Sermon for Epiphany 2: "Did God Really Say?" (Isaiah 49)

 

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:

 

[Intro]

 

It’s kind of hard to hear with fruit stuck in your ears. Now, how do I know that? Have I ever had fruit stuck in my ears? I imagine you think that you have never had fruit stuck in your ears. But, I assure you, it’s in there, and it’s stuck.

 

Humankind has had fruit stuck in our ears for a long time. The serpent said to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1) “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6).

 

She stopped up her ears with it so that she couldn’t quite hear the Word of the Lord anymore. For God had said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

 

But Eve heard, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).

 

Now, let’s not forget about Adam for he is the one ultimately to be blamed. For he should have stopped Eve, but he didn’t. Instead, he stuffed fruit in his ears, too. The serpent’s suggestion slipped in like an earworm out of one apple and settled in to command their consciousness. That is why to this very day, Adam and Eve’s offspring still ask one another: “Did God really say?”

 

[Did God Really Say: Part One]

 

Our text from Isaiah this morning has remained unchanged for centuries. Yet, plenty of voices continue asking: “Did God really say?”

 

Did God really say, “[He] called me from the womb”? (Isaiah 49:1b) “Did God really say that He “knitted me together in my mother’s womb”? (Psalm 139:13) Did God really say He “created [us] in His own image”? (Genesis 1:27)

 

Probably He meant: He “called me a parasite, a tumor, a clump of cells, a blob of tissue.” Or, He meant: “my body, my choice, a private medical decision,” didn’t He? Or possibly: “as soon as the baby forms memories, or whenever the baby reaches viability,” don’t you think? Or maybe: “as long as they planned for the child, as long as they can afford the child,” wouldn’t you agree? Or: “unless deformities and disabilities show up,” am I right?

 

And, did God really say, “a light for the nations”? God says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

 

Surely, He doesn’t mean that. He must mean: “a light for most of the nations” or “a light for some of the nations.” Perhaps He means: “a light for those who can communicate” or “a light for the prosperous ones.”

 

We have already filled every available space in our consciousness with the fruits of indulgence and luxury. We have already jammed our heads all these millennia up with the fruits of accumulating and uniformity.

 

It seems the fruit has made its way into our veins. In fact, you could say it’s slowly choking our very hearts. Did God really say: “I kill and I make alive”? (Deuteronomy 32:39)

 

You see, what we hear is: “we can use death as a solution to difficulty and distress.”

 

What makes more sense to our fruit-stuffed ears and hearts is: “Don’t legislate your morality”… and “Keep your religion to yourself.” What we prefer is: “As long as you’re not hurting anyone, do whatever makes you happy.”

 

What we’re quite sure God should have said is: “Love yourself, take care of yourself and accept yourself as you are.”

 

[Did God Really Say: Part Two]

 

With our fruit-stuffed ears, we ask did God really say: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) Did God really say: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”? (1 John 1:8)

 

No, the problem must be ignorance, inequality, patriarchy, toxic masculinity!

 

Did God really say: “Apart from me you can do nothing”? (John 15:5) Did God really say: “Slave to sin” (John 8:34), “dead in the trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and “the wages of sin is death”? (Romans 6:23)

 

Even with the fruit in our ears, we can hear the hearts breaking. Our eyes still can clearly behold the grief and guilt. Since January 22, 1973 with Roe v. Wade, abortion access hasn’t solved any problems. Instead, it has multiplied suffering. And more recently, assisted suicide hasn’t made any pain go away.

 

This trauma has raised rates of depression and caused relationship breakdowns.

 

All this has left is 1.5 billion human beings dead worldwide and more than 60 million Americans. Untold others walk among us wounded and haunted. None of these acts has spared one single soul from the misery and mortality that besets us all. Isn’t it time that we take the fruit out and listen to God’s Word?

 

[God Really Did Say…]

 

Now, God the Father has the perfect implement for getting the forbidden fruit out of our ears – His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

 

You see, Jesus turns up the volume of what His fingers formed and His heart’s will brought forth. He takes away the bad fruit and in turn, gives us His love.

 

God really did say “in and from the mother’s womb.” The Son of God Himself inhabited the belly of the virgin Mary. Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary” (Apostles’ Creed).

 

God created every human being in His image and after His likeness, you and me. Here, God means all humans – age, appearance and ability cannot impair our worth and purpose.

 

God really did say: “reconciling the world, the ends of the earth, all creation, and whole of mankind.” Jesus – as fully man – was like us in every way. Although He knew no sin, He took on our sin – every single sin of thought, word, and deed – big and little – including abortion – to “make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). Jesus – the very Lamb of God – humbled Himself to the form of a servant and our human likeness, subject to death, “even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).

 

Jesus as fully man and fully God bled for our sin. He died for our sin. He paid for our sin. He did this, so that we would be declared justified, righteous, innocent and holy.

 

Jesus is the Lord of death and the Lord of life. Through His life, death and resurrection, He proves that every human being is precious in His sight.

 

[The Good Fruit]

 

Jesus puts the good fruit where it belongs – not in our ears – but in our mouth. Truth tastes sweetest when properly ingested. Here in the Divine Service, Christ is revealed and we receive God’s good fruit!

 

We hear God’s Word proclaimed and taught as we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest His Word.

 

We rinse our ears with Baptism’s assurance that we are indeed, a child of God. We irrigate our very being with Holy Communion’s affirmations – eat, drink Christ’s true body and true blood that gives us forgiveness of sins, life, salvation and strength for our weak faith.

