes on to name them. And then he gives us a promise. “Not a single hair of your head will perish.”

You have both the knowledge and the promise. The knowledge that yes, the world is impermanent. Don’t place your faith in it, in any part of it. The promise that there is a permanent thing, and that you are already a part of it. The Kingdom of God is coming with power and great glory. So straighten up an raise your heads. Because this is your redemption. This is your hour.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Don’t Say “We Don’t Know”

Biblical Text: Matthew 21:23-27
Full Sermon Draft

The confrontation of Jesus with the chief priests and elders is the confrontation of the prophet with the stewards of the priest and king roles. It is a confrontation of authority. And the abiding question is how do we know when we’ve heard THE WORD of GOD?

The typical authority granted is of that priestly or kingly type. It comes with the office and the special garb of the office. The authority of the prophet is different. And we still long to hear that prophetic authority. The first part of the hard answer is that the prophetic authority is self-authenticating. You know it in your hearts and guts when you hear it. Our opening hymn was “Hark a Thrilling Voice is Sounding”. That is the part of the response. The second part of the hard answer is that THE WORD comes to us under the cross. It comes in power and can be crucified, the violent can bear it away. It is always “punching up” as it were. If it is not, it might be something you desperately want to be THE WORD, but you are fooling yourselves.

When we hear the prophet the most likely response is repentance. That is the goal of THE WORD – Repent and believe. The Kingdom is here. A contrasting honest response would simply be to have the courage of your convictions. Sit in the seat of the priest or the king and deny that the prophet has any authority. It is at least a courageous honesty response. The worst response is “we don’t know”. Did you hear the Word? “We don’t know”. Stop it. You know. You just don’t like the decision is forces. True repentance or true rebellion. We want it both ways. The safe authority with the romance of the prophet.

Recording Note: You might notice during the sermon a shift in sound direction. For some reason I think the pulpit mic cut out. The altar mic picked it up fine, but it will sound more ambient. I also had to amplify the line just a smidge. We had some great hymns, like the opener mentioned, but I didn’t include any in the recording because it was one of those days where the recording just didn’t sound as good as live. Come to church, a much better experience.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Athens and Jerusalem?

Biblical Text: Acts 17:16-31,32-34
Full Sermon Draft

The text is Paul in Athens. I could tell you very quickly what the core of the sermon is about, but then you might not listen. If there is one thing that we in the modern world are mistaken about it is the pace of truth. We think it is an intellectual exercise as quick as a download of information. And we expect it to be complete. Run the bit check on that download. Not that truth is more organic and takes time. But when you hear it, and you know you’ve heard it, well. That is what this is about.

Worship Note: I’ve left in our Hymn of the Day LSB 832, Jesus Shall Reign. The words are Isaac Watts’, the best hymn writer in the English language. The tune should be familiar from Easter, Duke Street, which is the common tune of I Know the My Redeemer Lives. It is a great hymn which captures the breadth of Paul in Athens.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Division…Not Yet and Now

Biblical Text: Luke 12:49-59 (Luke 12:35-59) – note: the larger text is really the basis, the shorter text was the lectionary reading

Full Sermon Draft

Getting last week off from having to polish a sermon because our Seminarian Tim did a great job gave me a lot of time just to meditate on Luke 12. On first read Luke 12 is all over the place veering from the harshest warning and condemnations to the sweetest promises. I think in our modern American Christian imagination we are all Jeffersonians of a kind. Jefferson famously cut out of his gospels all the “fantastical” accounts (i.e. the miracles and the resurrection) leaving nothing but a moralistic great teacher Jesus. We don’t cut out the miracles, at least not most of us, but what we cut out in the prophet. We string together nice Jesus, and come up with some way to tune out fiery Jesus. But if we refuse to listen to Jesus the prophet, we end up in situations like the OT lesson from Jeremiah, where our “prophets” blow us sweet nothings and we are shocked at division from both man and God.

Attempting to boil the chapter down into a single paragraph, it is more coherent that that first read. It is Jesus’ correction our natural views of the intersection of division/peace and temporal/eternal with the messiah or the work of God. Our natural view is that we want peace expressed temporally. Peace within families. Peace between religions. Peace on earth. Or at least we want those things assuming that they come with the correct division. Our temporal physical tribe get the peace while the out group is safely divided from us. And all of that peace coming with a healthy serving of temporal prosperity for our group. We want a sugar-daddy messiah, and we don’t give a second thought to the eternal. Or just assume like the rich fool that the good times will roll forever. But Jesus corrects us in our temporal thoughts. Now is not the time of peace, but the time of division. It is the time of division because this messiahs, and this God’s concerns, are not temporal, but eternal. Jesus has come to give eternal peace which you have right now. But this peace is by grace, through faith. And those that believe align their lives with the divine purpose. They know the will of the householder for whom they have been left as stewards. But, not everyone believes. Many might know, but they are unwilling to live with that knowledge. And that is the division in this life. That is also the cause of the temporal strife. A strife that is not yet resolved in peace. Not yet resolved in the hope that the full number will come in.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download