Category: Sermon Page

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
August 7, 2022

“Do Not Be Anxious about Your Life” (Luke 12:22-34)

In the Holy Gospel for today, Jesus says, “Do not be anxious about your life.” Really, Jesus? Are you kidding me? “Do not be anxious”?? How can you say that? I mean, look at my life. There’s so much to be anxious about! Take my personal finances, for instance. Since January 1, year-to-date, in just seven months my individual retirement accounts are down almost $9,000. And this, for an individual approaching retirement! In these past seven months, I’ve had to buy a new phone and a new used car. During this same time, I’ve had to have a health checkup, dental work, and two eye surgeries, which were not all covered by insurance. Gas, groceries, rent–all up, substantially. Inflation this year has been the highest it’s been in decades. Well, you get the picture. And for many of you, the picture has been equally as bleak.

And what about all the people in our area who have suffered major losses from the torrential downpours and the flash flooding of the last couple of weeks? Are you going to tell them to cheer up and put on a happy face? How in the world could Jesus say, “Do not be anxious about your life”? Was he just being the Pollyanna of Palestine? Out of touch with reality?

No, far from it. In fact, Jesus was and is very much in touch with reality. It’s just that he sees a far greater reality than we often take into account. He sees the bigger picture, both for our present life and for our eternal future. And so now let’s see what Jesus sees and takes into account when he tells us, “Do Not Be Anxious about Your Life.”

Jesus says to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” Well, that’s true, I guess. Think of the rich fool, from last week’s lesson. He had all the wealth anyone could want. His only problem was, “Where am I going to put all my stuff?” So he said to his soul: “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him: “Thou fool! This night thy soul shall be required of thee! Whatcha gonna do with all your stuff then?” Or think of the rich man and poor Lazarus. The rich man wore fine clothing and feasted sumptuously every day. But when he died, he went to hell, while poor Lazarus was escorted into heaven by angels. I guess life really is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

But still, there is this matter of having enough to live on in this life. And even though we complain about losses on our investments and the rising cost of living–even so, we Americans are still better off than 99% of folks throughout human history and even in our world today. That’s part of the bigger picture, too.

And Jesus broadens our view beyond that. He says, “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” Last week Susan and I got to consider the pelicans. We would see them flying overhead, looking down at the ocean, and then they would circle back and suddenly dive-bomb down into the water to grab their supper. That’s how God provided for them. And God provides for us too. Maybe we can’t dive-bomb into the ocean like the pelicans, but we still eat pretty well. Maybe too well! We get anxious about our waistline!

So then we get anxious about our clothing! Should I buy new clothes now or wait until I can lose some weight? Of course, I’ve been asking that question for three years now! Or the wife asks, “Do these pants make my butt look big?” Husbands, do not answer that question! It’s a trap!

Man, we do get worried about the picayunest of things, don’t we? We’ve got it so well, and still we’ve got things to kvetch about. But even if our situation was more serious–and for many people it is–Jesus would direct us away from anxiety and toward faith in our Father to take care of us: “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!”

“Little-faith ones”: That’s who we are, and that’s our big problem. We don’t trust God to take care of us. That’s been man’s problem from the beginning. God gives us a whole garden to live in, with plenty to eat, and yet we think that God is holding out on us. The Lord provides food and drink in the wilderness, and yet we grumble. This lack of trust in God and his goodness is our basic problem.

But Jesus would instill faith in us. He directs our attention to God and his care for us. If God provides for the birds and the lilies, how much more will he care for you! God created man in his own image, in own likeness–not the ravens. God made man as the apex of his creation–not the lilies of the field! Your heavenly Father cares for you! That’s the bigger picture. That’s the reality that Jesus sees–and he shows us!

“And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” The people of this world are obsessed with material possessions and having enough stuff. That’s all they can see. But we who are followers of Christ–we have had our eyes opened to see a bigger reality. We know a heavenly Father who loves us and takes care of us. We don’t have to guess at that or grope around in the dark. We have had our eyes opened. We have seen the light, the light of Christ our Savior. In him we know a gracious God.

