Wednesday of Lent 1 To the Pure, All Things are Pure Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In the reading from Titus, God speaks Words that veritably separate day from night: “To the pure,” says the Lord, “all things are pure. To the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.” There is hardly any better way to describe God’s gift of office in our midst. Dear Christian friends, When God uses the Words “pure” and “undefiled” in this reading, He is not talking about sin. Yes, we daily sin and yes, our sin indicates our impurity. Even more to the point, we were each conceived and born in a condition of sin and impurity from which we cannot escape. But Christ Jesus has come into the world. · Christ Jesus gathered all impurity and all sin upon Himself, giving us His perfect purity and sinlessness in trade. (We received the better end of the deal.) · In order that we may be all the more confident of our eternal purity, Christ Jesus also baptized us into His death (Romans 6), so we would be put to death once and for all. Dead people commit no sins. Dead people are dead to sin. · What is more, we have also been joined in the promise of His resurrection. Because we no longer live, and because Christ now lives within us (Galatians 2:20), God the Father regards us as completely pure as Christ Himself is pure. Boil water, and the vapor that rises is pure. Put sin to death and the resurrection life that arises is likewise pure. · God promises us even more confidence. God speaks tenderly to us through the Gospel and He feeds us the pure food and drink of Holy Communion. These gifts have the one purpose of assuring us that in Christ we indeed have been purified from all sin, all impurity, all things that defile. So God is not talking about sin when He says “pure” and “undefiled” in this reading. God is talking about faith or unbelief. Because you believe, you are pure. If anyone should not believe, that person is defiled. “To the pure [to the believing ones], all things are pure. To the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.” The phrase “all things” indicates that those offices you and I have both been given are also pure. Regardless of what guilt we each carry in our person, our offices are high and holy and given by God. Again, to recall last week’s reading, our offices serve “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth.” Listen again the sweet and blessed news God speaks concerning your office and mine: “To the pure,” says the Lord, “all things are pure.” Why are these Words so sweet to hear? Because our offices are difficult. Our offices require sacrifices from us, and sacrifices are hard. Our offices continue, even when patience has been rubbed raw and strength seems to be near its end. Our offices might sometimes garner respect from other people, but they rarely contribute to our popularity. It is a sweet and blessed thing to hear our God proclaim, “To the pure all things are pure” because our offices do not look pure—or even clean, for that matter. As an analogy, think of a chicken. The best laying hens are not those with pristine feathers and clean feet. The best laying hens look a little dirty and worn out, like they don’t have much time for personal grooming. In much the same way, God says that our offices are likewise pure to those who are pure—and this in spite of the way we must often roll around in the mud. For example, · More than one mom or dad has been pooped-upon by a child, and not merely in infancy. · More than one pastor must take the brunt of somebody else’s anger or apathy toward God. · More than one employer has dumped all kinds of money and time into their employees, only to have the employees resent them and steal from them. No one’s office is pretty. For you and for me and for everyone else who shares the pure faith that God has given, everyone’s office is pure. “To the pure all things are pure.” _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
