Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 30, 2020
“Genuine Love in Our Church Family” (Romans 12:9-21)
Our church is called to be a loving family. I know this is so, because that’s who God says we are. God has made us a loving family. He calls us to live and act as his loving family. And he enables us to do so. This is why I as your pastor can call on you to be who you are in Christ: brothers and sisters who love one another with a genuine love that shows itself in actions.
That is kind of a summary of today’s Epistle reading, from Romans 12. Listen to some of the things that St. Paul says to the church in Rome: “Let love be genuine.” “Love one another with brotherly affection.” “Contribute to the needs of the saints.” “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another.” And so on. This is how the apostle Paul wanted, and expected, the Christians in Rome to think and to act and to live with one another. And these same exhortations and instructions apply to us, too. And so our theme this morning: “Genuine Love in Our Church Family.”
The church in Rome back then was no different from our church here today. We have the same Lord. We have the same gospel. We have the same sacraments. We have the same Spirit living within us. We are no different from those first-century Christians. We twenty-first-century Christians have the same gifts from God. As the apostle Paul could appeal to those Christians in Rome, so your pastor can appeal to you, knowing that God will enable you to live as his people and be a loving church family.
This is quite refreshing and much needed. Our church is called and enabled to be a refreshing oasis from the coldness and impersonality of the world. Look at what’s going on in the world around us these days. Hatred and conflict of all sorts. Rioting in the streets. Rage and distrust. Fear and isolation because of the virus. People afraid of catching disease. People unhappy over the measures and mandates they have to deal with. Tensions mounting as we head toward elections in November.
So here in the church is where people battered and bruised by the world can come and find care and compassion. Here is where the lonely can find a family. The Bible says, in Psalms, that God sets the lonely in families. Jesus says, in the gospels, that those who give up brothers or sisters or mother or father to come and follow him will receive—now, in this life–a hundred times as many brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. And that’s because you’re coming into the church, the worldwide family that God has established. This is where we love one another and care for one another in very practical terms. The church stands as a shelter, a haven, that stands out in the world by being a community of love put into action.
So, this Epistle reading from Romans 12 applies to us. It has to do with our everyday lives and our everyday life together as church. Since God calls us to be this kind of a loving family, and he enables to be so, I can say that I expect us to live like this.
And at the same time, I also expect us to fail. Why? Because we are sinners. To be sure, we are new persons in Christ, and we have been gifted with the Holy Spirit. But even as Christians, we are still sinners. We mess up. We don’t always do what we’re supposed to do. We have this internal conflict going on inside us, all our life long, between the new man, alive in the Spirit, and the old Adam, who thinks only of himself. It’s a struggle. It’s a battle. Can you feel it? You know, when you realize that you aren’t always the loving church member you ought to be. Hey, you’re not even the loving family member you ought to be, either! We mess up in our natural families. And we mess up in our church family, too. We’re not as loving and forgiving toward one another as we ought to be. God have mercy on me, a sinner!
Well, the good news is, he does have mercy on you. God loves and forgives you because of his Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is your brother who came down from heaven, who took on our flesh, and who lived the life of love we so often fail at. What mercy and compassion and love Jesus showed! Healing the sick and the oppressed. Forgiving sinners troubled in their conscience. Lifting up the downtrodden. Comforting the brokenhearted. If you want to see what genuine love looks like, look at Jesus. And especially look at him going to the cross for you. There is love at its greatest, at its most profound. A love so great that the heavenly Father spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all. Christ willingly gave himself into death on the cross for your forgiveness and your salvation. This sacrificial love of Christ is not only our example, it is our source of love. God’s love for us in Christ is a never-failing wellspring of love that wells up inside us and flows out to others.
God planted this source, this wellspring of love, inside you when he baptized you. There you became God’s child and took on his character. God’s children share in the family traits of love and mercy, compassion and forgiveness. In your baptism, God gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit, who calls you every day to put to death the old man of selfishness and sin and to put on instead the new man of love and service. This is what it means to be clothed with Christ, for this is how Christ is, and you are his Christians.
What’s more, today once again you are being nourished in the new life of love and forgiveness, as you partake of the Lord’s Supper. “As in this feast of love you bless us now,” we sing in a Communion hymn. And at the conclusion of the Supper, we pray that God would strengthen us through the same, in faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another. God intends for us to be a loving family, and so he equips us and enables us to be just that.
Now what does this look like, to be a loving church family? It’s more than just talk. It’s more than just pious-sounding words. Love shows itself in action. When someone is hurting, we do what we can to meet that need. Love is very practical. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth,” it says in 1 John.
