"A Warning to All: The Rich Man and Lazarus" (Luke 16:19-31)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: 

“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side” (Luke 16:22-23).

 

Most people think very little about their own death. After all, most people will live life to an old age. But then, there are some who try to deny they will ever die, which means they likely live with no accounting of how they live. Afterall, why not live by the motto: you only live once. So, just do it. Take the risk. Enjoy life. Whatever that may be. Enjoy life on the couch. Enjoy life on the links.

 

Today’s Gospel text pictures our mortality. We cannot deny death. God’s Word says, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a). You and I are going to die. That is, unless Christ returns first. Life is short as our days and months and years fly by. 

 

So, to keep us prepared for the future, Jesus teaches us the story about a rich man and Lazarus. Jesus teaches us about the real places of heaven and hell.

 

Until the day of your death, or the day of Christ’s return, everyone receives their daily bread from God – Christians and heathens alike. The Lord gives us everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body for all people, as well as everything that has to do with the support and needs of our soul for us Christians. The Lord certainly blesses us daily!

 

In today’s text, Jesus tells of two men whom the Lord has blessed.

 

Now, Jesus tells us this story because of the Pharisees, who as St. Luke tells “we're lovers of money” (Luke 16:14). These Pharisees ridiculed Jesus after He told them the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son, and the dishonest manager. Jesus concluded those parables saying, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13).

Like the rich man in today’s story, these Pharisees loved themselves. But Jesus teaches us that the love of money and selfishness can lead a person to hell, whereas proper love and trust in God will lead to eternal life.

 

Now, is today’s story told by Jesus a parable, a simple story, or was it a real event? I raise this question because there are no other parables where Jesus actually names a person. And what’s also different is that the rich man is a person without a name. While the poor man has a name: Lazarus, which means “God has helped.”

 

Now, there is something that we do know about this story Jesus told. He told this story to warn the Pharisees and also you and me. He told this story to warn everyone: believer and unbeliever alike. He warns us against greed and loveless ease.

 

Jesus calls us to help and support our neighbor for any physical need. Jesus warns us to beware of the love of money – when money becomes your idol, which might turn us away from our neighbor and even from our God. And above all, Jesus’ story today teaches us to look to our God in the midst of life’s trouble, to listen to His Scriptures and their promises, and to set our hearts on the joy and comfort of His coming kingdom. So, what can we say about the two men in today’s story? 

 

Well, there was a rich man. Jesus tells us that he “was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). This man lived in luxury. He spent his money on what made him feel good and look good. He thought only of himself.

 

Then, there was another man named Lazarus. Jesus tells us that he “was covered with sores” and he “desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:20, 21). Lazarus was a beggar. Lazarus was sick and crippled, and he was a pitiful sight. The rich man had more money than he could ever spend. He lived sumptuously. The poor man Lazarus only yearned for table scraps. He lived in misery.

 

Jesus also tells us that there was no act of kindness that came from this rich man toward this poor beggar. This rich man may have been monetarily rich, but he was certainly “not rich toward God”(Luke 12:21). He does not make himself clean by giving to the poor (Luke 11:41). He won’t even give the needly his leftovers that just spoil and rot. And oddly enough, it appears that this rich man did not even use his worldly wealth to gain friends, so that when he died, he would be welcomed into the eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9). This rich man appears to have only been focused upon himself. He was hoarding up earthly treasure and clothing and food.

Now the wages of sin, which is death, will come for the worldly rich and the worldly poor alike. Death comes for all people, because all people are caught in the web of sin.

 

But when death comes for Lazarus and this rich man, they experience a great reversal of fortune. Jesus pronounced blessed “who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied” (Luke 6:21) and on the other hand, He said, “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry” (Luke 6:25). This beatitude and curse that Jesus speaks about are vividly illustrated by the situation in which Lazarus and this rich man find themselves in the afterlife.

