God has never been a distant God, at least, not in the sense that He was never around.

In the beginning, on the Sixth Day, God created man from the dust of the earth. He breathed into the man’s nostrils the breath of life. He walked with the man, talked with the man, watched the man name all the animals, and had compassion on the man when, among all the animals there wasn’t a helper suited to him. Then, he caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, took a rib from his side, a fashioned it into that suitable helper. Adam saw his helper and exclaimed, “Woman! For she was taken out of man.” Furthermore, it seems that it wasn’t unusual for God to take regular strolls in the Garden of Eden, during which, on one particular occasion, Adam and the woman hid themselves from Him. (cf. Genesis 1:26-27, 31; 2:5-24; 3:8)

If there’s anything to be said about a distance between God and man, it is on the part of man distancing himself from God, and doing so by way of sin. Adam and the woman hid themselves because they had been deceived by the devil and broken God’s commandment, sending the rest of mankind on that downward spiral away from God and His goodness. So it is with you, participating in every evil and sin because of that deceived and fallen nature, the Old Adam in every one of you, questioning God and His goodness, doubting His providence, not believing His wrath. That’s how the rest of history since the fall has played out, such that there were certainly times when God seemed distant or felt unapproachable.

For instance, there were the 430 years when His chosen people were slaves in Egypt. There was also a period of about 400 years after the last prophet, the time between the Old and New Testaments. However, although He seemingly “stepped aside” and allowed His people to remain captives, and although He was silent with respect to the prophets ceasing to appear (cf. 1 Maccabees 9:27), He was still present among His people. Yes, He allowed His people to be slaves for 400 years, but He appeared to Moses in a burning bush, then through Moses and Aaron, led His people out of Egypt, appearing before them as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. cf. Exodus 3:1-6; 13:21) Furthermore, He gave them instructions to build a tabernacle with His mercy seat—the Ark of the Covenant—in the innermost part. (cf. Exodus 25ff) In that tent, and later the temple in Jerusalem, God dwelt among His people, even in the period between the testaments (or so it was assumed).

Now, it’s probably difficult imagining how all of that looked and worked, how God appeared and walked since God is spirit. I suppose the pillar of fire by night may be easier to imagine than the pillar of cloud by day; still, I wonder what that might have looked like, sounded like, felt like, even smelled and tasted like. Then, to see that cloud descend into the tabernacle and know that God is there and to know that God was on His creation in a temple built by His creation in Jerusalem—it can be difficult to wrap one’s brain around that concept. Nevertheless, God has always been with His people right from the beginning.

Then an angel appeared to a virgin in Nazareth and gave her a fantastic message:

That same angel later appeared to her betrothed with more of the fantastic message: “[T]hat which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:20b-23)

Immanuel…God with us. As I said, God has always been with His people. But this time, it’s different. God has always had a presence with His people, but He has to that point never been one of His people.

One of my favorite things to point out this time of year is what St. John wrote about “God-with-us.” Those of you who know me well and have heard me speak of this often know where I am going with this. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14a) At the exodus, God dwelt among his people in a tent and later in a temple; I’ve spoken to this point already. When John wrote that the Word dwelt among us, the word He used there is the word used to refer to the material upon which scenes were painted for Greek tragedies. It’s the same material from which tents were made. What you can understand John to have written is that the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us—that He tabernacled among us. This is God-in-the-flesh replacing God-in-the-tent.

God once walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and the woman, however that may have looked, but in the person of His Son, He walked among His people in the flesh. Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, is the enfleshed God, who was conceived and born, grew and lived, died and rose, and is now ascended to the right hand of the throne of God. He was fully present in His own flesh and blood on earth, walking and talking and eating and drinking and learning and teaching, like an ordinary man, and healing and and multiplying bread and fish and raising the dead like only God can do.

And there is something He did which only He could do. As fully man, Jesus was able to give His life over to death, and do so as the ransom for many. It’s worth as that ransom is only because He is also fully God. And, as fully God, He was able to take His life back up again. He lived and died and rose, the perfect man and perfect sacrifice for all sin. That’s what it means for Him to have been given the name Jesus: YHWH saves. And YHWH saves by being Immanuel: God with us—to live and die for all mankind, the once-for-all sacrifice for all sin…for your sin. And to rise again as victory over death, over the death sentence first pronounced to Adam and the woman after God “found” the hidden first man and woman. That’s why God was with us in the flesh: to shed His blood for sin and rise from the dead to grant victory over death. All that other stuff—the healing and multiplying and raising the dead—they were all signs pointing to Him being the propitiation for sin and victory over death.

Having completed His mission, He ascended to heaven. Once again, it may feel as if God is distant. The Son of God has ascended to the throne which He never left, so, He no longer walks among us. He is bodily on His throne, not here or over there or anywhere else.

Still, He is Immanuel, God-with-us. Before He ascended, Jesus promised, “[W]here two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them,” and, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 18:20; 28:19-20) You have his promise to be with you, even though you cannot see or hear him. As God has always been, in all three persons, He is present in His divine omnipresence.

Moreover, you have His promise to be with you in His means. And where He is with you in His means, He is there for you with His grace and mercy. Where the Word of God is read and proclaimed—as it has been and is being done here and in this moment—Jesus is there with His Holy Spirit to give you exactly what His Gospel promises. In Holy Baptism, you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the sign of the cross upon forehead and breast to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified and the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was placed upon you. Whenever you desire, you can hear the words of Holy Absolution, of which you confess: “I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.” In the Words of Holy Absolution, Christ your dear Lord is dealing with you Himself—He is God with you in that very moment.

And as if to top it all off, look on the altar, and there see what will be for you the very body and blood of Immanuel, given to you with bread and wine to eat and to drink. Though you cannot perceive Jesus in His means, not with the senses of the flesh, by faith you can touch and taste the goodness of the Lord as you receive His body and bread and blood as wine for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. You take into yourself Immanuel, and He is most certainly and tangibly in that moment God with you!

He is Immanuel, God-with-us, and He is with you in grace and mercy. Never doubt that He is present; even in those times when He feels distant, He is still with you. Don’t trust your feelings, take Him at His Word: “I am with you always;” therefore, you are forgiven for all of your sins.

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Redemption draws near when Christ is present…when Jesus begins to happen and is happening. Advent is a sort of beginning:

• It’s the beginning of the Church Year. This, in fact, is the first day of the new Church Year.
• It’s the start of looking at Jesus beginning to happen as He first came in the flesh. Being about a month out from Christmas, you might imagine looking at Mary and her belly, eight months along, and seeing the Kingdom of God right there in her womb.
• It’s the preparation and the beginning again of preparing for Jesus to happen for the last time as He comes again to judge the living and the dead. Looking back at His first coming is always done with a view toward expecting His Second Coming.

Jesus coming and being present is the nearness of your redemption.

The counter to that is when Christ is not present, redemption is nowhere near. And, lest I’m not clear, in His omnipresence, Jesus the Christ, in His full humanity and full divinity, is everywhere He wants to be. When I say, “when Christ is not present,” what I mean to say is where Christ is excluded.

Now, you have an idea of those places where Jesus Christ, in every bit of His anointed-ness, is outwardly excluded, such as among the Jews and Muslims or any number of false religions. In those places, among those people, let me boldly say, redemption is not drawing near. But, even among supposed Christians, in places where one would think Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed, the risk is run that Christ would be excluded, even if only covertly or naïvely.

You hear it in places where self-help is preached. You hear it in places where God-accepts-you-no-matter-what-you-do-or-believe is preached. You hear it in places where Jesus as a great example or teacher is preached. In every case, Jesus is pushed aside, mentioned only in regards to His day and age on earth, forgotten, ignored—the Gospel is not proclaimed. And if the Gospel is not proclaimed, then the Law will not be either, at least in its judgmental strength. As Martin Luther wrote in his Large Catechism, “[W]here Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Ghost who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church, without which no one can come to Christ the Lord;” (LC III.45, Triglot) and what he means by Christ being preached is the preaching of Jesus, the Son of God, crucified for the forgiveness of sins, and that you are justified freely for the sake of Jesus Christ without any merit or worthiness of your own.

Outside of the preaching of Christ crucified, the Law becomes little more than a self-help guide, the post upon which you are told to look to see just how good you can be. Redemption is something you work out, earned with a litany of good works which you lay out before God. But Jesus is not part of the equation. If He is not proclaimed as the antidote or medicine for sin, as the forgiveness of sins, there is no proclamation of the Law to show you your sin and kill your sinfulness in you. In this case, His merits are not applied to you, given to you, made to be your cover; in fact, with this kind of preaching, they are not wanted.

This idea of self-help has become such an ingrained part of the American make-up. It’s the chief part of American rugged individualism. The rugged individual can make it on His own. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for anything, and when it comes to faith and religion, the rugged individual doesn’t need anyone’s help for redemption. They might believe in Jesus, in a Jesus, but don’t really see any kind of need for Him. “Hey, this Jesus guy is pretty neat, but I can make it on my own.”

Even in times of increasing welfare, government handouts, and entitlements (and perhaps, in a time of greater need for them), the idea of being self-made is held up as the pinnacle of success. Those who receive welfare, even those who inherited their wealth are not seen as successful, especially compared to those who pulled themselves out of poverty to self-made millions and billions. And though you may be part of a church body that has its origins in feudal Europe, as an American, you are instilled with the idea of honor and praise for the rugged individual—you hear his call in the back of your mind, that you, too, can make it on your own. Old Adam loves this rugged individual voice; he will use it to prove to you that you don’t need God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Neither does anyone else, Old Adam would say.

