"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 +

"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 +

"Lord, Teach Us to Pray" (Luke 11:1-13)

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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 Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray…’” (Luke 11:1).

 

Prayer is one of the essential ingredients for fueling a life that is busy doing the will of God – even for God Himself. You see, Jesus, the Son of God, who is fully and completely God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, spent much time in prayer. 

§  Even at His Baptism, when He fulfilled all righteousness for mankind, He was praying (Luke 3:21-22).

§  Even before Jesus chose His Twelve Apostles, “He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12).

§  And even when Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John atop the Mount of Transfiguration, He prayed (Luke 9:28-36).

§  And who can forget Jesus praying at Gethsemane as He spoke to His Father about His coming crucifixion at the hands of sinful men to which He would atone for the sins of mankind through His death (Matthew 26:26-46).

 

Jesus prayed. He prayed a lot. And His disciples caught on to Jesus’ prayer life. They observed the very active prayer life of their Lord and Master.

 

Now, to be sure, a rabbi, or teacher, praying was nothing new. Abraham himself prayed. As we heard in today’s Old Testament lesson (Genesis 18:17-33), Abraham prayed to God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. He pleaded to God to deliver those cities for the sake of the righteous who might dwell there.

 

Prayer was nothing new. However, each rabbi had a particular way of petitioning God, and Jesus’ disciples are aware that John the Baptist had taught his disciples how to pray. And not only John, but some Pharisees had taught their hearers to pray (Luke 5:33). But for some reason, Jesus had not yet taught His disciples how to pray.

 

So, one of His disciples asks Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). It is interesting that the Lord’s Prayer or “The Our Father” is actually evoked by a request, a request by one of the disciples. And some trivia is found here. As this is the only occasion on which any of the disciples ask Jesus to teach them anything. I find that very interesting.

 

So, there is something to Jesus saying later, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-11). So, ask. Because a disciple asked, Jesus gives. He gives by teaching them and us how to pray.

 

Now, before I get into Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, it is worth noting that his version is shorter and more direct than Matthew’s version – the one we recite each Lord’s Day. So, why is there a difference? 

 

Well, Matthew’s version was part of the Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s version follows the event with Mary and Martha on the proper way to worship. It could be that each Lord’s Prayer telling were completely different events. And it could be that Jesus wanted to focus on different petitions of the Lord’s Prayer for the right occasion. Anyhow, each version does have same basic structure. For both Matthew and Luke’s account, the Lord’s prayer is a petitionary prayer, and it is used to teach us a pattern, or an outline, on how to pray.

 

First, Jesus teaches us to petition God as Father because Our Father is the giver of all good things. Now, calling upon God as Father can only happen when the Father first bestows sonship. Jesus is only able to address God as Father because of His eternal relationship as the Son of God. So, by Jesus teaching the disciples to call God their Father, He is placing them – as well as us – into that same relationship with God the Father as He has – from eternity. 

 

Only Jesus can teach them and us to pray this way, because Jesus is the One who makes us, who are poor, miserable sinners, into God’s children. We can only call God our Father because Jesus has reconciled us back to Him through His death on the cross. 

 

By Christ’s blood shed for you and me, which atones all sins, He invites us to petition God as Father. So, when you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be Your Name” (Luke 11:2). Here, we petition our Father first by who He is. God’s Name has been given to us. He gave you His Name when you were baptized in His Name, which makes you, His child.

 

“Your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2). This is what God does. He reigns. His kingdom comes in two ways. First, here, through His Means of Grace – His Word and Sacraments; and secondly, through eternal life given to us. This kingdom of heaven has been given to us through the King of kings, Jesus Christ, our Lord, through His defeat of the power of the devil, sin, and death upon the cross.

 

“Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:3-4). In these final three petitions, Jesus teaches His disciples to pray for blessings that we need as we live out our lives here on earth. There is a need for daily bread. There is a need for forgiveness. There is a need for divine help against the temptations that will come. And the most critical of these temptations is the danger of falling away from faith and losing the eternal reward. 

 

It can be said these three final petitions correspond well with table fellowship – both temporal (now) and eternal (forever). God gives the daily bread. He gives us forgiveness. He gives us divine help against temptation.