 

Lazarus, the poor man, finds himself at the banquet table of salvation, reclining next to Father Abraham. While the rich man is desiring what Lazarus now has. He calls out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame” (Luke 16:24).

 

The thoughts of this rich man then turn to his five brothers who still live on earth. He wants to warn them to repent of their life, so they would not face his fate in hell “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). To this, Abraham says, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). But this rich man still does not believe. He wants more than God’s inerrant Word, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. He wants his brothers scared into repentance and faith. He calls on Abraham to send Lazarus back to life, but Abraham says, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

 

In other words, Abraham is saying, even if Lazarus did return, they will not change their ways. No miracle will change them. If the Word of God cannot convince them, neither will a resurrection from the dead.

 

Jesus tells this story as a warning to the Pharisees. And this story is also a warning to us. For we, too, are tempted to love the good things of this life, like wealth and honor. Of course, it is not certainly wrong to ask God for daily bread, but we are to ask with gratitude. Afterall, Jesus calls us to receive the blessings that God provides to us in this life. For all these good things, God be thanked and God be praised.

 

But God has nowhere promised anyone bounty or uninterrupted ease in this life. He has not promised anyone honor and recognition in this life. So, sometimes, His people are covered with sores and sickness. Sometimes His people face heartache. Sometimes His people face disappointment. 

Sometimes, His people face tragedies that bring life to a screeching halt. Sometimes, God’s people must endure bad things. Sometimes, God’s people must live as beggars.

 

Now, God has promised us something. He has promised us lasting bounty and lasting joy that is given to us through Jesus Christ. This is the testimony of Moses and the Prophets to whom Abraham points the rich man. For us, today, we not only have Moses and the Prophets, but we also have the Gospels and Epistles. The entirety of God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation convey the promises of God and God does not lie (Titus 1:2).

 

So, whoever turns aside from these divine promises in Christ to set his heart instead on earthly pleasures and riches is certainly a fool.

 

But whether, we are rich or we are poor, each of us will die and each of us will stand in the judgement as a beggar before God. The good news is that in Jesus Christ, we see that God makes beggars rich. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus set aside all of His unimaginable wealth as the Son of God lowered Himself to take on our human flesh. He was born in our flesh and then took on the form of a beggar. He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58).

 

Jesus hung naked on the cross. Men cast lots for His clothing. He was covered in wounds, but not even the dogs licked His sores. He was mocked by scoffers. They laughed at His misery. He was rejected by all. But He did this all for us. He did this to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He suffered, died, rose and ascended for you.

 

Certainly, none of us are worthy to ask for or even inherit anything before God, not even the rich man, not even Lazarus, not you, and not me. But there is one who is worthy. “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” (Revelation 5:12) 

 

Jesus alone is worthy, and He shares this inheritance with all poor sinful beggars who look up to Him in faith. So, when you lack and worry, when you fear and weep, look up, turn your eyes to heaven. All that is Christ’s is yours. He has purchased for you the everlasting kingdom with His holy and precious blood. So, keep praying and keep waiting. For in Christ, you are as rich as Lazarus. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Faithful and Shrewd" (Luke 16:1-15)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Jesus said: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13).

 

Today, the one holy Christian and apostolic Church rejoices to celebrate the Festival of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. 

 

As you may recall, St. Matthew was originally a tax collector by trade, so today’s parable seems appropriate. As a tax collector, Matthew would have been viewed by the Jewish populace as a traitor and a sell-out to the Romans. So, the calling of Matthew by Jesus was certainly a bold move. One day, the Lord saw Matthew sitting at the tax booth and He simply said to him, “Follow Me”(Matthew 9:9). The man who had devoted himself to acquiring money at the expense of his own people just got up and walked away from his table. He walked away from his money. He walked away from his old life. Matthew, a sinner, was called by Jesus, and became righteous through His shed blood. Matthew is a perfect example of Jesus’ words, “You cannot serve God and money.”

