Weapons of Righteousness

With the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left – 2 Corinthians 6:7

Flavor Flav turned 65 this year. I wonder if he ever found out what time it was? Or if it is just time to start collecting social security. Yes, that is pure corn, and you probably don’t remember Flav. He was one of the early rappers in pivotal group Public Enemy. His shtick to this day is wearing a giant clock and interjecting, “Do you know what time it is?” Which if you’ve got an apocalyptic sweet tooth is impossible not to like. Because we all should be asked if we know what time it is more often. The hour is later than you think.

But the good news of any apocalyptic is that Christ is both the Alpha and the Omega. Christ can operate with both the right hand and the left. Moses had placed “good and evil” before the gathered Israelites (Deuteronomy 30:15ff) and urged them to “choose life.” Of course Moses was talking about the law which is good and wise. Our problem is choosing it. Knowing what time it is by Moses isn’t a good thing. But Paul has a different proclamation. “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain…look, now is the favorable time, look, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).” What time is it? It is the day of grace. If you are still in the flesh and reading this, now is the time that grace has come to you. Now Christ helps us.

How does Christ help us? With weapons of righteousness for the right and for the left.

What the heck does that mean? I think the base picture is the ancient warrior who held an offensive weapon, a sword, in the right, and a defensive weapon, a shield, in the left. The right is the instrument of power. The left is the tricky one. It is tricky for a few reasons, but the greatest is the fact that the greatest strength of the warrior comes not from skill with the right, but from savvy formation with the left. My shield in formation protects not just me but the man to my left. The army that lost was almost always that one that broke ranks first and no longer fought as a unit. And they would do this because they trusted their own might and not their fellow’s shield.

The apostle leading up to that summary has a couple of lists. Weapons of the left: “endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger (2 Corinthians 6:4-5).” The Apostle Paul held formation through all of those things. He proclaimed Christ and our eternal life in Christ thought all of those things. He kept the faith. And paradoxically it is those weapons of the left that are much more meaningful. The grace of Christ which is seen most clearly in the cross is centered in our endurance of what this temporal world has for us. But that does not exclude weapons of the right: “purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, the power of God (2 Corinthians 6:6-7).” All of those are active things. You could call those the Sanctified life. The Saints also have weapons of righteousness that demand use and skill, not just endurance. The endurance weapons of the left are typically better, but there are times that demand action, that demand holiness and truthful speech.

Flavor Flav’s question, the apocalyptic question, is always meaningful. “Do you know what time it is?” Now is the favorable time. God acts with his grace both through the left and the right. But do you know which is called for in your life? As Luther would say, “sin boldly.” Choose your weapon, but have faith in the grace of Christ to make now the day of salvation regardless the choice.

He Walks with Us

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Biblical Text: Luke 24:13-35

It is probably fading from memory, but in the generation passing there was a favorite hymn by lay people that was most despised by clergy – In the Garden. It is the proto-Jesus as my boyfriend song. But it is one that I’ve often thought there was a challenging and orthodox reworking available in its bones. What it expresses is the presence of Jesus with his people. It is expressing the power of the resurrection. Its verse “he walks with me and talks with me…” is the core of what could be. Because that is the core of this text. All resurrection texts speak to the historical reality of the event. They all also proclaim the power of the resurrection to bring us eternal things. What the Road to Emmaus does is show us how this kingdom comes in weakness. While we can’t see him, Jesus walks with us. For a long time, until our faith is strong enough, he walks with us. The reign of the living Christ is one that comes in weakness. Through preaching and teaching. In Word and Sacrament. Things that accompany us. As we are prepared for the full weight of the resurrection to come to us.

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The First of the Signs

Biblical Text: John 2:1-11
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John intentionally uses and structures half his gospel around a different word than Matthew, Mark and Luke. Those synoptics describe what we call miracles as works of power. John calls them signs and the first twelve chapters of John are structured around seven signs. And I think John tells us the difference at the end of Cana. To John the signs due two things: 1) they manifest glory and 2) they inspire belief. What this sermon attempts to do is three things: a) ponder that difference between works of power, both natural and supernatural, and signs, b) flesh out what specifically Cana as the first of the signs encourages us to believe and c) apply those encouraged beliefs to our lives.

I’d add here, something that the sermon doesn’t, that works of power can also inspire belief. They are just as much signs as the ones John picks out like Cana. The big difference is the emphasis between the two aspects. Is the primary purpose a manifestation of glory, or has that manifestation worked itself into our understanding of ourselves and our actions. Does seeing the glory change us in deeper ways.

I’d also add here a second note about this sermon. A better preacher could make this much better, but my reflection after delivery is that I rendered a very deep text in a meaningful way. It is one of the rare times preaching on John that I don’t feel defeated.

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That is why I came…

Texts: Mark 1:29-39, 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, Isaiah 40:21-31
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The collection of texts assigned for today stuck me this week as wanting to talk about preaching. Jesus confronts himself with a question, what is the chief purpose of his ministry? And his answer set the paradigm of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not one that is advanced as the kingdoms of this world. Instead it is preached; it is proclaimed.

So, this sermon is a basic statement of the power and purpose of preaching. And the source of all preaching which is never the preacher, but the one who commands the message.

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Power and Goodness

Biblical Text: John 11:17-53
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Two of the traditional attributes of God are His Sovereignty and His Goodness. This sermon reflects on the conflict those appear to produce today. I can’t help but look at our culture and see a people who are, against what they actually say, aware of God’s sovereignty but don’t believe or trust in His Goodness. Take Christopher Hitchens for a second, his biggest applause line was always, “God’s a bloody tyrant”. His logic doesn’t work. Just because someone is a tyrant doesn’t mean they don’t exist. (Don’t even try, it’s an applause line appealing to felt emotion and not logic.) But, in almost every level of culture the same idea is expressed. Keanu Reeves calls God “a kid with an ant farm” in the B-movie Constantine. A little more heady, the Walking Dead, about a resurrection of sorts, keeps returning to themes of tyranny and tribalism. Only the tribes with a strong leader survive. The mantra of a generation appears to be “don’t judge me” and the noticing of something is taken as akin to tyranny. Nietzsche called Christianity a religion of slaves for a couple of reasons: a) the first reasons was the God used his power on the side of the slaves against the “supermen” but that leads to b) God is the only “superman” or the only tyrant allowed to stand. What these all share is an attribution of power to God, but not goodness. Hence my final line “zombie apocalypse of tyranny”. A God who was only powerful, who was just the resurrection, would do something like that. And that is our cultural bug-a-boo, we still have an idea or a feeling of the power of God, but we have lost faith in the Goodness. And we have lost faith with the Goodness because we have severed ourselves from Christ and the body of Christ.

It is only in the incarnation of Jesus that we can fully observe and take in the goodness of God. Unlike our power, God uses his power for good. And that includes the bestowing of life on all who believe. Jesus is the resurrection (power) and the life (goodness). And that life is not tyranny but “full of grace and truth”. But the only place you find both the resurrection and the life is connected to the body of Christ which is the church. Connected through Word and Sacrament, proclamation of forgiveness and incorporation in water, bread/body and wine/blood. Rejecting the church is rejecting Jesus. Rejecting Jesus is rejecting the goodness of God. The power is still naturally know by looking out the window. But the power alone isn’t enough. We need law and gospel. We need power and goodness. We need the resurrection and the life.

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