And so we have a higher priority than just food in our bellies and clothes on our back. Those are important, and our Father knows that we need them. And he will provide, sometimes in ways we don’t know at the moment. We have our daily bread, and even if we don’t know where next week’s bread will come from, it will be there when we need it. Trust in God to provide. He will.

But the higher priority is to seek God’s kingdom. How does God bring us into his kingdom? Through Christ. In him. As sinners, we were outside of God’s kingdom. We were lost and didn’t know the way in. We were under the sway of Satan, stuck in his domain of darkness. But God loved us so much that he sent his own Son to rescue us, to redeem us, to liberate us from death and hell and the devil. Jesus came in the flesh to do the job. Which he did, by living the holy life that God requires. By dying the sinner’s death that we deserve. His blood, shed on the cross, cleanses us from all sin and wins our forgiveness. Heaven is now open. Baptized into Christ, we have changed kingdoms. We have entered a new and much greater reality.

“Seek his kingdom”: This is our new priority in life. And we seek God’s kingdom by seeking out where he is giving out his gifts on a regular basis. We find these kingdom gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation–we seek them and we find them here at church, in and through the means of grace, Word and Sacrament. Seek, and ye shall find.

What’s more, the big picture gets even bigger: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It’s a gift! We didn’t do anything to merit this new kingdom. It’s all by grace. The kingdom is ours, and it’s purely out of God’s good pleasure in Christ. When Jesus was born, the angels sang, “Peace to men out of God’s good pleasure.” When Jesus was baptized, the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The source of our salvation is God’s good pleasure, not our good works. And this makes it something we can rely on, because the promise depends on God, not us. Jesus moves us from fear to faith.

From fear to faith, and thus to freedom. Knowing that God will take care of our needs in this present life, and knowing that our Father has gifted us with his eternal kingdom, now we are free to live life in faith and hope and love. As Jesus says: “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have a treasure the world does not know. We have a life that consists in far more than food and clothing and the things the world worries about. We have been given life in God’s kingdom. We have been given the life of Christ: forgiveness life, resurrection life, new and eternal life. That changes things. That changes us. We have a new outlook. God has opened our eyes to see what Jesus sees. And so it is not crazy talk when Jesus tells us, “Do not be anxious about your life.” No, because Jesus moves us from anxiety and fear to faith and hope and love.

Guest preacher: Rev. Kevin Robson, LCMS Chief Mission Officer

Old Testament Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26

Epistle: Colossians 3:1-11

Holy Gospel: Luke 12:13-21

Grace Lutheran Church (LCMS)

Guest Pastor: Rev. Robert Zagore, LCMS Executive Director of National Mission.

Sermon Text: Luke 11:1-13

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread,
⁴ and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
July 17, 2022

“Distracted Discipleship and the One Thing Needful” (Luke 10:38-42)

Are you anxious and troubled about many things? Does your busy-ness distract you from the one thing needful? If so, join the club. That’s where I find myself all too often. But if that’s you too, then our message today is what you need to hear. For Jesus is in the house today, and when Jesus speaks, we need to listen. And so our theme this morning: “Distracted Discipleship and the One Thing Needful.”

Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, from Luke chapter 10. Jesus enters a village. We know from elsewhere in the gospels that this village is Bethany. Two sisters live there, Martha and Mary. I mention Martha first, because she seems to be the one running the household. It says that Martha welcomed Jesus “into her house.”

What else do we learn about Martha? Well, I’m going to go ahead and call this woman “the Martha Stewart of Bethany.” Like Martha Stewart, this Martha is “the hostess with the mostest.” She pulls out all the stops for her honored guest. She’s busy, busy, busy, getting things ready. I can just see her in the kitchen, preparing the hors d’oeuvres: crab cakes, deviled eggs–no, wait, scratch the deviled eggs. And ixnay on the crab cakes too; they’re not kosher. Better go with the gefilte fish and chopped liver paté.

Martha is hustling back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room: getting out a nice table runner, putting a beautiful hydrangea arrangement on the table as the centerpiece. So many things to do to make things nice for Jesus!

