*"God with Us: Yesterday, Today, Forever"*
St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
14th Sun. after Trinity--7th Sun. in Martyrs' Tide
St. Matthew 1:22-23; 28:18-20 (free texts)
September 21, 2014
*1:22 *Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord
through the prophet: *23 *"Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall
bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means,
"God with us."
*28:18 *And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. *19 *Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, *20 *teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
*IN NOMINE JESU*
There are a number of things we could focus on today as we celebrate
the Feast of St. Matthew. We could look at him as a former tax collector
who was also known as Levi, whom Jesus called to follow Him to be a
disciple and, later, apostle. We could look at the Gospel that bears his
name, its themes, and how it's organized. We could speculate on what
tradition holds on where he ministered and how he died. We could zero in
on all sorts of things, all worthwhile and edifying for us. Today we will
focus on a single Hebrew word that serves as bookends to his Gospel:
*Immanuel*, which means "God with us." We see this Immanuel theme in the
first and last chapters of Matthew's Gospel.
In the first chapter he recounts the angel's message to Joseph, that
Mary his virgin wife had conceived by the Holy Spirit and that the Child's
name would be Jesus, which means "*YHWH* saves." Matthew, under
inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, tells us that this fulfills the
prophecy of Isaiah 7, that the Child shall be called Immanuel. This Jesus,
the Word-become-flesh in St. John's Gospel, is the God-with-us in
Matthew's. Every Christmas we are reminded of the Incarnation and Immanuel
as we sing the hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," especially as we sing
this stanza: "Christ, by highest heav'n adored, Christ, the everlasting
Lord, Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled
in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity [John's reference]!
Pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel [Matthew's
reference]!" [LSB 380:2]. And in the last chapter of Matthew, Jesus, prior
to His ascension, sends out His disciples-turned-apostles (Matthew
included) to go and make disciples by baptizing and teaching, and He
promises them that, wherever they are, He will be with them always. Jesus
was their Teacher, their Lord, and their Immanuel. Just as He was for
them, Jesus is OUR Savior, OUR Lord, and OUR Immanuel. Jesus is OUR
God-with-us. God IS with us. As He was in the beginning, Jesus is with us
now, and He will be with us forever.
In a world full of sin and chaos, Jesus is with us, just as He has
promised in His Word. Yet there are times when all we see, hear, and feel
is the sin and chaos. The world in which we live is full of chaos because
it is full of sin. It is full of sin because we are full of sin, beginning
at the moment when we were conceived. As we were in the beginning, we are
sinners now, and we will be until we die. We have taken a bad thing (this
sinful world) and made it worse by our continued sinning. We by our sins
are part of this sinful world. God tells us in His Word that this is not
His will for us, that He calls us to live holy lives. Listen to Jesus as
He gives us His Sermon on the Mount. He spells it all out for us in black
and white--or red and white, depending on the Bible you have. We are
sinners and are unworthy of God's love, for we have sinned in thought,
word, and deed, and we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition. We
don't love God over all else; we don't love our neighbors as ourselves. We
contribute to our sin-and-chaos-filled world because we worry about what's
going to happen in our lives next. We worry about our grades, our finances
(or lack of them), this fall's harvest, our health, or even how we will
carry on after our loved ones have died. We worry because we lose sight of
the one thing needful and wonder where God is in the midst of all our
chaos. *Why isn't He with me?* we think. *If God is truly with me like He
says He is, why did He let this happen to me?* We worry, and our worry
turns to anger. We get mad, and we blame God for all the bad stuff that
happens for not being with us the way WE want Him to be here. We try to
be God's god, but He gives us a sure and certain reminder of who's who when
He says through the Psalmist, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be
exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (Ps. 46:10).
It is wonderful for us that God has been exalted. God has been
exalted in His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was lifted up on
the cross for us. Last Sunday we celebrated Holy Cross Day. In doing so,
we celebrated not that Jesus' cross was supposedly found, but we
celebrated, as we do each Lord's Day, that Jesus was exalted on the cross
and died in our place. Jesus said, "'And I, if I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men to Myself.' But He was saying this to indicate
the kind of death by which He was to die" (Jn. 12:32-33). On the cross
Jesus bled and died, winning for us the forgiveness of all our sins,
including those of our worrying and of our doubts of His presence among
us. Our Father in heaven turned His back on and forsook His only-begotten
Son on Good Friday to be with us, His children, into all eternity. By
Jesus' all-atoning sacrifice on the cross, He Himself was exalted and His
Father glorified, and we are forgiven, for He is with us. How is this so?
Jesus, once crucified and dead on the cross, is not there because His
work there was--and remains--finished. He is not there, for He has risen
from the dead! On the first day of the week, Jesus rose, victorious over
sin, death and the grave. Moved by the Holy Spirit, we are here each
Lord's Day to celebrate the weekly anniversary of His resurrection. Today
we celebrate this anniversary with a feast. In a few moments we, at our
Lord's gracious invitation, will feast on His body and blood. Here we are
in His house...and so is He! The Lord who on the cross gave His body and
shed His blood for you is here giving it to you. He has willingly and
willfully bound Himself to the bread and wine and will be with you here at
His table. I have even more good news for you: Your Lord and Savior has
been present with you the entire time here in His house. Christ, who was
present at your Baptism, has been here with us, gathered in His Name, "For
where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the
midst of them," He promises us (Mt. 18:20). God Himself is present,
forgiving you for His Son's sake in the Absolution, the Word read and
preached in your hearing, and in the body and blood of Christ. God is with
you as He places His Name on you in the Benediction. He is with you as you
leave here today as live your lives and your vocations. Christ is the calm
amidst our chaos, an ever-present Help in times of trouble, our
Immanuel--our God-with-us, as He has promised, "I will never leave you nor
forsake you" (Heb. 13:5), thanks be to God!
*SOLI DEO GLORIA*
--
The Rev. Mark A. Schlamann, Vacancy Pastor
Zion Lutheran Church (Harbine), Jansen, Nebraska
https://schlamannbloggen.wordpress.com
http://lcmssermons.com/Schlamann
https://facebook.com/ZionLutheranHarbine
"When you are baptized, partake of Holy Communion, receive the absolution,
or listen to a sermon, heaven is open, and we hear the voice of the
Heavenly Father; all these works descend upon us from the open heaven above
us. God converses with us, provides for us; and Christ hovers over us--but
invisibly. And even though there were clouds above us as impervious as iron
or steel, obstructing our view of heaven, this would not matter. Still we
hear God speaking to us from heaven; we call and cry to Him, and He answers
us. Heaven is open, as St. Stephen saw it open (Acts 7:55); and we hear God
when He addresses us in Baptism, in Holy Communion, in confession, and in
His Word as it proceeds from the mouth of the men who proclaim His message
to the people."--Martin Luther (1/19/1538 [LW 22:202])
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