What are some ways we can show love in our church family? Well, first of all, it’s important to get to know your church family, your fellow members of this congregation. We need to spend time together to get to know one another. Church is not just 60 minutes a week on a Sunday–you’re in, you’re out, and you never get to know anybody. Our life together as church is more than that. How can you rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep if you don’t know their joys and their sorrows? The church is a family, not a bunch of strangers. So be here for church every Sunday, as you are able, and consider taking advantage of the opportunities we have to spend more time together, for example, in our Bible classes on Sunday and Tuesday.
Then when we get to know one another better, we can better find ways we can put our love into action. Concrete expressions of care and concern. Practical Christian love, when somebody in our church family needs help. You’ll find ways. God will put people in your path. We are the body of Christ. Everybody can have a part to play. Use your imagination. Take the initiative. Offer your service. This is a team effort.
There will be situations that come up. And our people will come through. Maybe there’s a lonely person in need of friendship. Maybe there’s a family that could use some help with childcare or housework. Maybe there’s an elderly person who could use a ride or somebody to run an errand and just somebody to come and visit. The situations may differ in the details, and we each have different gifts that may be more suited to this or that situation. But we all share in the same Spirit, we all have the same Lord and Savior, and we all belong to the same great big Christian church family that extends across all boundaries and through all centuries.
Love one another as new people in Christ and as members of the same church family. What I’m telling you today is who you already are and what you already know. For you are baptized brothers and sisters, gifted with the same Holy Spirit, reflecting the character of your Father in heaven, and following your Savior Jesus in faith.
Our church is called and enabled to be a loving family. Therefore, “love one another with brotherly affection.” In one sense, this message is very simple. But it also can be very difficult to do, to put into action. Indeed, it is impossible to do this on our own. Our sinful flesh gets in the way. It wars against this. And we mess up, we sin. This is why we always need God’s forgiveness. And God gives us that forgiveness, for Christ’s sake, here in the church–in Holy Absolution, in the preaching of the gospel, in the blessed Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood. And when we stumble, when we fail, we need God to pick us up and get us going again. We need God’s help. And he gives us the help we need. God will help you to be the loving person you are in Christ. He promises to do so. This is why our church–this congregation, and you as members thereof–is and will be a loving, caring family.
I don’t go in too much for hokey plaques and greeting cards and such. But I remember a little card I saw a long time ago that I think sums up what we heard in the Epistle reading today from Romans 12. It goes like this: “God made us a family. We need one another. We love one another. We forgive one another. We work together. We play together. We worship together. Together we use God’s word. Together we grow in Christ. Together we love all men. Together we serve our God. Together we hope for heaven. These are our hopes and ideals. Help us to attain them, O God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 23, 2020
“On This Rock I Will Build My Church” (Matthew 16:13-20)
Everyone is interested in building the church, growing the church. Uh, let me rephrase that. Everyone who is already in the church, who is active and involved in the church, is interested in building and growing the church. People on the outside, as well as those with only a loose connection to the church–they don’t give a rip. They couldn’t care less. But those of us at least who are here regularly in church, we care about the church being built up and growing. Nobody wants to see the church fail or decline or decrease in numbers.
However, that’s what’s been happening. The church, at least in America, is in decline. The numbers have been decreasing. And for a long time. Actually, going back to about 1965, that’s when the numbers started to decline. That’s the year after the Baby Boom ended, when Americans stopped having kids at the same rate as they did from 1946 through 1964. But especially in the last ten years or so, the drop has been dramatic. There has been a plunge, a plummeting downward, in church membership and church attendance. And I’m not talking about just this congregation or just in small towns. No, it’s been pretty much across the board, all across America. Church numbers are down. And now this Covid thing is not helping, either. It has only aggravated the situation, the decline in attendance.
And the culture has changed, too. America has become increasingly secularized. Religion is no longer respected. There is even widespread antipathy toward Christianity, outright hostility. The culture has changed, and we are definitely swimming against the tide.
Now in view of the situation, how do we in the church react? Well, some people go into panic mode. “We’ll have to shut the doors!” Some people try to come up with ideas of what we can do to reverse the decline. After all, there are some churches, aren’t there, that seem to be doing alright. Maybe we need to be like them. Put screens up on the walls. Ditch the hymnals. Start up a praise band. That’ll draw in the young people! Oh, and we’ve got to add more programs, Mom’s Day Out, that sort of thing. What can we do to build the church?