Meanwhile, what is her sister, Mary, doing to help? Nothing! “Are you kidding me?” Martha thinks to herself. “I’m out here slaving away, while my sister is in the living room, just sitting on her behind!” Yeah, Martha, your sister Mary is sitting is in the living room, alright, because that’s the room where the living Lord Jesus is, and he’s giving out his words of life to those who will listen.

But Martha doesn’t get that yet. She’s preoccupied with all the preparations. So she goes and complains to Jesus: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” Yeah, you tell him, Martha! Then he can tell Little Miss Lazybones to get off her duff and get out to the kitchen!

But no, Jesus does not do that. Instead, he’s got a word to say to Martha: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

This is a rebuke from Jesus, but it’s a gentle one. He’s not blasting away at her, like he does with the scribes and Pharisees. He’s giving her a kind correction. You can hear it in his voice: “Martha, Martha,” he begins. When someone does that repeating of a name in the Bible, it usually conveys an attitude of care and concern and love. Think of David saying of his son, “Absalom, Absalom”; or Jesus saying to Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon”; or Jesus lamenting over the city, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” Here it’s “Martha, Martha.” What Jesus is about to say is prompted by love.

Dear friends, when Jesus has to give you a mid-course correction, even a gentle rebuke, he’s not doing that out of anger. He’s doing it out of love. He’s not rejecting you; he’s correcting you. And sometimes we all need that. Your good shepherd knows you by name, and when you go astray, he loves you enough to call you back on the right path.

Which is what he does with Martha: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,” he says. You see, that was Martha’s problem here. You’ve seen those warning signs on the highways about the dangers of “distracted driving”? Well, Martha is having a problem with “distracted discipleship.” Martha, Martha, forget the hors d’oeuvres and the hydrangeas! At least for a bit. Your priorities are out of whack. Oh, there will be a time for all that. But something else is more important right now.

Which Jesus now gets to: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” Note the contrast between the “many things” and the “one thing.” There are so many things that Martha is anxious and troubled about. But in the process, she’s missing out on the one thing she really needs.

And what is this one thing needful? Jesus tells us: “One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion. . . .” This seems counterintuitive in a way. It goes against our way of thinking. We usually think, “Don’t just sit there; do something!” But Jesus turns it around: “Don’t just do something; sit there!” There is a time to sit, and there is a time to serve. Just don’t get them confused. And this was a time to sit. Because Jesus was doing the serving.

“The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The one thing needful is to be served by Jesus. It’s like what Jesus said to Peter when Jesus came to wash his feet: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” We need to be served by Jesus. That’s the number-one priority. All things else, including our acts of service, fall in line after that. Martha needed to learn that.

And so do we. How has Jesus served us? By going to the cross and giving his life there as our ransom, as our redemption. We needed that above all. For we were lost and dead in our sin, and all our activity, all our busy-ness, could not rescue us from that. Only Jesus could. And he has. Our beautiful Savior has purchased our forgiveness by his holy, precious blood. God counts us righteous for Christ’s sake. It’s nothing we did. It’s what he has done for us. We have forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation in his holy name. And Jesus’ words give us what he won for us.

Mary is soaking up those words of Jesus. And Jesus isn’t going to let anything interfere with that. He tells Martha: “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” “Martha, you may have been preparing a five-star, six-course meal. But Mary has already chosen the best portion on the menu. And I’m not going to let you take that away from her. In fact, you would do well to sit here and join her.”

Friends, do you ever let your busy-ness or your being anxious and troubled about many things–do you let that distract you from the one thing needful? For instance, any time you let something else get in the way of your coming to church on Sunday morning and receiving from Jesus–unless there’s an ice storm or you’re sick or something like that)–any time you choose to skip out on church when you could be here, you are making the wrong choice. You’re pulling a Martha, when Jesus would have you be a Mary.

It’s Third Commandment stuff: “The Third Commandment. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” “Hold it sacred”: That means, Don’t let anything else get in the way. I’m going to be on vacation the next two Sundays, but I’ve already scouted out where I’ll be going to church. Because it will be Sunday morning, and that is sacred time. It’s the Lord’s Day, when Jesus is giving out gifts, and so that’s where I want to be. No matter how long I live, I will always need the one thing needful. By the way, if you are ever going to be out of town on a Sunday morning, and you need help finding a good church to go to, I can help you with that.