What one thinks of and acts like at funerals and their receptions is telling in this regard. Is the funeral a celebration of life where the deceased is praised for how good of a person they were or is it a celebration of Life (capital-L) where Jesus is praised for the eternal life granted to the deceased with an eager expectation of the resurrection of all the dead? Now, I won’t speak against remembering the good done by the deceased and remembering their successes, especially at a reception, but that should never be the primary focus. The primary focus in remembering one who has died in Christ should be that they were baptized, were redeemed, were forgiven, were restored, were clothed in Christ’s righteousness, were a believer for the sake and work of Jesus Christ. (Or, how about this: change all of those “weres” to “ares”.) How you talk about the dead says much about what you believe with regard to Jesus Christ, and His work of salvation, and even how one achieves or receives their standing before God.

The sad fact for those who follow false religions and learn to follow false messiahs is that Jesus is returning. The same can be said for those who claim the name Christian, but hold to a theology of glory which is a theology of self-help. Jesus is coming again, and when He comes, it will be the end. Those who trusted in themselves for redemption will see, first-hand, the fruit of their labors. They amount to nothing—all of your faithless, righteous deeds are as a filthy, blood-stained rag that is to be tossed away as refuse. (cf. Isaiah 64:6) “But, Lord,” they will say, “we have done all of these things for you. See how holy and righteous we have been.” And Jesus will reply,

So, Jesus says in today’s text,

It’s a frightful scene. And certainly, it will be for those who trusted in themselves for redemption. However, not so for those whose trust solely in Jesus, who is coming in a cloud, for redemption.

Jesus does not come to burden His people. He has come not to burden anyone, and He comes again not to burden. He has come with succor and will come again as the Great Redeemer, to bring with Him His Bride into glory, who will see Him with their own eyes, and not another. (cf. Job 19:27) If the people are burdened, they are burdened by the guilt of their own sin, to which they cling, seeking only in themselves the way out from under it.

But not so those who are baptized, are redeemed, are forgiven, are restored, are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, are a believer for the sake and work of Jesus Christ. When Christ comes again in a cloud after the frightening signs in the sun, moon, and stars, through the distress of nations and perplexity, despite the roaring of the waves and the failing of men’s hearts—once the heavens will be shaken—the redeemed of God will rejoice, because Jesus is returning, because redemption draws near.

Dr. Martin Luther put it this way,

“But those who have the ‘prudence of the spirit’ love the will of God and welcome it because they are conformed to it,” Luther wrote. How are those who have the ‘prudence of the spirit’ conformed? By nothing else than the coming of Jesus! And this is exactly what the prophet Malachi wrote:

Dear hearers, look up and lift up your heads, because you redemption draws near. Yes, the end is near…nearer than it has ever been. However, for the right here and right now, look to your own pasts and realize this present reality: the Word of God was applied to simple water, and you are Baptized. You were joined by this most holy washing to Jesus Christ’s perfect life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, you have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you, and the life you now live in the flesh, you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you. (cf. Galatians 2:20) There at the font, you were given the Holy Spirit and you were given faith to trust in the Son of God for your salvation. Verily, you were given Jesus, and so your redemption has drawn near in your washing.

Dear hearers, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. Yes, the end is near…nearer than it has ever been. However, for the right here and right now, to you is proclaimed that Jesus is present. You heard Him as the Scripture was read, especially in today’s Introit: “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation.” (Zechariah 9:9) You hear Him now, even as my own voice is making this proclamation to you. You hear it as you live out your baptismal lives, confessing your sins in God-given repentance and hearing the words of Holy Absolution. Jesus is come in His Word—hidden, though perceived with the eyes and ears of faith. He is verily present in the Word, and so your redemption has drawn near in your hearing.

Dear hearers, look up and raise up your heads, because your redemption draws near. Yes, the end is near…nearer than it has ever been. However, for right here and right now, gaze upon the altar and see the bread and the wine. Jesus joins Himself to these ordinary elements in order to give Himself to you: body as bread and bread as body, blood as wine and wine as blood. In the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus is happening for you, and you receive Him in your mouths—hidden, though perceived only by faith—for forgiveness, life, salvation, and so your redemption draws near in your eating and drinking.

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Frightening things are happening, and will continue to happen, even get worse. Rejoice and be glad; these things will fade away and cease, and Jesus is happening—He is here, now, for you—and He will never cease: “[T]he word of the LORD endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:25) And whenever the Word has His way with you, your redemption draws near to you, even as right now, right in this place, your redemption draws near to you, and so you are forgiven for all of your sins.

You have heard the story of Jesus and the Ten Lepers countless times. It comes up every year at Thanksgiving, and depending on the lectionary used, it’s read a second time. You might even know some of it by heart. Consequently, you might already know some of the things I’m going to say about it. Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Samaria. As they came near a village, they were approached by ten men with leprosy. They cried out to Jesus, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They didn’t call out with the usual cry to stay away since they were unclean. However, having heard of Jesus, they knew He could make them clean. “Go and show yourselves to the priests,” Jesus replied. On the way, all ten are made clean and would be declared as such by the priests, allowing them to return to their regular routines and lives. However, one of the ten, realizing that he was clean, returned to Jesus to thank Him; the priests could wait—Jesus had done to this man what he believed Jesus could. (cf. Luke 17:11-19)

You have also heard St. Paul’s exhortation to St. Timothy, though not as often. The second reading for a national day of thanksgiving can be taken from 1 Timothy 2, as was done today, or from Philippians 4. Still, the words to St. Timothy are also quite familiar to you, and you also might know what I would say about this text. There, St. Paul exhorted the young pastor and his flock to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. Kings and those in authority would not be kings or have authority apart from God granting it to them. God gives government so that all people can live a quiet and peaceable life—so that believers can do so in godliness and reverence to Him. So you ought to pray to God for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and JD Vance and Jared Polis and Dianne Primavera and the whole host of those to whom God has granted authority to govern this great land; and thank God for them and for this government, that by it you are able to live a quiet and peaceable life. For another, with regard to all men, including kings and those in authority, you ought to give thanks because God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-14)

And you have also heard from Moses and his account of Israel as they were about to enter Canaan after their long exodus from Egypt. “Remember,” God told his chosen people; “[R]emember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness…” Through those 40 years, their clothes and shoes did not wear out, and God provided them just enough manna and quail to survive one day to the next. This He did to teach them that “man does not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” And why? Because He was about to bring them into a good land flowing with brooks and springs of water, land filled with wheat and barley and vines and figs and pomegranates and olive trees and honey. God’s chosen people were about to receive much more than they could have ever imagined after 40 years of want and destitution. And God says, “And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” (cf. Deuteronomy 8:1-10)

Through all of those times, and especially on this day, one thought permeates those three readings. Hear Jesus’ words on the matter: “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11) God gives faith to trust in Him for all things, and so to you as to the leper He says, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.” God gives rulers so that you may live your life in this world in godliness and reverence of Him, and for this God is to be thanked and praised, served and obeyed. God provides lean times to teach you to trust in Him for all things, gives you all things to support your body and life, and, at times, gives you an abundance with which you can serve your neighbors, so when you eat of the bounty that God has given you, we bless and thank Him for the good which He has given you. Therefore, you are given the words “Give us this day our daily bread” to pray.

The Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer teaches what? For one thing, you are taught that

Daily bread includes those things you heard about in today’s lessons, and have heard about countless times. From Luke you hear of the lepers being given health and their livelihoods back as their daily bread. From 1 Timothy you hear of the gift of good government and neighbors being part of daily bread. From Deuteronomy you hear of food, drink, clothing, shoes, land, animals, minerals, and ores all being part of daily bread.

So, when you pray the Fourth Petition, you are praying for those things which God already gives you and all men out of His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in you. As Jesus said, “[The Father] his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) This is God’s nature as Creator—He did not simply create the cosmos and then step back to watch what would happen; God is an involved Creator who loves and cherishes what He has created so that He continues to provide for it. As one to whom is proclaimed, “Arise, go your way; your faith has saved you,” as indeed it should be for all creation, it is become your duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him for all of His First Article gifts—God commands it; He wishes to hear your thanks for all the good He has given to you.

Nine lepers ran to show themselves to the priests, never to see Jesus again or thank Him, most likely returning to the livelihoods without a second thought of the want and need they had been in before they ran to Jesus pleading for healing and cleansing. In some places, kings and those in authority persecute Christians or subtly rule against them or in one way or another rule unfavorably according to one person or group of people or another; this can even happen in a place of religious liberty and tolerance. Fallen human nature makes so that in those times, no matter how slight the ruling against the Christian, thanks is not rendered to God but scorn and hatred, perhaps even a desire that the king or those in authority would somehow find an early or untimely exit from their position of authority. Following the book of Deuteronomy is the book of Joshua, in which is recounted the conquest of Canaan as the Israelites take possession of the land and its bounty as God had promised them; then comes the book of Judges which shows that the result of sinful man living with God-given bounty, goodness, and peace is apostasy, not thankfulness.