And with the change in style, there inevitably comes a change in substance. What gets emphasized or de-emphasized is what I mean. In the content of the sermons: Is the message about Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, or is it a how-to talk about how to have a better self-image? In the content of the worship service: Is the music more about the praise band’s performance or the people’s participation? And is there any substance to what is being sung? Is the emphasis on what God does in Word and Sacrament or on what we do? Thus there can be a change in what people think church is about. The priorities get shifted. And the gospel gets lost in the shuffle. Is this any way to build the church? Oh, you might get a few more people in the door–although even that is questionable now–but are you really building a strong Christian faith in people’s hearts? Or are they just coming to get entertained and to go to your weekly yoga class?
What gets lost in the shuffle here is Jesus. It’s almost as though you could build a church without him. I mean, the Jesus we find in the pages of the New Testament. That one, not Jesus the Life Coach. Not Jesus the smiling inoffensive buddy who’s cheering you on in all your various pursuits.
What does Jesus say about our attempts to build the church without him? Without him at the center? He tells us in our text today, the reading from Matthew 16. There Jesus says, “I will build my church.” Whoa! Jesus seems to claim a little ownership in this process. He calls it “my church.” This is Jesus’ church–it’s his, it belongs to him. It’s Jesus’ church, it doesn’t belong to us, to do with it as we will. Jesus gets to decide what kind of church his church is going to be. So maybe we ought to try to find out what Jesus would have his church emphasize and teach and do and be like. Maybe our ideas about how to build the church need to be shaped and revised and refined by his. This is his church, after all.
“On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus says that he will build it, and he will do it his way–the “on this rock” way. And when the church is built by Jesus, in his way, with the strength that he gives it, then the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against his church. Oh, the church may not always look all that impressive and successful and victorious, but then neither did our Lord when he was hanging on the cross. But when Jesus builds his church, in his way, it is strong, even when it is weak.
“On this rock I will build my church.” So, what is this “rock” that Jesus will build his church on? Well, let’s back up a bit. In our text, Jesus has taken his disciples aside, after they had been with him a while and seen him in ministry. And they had seen how people react to him. So Jesus asks them for a field report: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they reply with an assortment of answers, all of which pay some lip-service to Jesus, but all of which stop short of saying enough. And so it is in our day. People may acknowledge Jesus as some sort of “influencer,” as an advocate for “spirituality”–he was a good example, he was a great teacher–but they still will stop short of saying enough. And frankly, many would say, just leave me alone, because I don’t want to be bothered with this religion business.
So Jesus gets some answers about what people think about him. But then he asks the disciples a follow-up question: “But you–who do you say that I am?” And Peter, usually the first to speak up, gives the gold-star answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yes, Peter, that’s right! Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. He is the great Deliverer and King promised by God centuries earlier. Indeed, he is the Son of the living God. Jesus is the one-of-a-kind Son of God, come down from heaven. Peter confesses rightly who Jesus is: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yes, Peter, you got it! And you got it from God himself, by divine revelation. “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
So this then is the “rock” on which Jesus will build his church. Not Peter himself, per se. No. But the rock is what Peter just said about who Jesus is. “This rock” is the apostolic confession of Christ. It is the New Testament message of Jesus, who he is and what he has done. It is the person and work of Christ, as proclaimed and taught by the apostles. This is the rock on which Christ builds his church. And there is no other.
Now even Peter, at this point, did not fully grasp or comprehend what being the Christ, being the divine Deliverer, would involve for Jesus. He was still thinking “Glory King” at this point. “Crucified Savior” was not on his radar screen. Peter didn’t get that part yet. For in the verses right after our text, Jesus tells the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed. At which Peter again pipes up, but this time he does not get the gold star. Peter rebukes his master: “No way, Jesus! This is not what we had in mind for you!” So Jesus has to rebuke him: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Man’s way of fashioning the sort of Jesus we want, man’s way of building the sort of church we want–our ways are not God’s ways. God’s way will involve suffering and lowliness and a dying Savior.
For that is what it takes for Jesus to do the job he came to do. He must go to the cross. There was no other way for God to save this world of sinners–for God to save you–other than for the Son of the living God to be the dying Savior. Jesus is the Christ precisely in his being crucified. He died for you, my friends. He died in your place to take the judgment you deserve for your sins. For those sins were killing you. Literally. Eternally. And God’s love is such that he would not have the sinner die. Instead, Christ died for you. He washed away your sins by his holy precious blood. He conquered hell by his death on the cross, stripping the devil of his claim against you. Jesus destroyed death by his death, and the proof of it was shown on Easter morning when Christ rose from the dead. You, baptized believer in Christ–you share in his resurrection and his life.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the rock on which Christ will build his church. This message, this gospel, this good news. This forgiveness of sins, won by Christ on the cross. This is the key that looses the chains of your sins, which were wrapped around your shoulders. This is the key that opens the kingdom of heaven to all believers. This is the key for you. This gospel: Christ Jesus delivering you from death and hell and bringing you into his kingdom of light and life. This is what the church is all about.