Today you are here in this church, in God’s house, where Jesus is giving out his goods. You have chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken from you–not now, not ever. Jesus is here in the living room, and you are sitting and listening to his words of life. Jesus is doing the serving, and you are on the receiving end. That’s a good place, it’s the best place, to be. Here Jesus has prepared a table for us, the Lord’s Table, where you will receive from his hand his very body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. This is a foretaste of the feast to come, for our risen Lord has ascended into heaven and is preparing a place for us to be there with him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ–including you sisters Martha and Mary–when you get distracted in your discipleship, remember this: The one essential thing, the one thing needful, is to be served by our Lord Jesus Christ and to receive from him.

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
July 10, 2022

“The Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37)

Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, from Luke chapter 10. It’s the parable of “The Good Samaritan.” And, as often happens, there’s something that happens in real life that leads Jesus to tell this or that parable. On this occasion, it’s an interaction Jesus has with a certain lawyer in the crowd. Now when it says “lawyer” here, it’s not talking about the kind of lawyer you see advertising their law office on a billboard or TV commercial. It’s not the kind of prosecuting or defense attorney you see portrayed on TV shows or movies. No, when it says “lawyer” here, it’s talking about an expert in the Law of Moses. This would be a Jewish scholar who knows all the moral, civic, and ceremonial laws of ancient Israel, as found in the books of Moses.

This expert in the Mosaic law asks Jesus a question: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And, as Jesus often does, he answers a question with a question of his own: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And the lawyer replies: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus commends his reply: “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Notice what’s going on here. The lawyer asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Do you see what’s wrong with the premise of the question? It presumes there is something you can do to earn eternal life by way of your works. And that isn’t going to work. You and I and that lawyer back then–we can never do enough works to earn our way into heaven. Our good works aren’t good enough. They can’t offset or outweigh our sins.

So Jesus needs this lawyer and us to realize this, that we can’t do enough to gain eternal life. He tells the lawyer, “You know the Law of Moses. How would you sum it up?” And the lawyer responds with two verses from the Old Testament that really do sum up what God wants us to do: to love God with everything that’s in us, and to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. And Jesus says: “That’s right. Go ahead and do those two things, love God, love your neighbor, do them consistently and perfectly your whole life long, and you will indeed gain eternal life by way of your works.”

Oh, now the lawyer is on the spot. He realizes that’s a pretty tall order, so he tries to cut it down to a manageable size. “Love God? I can put on a pretty good show for that. I can make it look like I love God by going through all the religious motions. But loving my neighbor? People might notice when I’m not acting so kind toward my neighbor.”

So, what the lawyer does in order to justify himself–that is, to make himself look good after painting himself into a corner for having just said that you need to love God and love your neighbor to inherit eternal life–“desiring to justify himself,” he says to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The lawyer is trying to make loving my neighbor into something manageable, into something I can do a pretty good job at. Thus, if I can limit who my neighbor is, that makes my job a whole lot easier. Because I know I can love the people who love me, the people I like and get along with. Yeah, I can love my own peeps pretty well. As long as I don’t have to love those other people, the people I don’t like, the people I look down upon. So, Jesus, who qualifies as my neighbor?

And that leads Jesus now to tell a story, to make the point that the loving-your-neighbor commandment doesn’t depend on who qualifies to be your neighbor. God doesn’t put a limit on that. You’re looking at it the wrong way, son!

And that brings us to the parable itself. Jesus begins: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.” Well, those guys, yeah, the robbers–they certainly are not loving their neighbor as themselves! They’ve robbed the poor guy, beat him up really bad, and left him there lying on the road! And I, I’m not like them! I’ve never robbed anyone or beat them up half-dead. OK, so far, Jesus, I’m on board with you. I’m keeping the commandment very well compared to those guys! Good for me!