Sinful man’s track record isn’t good when it comes to rendering to God the thanks He deserves and commands. As you search your own past, doubtless there are times and events for which you should have and could have thanked God, but didn’t. Even worse, there are times when you took the credit for the blessings that God lavished upon you. It should come as no surprise that you and your neighbors are unable and, dare I say it, unwilling to thank and praise, serve and obey God for His lavish goodness and First Article gifts; you have a hard time with all of God’s decrees and commandments, why would this one be any different?

Listener beware! That was said not as an excuse. God commands in His Word that you thank and praise Him; you heard as much from the reading from Deuteronomy—“And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you”—and 1 Timothy—“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…” If that’s not enough for you, then hear the Word of the Lord, in which you have life:

• Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! (1 Chronicles 16:34)
• Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. (Psalm 30:4)
• It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night… (Psalm 92:1-2)
• Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Repent of your unthankfulness and rejoice in the mercy of your God. He does not remove His abundance from you, nor remove from you from His providence. Like the nine lepers who did not return to thank Jesus, yet were still healed and restored, He still gives you all that you need to support this body and life, whether or not you acknowledge and thank Him. To you, to whom He is giving faith to believe and trust in Him, to receive from Him goodness for the life to come, He again says, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

And that’s why He gives the Fourth Petition (among them all) to pray. “Give us this day our daily bread.” What does this mean?

In a sense, this Fourth Petition serves as a little confession. For when you pray it, you acknowledge before God that we do not always realize that God is the giver of the daily bread that you receive and that you do not always receive it with thanksgiving. Therefore, like beggars asking for a crumb of bread, like lepers seeking mercy, you ask that God would grant that you realize that He is the giver of daily bread and that you receive it from His hand like the one leper who returned to thank Jesus—you ask to be forgiven for those times when you don’t. And in His grace and mercy, God does just that—more daily bread from the giver of all good.

He points to the cross, upon which He has given for all the world the Bread of Life. There, sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins, is the Word that went from the mouth of the LORD by which man lives. Yes, God Himself, in the flesh of His Son, took your unthankfulness from you, and in your place was perfectly thankful for every blessing, temporal and spiritual, that God lavishes upon man—for bread and fish (cf. John 6:11), for right faith and knowledge (cf. Luke 10:21-22), for hearing his prayer (cf. John 11:41), and even for the giving of His own body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins—He was perfectly thankful for every First Article gift and the every gift of righteousness.

And if God in Christ has taken your sin, every bit of it, not only unthankfulness, then He has left none of it for you. Your sin is no longer yours, but His. And, taking it into His flesh, He died the death due for sin in your place, giving you the benefits of His perfect life and death. Jesus Christ is your ransom—“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time”—the greatest gift for which to give thanks.

For Jesus’ sake, your God says to you, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you. You are forgiven for all of your sins.” God gives you the Fourth Petition to pray—“Give us this day our daily bread.” And He answers your prayers with Jesus Christ. By His answer, through Jesus Christ, you are able say with the Psalmists,

• [So] that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30:12)
• I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you. (Psalm 35:18)
• I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30)
• But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. (Psalm 79:13)

Jesus spoke about two types of people in today’s Gospel: the scribes and a widow.

The scribes were men who were trained in the Scriptures; “teachers of the Law” the Bibles in your seats call them. You could say these were the Pharisees right-hand men, their apprentices…they were practically Pharisees—so much so that they were often mentioned together in the same breath: “scribes and Pharisees.” They liked to put on a show, much like the Pharisees: they “like[d] to walk around in long robes and like[d] greetings in the marketplaces and [having] best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,…and for a pretense make long prayers.” Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy.

Then, there’s the widow: she had very little. Jesus sat with His disciples watching people make their temple treasury donations. Those who were rich put in much. Then, the lowly widow happens by and puts in her 2 cents: “two small copper coins, which make a penny.” She gave two coins—barely a penny; nevertheless, it was all that she had. While the rest of the people gave a portion of their earnings—most probably keeping in line with the standard tithe donation—the widow gave all the money she had to the temple, keeping nothing for herself.

What can you take away from this?

Well, Jesus’ warning still stands. As He taught His disciples to beware the scribes, so you are taught to beware those who would be their descendants. So, beware those modern-day “teachers of the Law” who desire to go around in fine clothing, love prestige and recognition in the malls and supermarkets, the places of honor at special events, and will wax poetic about the great things they do for God.

Today, you might recognize these types from the myriad televangelism shows. There are men like Joel Osteen, Jack Van Impe, Benny Hinn, and Pat Robertson and women like Joyce Meyer, Marilyn Hickey, and Paula White. You might shake your heads at their hypocrisy: teaching as the doctrines of Jesus their own commandments, claiming to proclaim the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus alone for salvation while in the same breath telling you that you must do something to prove your sincerity and desire to be saved (which usually involves a donation to their “ministry”). I have heard comments calling those in their line of “ministry” “Prophets for Profits.”

Where you might have a difficult time recognizing modern-day scribes is in your own circles. There are men and women of clout in the Missouri Synod who, despite some situations which would seemingly cause humility, suffer from the same hypocrisy as did the scribes in today’s text. Preachers and teachers, deaconesses and congregational leaders, anyone with a taste for prestige can become so consumed with it that they would do anything to maintain it. One of the most glaring symptom often encountered in Missouri deals with church growth, where the success of a congregation (and it’s pastors and leaders) rests on the size of its membership or Sunday attendance and how large a budget they have. A question often associated with this mindset is, “How many people do you worship?” So, these men and women can often be hailed as champions of the church, saviors of Missouri, and authorities in “running” a “successful” church, and attempts at duplicating their programs and practices are made, perhaps even bringing these people in as experts. By the way, the answer to that question should always be, “One.”

That brings me to another part of this warning. You know it better by the axiom, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Those with positions of power and authority in the Church can easily become “drunk” with that power and authority so that they turn to self-serving religion; the Jesus that they preach is no longer the Jesus of the Scriptures, but a Jesus that suits their needs and desires, that nets for them prestige, favor, fame, power, and butts in the pews. They abuse their power and authority (to be understood as teaching false doctrine) to keep what they earnestly desire, just like the scribes in today’s text.

It’s a tempting trap that you can and do fall into so easily. The least bit of a taste of power and authority sets Old Adam on fire. Measuring success by the wrong means does the same. And these need not be with regard to your perception in the church, but in every station in life in which you find yourself. The devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh will use these to turn you away from God and to yourself, deceiving you into believing that they are proof that you have God’s favor and blessing and that you are doing a good thing for God. And if you are turned inward and away from God, whether or not you outright confess it, you are denying your need for a savior. Oh, how much like the self-serving scribes you so easily have, do, and can become!

True religion is not self-serving; at least, not in the way of the scribes. True religion preaches and teaches the Jesus of the Scriptures who has done all things for sinful humanity. It teaches the Son of God through whom all things were created, who became flesh and “dwelt among us” (cf. John 1:14) for a while in order that He might take the sin of Adam and all the sins you commit into His flesh and die with them. As the Lamb of God, He was the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice who shed His blood on the cross planted on a hill outside of Jerusalem. His love covers the multitude of sins ever committed and still ever to be committed. On the third day, He rose from the dead, putting an end to eternal death for those who trust in Him only for salvation. He now lives and reigns at the right hand of the Father, your eternal Prophet, Priest, and King, ever in glory directing all affairs in the Church and world for you! True religion teaches and preaches Jesus Christ who comes to serve you with forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

This is what should be proclaimed to you by every servant of the Word. And, it is cause for great joy! All things have been done for you because you could not do a thing for yourself. Christ Jesus is come, and He gives Himself to you and for you for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. Dear hearers, you have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus—that is to say, you have died to yourself and risen to newness of life in Christ Jesus—you have died to self-service and have been set free in Christ to serve others.

That leads right into the Jesus’ observation of the widow. While it is not directly recorded, one can make an inference from the text. She had little money to her name—about a penny. You would think, for her own well-being and sustenance, she would treasure that penny and use it to serve herself and her temporal needs. However, out of a joy for God her Creator and Redeemer, she gave all that she had to His service. The widow’s giving indicates a complete trust in God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—for all of her needs, and I offer this more literal translation of verse 44 as illustration: “…this woman, out of her want, put in all that she had, all of her life.” If I may borrow a phrase from those modern-day teachers of the law, she gave her whole life to God.

This widow, most likely a victim of the scribes’ devouring as Jesus stated in verse 40, from true, God-given faith, knew that her standing before God was not determined on her prestige, power, or authority, but rested solely in the work, power, and authority of God, Himself. She trusted, by God-given faith, that she was His beloved child, that He would supply all of her needs for her earthly life, but, more importantly, for her eternal life in and with Him. So, joyfully, with this God-given faith and trust, she put her whole life, all that she had to live on, into the temple treasury; so much more than everyone else who, joyfully or not, dropped in their tithe. She gave her whole life to God, not so that He would save it, but because He already had!

Jesus’ love for her is proven by what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7, emphasis mine) Jesus loved the widow, not because of the amount she put in, either the amount stated nor in proportion to what she had, but because she gave joyfully, cheerfully, from a forgiven and redeemed heart.