 

Some weeks ago, my Grandma Shaw asked me about today’s parable, the Parable of the Dishonest Manager. She asked me about how the master could commend, or better yet, praise this dishonest manager for all that he had done. So, I’d like to get into this parable and what exactly Jesus teaching us.

 

Firstly, I would like to admit, this parable can leave us scratching our heads in confusion. This parable is puzzling. But always keep in mind these words of God: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). There is something to these words of God.

 

So, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Dishonest Manager. This parable is framed by the interaction between the master and his manager, with the master calling his manager to render a concluding account of his management and then at the end commending him for his prudence. 

 

In between all of this, the manager wrestles with the problem that he has been fired, is out of work, has no place to stay, and has no hope of future employment. He has hit rock bottom. He dismisses physical labor or begging, because he is incapable of either. But in the midst of this despair, he has come up with a solution to his problem. His solution is shrewd and effective: he will change his master’s accounts so that both he and the master will be commended by the community. So, he summons his master’s debtors one by one and lowers what they owe the master. 

 

“He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty,’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty” (Luke 16:5b-7). He cancels about 18 months wages with each account. But did you notice that he has them change the amount? It happens in their handwriting, not his. This is an important detail, and the reason is this: the next thing the manager will do is take all these changed accounts back to the master. And when the master reads of his accounts, he will realize two things: first, these debts have been lowered, and second, the debtors know about it, since it’s in theirhandwriting. If it had been in the fired manager’s handwriting, he would have changed them all back and there would have been no harm, and nobody would have known. But the thing is, his debtors know.

 

It is this manager’s shrewdness that leads to both the praise of his master and of Jesus Himself. 

 

But all the while, this manager was not the manager. He had been fired by his master. Nothing he did was legally binding, since he was no longer authorized to conduct any business in the name of his master. But the thing is, nobody else knew. They all assumed nothing had changed. They all assumed that this manager was the master’s manager.

 

If this were a secular story, the interpretation of this parable would be self-evident. Faced with a crisis, the manager is clever though dishonest in solving his problems. The apparent dilemma is that this is a parable of Jesus in which He seems to be commending dishonesty to his followers. 

What are we to make of this? Are we to lie, cheat, and steal our way to prosperity? Is Jesus calling His disciples to make up get rich quick schemes? Afterall, it is Jesus who is the assumed master in this parable, who says, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness” (Luke 16:8). What are we to make of this? This is often where most people get caught up. This is where most people get stuck.

 

But this is a false dilemma. This is only a dilemma if you continue dwelling on the manager and his dishonesty.

 

Now, if one considers this parable from the master’s perspective, then the focus of this parable is not on the dishonesty of the manager, but on the mercy of the master. This assumes that the master is an honorable man, which seems to be the pattern of the households in Jesus’ parables. The rich master’s mercy to the manager who squandered his estate is parallel to the father’s mercy to the prodigal son who squandered the father’s inheritance. So, the purpose of this parable is actually to reveal the master’s mercy.

 

You see, when the master discovers what the fired manager had done, he is in a bind with two possible options. First, he can reverse the manager’s decisions to properly adjust the accounts. But in doing so, he will receive anger and wrath from his renters and force them to reassess whether he is a “generous and merciful” master. Second, if he lets the adjustments stand, he has further secured the goodwill of his renters. What would be the better option? He chooses the second, which is the obvious choice, so that he would be consistent with his own character. In doing so, the master must commend, and praise, his fired manager for shrewdly managing his personal crisis since the manager trusted the character of his master and staked everything on the master’s mercy. And the manager was not disappointed.

 

It was this fact. Not the cheating. Not the embezzling. It was the fact that the manager trusted his master’s mercy. It was this that Jesus encourages us to imitate in this manager. You see, the manager, though fired, trusted the character of his master and he staked everything on his master’s mercy.

 

So, Jesus is not calling us steal from our boss. He isn’t calling us to play creative accounting games when you pay your taxes. He isn’t calling us to spend more than you make. But He is calling us to know who you serve. Jesus says, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13).