“On this rock I will build my church.” This is Jesus’ church, not ours. He will build it, and build it his way. It won’t be our programs or our personality. It won’t be our people-pleasing appeals to the flesh. No, Jesus will build his church his way: On this rock, the rock that is the apostolic confession of Christ. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Christ who died on the cross for you. The Christ who rose from the dead to lead you to eternal life. This rock is pure gospel. It is Christ-centered and cross-focused. “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 16, 2020
“The Great Faith of the Canaanite Woman” (Matthew 15:21-28)
How would you rate your faith? Is it a strong faith or a weak faith? If you think your faith is weak, that it’s in need of some strengthening, well, you’ve come to the right place. For today we’re going to hear about “The Great Faith of the Canaanite Woman.” But now here’s a little secret, right from the outset: If you want a great faith, don’t focus on your faith. Rather, focus on the object of your faith, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ and his great mercy.
Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. The story begins with Jesus going up to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon are cities outside of the boundaries of Israel. They’re up north, along the coast, in what is now modern-day Lebanon. This is Gentile territory that Jesus is entering. The people who lived there were not Jews; they did not follow the religion of Israel. They were Gentiles, pagans.
A Canaanite woman from that region comes to Jesus. Notice, Matthew uses the term “Canaanite” to describe her. In Mark’s gospel she is called the “Syrophoenician” woman. But Matthew calls her a “Canaanite.” That’s an old-timey word, an Old Testament word for the people living in the land of Canaan back when the Israelites moved in. The Canaanites were Gentiles, pagans, outside of the covenant the Lord had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet they were in close enough contact, close enough proximity, to have some knowledge about the religion of Israel.
And this woman apparently did. For she comes to Jesus, crying out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.” Notice the title she uses, “Son of David.” That’s a messianic title. The Messiah that God had promised would be the Son of David, a physical descendant of the great King David. The Lord had promised that one of David’s sons would reign over an everlasting kingdom. This Son of David, the Messiah, would usher in a glorious reign of blessing for Israel–and for the other nations, too. When Messiah comes, his blessing would extend even to the Gentiles. The nations would come running to Israel to receive the Lord’s blessing–as this Canaanite woman is doing now, in coming to Jesus.
So she must have known something of those prophecies about the coming Messiah, the Son of David. And this gave her faith. She was looking for the coming of the Christ. And she recognized in Jesus the one fulfilling those prophecies. She must have heard what Jesus was doing, his healings, his acts of mercy. That emboldened her to come forward with her request: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” “Lord, have mercy.” This woman is in need of God’s mercy. Her daughter was suffering terribly. And she sees in Jesus the Lord who can provide that mercy and help.
One of the benefits of suffering, oddly enough, is that it can lead us to seek the Lord and his mercy. When life is going smoothly, we can forget about the Lord and take his blessings for granted. But when suffering comes, when we have nowhere else to turn–that’s what it may take to get us to turn to the Lord. When trouble comes, God says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” That’s what this woman is doing when she comes to Jesus. It’s her “day of trouble,” and she’s calling on God for help.
She cries out, “Lord, have mercy.” “Kyrie, eleison,” is how it reads in the Greek. That’s the cry of the church in all ages. We say it at the beginning of the Divine Service in the Kyrie: “Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.” Kyrie, eleison! We call on the Lord and ask for his mercy. We come before God with all our needs, the suffering and misery in our lives and in the world. We need God’s help; we need his mercy.
And that is what God gives us–his mercy. That’s why Christ came. All the misery in this world–violence, oppression, virus, depression, riots and disasters–the answer to all of it, ultimately, is in the mercy of God. That mercy took Christ to the cross. By his all-availing death, you and I will be delivered, finally, from all the misery that we experience.
God’s mercy is his answer to our misery. He takes pity on us. He visits us in our distress. He gives us relief from the ravages of sin in the world. This world is in a mess. You know that. You can see it in the news. You can see it in your life. You can see it all around you. Life doesn’t work right. There’s suffering. There’s misery, right here in the state of Missouri. So, thank God he has mercy on us! He wants us to call on him in our day of trouble, like the Canaanite woman did. Kyrie, eleison! “Lord, have mercy.”
