17th Sunday after Pentecost

TEXT: Luke 16: 1-15
WHAT MERCY!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.” Dear managers of God’s gifts; the same Greek word is used for this wasteful and dishonest manager as for the Prodigal Son who squandered his father’s property. It was a sobering charge – like embezzlement or committing fraud or misappropriating. The word indicates a single-minded devotion to himself, his needs, his pleasure, his profit. His office as manager implied loyalty to his master but his service in that office revealed self-centered loyalty to himself. He wasted on himself that which was given him to administer and use for another.

Then came judgment day! Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager. Just like that, the game was up! The words meant “you’re fired.” As soon as he complies and turns them in, the books will be opened. His wasteful deeds as manager will be fully revealed. What a mess of a manager!

Dear Christians, one day soon you will fly away to the judgment seat of God. There the books are open on your management of God’s gifts. He who created the eye has seen every greedy gaze, every lustful look and every condescending stare of the eyes you manage for Him. He who formed the ear has heard every hateful word, every word of gossip and every complaint that has proceeded from the mouth you manage for Him. He who shaped the hands knows what the hands you manage for him have done in worry and waste and left undone in laziness or apathy. Before Him nothing is hidden. He who said You cannot serve God and money knows every corner of your heart and mind in regard to the dollars you manage for Him, the portion you return to Him, the joy and cheerfulness you have in giving to Him. What shall you be like on that day when the books are opened? Oh, what people we are! What a fix we’re in! You and I will be just like the unjust steward.

Too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg, he acted shrewdly (craftily) to plan for his future. He reduced the bills of the rich man’s debtors. At his order, a hundred measures of oil is rewritten as fifty. A hundred measures of wheat is rewritten as eighty. With speed and shrewdness he used his short time in office to make friends for himself by banking on his master’s mercy. While in that office he was still acting with another man’s wealth and still looking out for himself. Yet The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

Dear sons of light, that’s the first point! Jesus is not encouraging corruption or dishonesty. Rather He plainly states that the people of this world evidence better management of the things they posses for temporary earthly reasons, than the management God’s people evidence of their resources for eternal, heavenly purposes. Jesus nails us with what the open books of God’s judgment will show. If we want our management of His gifts to be judged by comparing it with others, good heavens! Even the children of this world, that is unbelievers, are wiser than the children of light.

Consider how devoted human hearts are to acquiring more things. In business people grab for wealth, many legally and some illegally. In government one scandal seems to follow another by those elected to serve us. Pork barrel is a phrase we know all too well. Every day millions of people listen attentively to numbers we call lottery numbers. Every day millions of hearts rise or fall with numbers we call stock market numbers. The world pays close attention to and expends first-rate energy on accumulating more, more things, more money, more security.

While the sons of this world strive mightily for these things, those confessing Christ are often neglectful and slow concerning God’s things. Daily use of the Word of God, weekly worship as the source of our life, contentment and patience in loving the people God has placed in our life, seeking first the kingdom of God, none of that comes naturally or easily. We, also, are sorely tempted to be more concerned with earthly retirement and security than with eternal dwellings. An honest look acknowledges the truth that rings out in Jesus’ words. The sons of the world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Jesus continues, And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings.

Fellow-redeemed, it will fail – all that we accumulate on this earth, all our special things, all our security, will fail. Benefits, retirement plans, investments and real estate holdings may have their place, but they cannot secure for us an eternal place. We brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of this world. Earthly possessions are powerless to provide us with eternal dwellings. It is not a question of “if” they will fail us, only “when” they will fail. I tell you, make friends…so that when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings.

These eternal friends are made only through the Gospel. We can’t purchase their salvation with money. We can’t pick who our friends will be, who will believe in Christ crucified and risen. But, we can manage the money God let’s us use to publish the Gospel. As the dishonest steward used His master’s possessions to win short-term friends, so we should use the blessings God gives us to make friends for eternity. God is the master and owner of all that we use. Here He teaches us that even as the unjust steward overflowed with concern for his own earthly welfare, so we are free to liberally and big-heartedly use our master’s goods for the eternal welfare of others.

Such a purpose does not come naturally. Such a purpose is not shrewd in the eyes of the sons of the world. Our old Adam also thinks it stinks. But the sons of light see things with wisdom of a different kind. The sons of light see also the second point that Jesus conveyed in this parable. That point is an absolute trust in the master’s mercy.