 

When Jesus poses these two stark alternatives, He is giving us wonderful advice. Advice that we must listen to and follow. We can’t have it both ways. No person can serve two lords. In this example, Jesus puts money versus God. Now, money itself is not evil. Money is a means to purchase needed goods and services. But money can become a false god, a false idol. And when money becomes the priority over the one true God, then one has a classic case of mismanagement. When money and possessions become the priority, it is often called “mammon.”

 

Now, “mammon” is not evil in itself, but it becomes evil when it becomes the object of one’s service, or when one worships mammon instead of God.

 

For this dishonest manager, he knew what to do. He knew to trust his master. He had faith in His master. Yes, what he did was shrewd. He was a crook. He was a scoundrel. But for what he had done knowing His master, his master commended him. He praised him. 

 

When his life was falling apart, this dishonest manager knew where to turn. He turned to his master. So, when you don’t know what to do when your world appears to be falling in around you, turn to your Master. And your Master is not cruel and hard, but is rather unusually generous. And when you have been faithful in your use of His money or have been less than faithful by squandering it, or wasting it, or been greedy with it, your Master is still good to you. Your Master continues to love you and sees you through. We are all saved through the generosity of your Master.

 

And your Master is Jesus Christ, who loves and forgives sinners, just like you and me. He gives you more than just earthly wealth and goods. You and I have been bought with a price and not with perishable things, like silver or gold, but with His holy precious blood shed for you and me on the cross to save sinners. He saved us so that you and I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom.

 

So, when you are stuck and don’t know where to turn, if you are too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg, don’t defend yourself and try to get out of your mess on your own. Instead, trust in your Master. Have faith in your Master. Like St. Matthew, respond to His calling. Repent. Plead for forgiveness. Receive His absolution in His Means of Grace: Word and Sacrament. For your Master loves you! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Awakened in Christ" (Mark 10:14; Psalm 139)

Dear Christian friends, especially you, the grieving parents: Bryana and Corey; grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Before us this day are shattered hopes and dreams. While all deaths are difficult, there is something really unfair about the death of a child. It’s like planting a flower garden, imagining the glory that will come later in the summer. Then, just as tender shoots begin to appear, the rabbits and other rodents chew them up. It’s like watching for months as a new house takes shape only to have a fire destroy it just as you are able to move in. All the hopes and dreams with a baby registry. Then suddenly, you are preparing for a funeral. Melissa and I have been there. The hope and then the shock. We grieve with you. 

 

Today empty arms now hunger for hugs that will have to wait until the grand reunion in heaven. 

 

Amanda Jean Elaine. How we all wish we could have held her longer. How we wish we could have heard her giggle of delight. How we all wish we could have known her longer and seen her grow up.

 

But our gracious God knew her. And He still knows her. Amanda Jean’s frame was not hidden from our Lord when she was being made in secret, intricately woven in the deep darkness of her mother’s womb. The eyes of our living Lord saw Amanda Jean’s unformed substance, the days formed for her, few though they may have been on this side of heaven.

 

So, we gather here today with hearts aching, minds numbed, eyes filled with tears … and yet, you should still be hopeful in the midst of loss. You should be daring to rejoice in the midst of sorrow.

 

We rejoice in our tears because of the gift of Holy Baptism that God gave to Amanda Jean. Today, Jesus meets us in our grief head on and reminds us that in Holy Baptism, we are immersed in His death, His burial, and His resurrection (Romans 6:3-11).

 

But even in the joy of knowing Amanda Jean’s salvation through her baptism into Christ, we still mourn and grieve. We mourn and grieve because every human being has inherited that dreadful disease known as the original sin of Adam and Eve. Were it not for sin, there would not be death. Death is the consequence of the Fall into sin. So, we long for that day when Christ comes again to finally put an end to death.