Now notice Jesus’ response–or rather, his lack of response! “But he did not answer her a word.” That’s not what we would expect. How do we explain his silence? Come to think of it, how do explain the silence of God in our lives? Sometimes we pray to God, and we don’t get the answer we’re looking for. Didn’t God hear our prayers? We are met with the silence of God. This is a mystery to us. But God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. The silence of God is not due to his cold-heartedness but rather to our inability to know exactly what God is doing. He may have a better plan in store for us than the one we have in mind.
At first the Canaanite woman is met with silence. “He did not answer her a word.” The timing isn’t right quite yet. Jesus is waiting a bit before he answers. He may want this woman to exercise her faith a bit. And he has something to teach his disciples, too. The disciples don’t understand what Jesus is doing. So they say, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
At first it seems like Jesus is going along with that line of thinking. For Jesus tells her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And that’s true. In his ministry, Jesus was sent primarily to the house of Israel, that is, to the Jews. The lost sheep of Israel needed to be gathered in. For the Lord had made a covenant with Israel, and Jesus came to fulfill it. His ministry, almost entirely, was among the Jews. God had promised to bless the family of Abraham, and Jesus is keeping that promise. To the Jews first.
But the promise of blessing to Israel did not exclude those Gentiles who come into contact with Israel. They can “rub up” against the blessing, so to speak. That’s what this Gentile woman is doing. Even while Jesus is busy ministering to the Jews, he will not withhold his blessing from this Gentile woman. Although, for a moment, it looks like he will. For he says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the Canaanite woman perseveres. She kneels before Jesus and says, “Lord, help me.” But Jesus replies, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” In other words, “It’s not right to take the blessings promised to the children of Israel and give them to the Gentiles,” that is, “the dogs.” Often the Jews would refer to the Gentiles as “dogs,” as a term of disrespect, an insult. But there’s something in the way that Jesus says it. In the Greek language, there are a couple of ways to say “dog.” The word that Jews would use to insult Gentiles is not the one that Jesus uses. Instead, he uses a form of the word that can be translated as “little pet dogs,” “doggies.” It’s an affectionate term, used for dogs who got to live in the house and were taken care of. Jesus here is giving the woman an opening to grab on to. And the Canaanite woman picks up on it. “Yes, Lord,” she says, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Ah! She’s got it! Faith hears what the Lord is saying and latches onto it. Jesus is not putting her off. Rather, he is giving her a word she could cling to.
The woman came, not claiming anything as her right, but simply throwing herself on the Lord’s mercy. She was willing to be a dog that eats the scraps off the table. That’s why I like to call her the “Canine-ite woman.” The “Canine-ite woman”: She was ready to be a little dog, if it meant being fed near the Lord’s table. For that’s where the blessings are. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who hunger and thirst, blessed are those who come as beggars–or even as dogs–to the Lord of all mercy. Luther comments on the faith of this Canaanite woman: “She catches the Lord Christ in his own words. Yes, still more, with the rights of dogs she gains the rights of a child. Now where will he go, the dear Jesus? He has caught himself and must help her. But know this well: He loves to be caught in this way.”
The great faith of the Canaanite woman. It is a God-given faith, produced by the Spirit working through the word. It is a faith that perseveres and takes the Lord up on his promises. God wants to give you that same kind of faith–persevering faith in a merciful Lord. God wants you to come to Jesus, time and time again, in spite of any obstacles you may face. It is so easy to give up. People do it all the time. When there is suffering in their life, they give up and think that God is uncaring. But God does not want you to give up. He wants you to persevere, in faith, like the Canaanite woman. He wants you to seek–and to find–his mercy and blessing.
Jesus commends this woman’s faith: “O woman, great is your faith!” Jesus grants her request. Her demonized daughter is healed. How is Jesus able to do that? Because Christ is the victor over sin and death and the devil. He has authority over them. Jesus, our Savior, won that victory for us in a most mysterious way. He, the Son of God, came down into our mess and our misery. He suffered the ravages of sin when he was nailed to the cross. Jesus experienced the silence of God when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But by dying as the sacrifice for sin, Jesus defeated the devil. The devil was shorn of his strength. God then vindicated his Son by raising him from the dead. God shows his mercy in the greatest way. His mercy in Christ forgives our sins, delivers from the devil, and gives the sure hope of everlasting life. “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for his mercy endures forever.”
Today, through Word and Sacrament, God is strengthening your faith. He is building in you a faith like that of the Canaanite–or “Canine-ite”–woman. She was willing to come like a little dog to eat at the Lord’s table. Today you are coming to the Lord’s Table, not just as dogs, but as his dear children, to dine on this foretaste of the feast to come. The faith of the Canaanite woman was great because it was faith in a great Lord who bestows great mercy.