So it is with you, dear baptized! Your standing before God does not depend on you—your power, authority, prestige, wealth, and works amount to nothing before Him apart from the faith He has given to you to trust solely in Him. Trust in these things is certain death apart from God, for they declare that you do not need Him to be with Him. God knows better—He declared as much through the pen of the prophet Isaiah: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

Reportedly, the last words of Martin Luther on his death bed were, “Wir sind alle bettler. Hoc est verum.” Those of you who listen to Issues, Etc. know that Rev. Todd Wilken likes to use that first sentence. The whole of it is translated, “We are all beggars. This is true.” A beggar, like the widow in today’s text, is giveable to; that is to say, they have nothing to give; they can do nothing but receive. In order to get by, they need the assistance of others. If they were to give anything, all that they could give would be all that they have, as meager as that could be, like the penny the widow put into the temple treasury. The truth of “Wir sind alle bettler” is that, before God, you have nothing to give, but in order to get by, for this life and eternal life, you must receive. And God is most gracious in what He gives.

The Son of God, at just the right time, took on human flesh and gave His life for all.

Jesus said,

By the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the cross of Calvary, He redeemed all who were under the law, that is everyone! The Son of God, by His death and resurrection, set you free from the curse and condemnation of the law.

Dear baptized, by baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have been made and a son and heir with Him of eternal life. As has been said in your hearing time and time again, “Grace says, ‘believe in this,’ and everything is already done!” The work is done for you; “It is finished,” Jesus said. (cf. John 19:30) Your place with Christ in eternity is secured by Christ Jesus Himself!

What joy is yours! You know, by faith, that all of your needs are met by God, both temporal and eternal! You confess as much when you confess the creeds:

Therefore, like the poor widow in today’s text, having been served by the only true God through His Son Jesus Christ, you can give joyfully and cheerfully of all that God has given you. Whether that is mere pennies on the dollar or your last penny, whether that is an hour or two a week in service to your congregation or every waking moment in service to your neighbor, whether that is preparing a meal for a friend or filling this space with music to accompany the divine service, it is all done from a heart that is redeemed and set free by the grace of God.

Treasures, time, and talents—all given to you by God out of His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy—returned to Him with thanksgiving and praise. The amount and type doesn’t matter with regard to your standing before Him, and should not matter as regards your prestige, power, and authority before others. Your standing before God is secure through the work of Jesus Christ your Lord. St. Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female;” further, there is neither rich nor poor, there is neither supremely talented nor marginally talented, there are neither those with an abundance of time or those with a lack of time, “for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” You are all one redeemed and sanctified people of God in Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise,” (Galatians 3:28-29) because through Him you are forgiven for all of your sins.

There was an All Saints’ Day at the beginning of my ministry when I called it one of the happiest days in the church year. All Saints is a day set aside to recall with thanksgiving the faithful past—that is to say, those who have died faithful. All Saints is also a day set aside to be thankful for those faithful who are still here. Today is a day to be thankful for the faithful, and in case I’m not perfectly clear: it’s a day to be thankful for the gift of faith—thank God for pillars of the faith to look up to as examples of Christ’s work on and in them, be they dead to earth yet alive in Christ or alive on earth and alive in Christ. It’s not about worshiping or elevating saints to some undeserved (and, dare I say, unwanted) status in the Church, but about worshiping and thanking God for His work in, on, and for the Church for Christ’s sake. Today is All Saints’ Day, a day to gaze upon the effects of Christ work, as He died and rose again, establishing the Church, His Bride, and granting entrance into her for many millions upon millions of saints—is there anything greater to be happy and overjoyed about?

St. John recorded in his last tome a look at the multitude of saints as the angel shows him the bride of the Lamb. He described the greatest of cities, the Holy City, Jerusalem, wherein all the saints dwell, descending upon the Mountain of God. He related the millions of voices singing all the great songs that are still sung to this day in the liturgy. He described the saints and martyrs praying under the altar: “How long, O Lord?” He showed that in the end, all of the blessed, all who have lived and died in Christ, will forever be in the Light of His face and sing praise and worship Him.

The prophet Isaiah also had and saw the great city, with salvation its walls. All who would enter are those who enter by faith in God and His Christ. By faith, you see and know that all who have died in Christ are indeed alive and well in the eternal life they have gained through the righteousness that He has won and given.

Then, you can look around and remember blessed dead from this place. Even though you might still be in the throes of grief, you can recall with great joy the life in Christ that they had and still have. Rejoice that their robes have been washed clean, made white in the blood of the Lamb.

But, as mentioned, today is not only about those who have gone before, but also about everyone here, right now. It is also about those who are yet to come, like the children of those mentioned in the prayers in this place, that they may hear the Word, though unborn, and be baptized and come to know the salvation found in Jesus Christ. For it is on All Saints’ Day that you rejoice not only to call the blessed dead saints, but also in the fact that you are made saints, and you rejoice to know that, Lord willing, there will be those who follow you who will also know the joy of being made and called saints of God.

You should see from all of this that the Church is a much bigger than what goes on here for an hour or so every week. This may be a small congregation by man’s standards, but the Church is actually quite large. And, in fact, when you gather here to worship, you gather not only with those who are in this place with you, but also with your brothers and sisters of sister congregations around the world, even though the meeting times differ vastly. When you gather to worship, you are joined in the songs of praise and thanksgiving with all the saints on earth who share those songs. More than that, however, you gather with all the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven who join in your songs of laud and magnification of God’s glorious name. You gather with all the saints on earth and in heaven and sing the same song. Though you may not see it, it is a glorious picture, a picture you get a glimpse of through the prophet and the apostle.

This glorious picture is what the evangelist St. Matthew refers to when he recounted the words of Christ: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus said this after a list of signs that mark a saint on earth. He tells the saints to rejoice, despite the trials and hardships of this life, because eternal life in Christ is waiting, in which the prophets are living, who endured such hardships. These prophets and martyrs wait for you, they sing with you, they worship God with you, they rejoice in the life of Christ you have been given.

Dear saints of God, you rejoice this day that you have such a great and large family to be part of. Rejoice and be glad that eternal life awaits you. Rejoice and be glad, because the prophets, martyrs, angels and archangels, apostles, evangelists—the whole heavenly host—sing with you a song that will not die, a song that cannot be muted:

So you sing with them, as their songs are recorded in the books of Isaiah and Revelation.

These are indeed the songs they sing with you, but they sing them for you as well. For as they once were, you are now walking the path of faith—the same one they once walked. It is a treacherous path, to say the least, filled with many holes and covered with numerous stumbling blocks of sin in which to fall and over which to trip.

As an example, look at that list recorded in today’s Gospel. Blessed are the meek…the merciful…the pure in heart…the peacemakers. Not an extensive list, to say the least, but can you say that you are always perfectly meek or merciful or pure in heart or a peacemaker or…or…or… If you’re being honest, you’d have to say that you’ve never perfectly been any of these. On the contrary…

Meek? Given the chance, your sinful nature seeks to indulge itself, over and above, and often at the expense of others. No, you are not meek.

Merciful? Why should you show mercy to those who seek your harm? No, you seek revenge and demand what we are owed by those who are indebted to you. No, you are not merciful.

Pure in heart? Well, this one’s easy. Have you ever hated your parents or other authorities or been angry at them? Ever hated someone so much you wished them harm? Ever had any lustful thoughts? Ever lied about anyone or anything? Ever desired the spouse, house, animal, land, or anything that belonged to someone else? No, you have no purity of heart.

Peacemakers? Well, there’s nothing like a good fight…either to be in one or watch one. Besides, it’s not your place to get between a fight, right? Sometimes, you need to vent your anger, and the best way is to yell and shout all manner of evil at someone, maybe even to hit or punch the person. No, you are makers of no peace.

Where, then, is meekness? Where is mercy? Where is purity of heart? Where is peacemaking? It is only in Jesus Christ! He who knew no sin—who remained meek, who was always merciful, the most pure in heart, the ultimate example of making peace—became sin for you. That is to say, he takes your self-indulgence, your revenge and greed, your impurity, your anger and hate upon himself, and he took it to the cross and there died with it, destroying it. He took the death you deserved, destroying the sins you commit.

But He does so much more. He was meek; His inheritance was the earth. He was merciful; His reward was mercy. He was pure in heart; His gift was to see God. He was the peacemaker; He is called the Son of God. Having taken your sin upon Himself, He gives His meekness, mercy, purity of heart, and peace to you. Where, then, is meekness, mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking? It is in Christ Jesus, who gives Himself and of Himself for and to you.

By His grace, your inheritance is the earth—the new earth and the city of God, Jerusalem. By His grace, your reward is mercy—God is indeed merciful to you, never punishing you for your offenses. By His grace, your gift is to see God—St. John the Apostle says of you later in Revelation, “They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” By His grace, you are called sons of God—in the waters of Holy Baptism you are adopted as sons of God, with every right and privilege. These are the rights and privileges He has given to the saints who have gone before and now wait for you. These are the rights and privileges He has given to you, saints of God!

By God’s grace, and only by God’s grace, you are called saints. As saints, your song is the same as those saints who have gone before. With them, with the whole glorious band of angels, archangels, prophets, martyrs, apostles, and with all the saints on earth, you sing these songs of thanks and praise to God—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For it is He alone who is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever! Amen! This is your song, dear assembled saints, because you are forgiven for all of your sins!

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence as the violent take it by force. However, as you read the Gospel accounts, there appears to be little in the way of violence with regard to what the kingdom of heaven suffers or how it is taken. Jesus walks on earth and is relatively unscathed only until He allows Himself to be captured, beaten, and crucified. Until Jesus’ time had come, there were only those who sought to stone Him and throw Him over the cliff, but failed—no account of a scraped knee, lacerated members, broken bones, bloody nose, or black eye; no account of battles and wars. Jesus walks around and teaches wherever He goes, healing the infirm, raising the dead to life, and forgiving the sins of the people.