 

Until that day, we mourn, but mourning is a good and godly work. Remember, Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. Jesus wept, because He loved His friend, so weeping and mourning the death of Amanda Jean or any of our loved ones is, indeed, a good and godly work.

 

But in Christ Jesus and in His Church, we have the ultimate medicine that brings true healing to our broken hearts, genuine ointment for our numbness, and the ultimate wiping away of our tears. What is it? It’s called the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Yes, we grieve, but our grieving is mixed with hope. And this hope isn’t a wish. This hope is sure and certain. So, our tears are mixed with faith. Our sadness is mixed with joy, because one day in the future “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed … [as] this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:51b-52, 53b).

 

Jesus loves all the little children. He says, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Jesus has given little Amanda Jean the kingdom. The same goes for you.

 

And how did we earn the kingdom of God? By God’s grace. It is because the very Son of God came down from heaven. He took upon Himself our flesh and became man. Just try to imagine that. God became man for Amanda Jean. God became man for you, too. He came to take upon Himself yours and my sins. He suffered, bled and died. But He did not remain dead and buried. He rose! He rose three days later. Through His perfect life and atoning death, Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel – life and immortality for all of us, including little Amanda Jean.

 

And just like you and me, Amanda Jean did nothing to deserve this gift. She received life and immortality. She did nothing to deserve it, but she received it. She received it from her Creator who knew her even in her mother’s womb. Today, she receives life from her Savior to carry her into eternity.

 

All we can do is receive. We are all on the receiving end of God’s life-giving ways no matter how many hours, days, weeks, months, or years we are given. We receive everything from our Father’s hands, through His Son and the Holy Spirit. This new life is given through Holy Baptism. And He keeps us in the one true faith through His Means of Grace, His Word and His Sacraments. 

 

Each week at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, we hear God’s healing words of absolution. Each week, He literally puts forgiveness, life, and salvation in our mouths with the living Body and Blood of Jesus every time we receive His Supper. God gives and we receive.

 

Meanwhile tears will continue to flow, there will still be heartache and numbness, but we can actually find comfort and rejoice in the midst of sorrow. God knows you and He knows what you are going through. Bryana and Corey, you are still Amanda Jean’s parents. You have been Amanda’s parents since she was conceived and made in secret.

 

The Psalmist writes: “How precious are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You” (Psalm 139:17-18).

 

Today, little Amanda Jean is awake as she is in the very presence of her Savior, Jesus Christ, the very Lamb of God. And one day, by God’s grace, you will see her again with all the saints and angels in heaven.

 

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"Sir, We Wish to See Jesus" (John 12:20-33)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Now among those who went to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’” (John 12:20-21).

 

Today, the one holy Christian and apostolic Church observes Holy Cross Day. What is Holy Cross Day? What is the origin of Holy Cross Day? Why are we observing Holy Cross Day?

 

Well, it is not very often that we can observe a church festival day and speak with certainty as to the precise origin of that observance. Today, is one of those days. 

 

Holy Cross Day commemorates what was considered the discovery of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was in the early fourth century when Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, discovered some pieces of wood that she believed was originally a cross. And she believed it to be the cross of Christ when it effected a miraculous healing. 

 

In time, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was constructed on the site where this cross was found. The building was dedicated on September 13, 335, but it wasn’t until that next day, September 14, when the Holy Cross was exposed for public veneration for the first time. Hence the festival of the Holy Cross, or Holy Cross Day.

 

Wait. What? This sounds too Roman Catholic! Miracles and veneration? Didn’t Martin Luther say he was no fan of feasts dedicated to superstitions and relics? Yes, he even once said, “If all the alleged pieces of the true cross were gathered together, dozens of crosses could be constructed from them!”So, why are we observing Holy Cross Day?

 

Well, just look around you. The cross is a hugely significant part of Christianity. The cross is our symbol. When you see a cross, you think of Jesus, you think of Christianity, you think of Christians. The cross is our symbol. The cross is something that we connect with. The cross is very important to us.