 

We swallow and savor this comfort, hope and joy, knowing that through Christ, we truly hear God speaking. He is speaking of forgiveness, life and salvation for He has chosen you and me! Amen.

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T

Sermon for Pentecost 25: "The Lord Provides" (Mark 12:38-44)

On this Veteran’s Day, we thank the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – for His loving care among everyone who has served or is serving our country.

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 Temple Courtyard]

As the offering plate moves down the pew, do you ever look to see what is written on your neighbor’s envelope? Are you ever curious?

Well, that is what was happening on that day in Jerusalem when Jesus brought His disciples to the temple courtyard to watch people place their tithes and offerings into the 13 receptacles spread throughout the courtyard.

Now, Jesus and His disciples were not alone for this was often a spectacle. 

Often, large crowds would gather to see how much money their neighbor would contribute to the temple offering.

Unlike today, there were no envelopes, checkbooks and dollar bills, but only gold, silver and copper coins, so everyone would have an idea on what others were giving.

As Jesus and His disciples were watching, there were plenty of people dropping in shiny coin offerings.

But, then comes along a woman, an obviously poor widow, with only a couple of copper coins.

Now, when it comes to coins, the type of coin often told which financial bracket the person was in. You see, copper coins were the smallest coins in circulation and in today’s money would only be a fraction of a cent.

As Jesus and His disciples watch the poor widow place her offering, He says to His disciples: “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box” (Mark 12:43).

Now, how could this be? She gave two copper coins – a fraction of a cent – while most of the others gave gold and silver coins, which are worth far more?

[Proper Giving]

Well, there are two things going on here. First, Jesus is reminding His disciples about proportional giving.

For He said, “They all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:44).

Jesus knew that many of those giving gold and silver coins were giving out of their abundance and not of their first fruits. These coins were a surplus, an overflow of wealth. They made a lot of money, so they gave a lot of money.

But, the poor widow gave everything she had. She gave 100 percent of her wealth.

Now, the monetary offerings couldn’t compare, but percentage wise, this poor widow gave God everything. She gave God everything because she entrusted her life to God.

Now, proportional or percentage giving has always been the way God prescribed. As we know from the Old Testament times, Israel was required to give 10 percent of their crops or income they received back to God.

Today, some people may say, “If I had a larger income, I’d give a tithe, but I just can’t afford it.”

Now, God is not going to smite you if you do not tithe. God isn’t going to take away your salvation if you do not tithe. But, our offerings should still reflect the way we have been blessed by God.

This is what Jesus was teaching His disciples then and His disciples here today.

So, are you thanking God appropriately for the money you have received? And, are you putting your dependence in God more than your money and possessions? 

Remember, the poor widow gave everything she had. She gave everything because she knew that God would provide for her.

[Faith]

You see, the other thing going on in today’s gospel lesson is about faith.

Yes, it is appropriate to give to the church to help spread the good news of Christ, but there is more than that here.

You see, the poor widow had so little of everything, except for faith.

She had lost her husband, which in those days meant she’s lost her source of income.

Yet somehow, this woman believed God would be right there for her at that moment and in her future. She knew that somehow the Lord would provide for her.

She did not know where her next meal was coming from, or if she’d even have a meal. She did not have faith in the next meal, but faith that God would take care of her.

Now, Mark does not tell us what happens next in the life of the poor widow, we end our gospel reading with uncertainty.

But, one thing is for sure: God provides for all our needs of body and soul.

Now, the poor widow knew that her faith in God did not mean that everything would be perfect in her life, but she knew that trusting in God would not end in disappointment (Isaiah 49).

Sometimes, we may be uncertain about how we will pay an unforeseen bill, such as a car repair bill or medical bill. Or, if we are at work or school and we have a project nearing its deadline and it’s far from finished, what do we do?

First, stop and take a breath. Then, pray to God and read God’s Word. He may give you the answer right there, or you may have to wait. 

But, know that if you put your dependence on God, He is right there with you. He will provide even when you least expect it.

[God Provides]

Now, I’m sure that many Jews in the First Century did not expect God to walk amongst them. But, there He was.

Jesus the Christ came down from heaven to provide us His grace. 

You see, Jesus the Son of God had immense wealth, since He created everything. He owns everything that we see and what we don’t see. But, Jesus came to us impoverished when was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and was made man.

Although Jesus was man, He still carried the attributes of God, but He chose to walk among us – in our flesh.

He walked in our flesh to provide for us. Now, God always provides our daily bread – our food, shelter, clothing – but Jesus came to provide us even more. Jesus came to provide us grace.

When God the Father sent Jesus for us, Jesus knew His mission.

For His mission was to reconcile everyone back to God the Father and He would accomplish this through Himself by fulfilling the Law, through taking on our sins as He died upon the cross and reconciling all who believe in Him through His resurrection from the dead.

This was the mission of Jesus. He came to provide us grace, which is undeserved forgiveness. We didn’t earn this grace of God. It was provided to us by God.

We live in this grace everyday as a follower of Christ.

We received this grace at our baptism. We continue to receive this grace of forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation each time we repent of our sins and we are forgiven those sins by God the Father. We also receive this grace each time we receive Christ’s true body and true blood at this altar.

So, like that poor widow – who trusted that God would provide for her – we should put our faith and trust into the One who always provides for all our needs of body and soul – including life everlasting – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T