The unjust steward recognized that judgment was at hand and that he was totally unprepared. He staked everything on the belief that his master would honor the words nullifying a debt that he spoke in the master’s name. He was still in an office appointed by the master. His last act in that office was to forgive debts in His master’s name. The dishonest steward looked out for his future by trusting the mercy of his master.

That’s amazing trust! And the master did not disappoint. He was unreasonably merciful and forgiving. That’s the second and core point without which we can only misconstrue Jesus’ words. The master acted in keeping with His own honor and the word spoken in His name by another. The debts were reduced by the master as promised by His steward. He didn’t have to, but He did! As a by-product the dishonest steward’s earthly security was achieved. The astounding reason for it all is the mercy of the master whose goods we manage.

Beloved, one day soon, you will fly away to the judgment seat of God. There the books are open on your management of God’s gifts. Your hope then is not that God has closed his eyes to your mismanagement; your hope then is not that your good deeds outweigh your misdeeds; your hope then is not comparing your management with that of another. Your only hope is the very one who sits in judgment on you. Your only hope is to throw everything on the mercy of the master.

And what mercy He has! He who said You cannot serve God and money was sold under our sin for thirty pieces of silver. So deep was His love for the souls of us who are lovers of money! What mercy! He who shaped human hands had His own hands driven through with spikes to the cross. He still speaks peace through those nail marked hands on this side of His grave. What mercy! He who created the ear and has heard all you’ve said, His are the ears that hear your cry for mercy and will not hear the accusations of the devil against you – not one of them. What mercy! He who created the eye and has seen all you’ve done, His are the eyes that closed in death and opened in new life on Easter morning. He sees you now as His beloved Bride, without spot or blemish. What mercy!

In His office as Redeemer, Jesus speaks a word of forgiveness to this whole world of sinners. He completely changed the status of our debt. “He wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us…having nailed it to the cross” (Col 2:14).

Do you see the magnitude of His mercy for you? Do you really see His mercy? Next to Him on Calvary was a manager of God’s gifts so dishonest that he said of his and another criminal’s crucifixion, “we’re getting what we deserve”. Capital punishment and he knew he deserved it. Yet he staked everything on the mercy of the crucified Lord. “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” What mercy there is for this mess-of-a-manger as Jesus balanced the books for us sinners! “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Dear friends, on Good Friday, Jesus was making friends for eternal dwellings.
And just like the steward called the debtors one by one before him, so Jesus called you personally before Him in Holy Baptism. He called you to Himself and said, how much do you owe? Take your debt and write cancelled on it, write paid in full! Jesus trusted absolutely in the Father’s mercy for us sinners. Jesus trusted that in His speaking words of absolution to us, the Father would honor them completely. That same trust shines forth as He sent out His apostles. He who hears you hears me, He said. Risen from the grave He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; (John 20). What mercy! The absolving word of the one the master sends will be honored absolutely.

Dear fellow-Redeemed, Christ is still in His office of Redeemer. He is the one mediator between God and man. He is still speaking words of forgiveness and life. Today in the midst of you sons of light He says, “take and drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”. That is, take your bill and keep writing cancelled. Our Lutheran Confessions say that this gift is efficacious (that is, it does its work) even if the steward (pastor) who administers it is dishonest (is an evil man). You still receive God’s mercy in this gift because God will honor His word spoken by another in an office He has given.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. Dear friends you don’t ridicule Christ because He has given you a new heart. Nothing else in this passing world is really yours. You only manage what God entrusts to you for a short time. Those earthly goods will fail you and they will fail me. In the meantime, God grant us shrewdness in managing our unrighteous wealth to make friends for eternity. To that end, God grant us total trust in His profound, undeserved, immeasurable mercy. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

16th Sunday after Pentecost

TEXT: Luke 15:1-10
THERE IS JOY BEFORE THE ANGELS OF GOD OVER ONE SINNER WHO REPENTS!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord; “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Dear hearers of the Word:

It’s big entertainment for millions and big money for a few. Interest in spirit beings is high. This fall’s TV lineup is littered with fantasy shows about super spiritual beings, including angels. They rescue people in a fix. They do battle with politically correct bad things. All in all they make believe about another dimension of life. In one segment of “Touched by an Angel” an angel is sent to help a troubled teenager. Unfortunately however, this angel has an attitude problem and ends up using drugs with the teenager at a party. Such is the fairy tale world of angels as seen on TV. It is largely counterfeit nonsense that is spiritually harmful and destructive of the Christian faith.

