Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. Jesus says to you in today's Gospel,
Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in My
name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in
Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened
around his neck an to be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:3-4).
Most people hear these words and immediately think to themselves, "I love
children! I would never want to do anything to harm a child." Parents,
teachers, and others who spend time with children might occasionally joke
about the urge to kill, but we can all agree that deliberate crimes against
children are the work of only the most vile and depraved. People convicted
of crimes against children not only face the wrath of an enraged judge, but
they often suffer further punishment from their fellow inmates when they go
to prison. Perpetrators of such crimes frequently must be kept isolated from
the rest of the prison population so that they themselves will not be harmed
or killed in the same way they have harmed or killed a child.
By all means, punishments for those who commit crimes against someone as
defenseless as a child should be harsh. But none of us should be quick to
look up to heaven and thank God that we are "not like other men" (Luke
18:11). In today's Gospel, Jesus calls it a crime punishable by death when
"anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin." Jesus
does not spell out the details of the sort of judgment we shall receive from
our God on account of such sins, but will not be pleasant: "It would be
better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be
drowned in the depth of the sea."
This Word from our God should make us each want to do a little soul
searching. If we do, we might not like what we see. Jesus is not merely
asking if you have ever tried to get your kid brother to shoplift a candy
bar for you, or if you have ever lost your temper in the back yard and ended
up teaching your neighbor's children a couple new cuss words. Such actions
certainly fit what our Lord is saying to you here, but the main point goes
deeper than that.
Jesus is saying to you that it is possible for you to teach the wrong things
to "one of these little ones who believe in [Him]." It is possible for you
to teach your fellow Christians that it is not actually all that important
to believe in Jesus and obey His commands. Stated another way,
· You have the power to destroy someone else's faith. You have the power
to do this by your own unwillingness to believe.
· You have the power to destroy someone else's devotion to God's Word
and commandments. You can do this by your lack of devotion to God's Word and
commandments. Your weaknesses and your sins will give your fellow
Christians-including the little ones who believe in Jesus-your weaknesses
and your sins give your fellow Christians opportunity and temptation to
exploit their own weaknesses and sins. Just think to yourself: Which of God's
Ten Commandment do you think it is unnecessary for you personally to keep?
This is the commandment by which you will tempt your fellow Christians:
o Is it the Second Commandment, which requires that you make good use
of God's name through faithful prayers? Your failure to pray will teach
others not to pray.
o Is it the Third Commandment, which requires your faithful worship?
Your failure to come to church will mislead others into thinking that they
are exempt from God's solemn requirement, "Remember the Sabbath day" (Exodus
20:8).
o Is it the Sixth Commandment, which requires you to honor marriage
and make holy use of your body and mind? Is it the Seventh, which requires
you to think of your possessions as existing for the sole purpose of serving
your neighbor? Is it the Eighth, which requires you to be honest in all
things, even when a lie will get you out of trouble?
Where your weakness under the commandments lies, there you will teach others
to be weak. Where you believe yourself to be above God's Law and where you
think you have the right or the choice to ignore God's Law, you will teach
others to do likewise. You will cause "one of these little ones who believe
in [Jesus]" to sin.
Can you feel the rope around your neck? I do not know about you, but this
Gospel will not allow me to think of myself as morally superior to those who
commit crimes against a child and get sent to jail for it. This Gospel
forces me to admit that I also am worthy of nothing but wrath and
punishment. Even more so, I am forced to believe that I am worthy of a
double punishment. After all, this Gospel teaches me that when I disregard
God's commandments, I am not merely sinning against God. My deliberate
disregard for God's commandments also inflicts harm and injury upon my
neighbor, including those dear children-those "little ones who believe in
[Jesus]"-whom I myself have baptized. I am forced to admit that I love
neither God nor my neighbor as I ought, because "love does no wrong to a
neighbor" (Romans 13:10). Yet here I am, arrogantly thinking I am above the
Law of God, or at least one or two of His laws. And in my arrogance I am
causing "one of these little ones who believe in [Jesus] to sin."
Yet today's Gospel will not leave us with hopeless. To the contrary, Jesus
says in this Gospel that there is something much better for us than causing
"one of these little ones who believe in [Jesus] to sin." It would be much
better for you and for me to "turn and become like children" so that we may
enter the kingdom of heaven. Turning has to do with becoming repentant and
sorrowful over our sins, which is only possible by the miracle of God (Acts
5:31, 11:18). Becoming like children has to do with faith, which God gives
to us (Ephesians 2:8-9) and implants in us (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) through
His miracles of Baptism (Mark 16:16) and preaching (Romans 10:17).
· We become humble like a child when we stop believing ourselves to
be above any of God's commandments, but rather, when we wholeheartedly keep
them all.
· Even more so, we become humble like a child when we learn to rely upon
God our heavenly Father for all things, especially for the forgiveness we
need as a result of causing others to sin.
Such humility as this Gospel requires can only be given to us from our God,
who first humbled Himself for us. Even more than becoming humble like a
little child, Christ Jesus our Lord "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to
the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). Far from
hanging a millstone around our necks, God's Son Jesus voluntarily took our
millstone upon His own neck so that we will not be held accountable for its
guilty load. In His Baptism and on His cross, our Lord Jesus made Himself
guilty of our sins against "one of these little ones who believe in [Him]."
In His resurrection from the dead, the same Christ removed the millstone
that our necks so worthily deserve. "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and
become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." By His
death and by His resurrection, Christ Jesus opened the door of the kingdom
of heaven to you. At your Baptism, the living Christ miraculously turned you
around and He made you like a child so that you will not fail to enter in.
Maybe this is the real benefit of Christian worship, not that we would
gather here simply in response to a divine command, but in order that we may
be continually assured, against our throat-pinching guilt and our fears,
that we are indeed children of God. Jesus' apostle John was one of the first
people on earth to hear these Words of our Lord in today's Gospel. These
Words-and other Words of Jesus just like them-these Words caused the apostle
later to rejoice with you: "See what kind of love the Father has given to
us, that we should be called children of God! And so we are" (1 John 3:1).
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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