Do you want a greater faith? Don’t look at your faith, how great or small it is. Instead, look at your Lord. Focus on Christ and his mercy and his promises, and your faith will naturally grow stronger. “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.” Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy.
Who is this Jesus fellow? That is the central question in all four of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Who is this Jesus? As we read the gospels, we are discovering the same thing the disciples were learning: that there is something very special about this man named Jesus. And so it is, again today, in our reading from the Gospel of Matthew. The disciples are learning more about Jesus, and so are we. And knowing who Jesus is, knowing who he is for us–not only that he is God’s Son, with all divine power and authority, but also that he uses his authority to save us–knowing Jesus in this way, so that you will trust in him for your salvation, this is the most important thing in the whole world that you need to know.
We pick it up today in Matthew 14 right where we left off last week. Jesus has just done the feeding of the five thousand, not far from the Sea of Galilee. It’s been a long day, exhausting, and now Jesus wants some alone time, when he can pray in private. So he sends the disciples on ahead in the boat, while he stays behind. He’ll catch up with them later. And boy, howdy, will he!
So the disciples are in the boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee. Notice, I said the “Sea” of Galilee, and that’s how we often refer to it, but really it’s just a medium-sized lake. This would not have been a long trip, to go from one place on the lake to another. I’ve been on a boat there and done that, and it’s not a long trip. In fair weather, that is, when the water is calm.
But the sea was angry that day, my friends. That night, I mean. A storm had brewed up, the waves were beating the boat, and the wind was against them. For the Sea of Galilee to turn turbulent all of a sudden is especially possible because of its location. Sixty miles to the north, you have Mount Hermon, over 9,000 feet high. Maybe ninety miles to the south, you’ve got the Dead Sea, over 1,000 feet below sea level. So this whole stretch down the Jordan Rift Valley can be like a long wind tunnel, and storms can whip up quickly. Lake Galilee can suddenly become a stormy sea.
Now keep in mind, a number of the boys in this boat were professional fisherman, and they knew this lake better than anyone. So for them to be stuck out there, battling the wind and the waves and making no progress, you know it’s got to be bad. It’s now the middle of the night, and still they aren’t getting anywhere.
But then, from out of nowhere, what do they see? It’s Jesus, walking toward them! Walking on the sea! How can that be? They’re terrified! They think it’s a ghost. A person can’t walk on the sea. Or can he? This one can. Their master, Jesus, is walking toward them, on the sea!
You know, we often refer to this event as “Jesus walking on the water.” But the text actually says he was “walking on the sea.” And that carries some added weight, biblically speaking. For in the Bible, the “sea” generally carries the idea of a place of danger, a place of chaos, where man is literally out of his element. But here comes Jesus, striding on the sea, like it’s no big deal.
This tells us something about Jesus. It tells us that Jesus is the Lord of the sea. He has mastery over it. Think of what we heard today in the Book of Job, where the Lord God says to Job, “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?” Meaning, “You, man, you cannot do such a thing, but I can. I am God. I created the sea and set limits for it and have authority over it.” And now here comes Jesus, walking on the sea. Like a boss! Like he’s taking a stroll in the park. Conclusion? This man Jesus has divine power and authority! Even authority over a stormy sea.
“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid,” Jesus reassures his disciples. Whether they were more afraid of the wind and the waves or afraid of seeing a ghost in the middle of the night–whatever their fears, Jesus wants them to stop fearing and to take courage. Why? Because, as he tells them, “It is I.”
It is the presence of Jesus, with us, that will calm our fears. “It is I.” The Greek words there are “Ego eimi,” “I am.” We’re reminded of the Old Testament name of God, “I AM.” For indeed, Jesus is “God with us,” “Immanuel.” He promises his church, even now, “For lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus is here with us, dear friends, even on the stormy sea of our life.
What are you afraid of? Advancing age? Health worries? Mounting financial debt? Ae you worried that your mortgage will go “underwater,” as they say? These are the winds and the waves that can make us feel like we’re stuck and making no progress. We’re exhausted. We feel like everything is against us. But here comes Jesus, striding out confidently to where we are, and reassuring us: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
Well, so Peter sees this, and, impetuous as he was, he’s ready to join Jesus for a walk on the water: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus allows this; he says, “Come.” And at first, things are going well. Peter is able to take some steps and come toward Jesus. But then, what happens? He gets his eyes off Jesus and starts looking at the wind. Well, of course, you can’t see the wind, but you can see what the wind is doing. And it’s whipping up the waves pretty bad. He’s afraid. He’s beginning to sink!