Hollywood’s perversion does not portray the real work of God’s real angels. There is such a realm of God’s creation invisible to you at present. You will see it soon, for life here is so very fleeting. In Christ, you will see His holy angels, not just for 50 or 70 or 90 years, but forever. Since we are pilgrims and strangers here, the Son of God desires that we know some of what occurs there. In our text He identifies one aspect of life in the heavenly realm. That is, He clearly states what fills the angels of heaven with joy. “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

How many television shows depict the jubilation of the heavenly hosts over the baptism of a baby whose sins are washed away? In those waters of rebirth, Jesus hoists a sinner on His shoulders and begins carrying him or her to heaven. This makes all heaven reverberate with delight, just one sinner who is repenting. That means there is rejoicing in heaven today over each heart here that receives in faith God’s Word and Meal of forgiveness. Our text clearly equates repentance with being carried on the shoulders of Jesus.

His words highlight the fact that we are lost sinners who need repentance. Scripture does not mince words or whitewash this sad reality. The tax collectors, known for their cheating, and the prostitutes with their coarse immorality were labeled socially as sinners. The Pharisees, however, saw themselves as separated from such a label. They were grumbling and muttering about Jesus’ searching love for sinners like these. “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Such an attitude is what Ezekiel expressed as the fat sheep pushing and thrusting at the weak with their horns. It was the exact opposite of the prophet’s witness to the messianic Son of David, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep…declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. Jesus’ parables take issue with the self-righteous, spiritually strong perspective of the Pharisees.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” This was contrary to the thinking of the Pharisees. They had a saying that went like this: “There is joy before God when those who provoke Him perish from the world” (Edersheim – Leon Morris – Gospel of Mark – 239). However that is not what God reveals. He said, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but…that the wicked should turn and live.” (Ezek. 33:11). And here, “There is joy before he angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

What a sharp contrast between muttering over God’s mercy and rejoicing in God’s mercy! The Pharisee’s muttered in self-righteous complaint! Jesus rejoiced in God’s searching mercy for the lost. He did so by reaching out with parables of incredible depth and kindness.

We must understand that Jesus was not encouraging continuous, willful, unrepentant sin. The heart that says “I plan to continue on as a dishonest tax collector or continue in sexual immorality or continue in my own rebellion and idolatry” is not yet the lost sheep that is found here. Jesus was not condoning secure sinners in setting aside the will of God. When He called the tax collectors Levi (Mk 2) and Zacchaeus (Lk. 19) He called them away from cheating and dishonesty to a new life. It is clearly the one who recognizes his or her being lost that Jesus identifies here.

His words also highlight another important truth. This truth is that we cannot repent by our own strength. Man is so proud that he thinks he can actually repent and make God pleased with him. Man is so proud that he speaks of finding God as if we are capable of doing that. But God is not lost! Man is lost! Every single one of us lost sinners needs constantly to be carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd in repentance.

While the sheep wandered, the shepherd searched. While the sheep floundered, the Shepherd found. When the sheep is found it is not given a beating, but rather the Shepherd rejoices. He does not lay it over His knees in punishment. Rather, He lays it on His shoulders in rescue. He carries it home with His strength, according to His will.

This is what the Pharisees grumbled at. They felt it was up to man to repent on his strength. It was a strange idea to them that God is a seeking God who takes the initiative. It was a foreign thought to them that God would carry the lost back by His power, not theirs.

God grant us faith to ignore all opinions of men that want to put God in the debt of our searching, our praying and our sincere efforts. God grant us also to ignore all of the contemporary clutter and confusion about angels and find comforting rest in what He reveals here. That is, it is Jesus who carries sinners on His shoulders in repentance. And, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Fellow-Redeemed, don’t be too fat and too strong to see yourself as that one needing repentance. Dr. Martin Luther’s first of ninety five theses was, “When our Lord and master said, ‘repent’, He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” St. Paul, the great missionary, did not see himself as too fat and too strong to qualify. The saying is trustworthy and deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost, even as He went about His missionary work.

