Greetings Brothers!
As I have written to some of you previously, I have prepared a bulletin cover
based upon the 8.5x11 (folded in half) scholia.net model and will have a
lectionary summary and BOC reading for the day (ala the Doug May model) by
Saturday. If you would like any of these, feel free to send me a request via
this email address and I'll be glad to send you the docs.
The following sermon is a bit long, so any suggestions for trimming it down a
bit are welcome.
MARTYRDOM: The Way of Faith
The text for our message today is the Holy Gospel for The FEAST of the
MARTYRDOM of SAINT JOHN the BAPTIST, in light of these words from the ministry
of John the Baptist in Matt 3:1-2: In those days John the Baptist came
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand!"
And in John 3:27, 30: John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless
it has been given to him from heaven. He must increase, but I must decrease."
What a fascinating Gospel we have this day! The beheading of St. John the
Baptist. Surely if it were made into a movie it would get an "R" rating for its
bawdiness and violence.
Even the text reads something like a Hollywood manuscript, starting from a
certain point in time when Herod stands terrified at the news that there is
another (one named Jesus) bearing the same message as the man named John, whom
Herod had beheaded for his own personal pleasure and reputation, as well as to
keep peace in his own family. Surely this one they call Jesus who is also
preaching to the people calling them to, "Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is
near." is none other than the Baptist, come back from the grave to haunt him
for his evil deed. Hear it again as it is recorded in our Holy Gospel:
14King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, "John
the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers
are at work in him." 15But others said, "He is Elijah." And others said, "He is
a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 16But when Herod heard of it, he
said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." 17For it was Herod who had sent
and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother
Philip's wife, because he had married her. 18For John had been saying to Herod,
"It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19And Herodias had a
grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20for
Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept
him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him
gladly.
21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for
his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22For when
Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And
the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to
you." 23And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half
of my kingdom." 24And she went out and said to her mother, "For what should I
ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." 25And she came in
immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at
once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26And the king was exceedingly
sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his
word to her. 27And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to
bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28and brought his
head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
29When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a
tomb.
What intrigue! What gore! And what intricacies and plot twists:
· Herod's admiration for John, even though he held him
prisoner and his wife held him in contempt.
· The fact that the story just kind of hangs there between
Jesus' sending of His disciples and feeding of the 5,000. Neither the Gospel
nor Jesus' makes a big deal of it, they don't explain it. In fact Jesus doesn't
even show any remorse as He did with Lazarus at his death. No, here we simply
have a reporting of the facts.
· And then the little matter of John's ministry, or shall I
say the matter of his little ministry as far as length of time is concerned.
Luther devotes some 7 pages of a 12 page sermon (Rather a medium length for
him. . . . And you thought I preached long sermons) to mining the nuances and
implications of the length of John's ministry - 2 years culminating in his
beheading; 2 years contemporary with Jesus whose own ministry lasted but three
years before He too was put to death outside the city wall of Jerusalem where
so many of the prophets of God had been out to death for daring to preach a
message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
And Jesus said of this prophet and his ministry in Matt 11:11-12, "Assuredly,
I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than
John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than
he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (NKJ)
Did you hear that? Born of women there has not risen one greater than John the
Baptist, yet John the Baptist's ministry lasted but two years. And in that two
years he performed nary a miracle fit to be recorded for us, all he did was
baptize and preach . . . and tick off more than a few people, including
Herodias and Herod, the King of the Jews.
John's ministry was short and sweet, preaching the same message as the prophets
who had gone before him, who called a nation and her people to repent and
return to the Lord their God.
Matt 3:1-2: In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of
Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
John the Baptist's message was the same as that of Christ himself:
Matt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand."
The same message of Peter and the church of Acts:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The same message that we proclaim as Christ's church today.
· From the order of service for the sacrament of Holy Baptism where we
ask the candidate if he renounces the devil and all his works and all his ways
· Through our evangelism which is patterned after that of John the
Baptizer as well Jesus himself along with His apostles, including St. Paul who
evangelized the pagan philosophers in Athens with these words: "now [God]
commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which
he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and(J)
of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." Acts
17:30b-31
· To our liturgy in the: "Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a
true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, beseeching Him in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness." Divine Service Setting
Three, LSB p. 184
And it is because John stuck to this message of repentance to the point of
death, a most horrid death at that, that Christ said, "among those born of
women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist."
St. Luke writes the words of our Lord in the 12th chapter of his gospel: "But I
have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is
accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you,
not at all, but rather division." [Luke 12:50-51]
St Bede the Venerable -- church father and historian whose life spanned the mid
7th to mid 8th Century a.d., and who popularized the use of the calendar that
uses Christ's birth as a baseline (b.C./a.d.) -- as preached on this festival:
"We must have no doubt that blessed John underwent imprisonment and chains to
give testimony to our Lord, and he gave up his life for Him of whom he was the
precursor. And just as by his own earlier birth, preaching, and baptizing,
[John] bore testimony to the one who was going to be born, to preach, and to
baptize, so he indicated by suffering first that [Christ] also was to suffer.
We justly commemorate the day of St John the Baptizer's heavenly birth with a
joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his
suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood. We
do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal
of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of the Lord.
Founding father and first president of our LC-MS, C.F. W. Walther, goes so far
as to say, "Christ's church is a church militant. Wherever you do not see a
church militant, but rather a church at peace, you can be certain it is no
church of Christ but a false church." (My paraphrase)
Certainly John could have found peace for himself and a congregation whose
building would have been full of followers and whose treasury would have been
full of the money Herod and his royal friends would have showered upon him had
he but agreed to marry Herod and his brother's wife, Herodias - or at least had
he not insisted on deeming said marriage as unlawful. For Herod liked and even
"Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept
him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him
gladly."
But as a prophet of God and forerunner of Christ, John the Baptizer knew he was
not called to be successful - at least as the world defines and measures
success by some supposed peace & happiness & financial welfare. He stuck to the
message of repentance -- calling sin, sin and calling sinners, sinners for the
purpose of turning them away from their sinfulness and proclaiming the kingdom
of God to them by the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus. In so doing John the
Baptizer became less--much less by a head -- and as he did Christ became
greater.
And that, dear saints of God and Trinity Lutheran Church of Layton Utah, is
precisely what being Lutheran is really all about -- we sinners becoming less
and Christ becoming greater. All that we preach, confess and practice in the
Lutheran Church in general and here at Trinity in particular is for the sake of
calling sin, sin; sinners, sinners; and proclaiming the kingdom of God, the
forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus.
In the Lutheran Confessions upon which the Lutheran Church is built, in the
Augsburg Confession, Article XV we read: With regard to church usages that have
been established by men, it is taught among us that those usages are to be
observed which may be observed without sin and which contribute to peace and
good order in the church, among them being certain holy days, festivals and the
like. Yet we accompany these observances with instruction so that consciences
may not be burdened by the notion that such things are necessary for salvation.
This means that all of the things that we do as church, as Lutherans are done
among us that we may become less and Christ greater among us for the
forgiveness of sins and the building up of faith in Him alone for eternal life.
Here at Trinity, Layton our constitution reflects the message of John the
Baptizer and stands firmly with him in ARTICLE IV - MEMBERSHIP:
No one can become or remain a member of this congregation nor enjoy the rights
and privileges of such membership unless the person:
a) is baptized;
b) accepts all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the only
divine rule and standard of faith and conduct;
c) is acquainted with and accepts Luther's Small Catechism;
d) leads a Christian life and abstains from manifest works of the flesh
(Galatians 5:19-21);
e) attends divine services faithfully and partakes of the Lord's Supper
frequently;
f) submits, for the sake of love and peace, to the regulations already made or
still to be made, by this body (provided they do not conflict with the Word of
God) and accepts brotherly admonition when having erred or offended;
g) is not a member of any secret or other organization that conflicts with the
Word of God.
If you have been able to take the time to examine the ACELC letter of
admonition, you will see that it too stands firm with the Baptizer and reflects
his message.
Like John the Baptizer, neither I nor any pastor enjoys turning down a marriage
- or for that matter a Baptism, Communion, or funeral - and like John the
Baptist we often suffer for it. Thankfully not to the extent of losing our
heads (at least in a literal sense) - but certainly at the expense of fielding
the disdain and even wrath of those who would like to grow the numbers and
coffers of the church by succumbing to the worldly desires of those who would
like the seal of approval of God's church on people who otherwise want nothing
to do with God's precious gifts -- especially the gift of forgiveness.
John the Baptizer did not get his name because he baptized anyone who came
near; nor because he carelessly flung water about, blessing all on whom it
happened to fall. He got his name because he baptized repentant sinners, those
he had taught about the depth and curse of their sin and about the God whose
only desire is to wash them clean, into the forgiveness of the One whose way he
came to prepare, Jesus the Christ.
And this Jesus, who became greater even as John became less, this Jesus did not
pronounce everyone forgiven either -- he sent the Pharisees away for they were
still blind to who He was and what He came to do. Jesus sent the rich young
ruler away, still wondering what he must do to gain the kingdom of heaven even
though it stood right before his very eyes. And Jesus did not offer His body
and blood to just anyone and everyone in the bread and wine of His Holy Supper,
but to those whom He had taught to know what it is and who it is that offers it.
We here at Trinity, follow with St. John the Baptist and the Holy Christian
Church from the beginning in doing only those things by which we become less
and Christ becomes greater among us -- for the forgiveness of sins in the name
of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus as we are tested, and . . . have tribulation, that we may be
faithful until death, and [receive] the crown of life from Him. Rev 2:10 Amen
Respectfully submitted,
Rev. Kurt (Aqualung) Hering, Pastor
Trinity Lutheran Church
74 N. Fort Lane Blvd.
Layton, UT 84041
801.544.5770
www.trinitylayton.org
"The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but
because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore
to your fathers." Deuteronomy 7:6-8