 

Today, the cross is everywhere. It’s jewelry. It’s art. We hang crosses on our walls. Just look around and count all the crosses at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church: we have a lit cross hanging behind the altar; an altar cross; a processional cross; we have banners with crosses. Just to name a handful of places.

 

The cross is certainly significant. The cross is our symbol. But let us not forget what the cross was really about. The cross was a means of capital punishment. And often, we forget that. We wear the cross as beautiful jewelry. We make the cross look so beautiful at Easter. But the cross wasn’t meant to look beautiful. The cross was the place of brutality. The cross was a means of capital punishment. If Jesus would have died by electrocution on the electric chair, we would not be processing with a cross, but an electric chair. The same is true about a noose, or if Jesus was killed by firing squad or lethal injection. So, we cannot forget that the cross was a means of capital punishment.

 

Jesus could have been put to death in so many other ways, but instead He chose to endure one of the worst brutal ways to die by crucifixion upon a holy cross that wasn’t holy in itself. The cross only became holy because Jesus sanctified it through His shed blood.

 

So, why do we, as Lutherans, observe Holy Cross Day? Well, it’s not to observe a relic attested by miracles. Rather, we celebrate Holy Cross Day because of the triumph of our Lord upon the real cross that once stood on Golgotha. There, Christ’s blood blotted out the sin of the world. There, His death proved death’s destruction. We observe Holy Cross Day because of the way the triune God used and uses suffering to bring blessing. We observe this day, because of the way He worked and works so contrary to anything human reason could or would ever conceive or anticipate.

 

We observe this day, because with the Greeks in today’s Gospel lesson, we, too, “Wish to see Jesus”(John 12:21).

 

As it was custom, thousands of people would ascend to Jerusalem each year to celebrate the Passover Festival. Yet, this year, was a little different as many in the crowd came for an additional reason. They came to see Jesus. You see, the word was spreading that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The crowd took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13).

 

Now among those who went up to worship at the Passover Feast were some Greeks who came up to Philip and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:21). These Greeks were strange fellows to come to this feast. They were Gentiles, not Jews. And it is odd that these men went to Philip and not straight to Jesus. We don’t know why, but it could be that they felt comfortable with Philip, because “Philip” was a Greek name. So, why were these Greek men there? Our Epistle has some clues. The Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write: “For the Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:22). They were likely seeking wisdom.

 

You and I have also come to see Jesus. And we are not too different from the Jews and Greeks of two thousand years ago. We also demand signs and seek wisdom. We wish Jesus would cure us of our health issues of body and mind. We wish Jesus would multiply our bread, our money, so that we would not have to worry. We wish Jesus would cast out our demons of fear and anxiety. We wish Jesus would pull our loved ones out of their slumber of unbelief. We wish to see Jesus. But we also demand signs. So, where is the sign?

 

You and I have come to see Jesus. But we also seek wisdom. We wish to hear from a great teacher. We wish to learn some short, pithy sayings, so we would have the words to say when people ask us about our faith, the one true Christian faith. We wish we could always have every answer to the doubts that arise in our own hearts. We wish we could have the wisdom to combat the fallen world around us. We are like the Greeks. We wish to see Jesus. We want to behold God’s glory in wisdom.

 

To our demands of signs and wisdom, God says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (1 Corinthians 1:19).

 

God says the word of the cross is certainly folly to those who are perishing.

 

Like the Jews and the Greeks of yesteryear, we don’t get what we expect. We likely won’t see any great sign. Our health issues may not miraculously go away. You may not receive a miraculous feeding or receive money out of thin air. We still struggle.

 

But we get to see Jesus. So, what did Jesus say to the request of these Greeks? He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). He said, “You Jews and you Greeks demand signs and wisdom, but I will show you the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

 

For the worldly wise, the cross is utter foolishness. People, by their nature, expect something else from what God offers them. Jews demand miraculous signs. They say, “Show us a sign!” (Matthew 12:38). 