Do you see how important you are to God? We live in an age of statistical sainthood, of worshipping big numbers. Yet God puts the spotlight on just one, on one sinner who is repenting, on you. When life’s tasks seem unimportant, when life’s rewards seem non-existent, when life’s suffering seems overwhelming, it is easy to believe that your life is of little or no value, that there is no reason for joy and no ground of hope.

With your humble circumstances and daily struggles, what is your real worth? On a college campus with thousands of students bustling around, who are you? In your later years with the limits of ageing mounting up every year, what’s ahead? With recognition of how much you can’t control and of what you’ve left undone in this world of need and demands, what is your real worth?

Dear Christian, God grant you joy in His joy over you! God grant you hope that does not fade away! Take comfort and daily courage in your great importance to Him. Your worth comes from His undeserved, searching, merciful love for the lost. It is the same worth possessed by the person next to you. It is the same worth possessed by university students who may be lost among the intellectual clouds and thick spiritual darkness on a college campus. It is the same worth possessed by those who may have wandered away from the faith into disobedience and vain teaching.

The Good Shepherd foretold by Ezekiel came down as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. He came down to rescue his flock. To do so He endured a day of clouds and thick darkness like no other. Darkness fell over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour, the sun being obscured (Lk. 23:44, 45). Darkness fell over the whole land as God’s wrath for the sin of the whole land fell on Jesus. Darkness fell over the whole land as the man who receives sinners and eats with them was damned for sinners to feed them with the good pasture of His own body and blood. He who came to bind up the injured was injured with our bindings. He who came to bring us into our own land was cast out of His land. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that brought us peace was laid on Him. By His stripes we are healed.

Do you see why there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents? The shoulders of the searching Shepherd are the shoulders of Him who was nailed to the cross. His shoulders went limp in death on Calvary and were too weak to carry anyone. But His search for sinners took Him right through the valley of the shadow of death. From the thick darkness of the tomb He rose up with shoulders so strong they broke the entangling cords of death. From heaven He comes into your midst today with shoulders strong enough to bear you all the way to heaven.

God grant you calm confidence in His strength to carry you through this passing world. God thereby also grant you calm confidence in His strength to carry you from today to tomorrow. God additionally grant you concern for those yet separated from His care, for those who are lost in the clouds and thick darkness of this sinful world so full of artificial lights.

The chief concern of Christ’s church should be the finding of each one who is lost and the carrying of each one who is found. Like the woman who swept and searched her house to find the lost coin, so the bride of Christ searches to find lost souls. In relationships, in conversations, in first fruit giving, in receiving Christ’s gifts of forgiveness in weekly worship, the church bears witness to the searching, forgiving, love of God. I Tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

The angels are only reflecting God’s joy. They behold His face. They mirror that which delights the holy Trinity. And that delight is you, your repentance, your salvation, your receiving Christ’s forgiveness, your being carried on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd! O Lord my God, I called to You for help and you healed me! You have turned my wailing into dancing; I will give You thanks forever. Amen.

15th Sunday after Pentecost

TEXT: Luke 14:25-35
THE LOVE AND HATE THAT JESUS GIVES!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear partners in the Gospel; wouldn’t it be great if someone said of all your college costs, “Charge that to my account”? Full tuition and fees and books to the University of your choice - the most advanced computer system with every accessory, a top-quality apartment (full room and board) – “Charge that to my account” “I’ll take care of that for you”. Wouldn’t’ it be great if someone said of your home mortgage or your car loan, your medical premiums and out of pocket costs, “Charge that to my account”? St. Paul said something along those lines to Philemon regarding his runaway slave Onesimus – If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

Dear Christians, in the most gracious, all-encompassing, life-changing way, Christ on Calvary said of the world’s sin; “Charge that to my account”. “I hereby take care of all of it”. If you do not believe that Jesus’ sacrificial death settled accounts for us sinners, if you do not believe that He said “paid in full” to you at your baptism, baptizing you into the death of Christ, then you will not be able to rightly hear the words of Jesus in our Gospel today.

Amid the superstition that infected the Church during the Middle Ages (indulgences, relics, and the like), Dr. Martin Luther regarded it as a distinct blessing that at least the crucifix remained in the Church. Christ crucified - the wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:23, 24). Christ crucified - the love of God (I John 3:16). This, Luther said, is how God wants to be known.

The Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world loves you with a perfect love. Yet here He calls you to hate those whom He in other places makes clear you are under obligation to love – your spouse, your children, your parents (those in the pew beside you, those you tuck in at night, write letters to, speak with on the phone). “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.” He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

How do your ears hear these words from the lover of your soul? What do you make of Jesus’ command to hate? Elsewhere He taught that we are to do good to those who hate us (Lk. 6:27). Elsewhere His apostles taught that whoever hates his brother is a murderer (I John 3:15). Yet here He clearly states, If anyone comes to me and does not hate...his family…and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

In this age of tolerance, we must be clear that hate is sometimes a beautiful gift of God. God, who is love, can and does hate! He hates evil, He hates idolatry, He hates false worship (Deut. 12:31; Is 1:14). The hatred assigned to God in Scripture is not so much an emotion as a rejection in will and deed. God’s people are also supposed to lovingly hate as He does. The righteous are to hate what is false (Prov. 13:5). To fear the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13). Christians are to hate evil and love good (Amos 5:15; Rom 12:9).

But what is evil about family? Jesus’ command here is so very clear and concrete. Think of your own dear wife or husband, your beloved children, your caring parents, your siblings. How do I hate my father Norbert and my mother Lillian and my wife Barbara and my children, Hannah, Luke, Ben, and Mark and my brother, Ron and my sister, Londa, and even my own life. Why am I to hate them? Is it possible to hate them as Christ commands here and love them as Christ commands elsewhere?

Contemplate how closely related love and hate really are. Think how easily the most passionate human love can turn hateful when disappointed or spurned. Think how hearts may wax hot or cold in loving or hating those who excite and then weary them, who please and then displease them. Human hearts generally think of both love and hate as emotions, feelings we move into and out of.

God’s Word, however, reveals that both love and hate are more properly actions and attitudes, not emotions. When God says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church, He is speaking of faithful, caring actions done day in and day out, regardless of what one’s feelings may be. Agape love is a self-giving and faithful doing, regardless of fluctuating emotions.

This is also the case when Scripture speaks of hate. Is has to do with actions and attitudes, not primarily emotions. This is crucial in understanding what the Son of God meant when He 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.”

This is not hate in a psychological sense. This is hate that mirrors God’s holy and perfect hate. This is hate in the sense of turning from anything that challenges exclusive commitment to God. This hate is doing the opposite of what Moses warned about: “If your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish (Deut. 30:17, 18). Those things that tempt us as idolize them, to worship and serve them surely include ourselves and our families. I think of one father, a football coach and former Lutheran. He had a championship ring on his finger from his own high school football days and he had dreams of coaching his son. When God called his boy from this life with leukemia at the age of 13, he turned away from Christ and His gifts in disbelief and hate. While his son enjoys eternal pleasure at God’s right hand, this father wallows in the misery of his idols.

Jesus is by no means trying to discourage us from following Him. He is lovingly showing us that following Him is more than joining a club. His church is more than a group of like-minded people who want to make a difference in the world. His church is not a family picnic. He who normally says, “come unto Me and I will give you rest” here says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…he cannot be My disciple.”

Dear hearers of the Word made flesh; that which Jesus puts at the center of this hate target is not the moral crud on the television or crime in the city or corrupt politicians. The bulls eye on this hate target contains those you love and even your own life. His call to hate is a call to turn from and renounce even excellent gifts in so far as they deflect or discourage total commitment to Him. The nature of His call is sobering – no back slapping, game playing here. “Whoever does not take up his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” The nature of His call is so staggering it can lead to only a few responses.

The most common response is to hush Jesus up, to pretend He really didn’t speak the words in our text. It is the modern routine of manufacturing a politically correct, socially sensitive Jesus made in our own image – a Jesus who always makes us feel just right. A second response is to hate the one who spoke this command to hate. Surely we humans know enough to correct Jesus and attack His words here. He must be a bit of a loser to lose it like this. A third response is to hate yourself, that is, to despair of and renounce your own sufficiency and strength to do what Christ demands. “…anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple”.

Fellow Redeemed, it is this last response that Jesus intends. That’s why His words about hate are followed immediately with His warning about counting the cost before starting to build a tower. That’s why He spoke of asking conditions of peace before going to war against an enemy with twice the strength.