Peter here reminds me of a passage from the Epistle of James. There it says, “The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person . . . is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” That’s Peter here, isn’t it? Doubting Peter. Double-minded Peter. He sees Jesus–that’s good–but now he is more focused on his negative circumstances, the stormy sea. And so he is double-minded. He’s unstable. He’s afraid. He begins to sink.
Do we ever become double-minded, like Doubting Peter? Oh, I think we do. We take our eyes off Jesus, who invites us to come to him, who promises to sustain us–we take our eyes off Jesus and look more at our worries and our fears. Can you identify? I can.
So what to do when we find ourselves overwhelmed with fear and sinking down? Do what Peter did in his desperation. He cried out, “Lord, save me!” That’s a good prayer in all situations: “Lord, save me!” For you and I need his saving power every hour. Whether we’re sinking under the waves, or when our life is calm and we’re making good progress–in any and every situation, we still need our Lord Jesus Christ to save us.
“Lord, save me!” Peter cries. And he’s talking to the right fellow, because Jesus is Lord, and he does save. That’s who he is. That’s what he does. Even his name, “Jesus,” tells us that. The name Jesus is the same as Joshua, “Yehoshua” in the Hebrew. And “Yehoshua” literally means “The Lord saves.” So Jesus’ name is also his job description, for he came into our world precisely in order to save us.
And not just from a desperate situation like sinking under the waves. But to save us from something even more desperate–to save us from our sins. Remember what the angel told Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” From their sins! That is what we most desperately need saving from! Our sins! Our sins would truly sink us, sink us eternally! Death and damnation would be the result. But our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation. He, God’s only Son, lowered himself and walked all the way to the cross in order to do the saving job. It took the death of God’s own Son to pay for all the sins of the whole world, your sins included. Now you are forgiven. Now you are right with God. Because of Christ. Now you are saved, and you will be saved and safe forever. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Brothers and sisters, fellow baptized, you have already been drowned under the water; you have been buried with Christ in the waters of Holy Baptism. And Christ, by his resurrection, has come and taken you by the hand and pulled you up from death to life. Now you live in Christ and with Christ, and you will share in his resurrection and eternal life. Now you are safe in the boat, safe in Christ’s church, where he is present with us. The wind of fear has ceased. The waves of doubt have subsided. Jesus is with us, and we will reach our destination safe on the other shore. And so now we worship our Lord and say with the disciples, “Truly you are the Son of God!”
The other day I went to the grocery store, and of course when I went in, I put on a mask. The other shoppers were wearing masks, the store’s workers were wearing masks, the cashiers–everybody was wearing a mask. Well, I had just paid for my groceries and was finishing loading my cart, when I heard the cashier greet the lady behind me. It was obvious he knew who she was, but at first she did not know who he was. She said, “Oh, I didn’t recognize you behind your mask.” And I thought to myself, “Thank you! You have just given me the introduction for my sermon this Sunday!”
“Oh, I didn’t recognize you behind your mask.” You know, I think that’s often what we ought to be saying to God: “I didn’t recognize you behind your mask.” Because that’s how God operates to provide for us and care for us, and we don’t recognize that he is the one blessing us. Behind a mask, so to speak. In other words, God blesses us through other people he puts in our lives. God uses those people to be the channels of his blessings toward us, but he ultimately is the source of those blessings.
Take, for example, the groceries I bought at that grocery store. How did those groceries get into my cart? They didn’t just drop down out of heaven and land in front of me. No, there was a whole string of people leading up to me getting my hands on those goods. The farmer who planted and harvested the crops or raised the chickens. The truck driver who delivered the goods to the plant for processing, and another truck driver who drove the goods to the store. The stocker and the pricer at the store. And then that cashier with the mask on who checked me out and put the food in the bags. All of these people were masks of God, each doing their job, with the result that I was able to put food on my table. The source of blessing was God, and God delivered the blessing to me by operating behind those masks.
We see an example of this sort of thing in the Holy Gospel for today. It’s the familiar story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Of course, it is Jesus who feeds them. Or is it? Think about it. Who actually puts the bread and the fish in the hands of the people? It’s the disciples. It’s not Jesus directly. He does the miracle of multiplying the loaves and the fish, certainly. But look what it says: “Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied.” Jesus is the source of the blessing, but he implements the delivery system through his disciples. They were the masks of God, God doing the blessing by delivering it through them.
Masks of God: That’s how God operates to get his blessings to our doorstop and into our hands. Luther was the one who came up with this term, “masks of God,” to describe how God provides for us. In his commentary on one of the Psalms, Luther writes: “God could easily give you grain and fruit without your plowing and planting. But he does not want to do so. . . . What else is all our work to God–whether in the fields, in the garden, in the city, in the house, in war, or in government–but [that] by which he wants to give his gifts in the fields, at home, and everywhere else? These are the masks of God, behind which he wants to remain concealed and do all things.” Again, Luther says: “No doubt God could create children without man and woman, but he does not intend to do so. Rather he joins man and woman to make it look as if man and woman do the procreating. Yet he, hidden under this mask, is the one who does it.”
