God Is Our Father In His Son Jesus Christ
Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 21, 2009
Mark 4.35-41
The festival of Pentecost is the festival of the Holy Spirit. And the
Nativity of Our Lord, Good Friday, and the Resurrection of Our Lord
are high festivals of Jesus. But is there a special festival of God
the Father? The Church Year is designed around salvation history
centered in the life of Christ. There is only one God, of course, and
the Triune God is at work when the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the
Father are individually at work. But that God shows Himself to work in
distinct ways in the distinct Persons of the Godhead shows us that
it’s more than just an interesting phenomenon. His work as Father, His
work as Son, His work as Holy Spirit mean things for us and our
salvation. Since today is Father’s Day, it’s as good a day as any to
examine the work of God the Father and what that means for us.
But the Gospel reading shows us the work of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
It also show us, however, the work of God the Father. The Father is
not mentioned, but His work is accomplished in the Gospel reading. As
in everything He does Jesus is carrying out the will of His Heavenly
Father. But in a specific sense, Jesus’ action brings about exactly
what God was saying to Job in the Old Testament reading: “Or who shut
in the sea with doors… and prescribed limits for it and set bars and
doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here
shall your proud waves be stayed’?”
God is speaking to Job of His work of creation. He tells Job of it for
the purpose of making known His work of re-creation. The God who is
the Creator of the earth and the seas is the God who re-creates. He
restores His fallen creation. In the Gospel reading the disciples need
immediate salvation. Jesus saves them by exhibiting His power over His
very own creation. He brings about the very thing God the Father
stated to Job, what He did at creation and what God the Son is doing
now in the boat. Just as at creation the seas came into existence at
the speaking of His Word, now the waves halt at the speaking of His
Word. Just as He set boundaries for them at creation, so now He stops
them in their tracks.
Upon seeing this display of power the disciples are afraid. Who is
this? Who is this who commands even the wind and waves to obey Him? He
is the very creator of the wind and the waves. And He’s the Savior.
When God the Father spoke to Job about the salvation He would
accomplish, His work of re-creation, He had in mind the giving of His
only-begotten Son. The power God exhibited to Job in coming out of the
whirlwind was nothing compared to the re-creating, saving work of
giving up His Son. The power Jesus exhibited in stilling the storm was
a cloak, the ultimate exhibition of His power coming in giving Himself
up on the cross—power over the forces of sin, death, and the devil.
This is where we see how God the Father is who we need to look to in
order to obey the Fourth Commandment—Honor your father and your
mother. It’s where we see how those who are fathers learn what it
means to be a godly father. Honoring our father and being a faithful
father is possible in God the Father’s giving of His only-begotten Son
Jesus Christ.
Can a person honor their father if he is not a Christian? Yes, they
can. And not only that, they must. God gives you your father. If he’s
not a Christian the highest way you honor him is to pray for him and
speak the Gospel to him so that he may know the eternal love of the
Heavenly Father. Is it hard at times to honor your Christian father
because he falls short at times as a father? Yes, but the Fourth
Commandment isn’t dependent on how good of a father you have.
And how is a Christian man who is a father to be a faithful father,
exhibiting the love of God the Father, when he himself continually
falls short of exhibiting unconditional love; when he himself is every
much of a sinner as his children? Only by and through the love of his
Heavenly Father as exhibited in His Son Jesus Christ. A father’s
children are commanded to honor him, but a father must wake up each
morning and strive to live in such a way that it is a joy for his
children to honor him.
How do we do these things? Through the love of God the Father in Jesus
Christ. The love of God the Father is not a generic love. It is not
simply that He loves us. It is His specific grace and mercy toward us
*in His Son Jesus Christ.* You honor your father because of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That is how God the Father loved you. How
much more, then, can you honor your father? You are a faithful father
when you love your children with the full and free forgiveness your
Heavenly Father has given to you and your children.
God told Job that He had created the universe. He then pointed him
toward the greatest of all His power and work, His work of
re-creation. It is His work in giving His Son. We see that work being
brought about in the Gospel reading. God the Father is at work there
on the lake, in the boat, in the stilling of the storm. He loves His
creation, He loves His children. That’s why He gave His Son. This is
how we can live each new day as obedient children of our earthly
father, how we fathers can love our children not simply with our own
love but the eternal love we ourselves have received.
This week dozens of children will be roaming the halls and rooms of
our church for VBS. Some are here every week. Some attend their own
church. Some will be hearing the Gospel for the first time. All are in
need of it, though, just as we all are. May our prayer be that each
one of them hears that Gospel and receives the blessing promised
through it, the forgiveness of their sins. May our prayer be that the
father of each one doesn’t simply send them here for the week but
daily blesses them with the love of the Heavenly Father in His Son
Jesus Christ. That each father loves his children by reading the Word
of God to them, praying with them, bringing them to God’s House each
week to be renewed in the gracious presence of the Triune God and His
never-ending love for them.
May this prayer be for us as well. When your dad would rather spend
time doing his own thing rather than be with you, his child, honor
him. Do not despise or anger him, but honor him, serve and obey him,
love and cherish him. Forgive him, he’s a sinner just like you are.
And why should you honor him even in those times he’s not faithfully
carrying out his duties as a father? Because of the love God the
Father has for him and for you. Because He sent His own Son to forgive
him and you.
When you as a father provoke your children, repent and ask for
forgiveness. Pray your Heavenly Father to give you the strength and
selflessness you need to be a godly father to your children, loving
them as your Heavenly Father has loved them and you—in His Son, Jesus
Christ.
As Christians we cannot talk about honoring our fathers and about
being godly fathers apart from Jesus Christ. We must look to God the
Father to know how we are able to honor our fathers and to be godly
fathers. In the same way, we cannot talk about God’s love apart from
the love of God the Father in His Son Jesus Christ. Receive gratefully
the care of your earthly father, the food and home he provides.
Fathers, feed your children not only daily bread but also God’s Word.
Your Heavenly Father gives you His own Son in the Gospel and in His
Son’s Holy Supper. You love with this love He has loved you with, love
in His Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.net
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
___________________________________________________________________________
'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
for quoting or use in a congregational setting
_with_or_without_attribution_.
Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:
Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>