What more could Jesus say to clearly and completely illustrate our insufficiency? God commands commitment to Christ with no human reservations. The exclusive and unconditional claim of Jesus will not stop even at the most important and intimate of earthly ties. The disciple of Christ is to disown, renounce and reject loving anyone, even self, more than Christ. Our closest relatives, our loved ones, even our most sincere personal spiritual efforts cannot furnish us with the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We cannot build the tower! Not alone and not as an earthly family! We cannot defeat the mighty enemy! We cannot fear and love and trust in God above all things! With these words Jesus intends to kill all trust in ourselves and in those we love and give us Himself.

Beloved, we can’t do Christianity! Our only hope is to ask for terms of peace. And Christ is our peace! And you are in Christ – baptized into Him – seeking refuge in Him. Remember Paul writing to Philemon of Onesimus, “…receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account”.

We imperfect lovers and imperfect haters have an astronomical bill to pay. Like the national debt assigned personally to you, your debt load before God is not feasible, it cannot be made right. But of you Jesus says to the Father, “…receive him (receive her) as you would receive me. If he (if she) has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.”

Beloved rejoice! You cannot do Christianity. But you are a little Christ! He who bids you carry your cross is this very day carrying you! Continue to seek peace from Him, for the peace He demands He comes to give you today. His peace! Blood-bought peace! Risen from the grave peace! In your midst to serve you peace! Satan silencing peace! Life-restoring peace! Joy-giving peace! Love your neighbor peace!

When Satan says, “Look at all you start and can’t finish”, “look how weak you are in battle” tell him to go to hell! Tell him what Jesus shouted from the cross, “It is finished”! In fact in your eating of His body and drinking of His blood you all together make that very proclamation today. Jesus didn’t begin to win your salvation and then stop. He counted the cost and with His very flesh and blood He paid it all, He won the war and built the tower.

Christ crucified – the wisdom of God!
Christ crucified – the love of God!
This is how God wants to be known!

Risen from the grave He loves you. Ascended on high He loves those whom you hold in your heart more than you ever can. You love them most by loving Him first!

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

14th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Luke 14:1-14
Vicar Roy Askins

Did you know that tickets for this upcoming season opener for the Packers range in price from $138 to $25,002. Can you imagine, $25,002? That is a seat of honor, a seat not everyone can sit in. I know I’ll never be in that seat. I might be able to make it into the scrabble for the $140 seats if I’m lucky, but not the $25,002 seat. It is a place of honor.

Jesus in our text speaks of a seat such as that. He speaks of the first seat, the seat of highest honor. This seat you are not supposed to sit in unless someone brings you to it. I can’t imagine the guy who paid $25,002 will allow anyone else to sit there. So also with the wedding feast, there is a seat of honor and it belongs to someone.

Did you know that pews were once like these Packer seats? In early American history, it was not uncommon to accept payment for pews. One church’s historical website records the seizing of one pew from one parishioner who failed to pay his pew taxes. They then sold it to another member who could actually pay the pew tax.

While I don’t know whether or not churches continue the practice, and I certainly hope they don’t, the truth is, in almost every aspect of life, we are trying to get a better seat. Jesus deals with this in the text. Practically, his advice makes sense. It’s better to take a lower seat and have someone to invite you to a higher one rather than take the high one and be humiliated in front of one’s fellows. This makes sense.

Jesus, however, isn’t overly concerned about where you’re sitting at the table. He’s not too worried about the seat you're in, or your neighbor, or the seat I’m in. He’s getting to a deeper problem, a root problem for the Pharisees. He’s rooting out the source of your assurance.

For the Pharisees who invited Jesus over to their dinner, their assurance grew from their keeping the Sabbath. Hence their concern with Jesus when the man with dropsy came. They wanted to know if Jesus would do ‘work’ on the Sabbath. Jesus did work; he did a saving work. He healed the man of bodily and spiritual infirmities. He did this to show them their unworthiness, but they missed the point.

They still tried to jostle each other around, vying for a better seat. They placed their source of worth in themselves, thinking they deserved a better seat. Further, if they grasped a better seat, it might increase their worth even more, especially in the eyes of their fellow men. Here they sat in the presence of the God Incarnate, quibbling over seats of honor. And Jesus warns them, he says, “Do not take the seat of highest honor, lest you rule the lowest seat in shame.” When your source of worth you place within yourself, you will not rule over your fellows from the king’s right hand, but your kingdom will only consist of the lowest shame-filled seat.