Where was the kingdom of heaven suffering violence? How were the violent taking it by force?

Dear listeners, let me remind you of the Pharisees. Those upright, moral men who taught the people that the way into the kingdom of heaven involved following their rules. Oh, the Law of God was well and good—God laid down some pretty good guidelines in order to achieve His will—but if you wanted to be sure of your salvation, if you wanted to be sure of your place in the kingdom of heaven, you had to abide to the rules accepted by the Pharisees. Recall, if you will, the ritual hand-washing that the Pharisees complained that Jesus’ disciples didn’t abide by. (cf. Mark 7:2-8) To the Pharisees, Jesus’ disciples did not have a place in the kingdom of heaven because they failed to keep the tradition of the elders. Just about everywhere He went, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees, simply because He didn’t hold to their doctrines.

You see, the Pharisees were a group of men who sought to “wrest the kingdom from the Son,” as Martin Luther put it in his quintessential Reformation hymn. Their wrestling, by all appearances, did not appear violent. It was merely words—rules they had put in place over and above the Law of God, many of which were put in place due to a false understanding of the Word of God. But, as the kingdom of heaven is established and kept by the Word of God, any word of man superposed over the Word of God is a violent act. It shows an utter lack of knowledge and respect for God and His Word. It states that God’s Word is not good enough; it states that Jesus isn’t the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It sets up a kingdom in opposition to the kingdom of heaven. And, as there are those who would fall victim to this kingdom of opposition—by threat of the force of damnation according to their rules—they cause the kingdom of heaven to suffer violence by false teaching.

Throughout history, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence in this fashion, as the violent sought to take it by force. Heresy after heresy arose, to be condemned by one church council after another. From the denial of the effectiveness and worthiness of the Law of God to the denial of the Trinity, from the denial of the person-hood of Christ to the denial of the divinity of Jesus, from the denial of the complete and total effectiveness of the death of Jesus Christ for salvation to the denial of the reality of the physical world—one after another the violent sought to override the clear teaching of the Word of God—of the doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ—with man-made thoughts, traditions, teachings, and rules.

Many of these heretics would confess that their desire was not to visit violence upon the kingdom of heaven, but to reveal further the kingdom of heaven to man, even confessing a faith in Jesus. As a seminary professor once quipped in class, no Christian ever woke up and decided to be a heretic that day. They would not admit to being violent—their intentions were good and peaceful, they would probably say—but their teachings would prove to be violence when compared to and superposed over the Word of God.

How appropriate that this text would be used for the Festival of the Reformation. If you take a look at the history of the Lutheran church, you must look at the church of the papacy from which it sprang. At the time of Luther, the church had been seized by force. Her bishops and presbyters, elders and overseers were ignorant of the Bible and the teachings of the Word of God, so that the Jesus they taught and confessed was not the Jesus of the Scriptures. If you don’t know that upon which you claim to stand, you are doomed to fall.

Ignorance of the Word of God is an open door for all kinds of false teaching. The violence that the kingdom of heaven suffered in the time of Luther was a teaching of works righteousness. One cannot discount the greed at the earthly top of the church, as the papacy sought to raise funds for the building of a majestic basilica. So, indulgences were sold, and with them the teaching that by these certificates, one merits eternal life in paradise.

Sadly, the errors of the church didn’t end there. The ignorance of the Word of God was evident in that, while the words of free forgiveness for Jesus Christ’s sake were read, they were not understood and unknown. Monastic orders were established, and membership in them was considered a holier work than keeping the entire Law of God (sounds almost Pharisaic, doesn’t it?). Praying to God was practically forbidden—He was too distant and angry to be approached directly, so the church taught that her members could approach the saints and rely on their intercession. Chief among the saints was Mary, Mother of Jesus, who was given a throne in heaven by the church and called Queen, so the church had elevated her to a position over her Son by whom man has redemption, the forgiveness of sins!

It is in this sorry state of the church that the Lutheran Church has it’s origin as an Augustinian friar wrestled with the fact of his own sinfulness and the agony and violence he suffered as he tried to reconcile this with that distant, angry, and holy God. He felt no holier than the ordinary church member, even though he was a monk—He saw his own unworthiness before God, the “Queen of Heaven,” and Jesus Christ. A book based on a bio-pic records these words of the monk’s teacher, Johannes von Staupitz,

If not for his simple words, recorded in history books, “Search the Scriptures, Martin,” where would the church be today? God only knows.

Luther did search the Scriptures. His eyes were opened to the mercy and grace of God, found in the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. He saw that true honor and veneration of Mary was to call her blessed to be the one who bore God, through whom God deigned to take on flesh, dwell with man, and die for their sins (venerating the virgin and her blessedness spoke more to Jesus than to Mary). By this, he learned of the closeness of God—that He is near with grace and mercy and every blessing, supplying all his needs, and ready to forgive for the sake of His Son. He discovered that all vocations are God-given, and not one is holier than another.

From Luther’s searching of the Scriptures come have the three Solas: Sola gratia, Sola fide, Sola scriptura—grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. You are saved by grace alone, received by faith alone, revealed by Scripture alone. This has long been the true teaching of the church, lost over time as the violent had sought to take the kingdom of heaven by the violence of false teaching, and God again revealed His Word to the church.

So, what about today?

For one thing, the church of the papacy still stands, still teaching many of the same false doctrines (though they have softened some): that man has a place in the work for his own salvation, that the monastic life is a high, holy life, that God is distant and full of wrath, that man must rely on the intercession of the saints.

There’s also the other side: the descendants of those who ran wild and rampant with what the Reformation brought—these church bodies which tend to be lumped together with other confessions under the label “Protestant,” but I am speaking primarily of those who hold to the teachings of men like Zwingli, Arminius, Menno, and the like. Strangely, while they have largely divested themselves of much or all of the ritual of their papal ancestry, their teachings echo those of the church of the papacy: that man has a place in the work for his own salvation, that a life dedicated in service to the church is greater than “ordinary” vocations, that dead relatives have their angelic wings and are “looking down on us from above,” as if to be of service to those on earth, if also not others.

There are also others who claim the title Christian who have otherwise abandoned many of the core tenets of Christianity, supplanting them with man-made doctrines and false translations. Chief among this group are the Latter Day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I dare mention, also, a group cited as a Christian heresy in Article I of the Augsburg Confession: Muslims, who recognize Jesus as a great prophet, but that the Word of God is a corrupted tome.

Even to this day, it is evident that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.

But, as with all things false doctrine or sinful, you need not look outside of yourselves, outside of your circles, to find the kingdom of heaven suffering violence. If by Romans 7 you learn that you are at the same time sinner and saint—simul justus et peccator, a tenet of the Reformation—then you must agree that there is a war within yourselves between your old man and the new. You see at work in your own reason, senses, and members the violence that attempts to wrest away the kingdom of heaven. At times you succumb to the false doctrines with which the Pharisees, the heretics, the papacy, and others plagued the church. You see the law of sin at work—you must confess that you are a poor miserable sinner, if by Romans 7 you learn that you are at the same time sinner and saint.

However, you should not discount the fact that you are a saint. Further, one cannot deny that saints inhabit the church of the papacy and those of the Protestants. What does this mean? It means that God is near to you with mercy and grace. It means that you are saved by grace through faith in the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; who descended into hell, and on the third day rose again from the dead; who ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. This you confess, right along with Martin Luther who was reminded of His confession of the belief in the forgiveness of sins. And this is just as true for the faithful among the Papists and Protestants.

This is the full teaching of the Word of God, which is rightly divided into two parts: the Law and the Gospel—a doctrine rediscovered in the Reformation. By the Law you learn what you ought to do, and that you do not do it. The Law shows you your sin and need for a savior. The Gospel is God’s grace; it shows you—nay, gives to you—the Savior you need, as demonstrated by the Law. The Gospel gives you the Savior who has done all the work necessary that you may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. It is as has been said many times around here, even as you heard in last week’s sermon, “The Law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done; grace says, ‘Believe in this,’ and everything is already done.”

What does grace invite you to believe? What does grace give you the faith to believe? Grace gives you the faith to believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is your Lord, who has redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. Believe in Jesus, says grace, for He has done all of the work for your salvation!

Grace teaches you that while the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, even within your own reason, senses, and members, that while the violent take it by force by placing their word in opposition to the Word of God, the Word of the Lord remains forever—Verbum Domini manet in aeternum, yet another tenet of the Reformation—while their words, their doctrines and tradition, will whither and fail.

It is the eternally enduring Word of God that tells you that you have the kingdom of heaven, that you are in the kingdom of heaven for Jesus’ sake, no matter what may come. Or, as Martin Luther penned in that quintessential hymn:

Therefore, if the kingdom yours remaineth, despite the violence it suffers in order to be taken away from you, from without and within, then this grace of God, which the eternally enduring Word of God declares to you is true: for Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven for all of your sins.

Today’s text follows last week’s text, and in truth, found it’s way into last week’s sermon. As a result, what you hear today will, in some parts, be a rehash of what you heard last week. This is not all bad; as I’ve mentioned quite recently, just like children often need to hear the same things over and over again from their parents, so children of the Heavenly Father need to hear the same thing from Him over and over again.

“Good Teacher,” the man asked Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Essentially, Jesus replied, “If you’re looking for something ‘to do,’ keep the Law...all of it.” “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth,” the man boldly stated. “One thing you lack,” Jesus replied, “[G]o, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” And the man went away sorrowful because he had great possessions. (cf. Mark 10:17-22)

Jesus told the rich man that keeping of the entire law hinges on the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) What does this mean? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” All things means everything—everything created by God and given to you out of His Fatherly divine goodness and mercy, which includes your money and possessions, your works and supposedly good deeds. Possessions, money, and things whither and die or rust and decay—they are temporal blessings which will not last unto eternity when God creates the new heaven and new earth (cf. Revelation 21:1) And your works, which may at times benefit others or even yourself, are never purely good, and they are certainly never good enough to measure up to God’s holiness. These things cannot gain you entrance into the kingdom of God; they do not make it so that you inherit eternal life.

So, after the man left, Jesus explained it to His disciples:

The rich are prone to trust in their riches over and against God for entrance into His kingdom. And this is not simply a difficulty for the rich. Let me put it to you this way: when things are going well, when times are prosperous, it is easy to make God an afterthought, so to speak, to think that you have done great things that have somehow earned God’s favor so that things have gone well for you.

Therein is the meaning of the phrase “rich person” when Jesus uses it. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Generally, today, the rich are seen as villainous. It wasn’t too long ago when protests were waged by “The Occupy Movement,” where the rich 1% were vilified and their riches are demanded of them in order that they be given to the poor and needy, the 99%. I’ve even heard it said that there’s no such thing as an honest rich person—that anyone who has amassed wealth could only have done so through dishonest means.

In opposition to the general modern view of the wealthy is the view of the wealthy in Jesus’ time. There existed in that time a disdain for those who amassed wealth illicitly or unscrupulously. Luther mentions this in his catechisms as he covers the Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments. However, while the modern view still looks down upon the wealthy who achieved their riches through hard work—they are still part of the 1%—these were seen to have the favor of God in Jesus’ time.

So, when Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,” you can imagine the confusion on the part of the disciples. If it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich person who is favored by God to enter the kingdom of God, who can be saved? If it is easier for the impossible to happen than for the favored of God to enter His kingdom, who can be saved?

This flies in the face of all of those who would like to believe that heaven is filled with people who are good. It’s the “good,” however that’s defined, who are thought to have God’s favor today, however God is defined these days. He was a good American, so God must have loved him and granted Him entrance into His kingdom. She helped the poor and downtrodden with what little she had—such a good work—so she must be in heaven, now. No, if they are with Christ after death, if they are in His kingdom, it’s not because he was a good American or that she performed such good works even to her detriment. These have the favor of God not because of what they have done. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Trust in riches or in one’s goodness does not grant entrance into the kingdom of God—on the contrary, they displace the fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

“With man it is impossible,” Jesus said. Why is it impossible with men? As it is stated in my favorite article of the Heidelberg Disputation, the 26th: “The Law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done.” The corollary is also true: the Law says, “Do not do this,” and it is done anyway. In this manner, the Law of God shows you your sin. It shows you how much you fall short of His glory. It reveals to you that you do not fear God, that you hate Him, and that you would rather trust in yourself or the temporal gifts He gives you than in Him.

As Luther wrote of the First Commandment, so he repeats as he explains all of the other commandments, which flow and proceed from the first and chief commandment. So the explanations to commandments 2 through 10 all begin with, “We should fear and love God so that...”

So, it follows that whenever you do not keep the Law, you demonstrate a lack of fear and love of God. Now, I don’t mean to say that you, who live under the grace of God, would ever express a lack of fear and love of God, but your sins express it for you. Whenever you lust after another who is not your spouse, you show a lack of fear and love for God. Whenever you strike another person or call him an air head, you show a lack of fear and love for God. Whenever you take what isn’t yours or do not help to improve and protect your neighbor’s possessions and income, you show a lack of fear and love for God. Whenever you gossip about your neighbor or speak ill of him, you show a lack of fear and love for God. Whenever you scheme to get what belongs your neighbor in a way which only seems right, you show a lack of fear and love for God. Whenever you do not honor your father, mother, or God-given authority, you show a lack of fear and love for God.

Again, you would never utter such words, “I don’t fear God, what can He do to me?” Or, you would never dare say, “I hate God!” At least, I would imagine that, especially as you are right now listening to me, the thought of saying these things and meaning them is despicable, deplorable, and detestable. For I’m sure you would say that you delight in the law of God according to your inward man. But, you see another law in your members, warring against the law of your minds, and bringing you into captivity to the law of sin which is in your members. In other words, the good that you will to do, you do not do; but the evil you will not to do, that you practice. So, you cry out like St. Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:19, 22-23, paraphrased; Romans 7:24)

“With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” “The law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done”—it says, “Do not do this,” and it is done anyway—“grace says, ‘Believe in this,’ and everything is already done.” “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Therefore, trust not in your riches or works—these all do not save you; trusting in them is eternal death. Believe in Jesus Christ, for He has worked out your salvation, and He has given you faith to believe and trust in Him.

“With man it is impossible, but not with God.” It is impossible, because you cannot do what the Law of God demands to make reparation for your sin—you cannot die and rise again as payment for your sin. If you die for your sins, you are dead in your trespasses and sins for eternity. But this is not impossible with God, for He was born of the virgin Mary in the person of His Son, taking on this mortal nature, and was given the name Jesus, which means, “YHWH saves.” He shed His blood and died in your place with your sin—He is the propitiation for your sins—and He rose again from the dead to give you eternal life. His love covers the multitude of your sins, (cf. Proverbs 10:12, 1 Peter4:8) a love which is demonstrated to you in the death of Jesus (cf. Romans 5:8), in the shedding of His blood.

Therefore, dear sinners, look to your Baptisms, where your hatred of God is forgiven, and you are justified. There, at the font, you were joined to the death of Jesus Christ. There at the font, you first died to yourself and your robe was washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. Now, you daily live in your Baptism as through God-given confession of your sins, you drown Old, hard-hearted Adam, and rise again to newness of life as absolution is pronounced over you, even as in your Baptism you were joined to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Dear Baptized, your hatred and fearlessness of God are covered in the perfect love of and submission to God found in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. He has rescued you from the body of death by His bodily death and given you new life in His resurrection to life. He is now seated at the right hand of God, pleading for you before His Father and your Father in heaven, “I died for that one; their sins are covered.”

Jesus has taken all of your sin into His flesh—all of your lack of fear and hatred for God—and exchanged it for His perfect life, death, and resurrection. His righteousness is accounted to you—you receive the love God shows to the thousand generations of those who love Him, because Jesus kept His commandments for you. For it all, He received the full wrath of God—the punishment of the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God who is jealous for you.

Now, you may have great wealth or you may live on the edge of poverty; you may do some pretty good works or you may see your every action being one of sin. Either way, by the grace of God, you do not trust in these for your salvation, for you have been given faith to believe in Jesus the Christ, who died to forgive your sins and took you with Him, giving you new life. With man salvation is impossible, but not with God. Therefore, by that faith, you receive these words: You are forgiven for all of your sins.

I can’t help but think of a wedding sermon with today’s text. After all, Mark recorded the words of Jesus thus: “’Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.” A man and a woman are being given to each other—they are a gift to each other—and they are being joined together. While there is mutual consent on the part of the man and the woman, it is interesting to note that they are each more recipient than giver. Let me explain: The woman gives herself to the man, but so does her Father, as does God; therefore, a man ought to see his wife as a gift from her, her father, and especially God, and the same is said of a woman with regard to her husband.

Scripture uses this image of husband and wife to describe how things are between Himself and His Church. St. Paul illustrated this beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians:

So, while texts describing weddings and marriage are properly understood as referring to a man and his wife, in light of marriage as described by St. Paul, marriage texts should also be understood as that between Christ and His Bride, the Church, and you, Her members.

Also, for the third week in a row, you heard Jesus say, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (or something like it). So, once again, I’ll repeat: little children are completely givable to. They can only receive and have nothing to offer toward their livelihood. They receive—and so they exemplify faith. I guess another quality of children that exemplifies faith, especially one that has been put into practice here these past few weeks, is that they often need to have things repeated to them.

There is an idea of wholeness the resonates in all of this. A man gives himself wholly to his wife and vice versa. Parents put the whole of their being and effort into being a parent—everything they do is for the sake of parenting. It’s like you put the whole of your being into being someone else’s someone. Think about it, when you are asked who you are, a big part of your answer is, “I am her husband,” or, “I am his father,” or the like.

At the same time being a husband or wife is a bigger thing that being a parent. Much bigger. Children leave their parents to join to their spouse. Furthermore, it’s like a new life begins with marriage. Two become one flesh. A Roman Catholic priest at a wedding I attended once described it this way: you no longer just think of one of these two or the other; now that they’re married, whenever you think of one of them, you automatically always think of the other. That’s what marriage does; that’s how the wholeness of this one flesh union finds an expression in the rest of the world.

So also should you think of the marriage between Christ and His Bride. Yes, Jesus is the enfleshed Second Person of the Holy Trinity, but by His life, death, and resurrection, He created for Himself His Church, fulfilling the narrative of God and His Chosen People. And, as St. Paul put it, He presented to Himself His Bride. Now, you ought not think of only Jesus alone, but Jesus and His Church.

