The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Widen Your Hearts Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In today’s Epistle from 1 Corinthians, toward the end of the reading (verse 12), the Holy Spirit says to you and me and to all Christians, “you are restricted by your own affections.” But then, in today’s beautiful and priceless Gospel, They took [Jesus] with them in the boat, just as He was. … And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Dear Christian friends, In our church, we have a special liturgy for private confession of sins. (You can find it on page 292 of the Lutheran Service Book.) Not many people make use of this special liturgy, and that is a bit of a tragedy for several reasons. One bad result of not using the liturgy for private confession is that you miss out on praying some very expressive, very candid, very revealing words. When you pray the liturgy for private confession of sins, you end up saying—among other things—these words to God: I have not let [God’s] love have its way with me, and so my love for others has failed (LSB, 292). “I have not let God’s love have its way with me and so my love for others has failed.” Stated another way, “You [and I] are,” as God the Spirit says in today’s Epistle, “restricted by [our] own affections.” The Holy Spirit’s point is NOT that we have no love for God or for one another. The Spirit says—and we dare not deny that it is true—the Spirit says that we each have set very definite limits to the extent of our love. Each of us has a fence we will not cross and a gate we will not open. Each of us will only go so far. There is only so much we will do for our neighbor and (astonishingly) there is only so much we will do for God. We stubbornly limit ourselves. That is God’s own verdict against us: You [and I] are restricted by [our] own affections.” In order to focus the point a little more clearly, and perhaps to make it even more unavoidable, set aside those bigger sins that quickly come to your mind. Forget those regrettable times when you lose your temper or when you misspeak or when you simply become exasperated. Ignore any shameful habits or memories that still scandalize you. Think instead about the way you treat your neighbor in common, every day, run-of-the-mill situations. Think about how you treat your neighbor when you are in a good mood and feeling friendly: Do you give with true generosity—Christian generosity—or do you base your generosity on how much you want to save back for yourself? I am right there when the wife or children need something from me, but send some guy to my office door, looking for gas money. I will go and buy him some gasoline, but only after I have made sure that I still have plenty of money for myself until the next paycheck. I am restricted by my own affections, and I cannot escape. Are there people in your life—even some of your fellow Christians—to whom you give a thin smile and then you keep on walking? You elect not to show love to that person, you do not wish to show love toward that person because you find that person annoying or impossible. He talks too much; she simply refuses to listen; you do not seem to have anything in common. Take today’s Epistle to heart. God is saying in today’s Epistle that the problem might not actually be that other person. The problem might be you: “You are restricted by you own affections” and I am right there with you. These may seem to be minor examples of our sin, but that is precisely the point. I am using minor examples to push you beyond the big examples of occasional sin that you can always think of in your life. I am using these minor examples to point out the continual disease that you and I each have constantly at work within us. Sin is not merely wrong action or failure to do the right thing. (You could change your behavior if you really wanted to do so.) According today’s Epistle, sin is not really even best described as our failure to love—even though “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10). What is our sin—both yours and mine—according to today’s Epistle? Not failure to love, but calculated the LIMITATION we place on our love. “You are restricted by your own affections,” says the Lord. You and I are boxed in, crowded, inhibited, held. What restricts us? Our own interests and our own concerns and what we really want to love—which is NOT God or neighbor. It is hard for me fully and completely to love someone else when loving myself requires so much of my time and attention. I have not let His [God’s] love have its way with me, and so my love for others has failed. There are those whom I have hurt, and those whom I have failed to help My thoughts and desires have been soiled with sin (LSB, 292). This is a bad place to be, and God’s Word happily makes our situation worse. First God says, “You are restricted by your own affections.” Then he adds fuel to the fire when he goes on to say, “Widen your hearts.” Through these Words, God is telling each of us to tear down our favorite fence. God wants us each to open the locked gate that always holds a certain supply aside. God wants us to use our survival reserves on our neighbor. I don’t know about you, but God might as well tell me to “sell all that [I] have and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21). God says, “Widen your heart,” but mine heart is as thick as the wall of Jericho. Good luck knocking down that wall, God! You would have a much better chance of success if You “rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’” But maybe today’s Gospel will save us from today’s Epistle. God’s Words in today’s Gospel allow us to think that His Words in today’s Epistle carry divine power along with their demand. What I mean is this: the same God who says to you and to me, “Widen your hearts,” this is the same God who indeed has said to storm and to sea, “Peace! Be still!” They took Him [Jesus] with them in the boat, just as He was. … And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. The wind is wild and disobedient, and yet a single Word from Jesus brings it great calm. I am locked tight, resolute and “restricted by [my] own affections.” But even the wind and the waves obey Jesus. His Word has its way with them. If His Word softens the obstinate wind, surely His Word will soften me, too! Jesus’ Words change the will of the waves! Jesus’ Words have the same power to change your will and my will also. Here is something that is strange but true: God’s Words in today’s Gospel, “Peace, be still,” mean essentially the same thing as His Words in today’s Epistle, “Widen your hearts.” The phrase, “Widen your hearts” equals the phrase, “Peace, be still!” What I mean is this: When God said to the wind and the waves, “Peace, be still!” a miracle took place. The miraculous power of God’s Word calmed the sea. After all, the sea no longer had any reason to rage and foam with while its Lord and Creator stood in its midst. In the same way, God likewise says to you today, “Widen your hearts.” With these Words, another divine miracle occurs. Just as the miraculous power of God’s Word calms the sea, so also will the miraculous power of God’s Word will likewise widen your heart. After all, what do you have to fear? Why hide behind the restrictions of your own affections while your Lord and Creator stands near? God gave you His infinite and limitless love when Jesus died on the cross. Not only are your sins right now forgiven, not only has God continued to show His love to you right up to this day, but there plenty more forgiveness and love where that came from! God’s love for you will never run dry and His forgiveness will never abate. That means there is no longer any need for you or for me to restrict ourselves by our own affections. God gives you daily bread—everything you need to support this body and life. Whatever you give away, God is more than able to replace sevenfold. Whatever you lose, God is more than able to repay. “Peace, be still!” Do not fear! I cannot deny: I have not let [God’s] love have its way with me, and so my love for others has failed (LSB, 292). Praise be to God that He will not cease speaking His words to us! He says to us, “Widen your hearts,” just as He says to the wild elements, “Peace, be still!” If wind and wave are nothing to Him, than neither is my Jericho-heart. God will faithfully widen what we cannot. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
