Encore Post: The Lutheran Church is a liturgical church. This means that the theme of the day is set well ahead of time by the lectionary that your parish uses. Each Sunday is normally named by the place it is in the church year — a certain Sunday in Advent, a certain Sunday in Lent, a certain Sunday of Easter, or in Epiphany, or a certain Sunday after Pentecost or Trinity.
Each day is assigned a set of propers — a Psalm, a Collect (a prayer for the day that collects the thoughts of the people related to the theme of the day), a Gradual (a few sentences of scripture spoken between the Epistle and the Gospel lessons), Scripture lessons and a proper preface (said by the pastor during the beginning of the Service of the Sacrament). These are proper to the season and day and so change from week to week or season to season. In the long season of ordinary time (Sunday after Pentecost), the themes chosen traditionally shift about every ten weeks (after the Feast of the Holy Trinity, St. Lawrence’s Day, and St. Michael and All Angels)
Once in a while, you will run into a Sunday that is named after a person, like Saint Peter, or an event, like the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. These days are typically called Feasts or Saints’ days. Most of these are Biblical figures or events, with Reformation Day and The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession being notable exceptions. In a church, a college, or a seminary chapel, where there are services every day, these days are often observed on the appointed date. Most Missouri Synod parishes, however, celebrate them only when the date falls on a Sunday.
Also scheduled on the church calendar are commemorations. These are available to congregations of the church but are rarely used. They include Biblical figures, especially Old Testament ones, Christian leaders, or memorable figures from the church’s history. In the Missouri Synod, they include musicians (like J. S. Bach) and other artists of various kinds and figures of the Synod’s history (like C. F. W. Walther and Rev. Smith‘s favorite — F.C.D. Wyneken)
We celebrate these people and events because they point to Jesus. Saints are not perfect, nor do they have special powers. They were sinners just like us, but now live in Heaven with all the saints. (Hebrews 13:7-8)
[Ninety-Ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The word “martyr” is a Greek word that means “witness” — a person who reports what he or she sees. Just before returning to Heaven, Jesus predicted His disciples would be witnesses of His death and resurrection.
The apostles appointed Stephen a deacon. It was his task to feed the widows and the poor, using the funds collected for that purpose. God blessed his work by performing miracles as well. When men from the local synagogue asked what he believed, God blessed Stephen’s word, so that his opponents could not find a reply to answer his arguments. They finally silenced him by charging him with blasphemy — speaking lies about God.
The same Sanhedrin that had condemned Jesus just a few weeks earlier now convened to hear Stephen’s case. Stephen told the truth — that the Sanhedrin had handed over Jesus to death falsely. This infuriated them. The last straw came when Stephen related a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God in heaven. For the Jewish people of the time, this was another way of saying that Jesus Himself is God. Jesus said the same thing in that very spot in the early hours of Good Friday. They condemned Stephen to death, too. This time, Pontius Pilate was not in Jerusalem. So they felt safe in defying Roman law and executing Stephen by the method ordered by the Jewish Law. They took Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. The man who would one day be the Apostle Paul held the coats of those who killed Stephen.
With the death of Stephen and others that followed, the word “martyr” took on new meaning. Now it meant dying for witnessing to the truth about Jesus and for preaching the good news. The martyrs’ deaths impressed the Romans. If you believe in something strongly enough to risk death by torture, they thought, then perhaps the martyrs might be right. Many were baptized because of such witnesses. That is why the church likes to say: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Sermon on Matthew 8:18–22 Friday in the Week of the 6th Sunday after Pentecost July 6th, 2018 Kramer Chapel Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
Text: “Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The text for this morning’s meditation is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 8, verses 18 to 22.
Welcome to Zion on the St. Joseph—where tranquil vistas, first-class architecture, vibrant worship, and perhaps the most comfortable, well-ordered library in the world await you. Here, you sit at the feet of profound scholars, studying Scripture and the Confessions. Yes, you have chosen well—and all it cost you is your whole life.
The would-be disciples in our text did what any pious, Torah-loving Jew of the age would do: they chose a great rabbi. But Jesus of Nazareth was unlike any other. He called His own students.
And so it is with you. You are here because you believe God may be calling you to ministry, in answer to the prayers of the Church that He send workers into His harvest field.
As those early disciples discovered—and as you may have discovered upon meeting your first drill sergeant, your Greek instructor—there is much more to come. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to assess the cost. And I don’t mean financially.
Ministry requires sacrifice and dedication.
The first would-be disciple thought that becoming a scribe meant simply following the teacher and taking notes. But Jesus reminded him: no five-star hotels, no comforts—just the road, wherever it leads. The second disciple wanted to fulfill his familial duties first. But Jesus made clear: the kingdom of God comes first, even before family.
This is not a lucrative trade. You won’t make much money as a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor. Stock options? Unlikely. Appreciation? Sometimes scarce.
You’ll arrive at your first parish and discover they expect you to be “on” before you’re even ordained. I remember pulling into my first church to unload books a week before installation. I was invited to dinner to meet the daughter of a member, who happened to be in a cult. Immediately, I was on. Time for cult evangelism.
The ministry calls at unexpected hours and in unexpected ways. It’s not just on Sundays. It’s 24/7, 365 days a year. Yes, you’ll have a vacation—but pastors are often called back for funerals. Even family time may be shortened, vacations truncated, and relocations sudden. Yes, this costs you your whole life.
Sometimes, that burden is heavy. When a policeman shines a light into your bedroom window at 3 a.m., you may not respond with grace. Yet ministry calls. Sometimes you’ll wonder why you ever said yes. Sometimes you’ll be appreciated. Sometimes your sermon will hit the mark—and the congregation will growl. Sometimes they won’t receive you at all.
Friedrich Wyneken arrived in town with a breathtaking call:
“Come, we need a shepherd.” But when he introduced himself, the man didn’t even look up. “So, you’re a preacher? The sick man’s house is over there. But you probably want to see the wagoner down the block.” How’s that for a welcome?
You’ll often feel unfit. Luther’s sacristy prayer says it best:
“Lord, you have made me a pastor and teacher of the Church, and you know how unfit I am for so great and responsible an office.”
So what do you do? You don’t pack up. You don’t leave. You do what God has called you to do.
And remember what it cost Jesus to call you. Though He was God, He did not cling to equality with God but emptied Himself, became man, and went to the cross. He died for you and me, taking our sin, our pride, our expectations—and nailed them to the cross. He rose again, and we rose with Him. You are never alone.
Now, when ministry is hard, God is with you. Jesus strengthens you through His gifts—through your hands, He blesses your flock with forgiveness, life, and salvation. He is present in the Sacrament and in the prayers of saints near and far. That grandmother who can’t make it to church? She prays for you daily.
You are never alone. He lives with us every day. And when we lay down our office in death, we will go to where He is now—where there is no sorrow, sighing, crying, or pain. And on that day, we will see the true fruits of the ministry He worked through us. It will have been worth it.
And now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, fill our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
[Eighty-Second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: At the Transfiguration, Jesus appeared to his disciples in his full glory as God. In the Three-Year Lectionary, it celebrates the end of the season of Epiphany with a theophany — an appearance of God. The season also began with a theophany. At the baptism of Jesus, the Father spoke over his Son from heaven, and the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove. Now the Father speaks from the cloud of God’s Presence, and with him is the Holy Spirit.
But that is not all. At the Transfiguration, Jesus appeared with the two greatest witnesses of the Old Testament — Moses and Elijah. God used Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and gave the Law to them through him. God buried Moses when he died. Elijah was the great and fearless prophet, whom God carried into heaven in a chariot of fire. God promised the Messiah to Moses, calling the Messiah a prophet like him. Later prophets predicted Elijah would return to witness to the Messiah on the day the Messiah would come.
Now on the mountain of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah discussed with Jesus his Exodus — his departure. As Moses led Israel through the Red Sea to freedom, Jesus would bring us all through death to everlasting life by his death on the cross. Not knowing what to make of it all, Peter offered to set up tents like the people had used during their wilderness wanderings. As usual, Peter missed the point.
So the Cloud of God’s Glory appeared on the mountain. In that cloud, the Angel of the Lord led the people by day through the wilderness and showed God’s presence in the tabernacle and temple. From this Cloud, God the Father speaks a second time. “This is my beloved Son,” he said, “listen to him.”
The message of the Transfiguration is that Jesus is God, yet He set aside His glory to die for our sins. We should serve God by doing what He says and serving one another.
[Seventy-fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: In ancient times, salt was precious. People would pay a lot of money for it because it kept food from spoiling. If meat was not salted, a family would have to throw it out in a day or two. When meat was salted, it might last a few months. Even in the early days of America, salt was necessary to have meat to eat in the winter. If salt isn’t pure, it could lose its taste and the ability to preserve food. Then salt has very few uses. At best, it could keep plants from growing on the paths they need to walk on.
Lamps were made of clay and shaped like a bowl. Olive oil was poured into the lamp, and a wick was stuck in it to soak up the oil. Someone in the family would light it. Tall stands were put around the house. The person who lit the lamp would place it on a stand so that the room would be bright.
[Seventy-Third in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The Pharisees were the good people. They loved God. They went to the synagogue every Saturday. Not only did they try to keep God’s law, but they tried to do even more. They thought that, if they did more than God commanded, they would never break His law, but that God would love them even more. They thought that God would reward them for their good work and that they deserved a place in Heaven because of it.
When other people did not try as hard as they did to serve God, they got angry. They thought the Messiah would come only when all of the Jewish people kept God’s law. They called these people “sinners” and were sure that God would send them to Hell.
The tax collectors were very different. The Roman government outsourced tax collection. They gave collection contracts to local people. The Romans told their tax farmers how much to collect. The tax collectors could add whatever charges they wished on top of that. The Pharisees thought they were traitors because they served a foreign government and because they often made themselves rich on the fees they charged.
In this parable, the Pharisee stands in the temple as close to the Holy of Holies as he was allowed to get. The Tax Collector stood in the back, as far away from the sanctuary as he could get and still be in the temple. The Pharisee bragged in prayer, thinking God would reward him. The Tax Collector knew he deserved nothing from God and repeated King David’s prayer: Be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus tells us that it was the Tax Collector who pleased God, not the Pharisee.
For over 1500 years, Christians have repeated this prayer in their traditional worship services. Called the Kyrie by the first word of the prayer in the Greek language, we pray, “Lord, have mercy, “Christ have mercy,” “Lord, have mercy.”
[Seventy-second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Mustard seeds and yeast were important to people where Jesus lived. Mustard seeds were the smallest that farmers planted, but they grew into a tree as large as 10 feet tall. The seed of this kind of mustard plant was black. Farmers ground the seeds to make a spice and to use the oil in them. Birds loved to eat these seeds and would often come to eat the seeds and build nests in their branches.
Women used yeast to make soft, fluffy bread. When they baked bread, they would save a small piece of dough with yeast in it. This is called leavened bread. When they made more bread dough, they put the leavened piece in the flour for the bread. The yeast would grow and spread through all the flour. When the baker would make new bread, the whole batch would be leavened.
Jesus compared the mustard seed and yeast to the Kingdom of God. The kingdom starts small, but grows very big, so that many people can become part of it. The kingdom doesn’t seem to be important, but it will change everything for the good.
[Seventy-first in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: In Israel, a rugged mountain range runs through the middle of the country. In a dry region like the Middle East, these mountains were loved for the streams that ran from them, the cool caves that provided shelter and a solid place to stand. In the Bible, they were called rocks. In a storm, there was no safer place to be than upon a rock.
In the poetry of the Bible, God is called the Rock, a fortress that would never fail. Storms and rain were used to describe times of trouble and testing. When a believer was in troubled times, when everything else failed, they could rely on God the Rock.
In this parable, Jesus tells us that His words are like a rock. When we do what He says and use His words to guide our lives, nothing in this world can shake us. He defeated sin and death on the cross. In baptism, He built us on that foundation that can never be moved. We will stand, even when death blows over us.
This parable closes the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus uses it to make the point that the wise person builds on the words he spoke. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will not pass away.
[Seventieth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Pharisees were the good people. They studied God’s Word constantly. They worshiped every Sabbath in synagogues. They worked hard to keep every commandment, including pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the festivals; they made every sacrifice without fail. They even kept good company, avoiding people who didn’t take keeping the law as seriously as they did. The Pharisees thought they didn’t need to be found. They were never lost in the first place. They didn’t take kindly to Jesus associating with the lost — tax collectors (one of those was even his disciple), prostitutes, and sinners. Jesus doesn’t often have very nice things to say to them. But on the day St. Luke talks about in chapter 15, he is kind to them and tries gentle persuasion instead.
The lost parables are perhaps the most beloved of all of Jesus’ stories — the Shepherd who leaves Ninety-Nine sheep to find one lost sheep, the woman who sweeps out the house to find one lost coin (OK — it was a Denarii and worth a day’s wage — you’d sweep out the house if you lost one) and the Prodigal or Lost Son. Such stories almost always make just one point, and so it is with these. But that point is not what you might think. These stories are not about the lost or the One looking for them. It is about those in heaven that rejoice, the angels in heaven that sing with joy, and the neighbors and the older brother.
While we were once lost and now found, we are not the lost of the parables. We were found long ago. It is not strictly about our Lord Jesus. He came to seek and to save the lost, suffering and dying for our sins and for forgiveness. From heaven he came and sought us, to be his holy bride, with his own blood he bought us, and for our life he died. He washed us with water and the word and presents us spotless. We are already in his house when he brings his lost ones home. He wants us to rejoice when he finds them.
There is room in the kingdom for more. They may not dress the way we do, live life recklessly, ignoring the law of God and man. They may have had other things to do, thinking they didn’t have time for church. They may even be from other cultures, languages, and lands. Yet the Father’s words call us to see them as the Father wants his older son to see his young brother: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”
[Sixty-Second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The Pharisees loved God so much that they tried hard to keep all of his commands. They even added more rules to be sure that they did this. They believed that if all of God’s people did everything God wanted them to do, then the Messiah would come, defeat the Romans in battle, and rule the world from Jerusalem forever.
But they had so many rules, it was hard to learn them, remember them, and keep them. Most people could not follow them all, so they really did not try hard. This upset the Pharisees so much that they called these people “sinners.” They thought they were as bad as tax collectors, who worked for the Romans and made themselves rich at their neighbors’ expense.
So, when Jesus saw Matthew at his tax collecting booth and called him to be a disciple, they were outraged. It got worse when he went to Matthew’s house to eat dinner. In the Middle East to this day, inviting someone to dinner is a sign of deep friendship. Sinners and tax collectors were considered unclean, and to eat with them would make you unclean. To the Pharisees, this meant Jesus didn’t take the law seriously at all. What they missed was that Jesus came precisely to save the lost, so he needed to go where they are.
Later, Jesus would remind his disciples and the Pharisees that everyone is sinful and cannot be good enough to please God. He came to die for us all, to pay for our sins, and to bring the forgiveness of sins to us. He came to look for us, find us all, and to save us. So, people like Matthew are just the kind of people he wants as his disciples.