And you, being a part of the Church, began a new life when you were made a part of the Bride. You were joined to Christ and made a child of God, the Father. Your wholeness is in Jesus, your Bridegroom and you are totally givable to by the Father of all mercies. St. Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ (Galatians 2:20) Does that not sound like marriage to you?

Well, here’s a beautiful illustration to help that along. Two of Jesus’ last words from the cross help to paint the crucifixion as a wedding scene. Seeing John and His mother standing near the foot of the cross, He leaves His mother with the words, “Woman, behold, your son! Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26-27) Then, He left His Father crying out, “’Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” He is joined to His Bride in His Death for Her, as He gave Himself to Her in order that He would present Her to Himself spotless and without blemish.

Now, all of this ought to be understood in the context of the frailty of this human flesh. Yes, husband and wife ought love each other and give wholly of themselves to each other, but does it always work that way? No, it absolutely never does. Individual expectations aren’t met, blame is cast, and the relationship is harmed as a result. Pride and personal desire often get in the way of wholly given oneself to another. Loyalties are tested and pitted against each other. The result is imperfect and broken marriages and damaged children. The sickness of sin infects all, and propagates itself in these destructive cycles and tendencies.

It plays out, even more terrifyingly, in your life as a member of the Bride of Christ. Divided loyalties, pride, and personal desire lead to eternal destruction. Brought to their destructive end, when the Bridegroom returns to take His Bride to be with Him in eternity, the word from the Master is, “I do not know you.” (cf. Matthew 25:12) No more frightening words can be uttered from the mouth of God at the End of Days. Deny your givable-to-ness, your reliance on Christ for your redemption and salvation, and at the Last, He will deny you. “[W]hoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33)

So, how do you guard against that? Better, I say, it is to acknowledge that it exists in you, confess it, and be absolved of it. Nothing brings greater joy to the Bridegroom and His angels than that you repent of your sins and receive the forgiveness for which He gave Himself over to death. Jesus is most Bridegroom to you when He gives Himself to you and you receive Him for your forgiveness, life, and salvation—here in these words, in the words of Holy Absolution, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.

Where your love as a member of the Bride of Christ for Him wavers and fails, His love for you as your Bridegroom never does. He has given Himself wholly for you, that you would be wholly His. And as you are now wholly reliant on His grace, you receive that grace in order that you would be wholly His in eternity. For that day, by His mercy and grace, you wholly wait and hope, knowing that He has promised wholly to bring you through it to Himself. Dear Bride of Christ, rejoice! Your Bridegroom has come and is coming for you! He now gives Himself wholly for you, and you are forgiven for all of your sins.

Jesus said,

How dear to God are these little ones! Jesus says that their angels always see the Face of His Father. There are angels assigned to His little ones, and they are always before the throne of God. These angels, messengers of God, are much more than part of God’s creation that merely gaze upon the Face of the Father. St. John wrote that under the leadership of Michael the archangel, the angels of God cast the dragon and those angels who followed him from the Face of God. The dragon is the devil and Satan, that serpent of old. (cf. Revelation 12:7-9) The prophet Daniel also wrote of Michael, the great prince who watches over the sons of the children of Israel, who on the last day will come at the time of great conflict, but that the people of God would be delivered through it. (cf. Daniel 12:1-2) It is these warrior-messengers of God that keep watch over the little ones, and they are always before the Face of the Father.

It all begs the question; who are “these little ones?” Well, you’d certainly be right in calling them children, but “these little ones” are more than children.

Today’s text picks up in St. Matthew’s Gospel what you heard last week from St. Mark’s Gospel: the disciples arguing about who among them is the greatest and the example of divine humility that Jesus gives is to stoop down to receive a little child—a little, inncocent child. So, it is often said of children that they have guardian angels because of their so-called innocence, which is properly understood as naiveté, blissful ignorance, and utter dependence on others for their livelihood. It is said that their guardian angels are often very busy keeping their little ones safe due to the constant danger they put themselves in and often come out of seemingly unscathed. Because of this “innocence,” it could be said that children need some sort of guardian angel.

However, like I said, “these little ones” means something more than children—more, even, than believing children—they are the ones, young and old, who have been given faith in YHWH, the only true God, and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, for their salvation. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Those who are to enter the kingdom of heaven—that is, those who have been given faith—are described to be as little children. It is that same innocence mentioned before that Jesus is referring to. You who believe and trust in Jesus Christ have been turned, or converted. This is the work of the Holy Spirit when and when He pleases to convert people, as is confessed in the Augsburg Confession (cf. ACV), and having been converted, you become like little children—naive, blissfully ignorant, and utterly dependent on another for your livelihood. Like a little child, a Christian is completely givable to, and without this grace from God, a person would be utterly lost, in this life and for the next.

Therefore, dear Baptized, you have an angel who always sees the face of the Father in heaven. This should be of great comfort to you. Your Father in heaven, in Jesus Christ, has assigned one of his warrior-messengers to you. And this angel of yours is always before the face of the Father who is Jesus Christ, whom the Scriptures describe as the glory of the Father. (cf. John 1:14) It would not be out of line to imagine that your angel is before the face of God in your stead, and certainly for you, holding the place that is yours in glory, as they are there now continually beholding Him as their glory and worshiping Him in eternity.

“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” (Psalm 91:11 KJV) The first verse of today’s Gradual would suggest that in addition to being ever before the face of God that your guardian angel keeps you in all your ways, that they are always keeping watch over you. How these warrior-messengers are always before the face of the Father and watching over you is a divine mystery, but here they are, keeping a guarding eye on you while reporting to your Father in heaven what you are doing and what you are needing.

And as that little, humble child, you are completely givable to. God gives to you to supply all of your needs. He sends the sun and the rain upon you. He sends messengers who are men to proclaim to you the Word of God—Law to kill you and Gospel to raise you to newness of life. And “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” for, you could say, they see their charges receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for their sins and given forgiveness, life, and salvation.

As stated, the disciples were arguing to begin today’s lesson was over who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The idea of being great causes swollen heads and broad shoulders which prevent entrance through narrow gate of Jesus Christ into eternity. (cf. Matthew 7:13-14) This hubristic idea of greatness is sin. Therefore, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

“[W]hoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea,” Jesus said. So, what would cause one of these little ones to sin? What would cause a person to have an inflated ego and the desire for greatness? If it is a hand or a foot or an eye, it would be better that one enter into eternity without this member. (cf. Matthew 5:29-30) But it isn’t a hand or a foot or an eye that causes sin. How about a teacher or leader or someone that is looked up to? Certainly these could lead one into sin; persuasive false teaching, erroneous charisma, ego-stroking sayings—any of these uttered by someone in a position of authority do and have led many a person into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Many would be better off if these false teachers had a millstone hung around their necks and were tossed into the sea, but these teachers do not cause sin. What causes sin? Jesus answered,

It is from your heart that evil comes. It is from within. It is your old, evil nature that causes you to sin. From there comes ideas of greatness and the jockeying for position that creates big heads and broad shoulders.

The heart is a vile organ, you could say. The prophet Jeremiah certainly does: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Not a hand, nor foot, nor eye, nor false teacher will cause you to sin. “The devil made me do it” is a faulty assertion. You sin by your fault, by your own fault, by your own most grievous fault. Any idea of greatness that you may have of yourself, that you are good and right and powerful, is your sin, and it comes from within you.

These ideas of greatness always lead to the idea that you can make it on your own. Parents can attest to seeing it in their children, who develop the idea that they are able to do that thing which you know they cannot do without your assistance or that you must do for them. Yet, they are insistent that they have to do it on their own. They are exploring their greatness; “If I can do this without mommy or daddy, then I don’t need them. I am great enough on my own.” Sin does the same with you before your Father in heaven. It teaches you that you don’t need your guardian angel. It teaches you, even more treacherously, that you don’t need the Savior, Jesus Christ, because you are great enough to save yourself.

But there is only one way to greatness. And that is to be totally given to by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, as a little child must be given to. It is to be humbled to realize that you are totally incapable of saving yourself and to see your need for a Savior. Thanks be to God that Jesus is always there, that your angel is always before Him, and that He is your Savior to forgive you.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m preaching all of the same kind of stuff that you heard last week, aside from the fact that a lot of it was read again in today’s lesson. Well, if you’re anything like the man in the pulpit, you did alright with this topic coming away from last week’s sermon for the first little while, maybe a day and a half. But, as Old Adam always does, he wars against the goodness of the Word of God, especially that bit which you have most recently heard and read. So, come today, you probably needed to hear it all again. But then, generally speaking, that’s why you always hear the Law every week to drown and kill the Old Man and the Gospel—especially the Absolution—to renew and bring the New Man to life. Week-in and week-out, it’s always the same thing.

It’s no wonder then, that everyone who believes in the Father and trusts in His Son is given a guardian angel, because they daily need God’s help and providence. So, by God’s grace, Luther has provided daily prayers asking for just that, and for the help of His holy angels. At night, you can pray:

And, in the morning when you get up:

In both prayers, you commend yourself into the Father’s gracious keeping, humbly acknowledging that you are lost apart from His grace. Both times, you ask for His holy angel to be with you, to guard you against the wicked Foe, just as that warrior Michael cast him out of the presence of the Father. And God grants it because you are His dear little one.