 

Jesus, indeed, gave them signs. He healed the sick; He opened the eyes of the blind; He raised the dead; He preached good news to the poor in spirit. But they wanted a different sign. 

 

The Greeks demand wisdom. God still frustrates human wisdom. The greatest scholars today will never find God or understand Him if he depends on his own intellect. God has said so. Again, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart” (1 Corinthians 1:19). By means of this stumbling block, God brings salvation. By the powerful means of the word of the cross – the theology of the cross, Jesus says, “When I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:32).

 

There, hanging on the cross, Jesus calls us to forsake the glory you think you have. He calls you to abandon the glory of human wisdom, logic, and reason. Instead, He calls you to Himself, because there on the cross He puts to shame all the glory of this fallen world, including all it’s “supposed”strength and it’s “supposed” wisdom. There, on the cross, He gave us the only way to salvation. And that is the significance of the cross. There is no other way to salvation without Christ’s atoning death on that holy cross where He put an end to eternal death by the means of which He gives us forgiveness, life, and salvation. There, Jesus won for you what all the strength of this fallen world could never ever muster. There, He accomplished for you what the wisdom of this fallen world could never fathom: the forgiveness of your sins.

 

Now, as Lutherans we cannot deny the possibility that the cross of Christ was discovered by Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. The same is true about the Shroud of Turin, which is a linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man that many believe to be that of Jesus Christ Himself. I am even inclined to believe that the Shroud of Turin is Christ’s burial cloth. Could they both be real – the Holy Cross and Shroud? Possibly. 

 

But for us, whether those relics are authentic or not is not of prime importance. What does matter is that Jesus was “lifted up” just as He said. And that through His act of divine love, He still draws all people to Himself through the redemption that is in His blood, the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace. 

And better than any relic is the real presence of Jesus, who suffered, died, rose and ascended, who we receive by faith under simple bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, which forgives our sins and strengthens our faith.

 

So, we observe Holy Cross Day because we want to see Jesus, because it is by His wounds that we have been healed. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"The Call of Discipleship" (Luke 14:25-35)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Jesus said: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).

 

So, you call yourself a follower of Christ? How well are you at doing that?

 

Today’s Gospel reading follows Jesus’ Parable of the Great Banquet. In that parable, many were invited to just come and enjoy the feast, but those invited all alike began to make excuses. One man purchased a field and wanted to inspect it. That is, he wanted to make money. Another man purchased five yoke of oxen, and he wanted to see how they would be in the field. That is, he wanted to be busy with work. And another man had just married a wife, and so he was too busy to attend the feast. Excuse after excuse. The first pled necessity. The second, inconvenience. The third, pleasure. Each man originally invited was more attached to worldly things than going to the great banquet of God’s grace and thus, they found themselves excluded.

 

In today’s Gospel text, Jesus addresses the great crowds that accompanied Him. This is important to note. Since, Jesus was not talking with His Twelve Apostles. Today, He is talking with the masses that began following Him. Now, most in the crowd are there because they are curious. They came to watch the action of this Great Healer and Preacher. They wanted to learn, but they didn’t want to actually do. So, they are certainly interested, but they are not quite committed.

 

It is to this crowd that Jesus says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

 

In other words, the life we are called to live in Christ necessitates our active and uncompromising participation. True discipleship is not a spectator sport. True discipleship cannot be done wearing your pajamas while sitting on the couch. True discipleship demands participation. True discipleship is costly and active. This is shocking to our modern ears.

 

This is the cross that is laid on every Christian. The first suffering is the call of abandonment to the attachments of this world. As followers of Christ, He calls us to surrender ourselves to Him.

 

Jesus does not sugar-coat His Christian calling for us. He doesn’t say things like: “Now, I want you to be happy. I want you to have a well-paying job. I want you to be happily married with kids. When you have achieved these things, you can come and follow Me.” No! He doesn’t say that. He never sugar-coats His calling of discipleship.