But the story is just beginning. Jesus continues: “Now by chance a priest was going down that road.” Oh, a priest! Now we’ve got a good guy entering the story. I’m sure he’ll do the right thing. I mean, he’s a priest, after all, and who can be holier than that? “Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him . . . he passed by on the other side.” Oh. “He passed by on the other side.” That doesn’t sound very good when you put it that way. But, uh, maybe he was in a hurry to do something religiously important. Or maybe he avoided the half-dead guy because he thought the fella was 100% dead, and coming into contact with a dead body would make him ceremonially unclean. Or–well, anyway, I’m sure the priest had a good reason.

Next man up: “So likewise a Levite.” Ah, a Levite! Another good guy. The Levites did all sorts of things at the temple, and they knew the Levitical laws inside out. But wait: “So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him . . . passed by on the other side.” Ugh. Now we’re oh-for-two. Two highly religious guys, and neither one of them does anything to help the half-dead guy on the road. It sounds like Jesus is making a point here.

He is. And the point is, it’s not just the robbers who broke God’s law by beating the guy up and stealing his stuff. They committed what we call sins of commission, actively doing wrong to one’s neighbor. But the priest and the Levite are breaking God’s law, by not doing anything to help the poor guy. He was lying right there in their path, and they went out of their way to not help him! They are committing what we call sins of omission, when, even if we haven’t done anything wrong, we don’t do anything right, either! We choose not to help our neighbor, when we have the opportunity to do so. That ain’t right, either.

So the beat-up, half-dead guy is still lying there, and no one is helping him. Soon he’ll be a fully dead guy in the middle of the road, stinkin’ to high, high heaven! Is there no one who will stop and help? Wait, I think Jesus sees someone coming. . . . “But a Samaritan. . . .” Oh, wait. False alarm. It’s only a Samaritan. He can’t be any good. He’s a Samaritan, after all, and we all know the Samaritans are a bunch of low-lifes who aren’t as good as us Jews. “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him . . . he had compassion.” Huh? What? The Samaritan had compassion on him? How can that be? Well, OK, he was moved with pity. He felt sorry for the guy. Fine. But then he must have moved on, right?

Wrong. True compassion is more than a feeling. True compassion will move you into action. And that’s what this Samaritan does: “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” What the Samaritan does actually helps the guy. He treats the man’s wounds. He puts him on his own animal, which means the Samaritan has to walk. He takes him to an inn, where the fella can recuperate. The Samaritan takes care of the beat-up guy. This is very inconvenient. The Samaritan went out of his way, not to avoid the man, but to help him.

What’s more, Jesus says, “The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’” This is costly love! The Samaritan goes the extra mile and spares no expense to love his neighbor in very practical care and help. Jesus is saying, this is how you keep God’s law of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Friends, this is exactly what Jesus has done for us. He saw us lying there on the road, not just half-dead, but fully dead spiritually. That’s what we were, dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead, unable to help ourselves. But the Son of God came down from heaven and came to where we were, and he had compassion on us. He didn’t pass us by. No, Christ came and dwelt among us. His compassion moved him into action.

Jesus’ love is a costly love. He has redeemed us, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, which are worth far more than all the denarii on earth. Christ lifts us up by raising us up to new life and eternal life in the waters of Holy Baptism. He brings us into the welcoming inn of the church, where the Holy Spirit cares for us through the means of grace, and the holy people of God care for one another. Jesus comes today with healing, the perfect and eternal healing promised in the bread and wine that are the body and blood of Christ.

The good Samaritan in the story is acting like how Jesus himself acts toward us. This is how you love your neighbor as yourself. So, now Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of these three”–that is, the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan–“which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” And the lawyer has to answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus says, “You go, and do likewise.”

Notice, lawyers, it’s not about who qualifies as your neighbor, to be worthy of your mercy. No, it’s about: Are you a merciful person? Will you be a neighbor to whomever it is who lies in your path? That’s what the loving-your-neighbor commandment means. And, all you lawyers out there, if you go and do likewise, you will soon discover you don’t do as good a job of that as the Samaritan in the story. Thus you will learn that you are not able to inherit eternal life by what you do. Your works aren’t good enough.

But there is one whose works are good enough. It’s Jesus. It’s through his good works of loving his Father and loving you, the dead guys on the road–it’s through Jesus Christ that you will surely inherit eternal life. For, dear friends, Jesus is our Good Samaritan!