How dear? For you, the Son took on human flesh, descending a little lower than the angels (cf. Psalm 8:5, Hebrews 2:9) and shed His blood on the cross for your forgiveness. For you He died and rose again that you would be turned to Him by His grace and forgiven for your sins. For you, He sends an angel to guard you and keep you in all your ways, and who always sees your heavenly Father’s face. You are His dear little one, saved by grace through faith, given to in Jesus Christ, your Savior, forgiven for all of your sins, made to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, you laud and magnify His glorious name here on earth as you look forward to doing so with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven in eternity, evermore praising Him and singing that song that they sing: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8)

For now, you rejoice that you are His dear little one for whom He has assigned an angel who stands before His face. He sees your need and graciously supplies for your need. For now, you sing the songs with the angels while still on earth, as you are daily prepared to be with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. This is yours for the sake of Jesus Christ, because you are forgiven for all of your sins.

Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up to the top of a mountain. While they were there, the rest of the disciples were approached by a man whose son was possessed. So violent was this spirit, that it would throw down the man’s son into convulsions, including foaming at the mouth, gnashing his teeth, and becoming rigid. Many times, this spirit caused the son to convulse into water or fire. Today, this mute spirit might be mistaken for epilepsy.

The man had hoped that Jesus’ disciples would be able to exorcise his son. The disciples must have thought that they could, too. They had done the same before. Several chapters before today’s text, Jesus had “appointed twelve…so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.” (Mark 3:14-15) A little while after that, Jesus sent them out to two-by-two into the surrounding towns and villages where they “proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.” (Mark 6:12-13) “The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.” (Mark 6:30) Casting out demons was something that Jesus’ disciples were used to doing, certainly something that they had done before; surely they would be able to cast out the demon from this man’s son, or so they thought.

They were not able to. Now, you know how things often go when you try to do something and fail. There are those around who will point and laugh, mocking you in the process. There are your opponents who will use any failure as evidence against you in one cause or another, whether or not their point is valid. It’s the kind of thing you see in political attack ad after political attack ad; one candidate’s failures are given as proof that they should not be elected to the office they are running for, and his or her opponent responds in kind. It’s the kind of thing you probably saw and heard in the recent presidential and debate (I wouldn’t know as I didn’t watch it). And, it’s exactly what the scribes and the nine disciples were doing when Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain.

Jesus asked what was going on, though He certainly knew. The man came forward and answers Him curiously:

He says to Jesus, “I brought my son to you.” Notice what he didn’t say. “I knew these men who follow you have great power to cast out demons, so I brought my son to them.” No, “I brought my son to you.” It’s almost as if the man sought Jesus through His disciples, confirming, at least in this man, what Jesus would later tell His disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me” (John 13:20), words similar to what He must have told them when He sent them out two-by-two.

Still, the man’s son is possessed. The nine disciples were unable to exorcise his son. The scribes thought the disciples utterly powerless, and this likely confirmed their bias against Jesus. And the disciples were confused, wondering why this time they could not cast out a demon when they had done it before, probably rebutting the scribes by proclaiming to them and the crowds, “We’ve done it before.”

Jesus responded, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?”

There’s a clue in that and the man’s earlier response to Jesus to what is going on. The scribes and nine disciples, and most likely the crowds who came to watch the dispute, all thought the power to exorcise the demons rested in them. “O faithless generation,” Jesus called them.

It’s a clever trap set for humanity by the devil, the world, and your sinful nature. It started all the way back in Genesis when the crafty serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say…? You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (cf. Genes 3:1, 4-5) Eve took some of the fruit, ate it, and gave some to her silent husband and he, too, ate. Ever since then, man’s eyes have been closed to what is truly good and what is truly evil. Ever since then, man has thought himself to be like God; that he was the only one responsible for his gains and successes (yet, it is always someone else’s fault when he fails).

It’s what the scribes and Pharisees thought of their knowledge and religion, puffed up with a sense of superiority over the common man—“Look how learned and righteous I am”—even at times proclaiming as much before God in the synagogue, in a way that only seems grateful, even if only in parables: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11-12) They probably wasted no time in asserting their superior knowledge into their dispute with the nine disciples as to why they failed to cast out the son’s demon and how to do it right.

It’s even what the nine disciples were dealing with. They most likely thought themselves experts in exorcising because they had done it before. They falsely believed the authority they had been given from Jesus to cast out demons to be some self-given power. (cf. Mark 3:15) They thought themselves like God, knowing good and evil, and having the power to cast out demons.

It’s a trap demonstrated in the book of Judges, which shows that a period of prosperity is followed by a time of apostasy as part of an ongoing cycle. The Israelites lived in God-given splendor and peace, and after a time, they believed they were the cause and source of the splendor and peace they enjoyed. They no longer recognized God as the giver of the peace and blessings they enjoyed. An oppressor rose up and over the Israelites, proclaiming to them the law of God in a very overbearing and often deadly manner. In time, the Israelites cried out in despair, and God would send a deliverer—a judge—to rid them of the oppressor. Then they would again live in a period of prosperity and peace. Lather, rinse, repeat…

I called it an ongoing cycle. This cycle continued well past the book of Judges; it continues even to this day. In the lives of many individual believers, prosperity often leads to some degree of apostasy which leads to oppression of some sort. People will have good times for which they begin to thank themselves, and the Law of God is proclaimed which knocks them down a notch. At times, this same cycle will manifest itself in a group of people, as could be deemed to have happened at the time of the Reformation with the church of the Papacy, the Lutheran reformers, and the ever encroaching Turks from the east.

Hearing of this cycle, you should be able to recognize it in yourself. From time to time, you get up on your high horse. You may even proclaim for all to hear, “I did this.” “I built this.” “I earned this.” …or something similar. You start to trust in yourself for all that you need. You may even begin to trust in yourself for your salvation. Before you know it, you begin to sound like that Pharisee: “I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, etc.” The next thing you know, you are knocked off your horse by one little word—you fall to one little indiscretion, one simple mistake, one gross failure…one sin. It is inevitable, for all sin and fall short of the glory of God. (cf. Romans 3:23)

Your trust in yourself leads only to your doom. Trusting in yourself for your salvation and denying that your salvation is God’s work is sin. You simply cannot measure up to God’s glory; there is nothing you can do in order to be like God. Like the scribes and Pharisees and the nine disciples in today’s text, you have no self-gained power to avert your doom.

Jesus might as well have been speaking to you: “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” But, Jesus also says, “[A]ll things are possible for one who believes.”

“I believe; help my unbelief!” The man’s cry becomes your own cry for mercy when you are confronted with God’s Law. You see, the faith that you have is God-given—“I believe”—and it is constantly up against your Old Adam which seeks to draw you away from God and to trust only in yourself, so in faith you cry out for that mercy: “Help my unbelief!”

This faith has for it’s object Jesus Christ. And this only is saving faith, and none other, which faith has for it’s object the only true God and His Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, even as He once said to Nicodemus, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:18)

You see, while you can never measure up to God’s glory, Jesus Christ, the Son of God did, and He did it for you. The Word of God took on human flesh and was born of the virgin Mary to be your substitute. He perfectly kept the Law of God, fulfilling every part of it for you, and ultimately, He was the sacrifice for sin that the Law demanded—He was and is the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, the once-for-all deliverer from the oppressor that is sin, death, and the devil. Dear hearers, He has taken your sin from you and died on the cross with it—you died with Christ; now, it is no longer you who live but Jesus the Christ lives in you. The life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God, who loves you and gave His life for you. (cf. Galatians 2:20) You live by faith in the Son of God—“I believe; help my unbelief!”

When you pray that, you are asking that you would die to yourself and live to Jesus Christ alone. You acknowledge that your faith is weak on account of your sinful nature, that you believe not as a result of any work you have done, that you can, therefore, do nothing to remain faithful or strengthen your faith, and that trust in yourself for anything is utter and deadly foolishness. It is a cry to God out of sheer helplessness, futility, humility, and emptiness. And, quite importantly, It is a God-given plea for His mercy and grace.

As a friend of mine once wrote:

That is the Christian life—dying to yourself, martyring this puffed-up Saint Me, as it was put—and rising again daily to newness of life in Christ Jesus. By God’s grace, you do not trust in yourself, but in God’s Son, Jesus your Savior, because He has done everything you could not do to save you, and God gives it to you freely, without any worthiness or merit in you, solely out of His Fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.

“I believe; help my unbelief,” the man cried out. Jesus, who is the man’s Savior and his son’s Savior, drove the spirit from the boy. No longer did this spirit seize him. The Kingdom of God had come to the boy. (cf. Matthew 12:28) You might like to think that Jesus said to the man and the boy what He had often said to people He healed: “Your faith has saved you.” (cf. Mark 5:34; 10:52, at least in the Greek)

There is a beautiful passage in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which speaks to this:

God has reigned from the wood. The Son of God shed His blood and died on the cross, his throne of grace, whence flows to you and to all His grace and mercy. God’s kingdom has come to you and is come to you. You have been exorcised of sin and death and continue to be by the grace and mercy of God. He comes to you today in Word and Sacrament to drown again your Old Adam, drive from you the devil and all evil, and give to you anew faith to believe and trust in Him for your salvation—Jesus helps your unbelief! He has done for you what you could not do for yourself in order to save you, and gives you faith to believe it and trust in Him solely for your salvation. Therefore, your God-given faith has saved you; you are forgiven for all of your sins.