 

Physical bread is needed for life in this world now; and divine bread, which provides the life to come even now. Today’s daily bread includes everything that belongs to our entire life in this world, such as food and drink, clothing, house, home, sound body, good wife, children. And not only that, daily bread also includes our work, our craft, our occupation, and good friends, as well as a good government, and protection from all enemies, including the devil. Also, we cannot forget that Jesus Himself is the Living Bread that came down from heaven, so anyone who eats of this bread, will live forever. And the bread Jesus is referring to is His flesh (John 6:51).

 

God gives and He gives, and He gives. He gives what we need for our temporal needs – again, food, shelter, and the like – and He gives what we need for our eternal needs through Word and Sacrament.

 

And like I said, these three final petitions do correspond well with table fellowship. The forgiveness of sins balances the petition for bread. So, just as bread is the essential staple of physical and spiritual life, so forgiveness is the essential sustenance of spiritual life, and the need for forgiveness is constant and ongoing, which is why the Lord’s Supper is the regular meal that provides forgiveness. And it is only because of that forgiveness that fallen man may call on God as Father, and His kingdom comes through the forgiveness of sins.

 

And like bread that is both heavenly and earthly, forgiveness involves our relationship to God and to fellow man. And because Christ has forgiven us, we are called by Him to forgive one another without limits.

 

Both bread and forgiveness of sins shed light on the final petition: “And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:4b). The Father who gives all good gifts allows even His Son to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness. So, trials and sufferings will come because we are in Christ. We will be rejected just as He was rejected. But what we are to pray here is to not succumb to that temptation. So, as we are assailed by the devil, the fallen world, and our own sinful nature, we are to pray to God our Father so that He would preserve us from falling away from the one true faith.

 

Now, taken together, these last three petitions help us be kept in the one true, saving faith, so that we may prevail and gain the victory. In short, Jesus encourages us to be persistent in our prayer petitions. He says that no matter the circumstance, God is honorable and gracious, as He supplies what we need. He says He is the giver of all good gifts. So, keep asking! Keep seeking! Keep knocking! God the Father is not reluctant to give. He is eager to give. He is eager to answer every prayer. All we have to do is: ask. So, when you pray, say: 

Our Father who art in heaven,      hallowed be Thy name,      Thy kingdom come,      Thy will be done on earth           as it is in heaven;      give us this day our daily bread;      and forgive us our trespasses           as we forgive those           who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,      but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom      and the power and the glory      forever and ever. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

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

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"The Kingdom of God Has Come Near" (Luke 10:1-20)

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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:

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, in every town and place where He Himself was about to go. And He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’ … ‘Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves’” (Luke 10:1-2a, 3).

 

It is amazing that Jesus appointed 72 men willing to go out in His name and prepare His way. 

 

You see, Jesus had just told many people of the stringent requirements in following Him. One man said to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever you go,” and to this, Jesus said, “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.” And to that, the hearer said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” To that comment, Jesus replied, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Then, another said, “I will follow You, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those in my home.” To that, Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:57-62).

 

Yes, many people are willing, but those willing are few. What Jesus is telling them – and us – is this, “If you want to follow Me, you must first consider the cost, so don’t take your Christian calling lightly.”

 

To these men, Jesus is saying that to follow Him, you must break from and renounce your own self-interests and so cling to Him with wholehearted and single-minded faith.

 

So, it is certainly amazing that Jesus found 72 men who understood the mission. But is it really amazing? It would be if Jesus were merely a man, but Jesus isn’t merely a man. Jesus is fully and completely God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

 

As God, Jesus was fully aware that even after telling of the most-stringent costs in following Him, He would appoint 72 men willing to go out in His name and prepare His way.

But even as Jesus appoints the 72, He adds on even more demands upon these men. He says, “Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you” (Luke 10:3-6).

 

To be a harvester for God’s kingdom was a difficult task. Jesus has laid upon them strict demands. Proclaiming the kingdom of God called for dedication and commitment that, unfortunately, too few people had. Jesus makes no guarantees to the 72 that they are in for an easy time. He says that they will experience spiritual and physical dangers. He says they are to travel light. He says they are not to waste time in casual talk since their task was urgent. They were to preach the kingdom of God whether the hearers would receive them or not. They were lambs sent out in the midst of wolves. So, suffering will be their companion just as it is their Lord’s companion.

 

Our Gospel reading today sounds more like Jesus prefiguring pastors who represent Him. Is that what we are to apply our text?  Well, that certainly an aspect of this text.