So this begs the question: what is your source of worth? Why do you deserve to sit at the seat of highest honor? Is it because you can buy the $25,002 Packer tickets? Is it because you have served the church faithfully, doing everything asked of you for 30, 40, 50 years? Is your claim to the highest seat based on all the good things you’ve done, obeying your parents, working hard, and all those sorts of things? Does your claim to the best seat stem from your every Sunday attendance at church? Is your claim based on the 4.0 GPA, or your name on the Dean’s list?

Jesus here roots out the source of the problem. No matter what we think, we are not worthy of the seat at His feast. We are even incapable of comparing ourselves to one another because we are all equally sinful. The person sitting next to you has not sinned any worse than you. Each sin is equally damning, each sin is worth the master of the feast taking you from the highest seat, and kicking you out of the feast entirely. No human being deserves any seat at this feast.

Yet Jesus does something we don’t expect. You see, he doesn’t really care where you sit, because He has taken the seat of shame. He, the host, went from the seat of highest honor, the place of greatest wealth, and became human. He made Himself human in order to be shamed by those He came to save. So when He, the bridegroom of the wedding feast, sees you sitting at the place of lowest honor, He says, “Come, take the seat of highest honor, I’ve already taken your place of shame.”

For the seat of greatest shame takes the form of a cross. On this throne of shame, Christ dominated and destroyed shame itself. He, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8) This is the seat of shame.

Now, no longer does shame attack you. No longer do you have to be concerned with putting yourself forward in the presence of the king or standing in the place of the great (Proverbs 25:6). For you have already been told, Come up here (Proverbs 25:7) in the presence of all the nobles of the earth. You have been brought from your seat of shame for it no longer belongs to you. The seat of shame, the cross, has already been taken. Christ has already hung on that piece of wood.

Cursed is everyone who hangs from a tree! (Galatians 3:13) Adam by the tree in the garden fell, and all humanity with him. Christ, by the tree outside of Jerusalem, brought humanity back to God. He brought reconciliation by that tree, and now you, in pews of wood, sit and receive the gifts He gives in His Word preached to you. You do not pay for your pews as some churches used to practice. No, your pews do not cost you anything. Neither does the place at the wedding feast of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

Where is this feast? How are we to know it when we see it? Where does this feast take place? A foretaste of the final feast occurs for you every Sunday. This feast occurs here. And you have been given the seat of honor, the best seat in the house. This seat $25,002 cannot buy. This seat no gift given by human beings can purchase. This seat no one is worthy to claim but Christ alone. Yet Christ comes down to you and brings you from your seat of shame and gives you the seat of highest honor.

This seat is also made of wood. From the same forest, no doubt, as your pews. This seat is the communion rail. The greatest seat on earth. A spot next to the President, a patch of turf on the sidelines with the Packers, a seat next to your favorite singer, or perhaps a lazy chair with your grandchildren on your knee are not as wondrous and glorious - not as honor-filled - as this seat right up here in the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus.

The worth of this table and your place there is not based on yourself. It is not based on anything you have done. Your worth, in fact, derives from the host and the food He gives. The Host: Jesus. The food He brings: Himself, for you. You are, as pastor said in last week’s sermon, The joy that was set before Him, so that He endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And from this seat of power, from the right hand of God, Christ gives to you a feast, a foretaste of the eternal feast to come. Christ has spoken to his servants and has said, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” (Luke 14:21) That is what you once were. Poor, crippled, blinded and lame from sin, Christ healed you and gave you the seat of honor. Christ does not say to you, “Give your seat to this person,” (Luke 14:9) but rather he says to you, “Friend, move up higher.” (Luke 14:10). And he gives you a feast.

Can I let you in on a little secret? He’s going to give it to you again. He gives you this fabulous feast every Sunday! He takes you from the humble seat of your daily vocations where you live to serve Him. He takes you from the vocations that at times might humble you. For the father and mother who spend time cleaning their baby’s dirty diaper, to the nursing care assistant that cleans the aged and infirm, to every vocation, from here Christ brings you every Sunday to give you a feast. From this feast He gives you the strength and ability, power and desire to continue in the vocation where He himself placed you. Come, He is inviting you to take the place of honor; He is inviting you to the communion rail! He is inviting you to the feast of His own body and His own blood. Let us celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb! Amen.