Do you get the concept? God is the one blessing us, and he does it through people. And it’s good for us to recognize this and to give thanks to God as the source and giver of the gifts. God is working behind his masks.
Now what if I were to say: “No, no, it’s just me! I am the one providing all the good things in my life! I earned it! I did the work! It’s my smarts and ingenuity and hard work that got me all the stuff I have. Yay me!” Well, if I were to do that, I would be quite foolish and arrogant. For how did I get the ability to get the job, to get the income, to pay for the groceries and all the rest? It was God who created me with the brain and the talents to make something of my life. It was God who gave me parents and grandparents to raise me and take care of me through my childhood. They were God’s masks, the channels of his blessing. It was God who gave me teachers and professors to shape my mind and develop my skills and abilities. It was God who led his people to give me a call to teach and preach and serve as a pastor. And on and on it goes. It’s like what my confirmation verse says, Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” And so I acknowledge the Lord as the source of my blessings, and I recognize the people through whom he has blessed me as his masks.
Now if God is using other people in order to bless you, guess what? Maybe he is using you to be a blessing to others. You are called to be a mask of God, a channel of his blessings, in your various vocations: husband, wife, father, mother, citizen, neighbor, employer, employee, and so on. Whatever your calling in life, God will use you to be his mask. Be alert for those opportunities. As a husband, how can I be a blessing to my wife? As a parent, how can I be a blessing to my children? As a church member, how can I be a blessing to my congregation and my fellow church members? Are there ways, even without being asked, that I can take the initiative and act in service to others, to be a channel of God’s blessing to them? That is the most beautiful mask you can wear!
Masks of God. And God channels his blessings to us in both body and soul. In the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Jesus was providing for the physical needs of the people. He saw their need, and he had compassion on them, it says. Jesus then demonstrated his authority as the very Son of God, his divine authority over creation, by miraculously multiplying the loaves and the fish. And he directed his disciples then to deliver the goods to the people.
Now Jesus does a similar thing in providing for our spiritual needs. Jesus himself is the source of our provision. He is the one who came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation. Out of his great compassion, he himself won our salvation, something we could not do for ourselves, since we are sinners. But Jesus walked the way of righteousness for our sake. He was sent on a mission, to win salvation for all people, and he was determined to accomplish it. He set his face to go to Jerusalem, where he suffered and died as the Servant of the Lord, bearing our transgressions in his body. By his wounds we are healed. His glory was hidden behind suffering, but by his death he has destroyed death. His resurrection shows the end result, the outcome for us who trust in him. It is our resurrection and everlasting life. Because he lives, we shall live also.
Those are the gifts Christ won for us on the cross. But now, how does Jesus deliver his gifts to us? Again, it is through people, acting as the masks of God. For me, my pious grandparents made sure I got a Christian education and was raised in the church. I had good pastors and teachers along the way who taught me the Word of God.
How about for you? And how about now? The pastor that God gives you actually is a mask of God. God is blessing you through him, in spite of that man’s many flaws and shortcomings. The power is in God’s Word. The pastor is merely the delivery man. But he is God’s delivery man, assigned to get the goods to you. So, recognize God behind the mask.
When the pastor spoke your name and poured water on your head and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” it was God who was baptizing you. Oh, he used the pastor’s hands and voice to do it, but it was God who baptized you. Today, when I said, “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins,” Jesus was here absolving you. As it says in the Catechism, “We receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.” Hallelujah! Praise God!
When I stand here in the pulpit, preaching God’s Word to you, again it is Jesus who is speaking to you. “He who hears you, hears me,” Jesus tells his ministers. And in a few moments, when your pastor speaks the consecration and you are given the body and blood of Christ for your forgiveness, it is Jesus himself handing out the goods, even if he’s doing it from behind a mask.
“Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied.” God is the one who is providing and caring for you, both physically and spiritually, and he does that through his masks, through the imperfect people he puts in your life to be his channel of blessing to you. And you in turn are then called to be that mask of God for others, to bless them as you have opportunity. That’s how God rolls. Recognize it.
“Oh, I didn’t recognize you behind your mask,” said the lady at the grocery store to the clerk at the register. Hopefully today now, you and I will better recognize God behind his masks, the people he uses to provide for us and bless us, in both body and soul.