 

Rather, Jesus says, “Anyone who does not renounce all that he has – including his very own self – cannot be My disciple.”

 

This is our Christian calling. This is how Jesus does evangelism. He says, if you want to follow Me, you must first count the cost. He says, “Don’t take your Christian calling lightly.”

 

You see, being a Christian means living a completely different life. It doesn’t mean that we can keep all our old ways and just ask for forgiveness from God later. Yes, we all need forgiveness, but we shouldn’t knowingly sin and then just ask for forgiveness later.

 

To be a Christian, Jesus says that we must break from our old allegiances. We must break from and renounce our own self-interest and cling to Him with wholehearted and single-minded faith.

 

So, let’s look into further detail on what Jesus teaches us in our Gospel text. 

 

First, Jesus sets forth three conditions for following Him. The first of these three is that we must have a willingness to leave behind family ties including the tie to oneself. And this word “hate” that Jesus uses does sound harsh to our ears. This sounds so unlike Jesus. Doesn’t He say to love our enemies? Yes, He does.

 

But here, Jesus is using the word “hate” to shock us, His hearers, with this word to make us realize that nothing dare come before Him in the life of the disciple. Elsewhere in Matthew 10, Jesus says this, “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). So, this isn’t a matter of “hate” but is a matter of putting anything – anything – before Christ. So, we are not to love family more than Jesus.

 

The second condition is to carry his own cross. What this means is self-denial. It means the sacrifice of one’s own will for the sake of Christ. It means being willing to accept whatever suffering might result from a sincere commitment to Christ and His kingdom. This means that by confessing Jesus as Christ could mean dying for that confession.

 

The third condition for following Jesus is the willingness to give up all earthly possessions. A rich ruler asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) To that question, Jesus asked him if he had followed the second table of the Law: loving your neighbor. To that, the rich ruler said, “All these I have kept from my youth” (Luke 18:21). When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). But when he heard this, he became very sad. 

 

This third condition which calls for the willingness to give up all earthly possessions to follow Jesus was the demand that this rich ruler was unable to fulfill.

 

So often, people are so quick in following Jesus without first counting the cost.

 

In Luke 9(:57-62), someone said to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” To another Jesus said, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

Again, this is evangelism, Jesus’ style.

 

Today’s Gospel text is quite clear and straight forward. And it is troubling. This seems to be a bit much renouncing our family and even renouncing ourselves.

 

As 21^st century Americans, it does feel a bit safe to have one foot on the dock and the other foot in the boat. But at some point, we have to make a choice. What if that boat starts to move further from the dock. Am I going to put both feet back on the dock, or am I going to put both feet into the boat? If you can’t make the choice, you are going to have a very wet future.

 

But we are Lutherans, so we don’t like making choices. The good news is that Jesus has made the choice. He has chosen you! He chose you before the beginning of the world as He would come and save you from your sins through becoming man in order to suffer and die for your sins, so that you by faith in Him would live forever.

 

Jesus chose you.

 

Yes, the Christian calling is a difficult calling. Yes, every day, Christ calls on us to renounce ourselves and renounce our self-interest. Every day, He calls on us to take up our cross, suffer ridicule for His sake and follow Him. Every day, He calls us back to our Baptism to say “no” to the Old Adam and to receive the new life that He only gives.

 

This is the calling of Jesus who set His face to Jerusalem to die for you. This is the calling of Jesus who denied Himself, who took up His cross and gave His life for sinners. This is the same Jesus who through our confession to Him forgives us of our double-minded devotion. This is the same Jesus who forgives us of our casual discipleship. He is the One who calls us. He is the One who was crucified, died, rose and ascended for you!

 

In the Divine Service, Jesus forms us as His disciples. So, as you hear His Word and receive His Sacrament, as you daily return to your Baptism, in your daily activities, the Holy Spirit works on you as He forms you and changes you. Through His Word and His Sacraments, Jesus leads us to renounce our old ways and follow Him. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +