The Lifestyle of the Truly Rich and Famous

The Lord has taught you that your life is not in your own hands.  Accumulating possessions, and building bigger barns to keep them in, won’t save you; nor will it preserve your life one minute more than God permits you.  You could die at any time, on any given night; perhaps on this day.

So, if you take that to heart, you may be tempted to despair of any point or purpose to your life, or else to become frantic with worry and anxiety over what little time and opportunity you have.

It would seem a shame for you to die before you have a chance to enjoy all your nice stuff.  But, what happens if your stuff runs out before you die?  And you’re left hungry, homeless, and alone?

Have you saved enough?  Have you invested wisely?  Are your insurance and retirement adequate?  Are you the grasshopper or the ant?  When the days get dark and the cold comes, will you be okay?

If wealth and riches cannot save you, the lack of food and clothing may do you in.  You do have to eat and drink in order to live, and you do have to wear something, leastwise in the wintertime.

With food and clothing, you are to be content, the Scripture teaches.  But you may find that food and clothing are not so easy to come by, and that your life is consumed and spent in getting even that much.  Just keeping up with the meals and the laundry can be a full-time, never-ending job!

It may be that you are living hand-to-mouth, and having to make do with less than ideal means.

Or, maybe you actually have a more-than-adequate wardrobe, and better-than-average meals, and really more than enough to survive; and yet, you’re not content, but restless and hungry for more.  You may not understand why, but you find that you are still driven to acquire and accumulate, to accomplish and achieve; that you are never satisfied, but insatiable in your appetite.

You’d be inclined to agree with Jesus, that “life is more than food, the body more than clothing.”  But you’re hard pressed to say what the “more” might be, which will finally put your heart and mind at ease.  Far less are you able to find it or lay hold of it for yourself.

Learn, then, from your Lord, what your life is, and where it is found, and how you may have it.

Jesus teaches you, first of all, what not to do with your life, your time and energy: Do not worry, He says, nor spend yourself seeking the temporal wants and needs of this body and life on earth.  Rather, live like a carefree child in your Father’s home.  You know how that is.  Young children don’t worry about where their clean clothes or their next meal are going to come from; they simply trust and take for granted that their Mom and Dad are going to provide whatever they need.  That is how it is for you, too, and that is how you are to live: without stressing about your basic needs.

That doesn’t mean that you should be lazy or negligent in your duties.  As children grow, they are given chores to do, by which they are able to contribute to the life of their household and family.  So, too, God has given you the labors and responsibilities of your particular place and position; just as the birds and the flowers do exactly as much and as little as God has given them to do.

There’s a difference between using your God-given intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom to plan and prepare for your day and the days ahead, and falling into the anxious worry that Jesus here warns you against.  It’s a matter of doing your own job, whatever it may be, in peace and quiet, and of not attempting to do what isn’t your job, and not agonizing over that which you can’t do.

It’s a bit like the difference between driving a car and riding in a plane: Your life is in the Lord’s hands, either way, but, as a driver, you’re responsible for operating the vehicle safely and with due caution, whereas, if you are an airline passenger, there’s nothing for it but to sit back and ride.

So, then, stop fretting and fussing about your body and life, about your meals and your wardrobe.  First of all, because there is far more to real life than food and clothing; and, by that, Jesus doesn’t mean the wealth and riches that you covet and the world chases after, but the forgiveness of your sins, the resurrection of your body, and the life everlasting of your body and soul with the Lord.

The second reason not to be anxious and worry, is that it doesn’t do any good: It’s actually another case and example of your self-idolatry, by which you suppose that you can make life for yourself.  But you can’t.  You can only live the life that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has given you.  So, live that life; do what you’re given to do, as you can; and don’t worry about what you can’t.

The third reason Jesus gives for not being anxious and afraid about your life, is that the Lord your God is taking care of you: He knows your needs and well provides them.  For He is your Father, and you are His dear child.  And He is your Good Shepherd, who loves you, His own little lamb.  He’s not going to forget about you, nor lose track of you, nor leave you without what you need.

Therefore, instead of seeking after temporal, perishable things, which is a waste of your life, and a waste of your time and energy, Jesus teaches you to seek the Kingdom of His God and Father, in which you have life forever, and all good things are yours, by His grace.

This “seeking” of which the Lord speaks is not like playing “hide and seek,” but it is the setting of your heart and mind on that which is most important to you, and the investing of yourself with single-minded purpose in that which you value more than anything else: Like a man in love, whose every breath, every thought, and every action is ruled by his passion for that one girl.  Except that such devotion belongs, by rights, only to the Holy Triune God: In every other case, it is idolatry.

But how do you go about seeking the Kingdom of God?  It is by faith, and not by sight; and faith is by the preaching of Christ.  You cannot find it on your own, but the Word of the Lord comes to you: God the Father speaks to you by His Son, and thereby gives to you His Holy Spirit, so that, by His grace, you believe His Holy Word, and you begin to live a godly life according to it.

The Kingdom of God is not something you can see or experience with your outward senses in this fallen world.  You hear it and know it, and you have it, by faith in the Word and promises of God: under the Cross, in apparent contradiction, in foolishness and weakness.  Sin and death continue, in yourself and in your neighbor.  So, it may seem as though God’s promises were null and void, or as though He had forgotten all about them.  Or, they may simply seem so impossible and contrary to fact, that they couldn’t be true, as sometimes seemed to be the case with Abram.

Consider the ravens and the lilies, for example, as the Lord Jesus urges you to do.  He tells you that God cares far more for you than for those birds and flowers, and that He will therefore feed you and clothe you, as He does them.  And yet, if even the great King Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these, then neither are you clothed as beautifully as the lilies are; not in this life.  And, whereas the ravens neither sow nor reap, concerning people God has said, “by the sweat of your brow shall you eat from the ground,” and again, “if anyone will not work, let him not eat.”

Besides all that, it is also the case that birds fall to the ground; the grass withers; the flower dies.  And surely the people are like grass, which burns, all their glory like the flower that fades away.

There is a need to distinguish the good life which God gives to you here and now — for it, too, is from His hand, and by His grace; and it is good, to be received with thanksgiving, and sanctified by His Word and prayer — but this temporary earthly life must be distinguished from the divine, eternal Life that God gives to you forever, by the Cross, through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord.  It is not your life and your experience on earth, but the Word of the Lord, which endures forever.

Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, therefore, by hearing and heeding His Word, as He comes to you in the preaching of His Gospel.  Listen to it, cling to it, and live according to it.  Use the Law rightly by letting it curb your sin and guide your behavior, and, above all, by using it to examine yourself, your heart and mind, your thoughts, words, and actions, and by confessing your sin and seeking the forgiveness of the Gospel.  So also, then, receive and trust the Gospel.

You seek the Kingdom of God, and you find that it is yours, by receiving it from His open hand; for He has chosen gladly to give it to you, and He does.  Whatever you have in this body and life is by His grace, in, with, and under the Cross.  And by the Gospel is the promise and the foretaste of the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting of your body and soul.

The Lord your God has gladly given you His Kingdom, by clothing you with the righteousness of Christ, and with Christ Himself, in the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism.  And He has chosen gladly to give you His Kingdom, by feeding you with the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion.  Such are the garments that do not wear out or get eaten by moths.  Such is the Food that does not perish, but which bestows eternal Life with God.  And if God so covers you and fills you with His own dear Son, shall He not also provide you with every good thing?

That is why you are free to let go of your possessions, and free to love and serve your neighbor with whatever God has given you: with steady confidence, and without fear, anxiety, or worry.

This is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you, that you might have everlasting life in Him:  He has sought the Kingdom of His God and Father, in order to bestow it upon you in peace.  His clothing is the Holy Spirit, and His food and drink are the doing of His Father’s will: He has lived by every Word that His Father has spoken to Him, in order to fulfill the Father’s Word for you.

It was for Him, in the flesh, as it is for you under the Cross; that is, by faith in the promise, and not by sight.  He trusted that His Father would feed Him, even while He fasted in the wilderness and suffered the assaults and accusations of the devil.  By faith, He took the Cup that His Father gave Him to drink, in the Garden of Gethsemane, although He knew that it was filled with wrath and judgment, and with the curse of sin and death.  He entrusted His body and life to His God, in the confidence of the resurrection.  When He was stripped naked and hung up to die in public shame, He trusted that His Father would raise Him up in glory, vindicate Him openly, and clothe Him in the beauty of His own divine holiness.  When the Hour came, He was found ready and waiting.

This is how the Kingdom of God has come, and how it is now given to you: In the flesh and blood of the Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead; given and poured out for you at His Table.

When He teaches you to seek the Kingdom, He is not sending you on some great impossible quest to the ends of the earth, to infinity and beyond.  No, He is simply calling your attention to what is already here for you, to what is spoken into your ear, to what is given into your mouth and body.  He teaches you to seek the very thing that He and His Father and His Spirit delight to give you!

Oh, how blessed you are, dear child of God!  For here you are found in the House of your Father.  You need not worry about what you will eat and drink, nor about what you will wear.  For all you need has been provided.  Your Father has sacrificed the Passover Lamb: See, His Blood now marks your door.  Death shall not rob you of your life, nor snatch you from this Sanctuary.  But, rather, behold, the Lamb who was slain, He lives!  He who has departed, has returned and entered in.

Now He girds Himself to serve you.  Now He bids you to recline and be at peace.  Have no fear!  Now He cleanses you with His Word of forgiveness.  Now He anoints your head with the Oil of His Spirit.  Now His Cup is overflowing, no longer with the wrath of God, but with His blessing and His free and full Salvation.  Now His Flesh and Blood are your Meat and Drink indeed.  Now are you clothed and fed.  Come, beloved little lamb of Christ: Enter into the joy of your Master!

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Set Your Heart and Mind on Christ

Blessed are those who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works of faith and love do follow them in Christ, into His Resurrection and the life everlasting.

But he who dies with the most toys . . . dies . . . and all his toys will go to someone else: to family, friend, foe, or stranger.  Perhaps they will go to his children, who will foolishly fight over them.

Beloved, beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed.  The Lord has warned you, and His Apostle, St. Paul, has told you what such greed amounts to: It is idolatry, the worship of false gods.  So has Dr. Luther taught in his catechisms, too, that, whatever it is that you trust in, whatever you long for and depend upon, whatever you desire and look to for help and happiness, that is your god.  Whether it is something you already hold in your hand, or horde in your barns, or that which you crave and covet in your neighbor.

Maybe it is money, or maybe it is some other kind of wealth and riches.  Maybe it’s your spouse, or your children, or your neighbor’s family, or the apparent freedom of those who have no family.  Maybe it’s medals and trophies.  Maybe it’s friendship and popularity.  Maybe it’s some talent.

Your sinful heart is able to make a false god out of anything, or anyone, including the good gifts of God: Not wealth or riches, but greed and covetousness of every kind are the problem at hand.  In striving after such idols, in sweating bullets to stockpile and safeguard the idols you’ve got, you turn your heart and mind away from the true and only God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and you turn away from your neighbor, as well, even while using your neighbor to stock your barns with stuff.  For such unfaithfulness the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.

Your idolatry is not only sinful and wrong; it is foolish and self-defeating.  In being consumed with yourself and your stuff, you are finally consumed.  It’s already consuming you in the meantime, because putting your trust in perishable and passing things cannot provide you with peace or rest.  Even late at night, you won’t be able to sleep well if your god is not the Lord: No matter how smart you are, no matter how savvy and skilled, no matter how long and hard you work, and no matter how careful you may be, with insurance and security in place, it’s still a losing game, and it’s only a matter of time before your soul shall be required of you.

Therefore, do not look for life in your possessions, and do not spend your life storing up treasures for yourself on earth.  Repent of all your greed, and die to yourself, to your selfishness and lust.

To die in this way is not a matter of despair, but of turning away from your false gods — beginning with yourself — and turning to the one true God in Jesus Christ your Lord.  Both false belief and unbelief alike are foolishness, but wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord: in the Cross of Christ.

It is the case that, what appears wise in the eyes of the world, is foolish in the sight of God; and what appears foolish to the world, is the real wisdom of God in Christ the Crucified.  Set your eyes and ears, your heart and mind on Him.  Lift up your heart unto the Lord, and keep seeking those things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the Right Hand of God.  That’s where your life is.

Christ Jesus is your Life: True God in the flesh, who has given Himself for you in His death upon the Cross; who has risen from the dead, never to die again, but to live and reign for all eternity.

His Vineyard and His Field bear the abundant Fruits of His Cross and Passion: not for Himself, but to the Glory of His God and Father, and for the good of all His neighbors, including even you.  It is for this reason that He has built His one Holy Christian Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, upon the Ministry of the Gospel, even to the ends of the earth.

He is not a miser, but the true Philanthropist, the true Lover of souls and the Charity of God.  For He did not count His divinity as something to be hoarded for His own perpetual enjoyment, but He humbled Himself, and poured Himself out, and made Himself nothing, in order to save all the poor, miserable sinners of the world.  Though He was rich with all the wealth of Paradise, He made Himself poor and wretched, despised and rejected, in order to give you the inheritance of heaven.

For you and for the many, He has stored up all the treasures of His Kingdom with God the Father in the heavenly places.  But, so also, by His Word and Holy Spirit, He has stored up these same treasures in His Church on earth, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the Word of Holy Absolution, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and in the Holy Communion, so that you may eat, drink, and live.

This, too, is from the hand of God.  For who can eat and drink or have enjoyment without Him?

Therefore, pray and work, as He has taught you, not for the bread which perishes, but for the true and living Bread of Christ, which does not perish but gives you everlasting Life in body and soul.

And as you are thus fed and nourished by the Gospel of your dear Lord Jesus Christ, be satisfied and content with whatever else He gives you in this poor life of labor.  And “be rich toward God.”

Okay, then.  But what on earth does that mean?

The Lord God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Maker and Preserver of all things, He doesn’t need your stuff: Actually, it isn’t “your stuff,” anyway, but His to begin with.  Return thanks to Him for all His gifts and benefits, and use His stuff to glorify His Holy Name by using it according to His Word.

Really, to “be rich toward God” does not mean giving anything to Him, but to look to Him for all good things; to call upon His Name with confidence that He will hear and answer; and to receive with gratitude whatever He gives into your hand.  It is to live by faith in Christ your Savior.  And, with such faith, you are “rich toward God,” also, by your charity and generosity toward others.

That is how the Lord has taught His people to live: Not to glean your vineyards and your fields to the ground, but to leave what remains for the poor of the land to receive from His gracious hand.  To store up the abundance He provides on Friday for the Sabbath Rest of your entire household; not only for your own family, but also for your workers.  And to reap whatever He sows and brings forth, not for your merriment and ease, but for the feeding of the hungry when famine comes.

He would not have brothers and sisters divided by greed and competition for things that perish, but united in faith and love, and united in all things — as the early Church had all things in common.

Whatever the Lord your God has put into your hands, whether a little or a lot, He has entrusted it to you as a stewardship of His grace, in order to provide for all your needs of body and soul, because He loves you; and to serve your neighbor, as well, as an instrument of His providence.

The greatest wealth of all, in this mortal life in a fallen world, is the free forgiveness of all sins, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  That is the “judgment” and “arbitration” that He has been appointed to give, for which He has received all authority in heaven and on earth: To forgive sins by His Cross and Passion, and to justify the ungodly with the righteousness of His Resurrection.  That is the “coin of the realm,” the chief currency of the Kingdom of God in this life on earth.

So, then, not only do you feed and clothe your neighbor, and shelter the homeless, and visit the prisoner, as the Lord provides you with the ways and means and opportunities to do all of these things; but you also forgive your neighbor his sins against you, as the Lord Jesus forgives you.

For He has not simply come to visit you in the prison house of your sin and death, but He has set you free by His Word of the Gospel.  He has opened His hand to fill your hands with Himself and His Life, and with all the good things of God.  You need not waste your time chasing after wind, because He has poured out the Holy Spirit generously upon you, and has filled you with the Spirit.

You need not be shackled and chained by the relentless pursuit of perishable things, which cannot give you life or save you; because you have already died to yourself and to your foolish idolatry, and you are daily raised up to newness of life with the Holy Triune God.  He has not coveted your soul, as though to rob you of anything, but He has called you in body and soul to Himself, in order to bestow His blessed peace and Sabbath rest upon you.  That is what He gives to you in this Meal.

You have heard His Word and promise: Your life is hidden with Christ in God.  You could not be more safe and secure than you are there!  For though your life is hidden under the Cross, and it is hard to see, except by faith; nevertheless, it is real, sure, and certain in Christ Jesus, who has risen from the dead and lives forever.  Such is the wisdom of God.  He is your Life, who shall not fail you; who shall never be taken away from you, nor you from Him.  He lives and reigns within you, by the Word and Spirit of His Gospel, and His good works in you now follow after Him in peace.

Here, then, take your rest.  Eat and drink, dear friend of God, and rejoice now in the labors of your Lord, who loves you.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sharing the Glory of Christ the Crucified

Our dear Lord Jesus Christ has come to serve you (and all people) by giving His life as a Ransom for the many, and by sharing His life with you by the ways and the means of His Cross.  What is more, this self-sacrificing love and humble service of Jesus, the Christ, even unto death upon the Cross, is the true greatness of His divine glory.  For He chooses, in His grace and mercy, for the sake of His divine and holy love, to give Himself for you, to forgive you all your sins, and to give you life and salvation with Himself forever.

In turn, for you to receive all of this great divine service of His — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word — that is your true greatness and your glory as a Christian disciple of Christ Jesus; which is, for now, paradoxically hidden under the Cross and suffering in this poor life of labor.

To be sure, none of this makes any sense to the world, which measures everything by its standards of power and might, of popularity, position, and prestige, and by the criteria of wealth and fame.  The world, therefore, simply cannot understand this Lord Jesus and His glory: It does not think as He thinks, nor does it perceive or know what is the divine truth of the matter.  And, that is likewise your predicament, as well; for your thoughts are not His thoughts, nor are your ways His ways.

Ask yourself: What is it that you want from Jesus?  What do you want Him to do for you?  What sort of Savior are you looking for?  One who forgives your sins and gives you life, by and with the Cross?  Or one who makes your life on earth happier, easier, and more carefree and comfortable?

In your heart of hearts, what is it that you’re really after?  And what do you presume to deserve?

If you are not bold enough to ask for it straight up, then think about how jealous and resentful you become of  your neighbor and of the gifts that he or she has received (but which you have not).

How often are you driven by pride, by selfishness and greed, by envy and jealousy, by covetous lust for what you have not been given (though such coveting is really nothing less than idolatry)?

How quickly do you put yourself forward and reach out your hand to take this or that for yourself?  Or do you, instead, harbor bitterness against those others, those neighbors of yours who do take that sort of initiative, for fear that someone else is getting something that you’re missing out on?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it should not be so among you.  Such desires and such impulses in you, are not the fruits of faith and love, but of sin.  Indeed, they are destructive of faith and love.

Do not suppose yourself to be cheated or ill-treated, and do not listen to the lies of the devil, who would have you despair of God’s love and favor toward you.  Nor regard God’s love so lightly.  For His great heart of Love is fully opened to you in the Cross of Christ, the incarnate Son.  That is where you find and know the greatness and glory of God, which He shares with you by grace.

Consider, then, the example of St. James, the son of Zebedee, even though you do not find him at his best in this particular Holy Gospel: From a human point of view, you can surely understand his (and his brother’s) request.  Depending on your own personality and sinful tendencies, you may be tempted either to sympathize with him, or to be indignant toward him (like the other disciples).

But, for all his faults and flaws and weaknesses, and even in the face of his martyrdom — indeed, precisely there, in his suffering and death for the sake of the Gospel — St. James has been glorified by and with His Crucified and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

He was cut down in the prime of life, not only the first of the Twelve to be martyred, but the only one of the Apostles to be martyred within the record of the New Testament; yet, this was his glory, and part of his own particular calling as an Apostle, that is, to serve in the Name of Christ Jesus, and finally to suffer and die for Him Who died for us all and was raised again for our justification.

Not every Christian is called to such a martyrdom; it belongs only to those for whom it has been prepared.  Take comfort in this, that not one of His dear children suffers and dies, nor even a single hair falls to the ground, without your Father’s knowledge, perfect wisdom, and gracious care.

Whether you will finally be put to the sword, or crucified, or burned at the stake, or shot to death for the Name of Christ that you bear — or if you live a hundred years on earth before you depart — you are given the vocation of discipleship, that is, to carry the Cross of Christ in your own place and position (whether you be great or small in the eyes of the world, or in your own eyes).

Whatever your stats may be, your real greatness and true glory are not to be found in yourself, in what you acquire, accomplish, or achieve in this world.  No, your greatness and your glory are Christ Jesus, the Crucified One, who gives Himself to you in love, by His grace alone.  It is in Him, therefore, by faith in His Word, by the wisdom and the working of His Holy Spirit, that you walk in the way that is set before you; whether for life or death, come hell or high water against you.

If you are not called to the martyrdom of bodily suffering and death for the Name of Jesus Christ, be sure of this, that you are in fact called to the daily martyrdom of repentance — whereby you are returned to your Holy Baptism into the one Lord, Jesus Christ: into His Cross and Resurrection.

It is by your Baptism that you are His, and that you live with Him in His Kingdom; even now by grace through faith in Him, and hereafter in the resurrection of your body to the life everlasting.

Likewise, in the new and better Passover of the Holy Communion, you are given to eat the Body of Christ Jesus, which He sacrificed for you upon the Cross; and you do drink His Cup:

For Him, it was the Cup of God’s wrath, the bearing of God’s holy anger and righteous judgment against the sins of the whole world, and the suffering of the due punishment for all of your sins.

But, as He has drained that Cup to the dregs in His Passion, He has filled it for you with His holy and precious Blood; which He now pours out for you (and for the many), for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for life and salvation with Him in the glory of His Kingdom forever and ever.

It is the administration of this Divine Service, the Ministry of the Gospel-Word and Sacraments, that St. James was privileged to serve in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus for a little while — until his faithful service was filled up and completed in the witness of his death and bloodshed.

The same Divine Service of the same Lord Jesus Christ still continues: as it did back then, by and for the Twelve Apostles, so also here and now for you.  Because the Son of Man, who lived and died and rose again, continues to come, not to be served but to serve, to give Himself, to give life, for you and for the many.  To Him be all the glory, honor and praise, both now and forevermore.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The One Who Shows Mercy Is Your Neighbor

Eternal Life is not a destination, but a journey.  It is not something to accomplish or achieve, but a gift that is given by God, received by His grace, and lived by faith in His Word.  It is not a place to arrive at, but a path to follow, as the Lord lays it before you and provides all that is required.

If the prospect of such an ongoing, neverending journey seems daunting or exhausting to you, then you, like the lawyer who put Jesus to the test, are thinking of eternal life in the wrong way and approaching it in sin instead of faith.

That’s the fatal flaw in your desire and all of your attempts to justify yourself.  Not only can you not do it, but you’ll wear yourself out and kill yourself trying.  You cannot give yourself life; nor can you make life for yourself, nor keep it forever by any power, reason, wisdom, or strength of your own.  You did not decide to be conceived and born, and you would not have survived beyond your birth without others to feed and clothe and care for you.  It never ceases to be the case that your daily bread, and all that you need for this body and life, is provided by the Holy Triune God.  Every breath, and every bite, is from His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.

That much is true, even for temporal life in this fallen and perishing world, in which the Lord still causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good.  He gives seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, by His grace, whether with or without man’s petition and praise.  But He has taught you to pray, to look to Him, as a child to your dear Father, that you would realize and rely upon His grace and goodness toward you, and so live by faith in Him, and learn to love Him above all other gods.  It is not a matter of somehow getting life for yourself, but of learning to live the life that He is giving you.

So much more is it the case, that eternal life derives entirely and only from the Holy Triune God.  For He alone is the Author and Giver of Life, because He alone is the Living God, who not only has but is Life in Himself.  There is no eternal Life at all, except that of the Lord: the divine Life of the true and only God.  All attempts to manufacture or manipulate that Life for yourself are nothing else but futile forms of self-idolatry.  Your efforts to justify and save yourself, therefore, are not only selfish, but utterly sinful and self-defeating.

If you would have eternal life, and live it, then let God be God, and learn to know and love Him above all else with every part and aspect of yourself: with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Whatever part of you is not fully invested in Him, and found in Him, will not live forever, but will perish.  For you cannot live a life that you don’t have, and you have no life at all — not really, not now nor ever — except from God.

The good news is that He freely and richly gives you His own Life by grace, by His Word and Spirit, in and with and through the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  So, the question at hand, or, at least, the question Jesus actually answers, is not of how you get life or come to have it, but of how you now live it.  He does not give you directions to some far off, distant destination, but He defines and describes the journey, that is, the path of life, which is lived by faith in the grace of God.

To live the divine, eternal Life, which is from God, is to live with God and for God, and to live as God lives: It is to love Him as the Living and Life-giving One, and to love your neighbor, as the Lord your God loves both you and your neighbor, with divine grace.

To ask about limits, parameters, or boundaries on such love, is already to be off track and on a different path.  It is already to have turned your heart and mind away from God to yourself, and at the same time, in the same way and to the same extent, to withhold yourself from your neighbor: to love yourself instead of your neighbor.  It is to see him, and then to look away from him, to pass him by on the other side of the road, and to carry on with “your own life” and your own pursuits.

That’s what happens when you perceive eternal life as a destination you’re trying to reach, rather than a journey you’re already on by God’s grace.  Then everything has to be calculated, measured, weighed, and evaluated, as to whether it will help or hinder your progress, and whether or not you can “afford” the time, energy, or money it takes.

How, then, do you look at your neighbor and think about him and his need?  Is he a distraction, a nuisance, or a burden?  Or perhaps a means to some end?  A rung on the ladder, or a stepping stone, by which you will earn brownie points and justify yourself?  Or is he an object of mercy and compassion?  Do you perceive that your neighbor’s pain, his hurt, his poverty and hunger, are a blessed Cross for you to bear, which belongs to your living the divine, eternal life along the way?

The trouble is, that you’ve already set your goals and made your plans, right?  You’ve plotted out your day, scheduled your week, and figured out the month with its bills and appointments, its obligations and its fun times.  You’ve got your “New Year’s resolutions,” which, by now, you’ve forgotten, given up, reaffirmed, or revised.  But, the point is, you’re mapping out your path: both your short-term and long-term goals, your five-year plan, your bucket list.  And, you’ve set your sight on some destination.  So, you get up, and you set off down the road to make your way.

Except that, not even your own life is in your own hands, much less the whole wide world and all your neighbors in it.  “As God so wills,” you’ll do this or that, as St. James teaches you to think and say and pray.  Deo volente.  What, then, do you actually encounter on the way?

The bandits and robbers who beset you are numerous and varied.  They are legion, we might say.  Not only coming at you from all around, but also within, as your own addictions, bad habits, frailties, fears, and weaknesses trip you up and bring you down.

Or else, maybe you’re not attacked or hindered like that, but you happen upon someone else who has been.  Then what?  What do you do, or not do?  And what of the consequences, either way?  What will it mean for you, for your plans, for your life and your destination, if you stop and stay and stick around to help?  Or if you keep on going?

Over the centuries, all kinds of explanations and excuses have been offered, as to why the priest and Levite chose not to help the man who fell into the robbers’ hands.  But, make no mistake, they should have helped him.  What the Samaritan then did, with compassion for the man, was the good and right thing to do; the godly thing to do.  It wasn’t too much.  It wasn’t over the top, above and beyond the call of duty.  It was what duty called for.  It was to live the divine, eternal life, as it was laid out before him.  And so should you “go and do the same,” as you are met with the needs of others.

But in this way, you are set upon, as much by the burden and the cross of your neighbor and his needs, as you are by the burden and the cross of your own sin and death.  In helping your neighbor, your time, energy, and resources are spent and used up, as surely as the robbers would have taken them from you.  Or, if you decide not to help, your conscience besets you with guilt and shame for having turned away from your neighbor.  Then you are attacked and accused, not only by the devil and the world, but by the Law of God: For you are to love and serve Him, who is your Lord, with all that you are and have; and, because of who He is, because He is the Lord, you are to love and serve your neighbor in the same way that you cherish and care for yourself.

So, then, think of what that means: When you are the man who has fallen among robbers, and you’ve been stripped and beaten, and you are left behind, dying in the ditch by the side of the road, you do whatever you can, whatever is in your power, to save yourself.  So, too, for your neighbor, whether he be friend or foe, or a total stranger: You are to do whatever you can to save him.

And when you are finally forced to realize that you can’t: that you can't save your neighbor or yourself; that the need is too great, the hurt is too big, the situation too desperate and beyond your ability to rectify, then you must die altogether: die to yourself, to your sin, to your strength, to everything.

You cannot justify yourself.  Your inability is no excuse, but confirmation of the fact.  You cannot do anything to capture life and keep it for yourself.  You are half dead already, and the only reason — the only reason — that you are not all the way dead, is that God has given and preserved your life thus far.  There is no “destination” of your own devising, but only the path on which the Lord has put you, and the point to which He has brought you.  Each moment is your “Ebenezer,” in which you are given to live or die; not by your own reason or strength, but by the grace of God.

Stop thinking of your neighbor as a nuisance and a bother.  He is not an interruption on your way to finding life, but caring for his need is exactly the life that God has given you to live right now.  “Justify God,” therefore, by acknowledging His Wisdom and His Righteousness; and so receive eternal Life from His hand, and learn from Him how to live it.

From the beginning, Christians have recognized Christ Jesus in the Good Samaritan, and that is most certainly true.  For here is the New Man who has come down from heaven from God, the almighty and eternal Son of the Father, conceived and born of His Virgin Mother.  Here is the Love of God, Who is the Life and Light of all men.  He has seen you, in love, from before the foundation of the world, and has been moved in the depths of His being by compassion for you, to come and help you, to act heroically on your behalf, and to save you from sin, death, and hell.

He is the Man who has lived the divine, eternal Life in the flesh, for you and for all people, while one and all of you were still at enmity with Him.  He has given Himself for you, and poured Himself out in order to fill you up with His own Life and health and strength and every good thing.  In order to do so, He has taken your place under the Cross, under your burden of sin and death.  He has borne your grief and carried your sorrows.  He has been wounded by and with and for your transgressions, so that, by His stripes and scars, you are healed and made whole.

He comes, not only as the Good Samaritan, but to become the beaten, bruised, and bloodied Man, who has suffered the fullness of death at the hands of sinners.  For He has thus borne your sins in His own Body, even as He now bears you up in His arms, upon His back, and across His shoulders, in order to bring you home rejoicing to His God and Father in heaven.

The Lord is your divine, eternal “destination,” who has come to be with you, to abide with you in your misery and hurt, and so also to journey with you on the path of life laid out before you.

He has brought you here, to this Inn, where He cares for you and provides for all your needs; where He raises you from the dead and strengthens you in body and soul, unto the life everlasting.  He spares no expense in serving you.  Not with silver and gold, but with His holy and precious blood He has redeemed you, ransomed and won you for life with Himself in His Kingdom; and even now to minister the balm of His Gospel, in order to cleanse and heal you.

By all these ways and means, the Lord your God, your Savior Jesus Christ, has befriended you and has become your Neighbor.  That is the answer to the lawyer’s question, though he knew not what he was asking: “Who, then, is your neighbor?”  Jesus is: the One who has shown mercy to you.

As God has thus become your Neighbor in Christ Jesus, so are you now able to love God by loving your neighbor: Because God loves you with all His heart, soul, mind and strength; the Lord your God loves you, and He has rescued you and set you free; He has become true Man, and has bound Himself to your neighbor and his need, as also to you and yours.  It is one Lord Jesus Christ who has become all in all, who is at hand in your neighbor to help you in your hurt, and so also in your neighbor who needs help, so that you now love and serve the Lord in him.

Everything is provided for you.  The Lord Jesus has it covered.  Nothing is lacking for the journey.  Nothing can hurt you anymore forever; nor can anyone rob you of the life that is given to you freely by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

See, here are the two denarii that He has placed into my hands, to care for you as your pastor: His Body given, and His Blood poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  Where there is forgiveness of sins, there also is eternal life for you.  Whatever may yet seem to be lacking, He will fully restore and openly reveal when He returns in Glory at the last.  He is the Lord, and He is faithful: He will do it.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

This Great Mystery Is of Christ

Lots of questions in the air and on the news these days, concerning marriage, what it is, what it means, and what it’s for.  So, what is it all about?  What is the reason for which God gives this woman to this man?  For, make no mistake, it is the Lord who has created Anna and brought her to this point, who now gives her to Ben.  But, why, and what for?  Why does this son now become a husband?  For what reason and what purpose does this daughter become a wife?

If you polled the room, and if you got the honest answers from each person’s own heart and mind, you’d span the entire gamut with a tangled mess of mixed feelings, conflicted emotions, and competing opinions.  Everything from fairy tale romance and schmalzy nostalgia, to bitterness, resentment, and cynical despair.  As they say, “it’s complicated,” and all so confusing.

Except that none of that chaos defines or determines what marriage really is.  You need a better GPS than that to know where you’re going and how to get there.  And I don’t just mean for these two young people who are getting married, but for each and all of you, whether you are already married, were married, want to get married, or would live a chaste and celibate life, unmarried.

It is not good for the man to be alone; but God is good, and He is with you with His grace and goodness in whatever place He has called you to be.  Not least of all in this good gift of marriage, of the woman for the man, the man for his wife: So, too, with Anna for Ben, and Ben for Anna.

Marriage is not merely a legal formality, nor simply a human custom and tradition.  It is not a man-made thing.  The rites and ceremonies of holy matrimony are, in fact, the Word and work of God, which actually make this man and woman to be, henceforth, husband and wife.  Here the Lord Himself joins them together as one, and sanctifies them, by His Word and Holy Spirit.

He does this in His love, and for their good, for their mutual joy and blessing, to the glory of His holy Name.  The marriage rite has already declared, on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, the several purposes of this blessed estate, which collectively belong to the Image and Likeness of God in the union of the man and his wife: To be comrades, first of all, that is, partners in life, friends together on a common road.  And then, in that companionship, not only to be alongside each other on the same journey, but also to be face to face and heart to heart, united in the intimacy of spirit, soul, and body, to find comfort, compassion, and passion uniquely in one another.  Out of which, as the Lord so wills and graciously provides, their love for each other bears fruit after its own kind and is multiplied in the bearing of children, and in caring for them as the dear Lord cares for us all.

Sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t it?  And, truly, it is.  But we are not naive, nor ignorant of the hurts and fears, the burdens, challenges, and difficulties of marriage in this fallen world.  This ain’t no Disney princess movie, Cinderella!  Adam & Eve didn’t go riding off into the sunset, but were driven out of Paradise on account of their sin.  The curse lay heavy upon them, and upon their children’s children to the present generation.  The marriage rite, therefore, realistically expresses, not only the godly purposes of marriage, but also its inevitable termination: “Til death parts us,” that is the limit of what you can promise to each other.  Ben, you and your family have already known that, painfully.  Fathers and mothers do not always live to see their children get married and have families of their own.  To paraphrase the Prophet:  The food spoils, and the wine runs out.

Even before death comes, mortal life in this perishing world is always dying; and that means more than sickness and infirmity.  Even the best of human efforts will still fail, fall short, and fall apart.  Some marriages do not end with death, but in divorce.  Other marriages persist, but are unhappy.  You already know this, I’m sure.  It’s no surprise, really, that so many are so jaded about marriage.

No, we’re not naive, nor ignorant.  But, of course, you know that I’m not saying all of this out loud to discourage you or put a damper on this day.  On the contrary, we stand here today, before God and the whole world, to rejoice and give thanks for the goodness of marriage, and to face down sin, death, the devil, and hell with the Word and promises of the Lord.  For while it is true that all the sons and daughters of Adam die, it is also true that Christ has died, and He has risen from the dead.

So, then, approach and address the hardships that you’ll face, and every aspect of your marriage, with all its ups and downs and highs and lows, with all its joys and sorrows, with the Word of the Gospel of Christ, and by faith in that Holy Gospel.  That means listening, to start with, to His Word and the preaching of it; and, then, as you have heard, so also speak and sing, pray and confess the Word of Christ, to and for and with each other.  And, whatever He says to you, do it.

Ben, love Anna, even when she’s not so lovely and loveable as she is today.  Make her beautiful with your loving devotion to her, and with your faithful delight in her.  Forgive her sins, overlook her faults, and bear with her in love, as you bear her burdens in patience and peace.  Set aside your own desires, in order to comfort and take care of her.  When Satan would beguile her with his sly temptations and his brutal accusations, take up the Sword of the Spirit to defend and protect her.  Do not stand by silently while she is slain, but breathe Life into her by the Word of the Gospel.

Anna, entrust yourself to Ben, and learn to follow his lead and rely upon him.  I don’t mean that you should not think for yourself or speak your own mind, but let Ben be your husband and your head, as Christ is the Head of His Church.  When the devil would show you his weaknesses, his faults and failings, remember that Ben is clothed and covered with the majesty of Christ’s Word.  He is the one man to whom the Lord Himself now gives you, to protect you and provide for you.

No Christian would deny that Christ, the Son of God, has become true Man, and that He has died for us, to forgive our sins, and has risen again for our justification.  You know and believe, and you confess, that He is your Savior, who saves you by His grace alone, through faith in His Gospel.

But the question is, what does any of that have to do with your marriage?  How does it help?  What is there between the two of you and Christ Jesus?  I mean, aside from the fact that both of you are Christians, baptized into the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ: That’s already been the case for many years now, but what difference is that going to make in your life together as husband and wife?  What does your marriage and its daily wants and needs have to do with Him?

It is a great Mystery, as St. Paul has said, but from the beginning — from before the foundation of the world; from before either one of you were even a twinkle in your Daddy’s eyes or a baby in your Mother’s womb — it has been about Christ and His Bride, the Church.  Not only marriage in general, but your marriage, in particular, as it begins today, and as you move forward in faith.

Christ is not simply a guest, with His disciples, at this wedding, but at the heart of the matter, He is the Bridegroom.  It if for His sake that each and every one of you are here; not only that you are in attendance, but that you exist and are alive to this day.  It is for the sake of Christ that Anna and Ben have been created, and for His sake that they are bound together as one flesh by His Word.

Behind the father of the bride stands the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who brings the Woman to the Man and gives her to him.  Behind the Groom stands Christ Jesus Himself.  And behind Anna stands the Holy Christian Church.  That is the reality at work behind the scenes.  Not as a metaphor or a mere analogy.  It’s not that Christ and His Church are like a husband and wife, but that marriage has been made by God to be like Him, to live and to abide by faith in His Love.

Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, begotten of the Father from eternity, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in time, is the Image and Likeness of God in Man.  In His own Person, forevermore, is the perfect Union — the perfect “Wedding,” if you will — of the one true God and true Man: without any confusion, but also without any division or separation.  And so it is in Him that the whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth is called and gathered together, and united or “married” to God, by the Holy Spirit, through the Gospel.

This Lord Jesus Christ, this Bridegroom from heaven, has come to you in His Incarnation, that is, in His becoming flesh, and in His Resurrection from the dead, and in His Ministry of the Gospel.  He seeks you out and calls you to Himself; He woos you, as the perfect Lover that He is, by His Word and Spirit of forgiveness.  In His great Love, He delights in you.  He joins you to Himself, and He to you, in body and soul: In your Holy Baptism, He has grafted you into Himself, into His riven side, from which the blood and water of His Passion have been poured out for you; and in the Holy Communion, the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom, which has no end, He feeds you with Himself, putting His own Body and His Blood into your mortal body, to raise you up by the power of His Resurrection, and to abide in you with His own indestructible Life.  As He thus gives you Himself and His Life, He is fruitful in you, and He brings forth good fruits of life and love for others.  For the Tree of His Cross surely bears such fruits after its own kind.

This is what the Lord Jesus does for His whole Church, and for each and all of her members; and this is what He does for you, dear Anna and Ben, within the Communion of His Church on earth.  Do not doubt that, by these ways and means of His grace, within the sacred fellowship of His own Holy Bride, He bestows these very gifts and benefits upon your marriage in His Name.

“Take time to learn your marriage benefits.”  That’s what the front page of the business section of today’s South Bend Tribune advises.  The paper is talking about money, but I’m talking about a richer and more lasting treasure than that.  The goodness and benefits of your marriage, above all else, are those of the Gospel.  Which means that your marriage points beyond itself to that which is divine and eternal; to that which is freely given to all who are wed to Christ Jesus by His Word and faith: to your family and friends who are not married, and who may never be; to those whose marriages are difficult and disappointing; and to those whose marriages have ended altogether.

“The food spoils, and the wine runs out.”  But Christ and His Word of the Gospel abide forever, and He gives life, even in the midst of sin and death, under the weight and promise of His Cross.

Your “happily-ever-after” isn’t in your marriage to each other, but in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, for whom the Father has fashioned you, and to whom He has brought you and given you by His gracious Word and Holy Spirit.  That is the very thing which gives joy and gladness, and grace and every blessing to your marriage, “happily-right-now,” and even til death parts you from this life.

This Gospel of Christ Jesus is the confidence in which you begin your life together, and in which you live in the New Creation: “Naked and not ashamed,” with each other, like the first man Adam and his wife Eve, and like the New Man with His Bride.  Not only on your honeymoon and in your marriage bed, which is to be kept undefiled; but in bearing each other’s burdens and sharing each other’s weaknesses; in the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual intimacy of life together; in the cut and thrust, and bump and grind, of life under the Cross; in bearing the Cross for each other in faith.

Live together in mutual repentance and forgiveness; for Christ is with you, with His Love and His forgiveness of all your sins.  He is with you in your vocations for each other as husband and wife, to strengthen and support you in your callings, to sanctify and save you by the grace of His Gospel.

Take heart, and do not be afraid of anything.  Your heavenly Bridegroom is faithful, and He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He has joined the two of you to Him, as members of His Body and His Bride, and so He cleaves to you forever; He shall not allow your sin, nor Satan, nor even death, to separate you from Him.  He has pledged Himself to you, and has vowed to have you and to hold you as His own; He has sworn an oath by His own honor, and His Word cannot be broken.

That is what He does for His whole Church, and in the two of you today we see that pictured in a wonderful way.  Today, Ben, you and Anna are the icons set before us: of Christ and His Church.  We love you both, but you do us the service of pointing beyond yourselves to Him who loves us.  As beautiful as Anna here appears, so much more beautifully does Christ adorn the two of you, and all of us, with the brilliant and stunning white wedding gown of His own perfect righteousness.

Not only that, but His good wine is not restricted or reserved to this happy day of celebration; it is no less poured out for you in the crosses you will bear together in days ahead.  From His side you have been taken, and to His own side you are returned, even as the two of you now make that journey side-by-side together.  For He who is your Savior, by His Word, turns “ordinary water,” and, yes, even the bitters waters of affliction, into the sweetest of wine; not for drunkenness and debauchery, but for joy and gladness and delight through all your days, unto the life everlasting.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Preaching of Repentance in Christ

The coming of Christ, the Son of God, is most wonderful and terrible.

He comes as Light in the darkness to lead you out of Egypt by His uplifted arms; to save you from the bitter slavery of sin and death; to bring you into the promised land.

But how shall you receive Him?

You cannot. Your sin that cuts you off and separates you from God, prevents you from receiving Him and His salvation in faith. Indeed, not only that, but for your sin you deserve condemnation from the Lord who comes, and punishment and death. You are sinful and unclean, unrighteous and unholy. Thus, you cannot abide nor survive in His presence, nor can you stand in His judgment.

Still, for all of that, it is with tender mercy and divine compassion that He comes. It is by and with grace that He takes every initiative in coming to you with life and light and love.

So it is that, in order to prepare you for His coming, the Lord raises up and calls and sends a messenger before His face — a preacher — to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. In sending such a man to preach His Word, He sends one who is like Himself; for the Lord Jesus Christ is the very Word of God who has become flesh; He has become true Man (for us men and our salvation).

Before the Lord’s own miraculous conception and birth, you see the grace, mercy and peace of God already revealed in the way that St. John the Baptist is conceived and born and named: not by the reason or strength of his old man and his barren mother — he is the gift of God.

St. John’s entire life, from even before his conception, and even while yet in the womb, is bound up with and a proclamation of the coming of Christ. So, too, especially, his preaching and his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It’s all about Jesus; it’s all pointing to Him.

It is only by such preaching of the Word that you are prepared for Christ Jesus. It is only by such preaching that you or anyone can receive Him and respond to Him in faith, unto life.

Praise God for His preachers, for His messengers who go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way, and to prepare you for Him. You would be lost and gone without them.

But there is still a problem.

You can no more receive or respond to this preaching of the Word than you can or could receive the Word-made-Flesh Himself. Your sin still gets in the way and prevents you. His Law, by whomever it is preached, still condemns you and puts you to death.

You cannot live without Him; but you can’t live with Him in your sin, either.

No, the preaching of the Word of Christ accomplishes His purposes and saves you from sin and death, not by any power or response of yours, but only because Christ Jesus Himself submits to that Word and fulfills it first of all.

Jesus receives and responds to the preaching of St. John the Baptist, and thereby He fulfills all righteousness for you.

Really, it is in this way, in particular, that St. John prepares the Way of the Lord. He preaches the Law to which Christ submits Himself (in order to redeem you and all who were under the Law). St. John preaches the repentance which Christ undergoes by His death and resurrection, in order to open the way of repentance for you. St. John preaches and administers the Baptism of repentance, to which Christ Jesus submits Himself (in faith and love), so that, by the Lord’s own death on your behalf, your Baptism is for you the forgiveness of all your sins and a participation in His Resurrection from the dead.

The preaching of the Word of Christ that is granted to you is a living and active and powerful Word, because it is a Word already fulfilled in Christ.

The preaching of repentance not only puts you to death, but raises you to life. It causes the Light to shine upon you, where previously you walked in darkness. It gives you the new birth of the Holy Spirit, and bestows upon you the Name of God by His grace. It grants you the peace that passes all human understanding and achievement, because it is the Word of Christ who has reconciled you to God.

Thus, the preaching of repentance is the preaching of forgiveness — and it does and gives exactly what it proclaims! — and it calls you and brings you to faith and life through that forgiveness of all your sins.

By this preaching of the Word of Christ, not only are you prepared for His coming, but it is precisely by this way and means that He comes to you in love and visits you with tender mercy and compassion.

He remembers you with this preaching, and He raises you up to feast with Him at His Table, to eat and drink the New Covenant of His Body and Blood. This is a most precious feast (though it may taste like locusts and wild honey); it sustains you in the desert of this world unto life in the promised land forever. So do you continue to live and grow and become strong, by grace through faith in this Word of Christ.

It is this peaching of the Word of Christ which has opened your ears and your heart to receive Him, and has released you from all your sins; which also now opens your lips to show forth His praise, and looses your tongue to confess His holy Name, that His great mercy may be displayed in you.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We Are Debtors, That Is True

We are all debtors; that is true.  Nor is any one of us able to repay the debt that is owed.

You are obliged, first of all, to keep the Law and obey the commandments of God.  But you do not.  And for every point at which you fail and fall short, for every act of disobedience, and for each and every duty that you have neglected to do, you are under the curse of the Law.

There is more to your burden and your brokenness than that.  Not only do your find yourself unable to fulfill the Law’s demands, but neither can you go back and try again to make things right; no more than David could rewind the clock in order to undo the evil he had done.

You may be able to do better in the future, and maybe you will, or maybe you won’t.  But you can’t take back the sinful words that you’ve already spoken; and you can’t reverse the hurt and the harm that you’ve already caused.  Often enough, it is not even possible to clean up your mess, to repair the damage you’ve done, or to make amends for your failings.  Indeed, your efforts to “correct” and cover up your mistakes may lead only to more and worse sins.  You can’t pay back your debt.

Neither can you repay what is forgiven by the grace of God, or what He gives to you by charity. That is by the very nature of the case: You cannot earn His favor, but can only receive His gifts.  You could not afford to purchase all that He gives you, even if it were for sale, and even if you weren’t already broke.  But He gives it to you freely, by fatherly divine goodness and mercy, for the sake of His own love.  Your debt, in return, is simply to give Him thanks for all His benefits.

It is meet and right to give Him thanks and praise; not only for your life and all that you have, for your body and soul and all that you need, from one day to the next, but especially because the Lord God graciously forgives all of His debtors all of their debts.  He foots the bill and covers the cost.  He forgives even your ingratitude, and continues to provide for you and all, even without thanks.

Under such grace, there is no difference between sinners, as though one were less bad or another much worse.  No one is deserving; no, not one.  And yet, everyone is forgiven everything by God.

For Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, in human flesh and blood on our behalf, has become the curse and has removed it from us all.  He has paid the entire debt of the whole Law, suffering its condemnation and its punishment of sin, while fulfilling it completely in our stead: Not only the letter, jot and tittle, of its demands, but also its heart and spirit, which is divine love, grace, and mercy.  He has acted in perfect faith and faithfulness before His God and Father, and with full and free compassion for sinners, being the one true Man after His Father’s own great heart of love.

The preaching of repentance, therefore, proclaims and points to Him, to this Man, Christ Jesus, and says of Him: There is God, and His Kingdom, and His Righteousness.

The sinful woman in this Holy Gospel heard that preaching of repentance, perhaps from St. John the Baptist, and, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, she responded in faith by seeking out Jesus in love, trusting His forgiveness, and giving Him her thanks and praise.

She speaks not a word, but her actions confess her faith and love, and they teach you concerning Christ Jesus: That forgiveness and life and salvation are found in Him, in His Body of flesh and blood, in the House and at the Table where He is.  That is where you go to receive His gifts, and to worship the Lord your God.  Faith and love lay hold of God, by laying hold of Christ’s Body.

What this woman does for Jesus is not very practical or “necessary,” but rather quite extravagant.  Many people would say and accuse that her actions are “too much,” or “inappropriate.”  But the Lord acknowledges her, and He graciously receives her love for Him, because it is the overflowing of His great love for her.  She lavishes such grateful affection and loving devotion upon Him, who loves her and has given Himself for her; who also loves you, and has given Himself for you.

Simon the Pharisee perceived the whole situation very differently.  He measured and evaluated everything and everyone according to the righteousness of the Law; except that he didn’t really grasp or understand the Law rightly.  He sat in judgment of Jesus, and in judgment of the woman, while he justified himself in his own estimation.

Simon hid his sins from others, and perhaps he hid them even from himself, but he was not without sin; nor could he hide his sins from God, any more than he could hide his thoughts and feelings from the Lord Jesus.  In fact, on this occasion, anyway, Simon the Pharisee was condemned and cursed by his own condemnation of the woman, because he had no compassion for her.  For he placed himself under the judgment of the Law, by which no one shall be justified.  And he rejected the Christ, who alone fulfills the Law and redeems those who are under the curse of the Law.

The woman, though, acknowledges the true justice of God: She recognizes the righteousness of His Law, and she has been painfully aware of her many sins.  But she also trusts the compassion of Christ, and that He alone is righteous in His grace and mercy and forgiveness.

She forgets herself, and loses herself in love for Him alone, and suffers herself to be crucified and die with Him, as it were; so that she might live, no longer in herself, but in Christ, and He in her.

She has it exactly right.  This is the wisdom of God.  This is the peace that belongs to His children.

The grace and beauty of her love derive entirely from the grace and beauty of her Savior, Jesus Christ.  She sees no one else but Him.  She is not self-conscious, nor is she troubled or dissuaded by the accusing looks, the disapproving stares, and the whispered taunts of Simon and his guests; because she has come to know and to believe that Christ Jesus graciously forgives all sins, and that He is the Savior of sinners.  Knowing herself to be a sinner, she knows, therefore, that He is her Savior.  And she loves Him, because He loves her and has given her a whole new life.

Believe this: Your sins are also forgiven by the same Lord Jesus Christ.  Your life and salvation and peace with God are found in Him.  And all of this is for you, because He loves you.

The Rich Man who made Himself poor in order to make you wealthy with all the treasures of His Kingdom and the righteousness of God; who bore your sin and became the curse that condemned you, in order to bless you by His grace and bear you back to His God and Father as a beloved child and heir — He sees you and beholds you in tender compassion and with sweet affection.  He does not see in you a loose woman or a loser.  He does not see “white trash,” nor any other kind of trash, nor a worthless, wasted life.  He does not look at your sins, nor does He consider them or count them against you.  But He looks on you in love, and, for the sake of His love, He counts your faith in Him as abundant fruit, and your works of love as precious gifts: The way a father loves and receives the simple words and drawings of his children as masterpieces of eloquence and art.

You are not a floozy or a flunky in His eyes, no matter what your past or your reputation may be.  But you are a beloved daughter to Him, or His own dear son, and He delights in you.

Thus, at His invitation, you have entered His House, and here you receive His gentle hospitality.  See, He has prepared His Table before you, even in the presence of your enemies, who no longer have anything to say against you, because the Lord has silenced all their accusations by His Cross.  He washes your feet with His Word of forgiveness, so that, by the grace of His Gospel, you are entirely clean.  He anoints your head with the Oil of His Holy Spirit, whereby you are sanctified; and His own righteousness is your perfume, whereby you and your life are a fragrant and pleasing aroma to your God and Father in heaven.

And now, the Lord Jesus girds Himself to serve you, so that you may eat His Bread and drink of His Cup, and recline here in His bosom, and find your peace and rest in Him.  Therefore, do not be afraid.  You shall not be put to shame.  For the Lord is faithful, who forgives you all your sins and remembers them no more.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.