Rev. Charles Lehmann + Matthew 10:24-33 + Pentecost 5
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The world always wanted to kill Jesus. When he was just a young boy, Herod
sent his soldiers to kill every boy in Bethlehem. But God warned Joseph in a
dream, and Jesus was delivered from death.
Thirty years later Jesus preached His first sermon in Nazareth. They
wanted to kill Him then too. And this time it wasn't an impersonal order from
an insane king. In Nazareth it was friends and relatives who picked up stones
to kill Him. But Jesus was not stoned on that day. Again, Jesus was delivered
from death.
But the world would eventually get its way. The people whom Jesus came to
save would eventually gather in the court of Pontius Pilate and cry out,
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” The world simply could not pass up the chance to
murder the Son of God.
This isn't surprising, of course. The world is thoroughly ruined by sin.
When the world sees Jesus it sees someone it can't handle. Our Lord is not
like other men. He is offensive to the world because while the world is filled
with sin and death, Jesus is filled with forgiveness and life. And so, though
Herod and the Nazarenes don't get to kill Jesus when they want to, Jesus will
still walk the road to Golgotha and die.
He does not save Himself from His crucifixion. He does not come down from
the cross in earthly pomp and might. He does not kill every sinner with a word
and send them all into everlasting torment. When the Lord is reviled, He does
not revile in return. When He is slandered, He remains silent. When He is
handed over to the centurions to be crucified, He lets them drive in the nails.
Just before our Gospel reading for today Jesus has told those who follow
him that they will be persecuted. The persecution won't come from outsiders.
It will come from close to home. Jesus says, “Brother will deliver brother
over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents
and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake.”
What goes for Jesus goes for us also. As many of us as have been baptized
into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. We will be persecuted.
The world will stop at nothing until it has killed us also.
And so we come to this morning's reading. “A student is not above his
teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be
like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the
master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his
household.”
Jesus tells us to expect the world to treat us as it treated Him. And it
does. The world will do everything it can to swallow you up in its grave
forever. The world wants you to doubt the Lord's words. God has promised that
He will provide all that you need, both now and in eternity. The world doesn't
want you to believe what God has promised. And so the world might try to
convince you that when the rain washes away your crops, you lose your job, or
you suffer disease that God has abandoned you.
But if the world can't make you think God's abandoned you, it will often do
something even worse. The world may try to make you think that you can get
along fine without God. The world might give you wealth, a stable job, a
healthy body, and every good thing that your heart can desire.
In either case, the world wants you to live without God. It wants you to
despair that God loves you or to be so comfortable that you don't think God has
anything to offer. Both of these roads are on the wide path that leads to
eternal death.
The Scriptures describe a Christian as a tree planted by streams of water.
It is healthy. It has green leaves and it gives fruit in season. Whatever
might happen, this tree will live in peace and safety. But the tree can only
live if it's by the stream of water. Without the water, it will die.
Many Christians are like a tree that once was planted by the stream but has
managed to move onto dry ground. It might look healthy for awhile. It might
not look too different from the other trees. But the branches will turn dry
and brittle, and soon after that they will die. Before too long, the tree will
be good for nothing but firewood.
Trees cannot live without water, and Christians cannot live without the
Word of God. The Word of God alone can tell you that you are a sinner for whom
Christ died. The Word of God alone can tell you that the creator of the
Universe took on human flesh so that He could suffer and die in your place.
The Word of God in water is the means by which you became God's child in
baptism. The Word of God combined with bread and wine is the means by which
you will receive the forgiveness of your sins in the Lord's Supper.
Without this medicine of immortality. Without the saving word of the
Gospel, you will die. Without hearing it regularly, you will become sick. It
is not an annoying cold or hay fever that will simply annoy you. It will be a
cancer. It will spread throughout your whole body until finally your faith
dies. You will think that you can live without God, and God will grant your
wish. If you separate yourself from the place where He gives life and
salvation, only death will remain.
And so it is not lightly that Jesus says, “Fear the One who can destroy
your body and soul in hell.” If we separate ourselves from the place God comes
to us, we will live in eternal torment without Him.
That, dear Christians, is what the world wants. It wants you to suffer the
consequences of your sins forever and ever. The world will scream and rage and
do its worst against you. But for those who trust Christ, the world's defeat
is already certain. Though the world is filled with sin and death, your sins
are forgiven, and death has no power over you.
Jesus has taken your sins to the cross. He has died there while
experiencing the Father's full wrath against your sin. The One who can destroy
your body and soul in hell loves you. The Father has laid your punishment on
His Only-Begotten Son. You are that important to Him.
Many of the men present here today are fathers. They have sons and
daughters whom they dearly love. They would do anything to provide for the
needs of their children. They have made sacrifices. They have worked hard for
years and years. But which of us would do what our heavenly Father has done
for us? Though we were His enemies, though we had rebelled against Him in our
sin, though we came into the world hating the One who created us, God our
Father loves us.
He has not killed you in your unholiness. He has not held your iniquity
against you. Instead He has punished His own Son. He has offered Him in your
place. The Lord's divine justice has been satisfied. Every sin has been
punished. And Jesus, who has borne them all in your place, still loves you and
still cares for you. He goes before His Father and says, “Dear Father, you
have given these dear ones to me. They are mine, and I love them. Receive
them into life as you have received me. They are forgiven. Their sin is gone
forever.”
Who can levy a charge against the Lord's elect? No one. Not the world,
not the devil, not even your own sinful flesh. You are free. What goes for
Jesus goes for you. He has died and so you also will die. But Jesus is risen
from the dead, lives, and reigns to all eternity. He has forgiven your sins.
All who trust in Him will never be put to shame.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Charles R. Lehmann
Pastor, Saint John's Lutheran Church, Accident, MD
http://chaz-lehmann.livejournal.com
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