§  Pastors today do bring the word of peace to wherever they go. Pastors are to reconcile to God those they speak through Confession and Absolution.

§  Pastors today are sacrificial lambs as we sacrifice money, comfort, popularity, and even safety in order to establish an intimate relationship with Christ’s flock in this place.

§  Pastors today not only pray for the sick, but we come with the Medicine of Immortality, which is Christ’s true Body and Blood that forgives sins and gives life everlasting.

§  And pastors today bring healing as we proclaim that Christ is here in His Word and Sacraments.

 

As awesome as those aspects of the Holy Ministry are, there are also some not so great aspects. Jesus did say in our text, “The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Luke 10:16). So, I must expect to be rejected, just as Christ was rejected. For many people who hear of the kingdom of God will end up rejecting it.

 

So, by just rejecting the 72 meant rejecting God’s only Savior, the only way of salvation. Likewise, to reject my Christ-centered proclamation is to condemn oneself to God’s eternal wrath. But still, it hurts, because I am a human, and humans focus on success rather than failure. And we all must admit that we have all responded indifferently and, at times, have rejected God’s will for your life.

 

Jesus describes the 72 as lambs, because like Him, they will be rejected and suffer the consequences of announcing the presence of the kingdom of God. As lambs in the midst of wolves, they will receive the hostility of the world and its result of violence. Like Jesus, the 72 will become sacrificial victims of the Gospel that calls for a reversal of the fallen world’s values. But by their proclamation, which is actually Jesus’ proclamation, they will show that they are not ashamed of Jesus and His Gospel.

 

Now, when Josh Leyh told me that he was interested in seminary, I was thrilled that the Holy Spirit had worked upon him. I rejoiced that he would one day join the Office of the Holy Ministry, but it never occurred to me to say to him, “You are about to be sent out as a lamb in the midst of wolves.” Instead, I said, “Go!”

 

And today, Josh, Faith and little Peter are in Fort Wayne as Josh is now taking classes at Concordia Theological Seminary.

 

Those words of Jesus, “Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves” are harsh words. They speak of suffering and death. Jesus here, pulls no punches. He says the ministry is hard. But He also says that the ministry is also a blessing. He says, “He who listens to you, listens to Me.” And people do listen! You and I are proof of that! The Gospel has power. The Gospel changes people’s hearts. It heals. It strengthens. It saves. And that is what the 72 found out. Upon returning to Jesus, they said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17).

 

Yes, the 72 had many failures. They often had to wipe their feet against the towns who were not willing to hear the Gospel, but they had many successes, that is why they returned with so much joy! But even among the failures and joys, it was the Holy Spirit who worked through them along the way as they proclaimed the kingdom of God.

 

But what about you? How are those who are not pursuing seminary studies to become a pastor or deaconess to respond to today’s Gospel text? How does today’s Gospel apply to all of us? Well, it certainly does.

Jesus was urgent to get the message out that the kingdom of God has come near. He knew the only way this Gospel message would get out would be to speak it and to share it. So, you may not be pursuing seminary studies, but you are called by God.

 

Jesus first called you through the work of the Holy Spirit. He called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified you and kept you in the one true faith. In the same way, the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. 

 

Through His Means of Grace, His Word and Sacraments, the Holy Spirit richly through repentance and faith forgives all your sins, even your sin of indifference and rejection of God’s will. It is through these simple means that the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus as we grow in faith and in service to Him as Lord and Savior.

 

So, what are we, who are made children of God through faith to do? We are to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. And behold, Christ says, “I am with you always to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). This is our mission!

 

But along the way, Christ is with us. He does not leave us to grow the Church by ourselves. So, when we scatter Christ’s seed by sharing His Good News through our various vocations and stations in life, such as husband or wife, boss or employee, friend or neighbor, some of that seed may be choked and matted flat, and we ought to say, “Oh, what of that, and what of that?” But some of that seed waves ripe on hill and flat, and bears a harvest hundredfold, and we say, “Ah, what of that, Lord, what of that!” (LSB 586 – “Preach You the Word”). So, when you share Christ’s Gospel and it is not received, do not dwell on it, but wipe your feet, and say, “Nonetheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near” (Luke 10:11). Amen. 

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

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

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +