[Twenty-first in a series of posts on church words] Encore Post: Many Lutheran pastors begin their sermons with the greeting: “Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” St. Paul used this blessing to begin both his letters to Timothy and St. John used it for one of his letters. Two other posts cover grace and peace. In this one, we take up the third of the triad, mercy.
Yet, in a way, we’ve been here before. One of the Hebrew words for love, חֶ֫סֶד, often translated lovingkindness, is also used for mercy. You probably already know the Greek word for mercy. It is ἐλεέω — eleeo — the word in the ancient prayer we call the Kyrie Eleison: “Lord, have mercy.” This prayer appears as the congregation’s response to prayer in worship services of the 4th century (300s AD) To this day, Christians still pray it in traditional worship services. The word mercy is love in action. It is the response that someone who cares had when he sees another in pain and suffering greatly.
When God shows mercy, he acts out of his compassion to save, to help and to heal. Most of the time, the person suffering cannot help themselves. All of the time, they do not deserve mercy. Mercy comes from the love and grace of God. Sometimes the person asking for mercy is about to be sentenced for a crime and hopes for punishment less severe than he should receive. God’s mercy is always for the sake of his Son, who took the punishment we deserved, atoned for our sins on the cross and suffered for us in full. God is indeed merciful for us, for he forgives our sins and grants to us everlasting life.
Yet mercy does not end with God. Because God is merciful to us, we are merciful to our suffering neighbors. Since the very beginning of the church, Christians have sought to be channels of God’s mercy to all who suffer. They have visited the sick and brought healing where they could. They have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, visited the imprisoned, befriended the lonely and those grieving and cared for orphans and widows. In us, they see God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and full of faithful love. Most of all, we bring the good news of God’s greatest mercy — salvation in Christ Jesus, our merciful Lord.
[Seventh in a series of posts on church words]Encore Post: From the very beginning of the church, Christians gathered together to read scripture, sing the praises of God, hear their pastors preach and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This should not surprise us — Jews had been doing that for centuries — beginning sometime during the Babylonian Exile. Those gatherings became known in Greek as συναγωγή — Synagogues — meaning “to lead, gather together; assemble.” The New Testament calls these groups ἐκκλησία — churches — literally to be called up (to assemble). The Greeks used the word for civil assemblies and the calling up of militias. The word “Congregation” is the Latin translation of these words and means “to gather together.”
The church continued to worship after the pattern of the synagogue, with two exceptions — they met for worship on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) and not the Sabbath (Saturday) because it was the day on which Christ rose from the dead. They also added readings from the Gospels and letters from the Apostles and other respected leaders. These are the books that would be very quickly (for the most part) recognized as Holy Scripture along with the Old Testament.
For the first generation of Missouri Synod leaders, the distinction between the local congregation and the universal church was crucial. They used the German word Gemeinde only for a local church and the word Kirche for the universal church. They deliberately did not call their church body a church. They called it a Synode — a Synod.
Why were they so picky? Because most of the action in God’s kingdom is not done in Church Bodies, which get most of the press, but in the local congregation. They represent the universal Church, the invisible Church. In behalf of the Church, congregations baptize, teach the Word of God, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, use the Office of the Keys to forgive and retain sins and extend God’s call to men to exercise the Office of the Holy Ministry and other church workers to support it. The work of synods are done as local congregations band together to do things no one can do alone.
Congregations are much more than social clubs or private charities. They are God’s kingdom on earth, proclaiming the gospel and giving his gifts to all. In them, the lost get to meet Jesus and through the word preached by them, people are saved. So come! God is waiting to meet you — and we are too!
I recently interacted with an individual online who seemed to have a legitimate struggle with this issue as a Christian seeking to do good to their neighbor. In part, isn’t there a contradiction between our duty to serve our neighbor (the stranger) and strong immigration policy enforcement?
Applying Matt 25:31-46 to immigration policy is a misapplication of God‘s law. Jesus’ command concerning the sheep and the goats has two very important takeaways:
A) It is a command for me and a command for you. Neither of us can or should force our neighbor to follow God’s law in their individual self. We can and should certainly admonish against sin, but it is not ours to force.
B) both the sheep and the goats are mystified by their condition. The sheep are surprised that they have done well, because they only see the sin that remains in themselves, and no good works. The goats are angered, because they have justified themselves according to what they perceive as good works, which, apart from faith, are nothing.
Now, government functions exclusively in the first use of the law, the curb which forcefully constrains gross sin, under the fourth commandment. Government possesses the ability to punish and to kill. It is their duty to determine which stranger may or may not be among us. Government has a head of household responsibility over the entire household of this nation. All preventable harms and dangers are theirs to address.
A bad father, who does not make his children buckle up in the car when they refuse, is responsible under God‘s law when a crash causes a preventable broken arm.
A bad mother, who allows her children to indulge their love of sweets, well beyond the limits of good nutrition, creating a lifelong obsession with bad dietary habits, is still responsible in part for their adult obesity.
The fourth commandment duties of those in charge are not the most likable duties. They are necessary to prevent the obvious risks of blatant and preventable evil. In order for proper order to be maintained, the government must have absolute control over the border, and who does or does not enter the country.
That then brings us back to the Matthew 25 commandment. The person who is legally permissible in this nation, and under no threat of legal punishment, who has fallen on bad luck and needs our assistance, is our individual responsibility. When a stranger, sojourner, or foreigner comes to my door in need, I must help them.
When the government discovers an illegal entrant, they are responsible to extract or deport them. Both of these things are true. And neither one conflicts with the other.
Let us seek to avoid the confusion of office and vocation concerning ourselves and those whom God has placed to rule over us.
[Seventy-first in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Encore Post: “What are you going to be when you grow up?” American adults love to ask children. We teach our youth to dream. If you work hard enough, there is no limit to what you can do or be. You might even be President of the United States someday! We grow up trying to find ourselves. And when we get to age eighteen, we go off to “find ourselves” in the world or college. Yet in doing so, we miss some very important things we already have and a call, a vocation, every Christian has. It begins with knowing not who you are, but whose you are.
It is in his kingdom that we have our most sacred call. We are called to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, set apart to be his favorite possession. (1 Peter 2) A priest is someone who stands between a god and his people. His role is to bring the god’s instructions and blessings to people and their prayers and their sacrifices to the god. Our role as the nation of the priests of the Holy Trinity is to bring the good news of salvation to the nations and to pray for them, calling on God to have mercy on them.
This Priesthood of All Believers, as Martin Luther called it, has received God’s call to forgive sins for Christ’s sake, to proclaim the good news to all the ends of the earth, to baptize and to teach them. Together we have done these things for 2000 years and counting. As God’s church, we primarily do this through men God has called to represent us — to be our pastors. Yet we do not sit back and watch. We are all his priests, his messengers, his witnesses to everyone. This is who you really are.
[Seventieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]Encore Post: Changing the diaper, taking out the garbage, answering the phone call. Some events during our days are grinds. Getting the coffee going, putting breakfast plates together. They don’t sound like much, but if you are a baptized child of God, you are doing a good work for your closest neighbors, for you are united to Christ Jesus by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.
That is a great comfort! And it ought to be because, more often than not, the everyday grind is tough enough. But God uses the “small things” in our daily lives and provides through them the occasion and opportunity to do good works. And these good works are not something that we chase after, no God has put us into various vocations. I am a father, so I go to work to provide for my wife and children. That is my calling as a father.
In Luther’s day, daily vacation such as being a mother and father or a worker were thought of as to be inferior to the vocation of priest because the mother or father was a secular vocation whereas the priest had a religious calling. Nothing could be further from the truth! Luther, in his Treatise on Good Works, makes sure that the reader sees from Scripture again and again that whatever is done in faith, is pleasing in God’s sight.
It is easy to get discouraged though, because some people no longer know what their vocation is. The kids have moved out. Some people are in a nursing home wondering when the Lord will call them home. I get the privilege as a pastor to visit them. They ask, “Why am I still here?” I usually respond, “God has given you the vocation to receive these wonderful gifts that Jesus has won for you and your salvation. And by you being here I get to serve you. And that brings me joy. So thank you for living in out this God-pleasing vocation.”
Our daily lives may seem small and perhaps arduous at times, but when we are connected to Christ by faith, whatever we do is pleasing in the sight of our heavenly Father.
[Sixty-Ninth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]Encore Post: In Holy Baptism we are made God’s child. This is perhaps the greatest and most wonderful vocation into which we are placed. Let’s call baptism ground zero for vocations. Moving from ground zero, there are other vocations that are built into the kingdom of God. The vocation or calling of a pastor comes to mind.
In the Old Testament God commanded the men of the tribe of Levi to serve in his tabernacle and later temple as priests and the specific men who would do the bulk of the public preaching and teaching concerning the Lord and his wonderful works of salvation, like the Exodus events of the Passover Lamb and Red Sea.
[Sixty-Eighth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Encore post: You probably have heard the phrase “purpose driven life” or something similar within the great “Christian” sphere of influence. With some of that teaching, it can go awry because the “purpose” becomes singular, and unfortunately, it can make you abdicate other duties or vocations in pursuit of that singular purpose. Instead of a single purpose, God, having justified us by grace through faith, has also created us in the image of Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them.
What are good works? Good works are those things which flow from faith in Christ Jesus, as well as those things that are carried out within our vocation. Where do you find yourself? In the Small Catechism after the 6 chief parts, there is a lesser known but ultra important section called the Table of Duties.
The Table of Duties is a listing of Bible passages addressing the common but holy vocations of Christians in their daily lives. The table begins with vocations within the church, out to the public square, then back into the household. The Bible passages compiled are not an exhaustive list of the duties that comprise each calling or vocation, but they give a good overview of the most common vocations: pastors, laypeople, children, parents, worker, employer.
Some vocations can be chosen. Others are handed down to you without your consent. I am a son. I am also a brother. I was not asked how I felt about that. I learned quickly what it meant to live in the vocation of son and brother. But other vocations came through my own choosing. I am a husband and I am a father. Now that I have become a husband and a father, however, I am called upon and admonished to do the duties required of me from Scripture.
You might consider each kind of job a vocation. You might even say you are called to a certain job, etc. But we must be careful how far we take that discussion because what would happen if we left that job? Would it be sinful to switch your career? We should not go that far, but understand that we are accountable to the more general descriptions of being a worker, etc.
The term vocation is freighted with all kinds of weight. But we Christians should turn our attention to the table of duties and ask ourselves, “Where do I find myself?”
Encore Post: The word ministry is used very often in church circles and in the world of politics. In European countries, the word Minister means just about the same thing as we mean when we say the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, etc. A ministry, or portfolio, is the government department they supervise. In church, we talk about children’s ministry, music ministry, various programs for the poor — any work of a Christian to serve God and others in the name of God. Until the last few centuries, however, the word was used to mean pastor — a man called to the Office of the Public Ministry — and the work he does.
Ministry is all about service. In fact, the word for ministry is a Latin translation of the Greek word διακονία (diakonia), which means personal service. Ancient Greeks use several words for service: δουλεύω (douleuo), to serve because you are a slave, λατρεύω (latreuo), to work for a wage, λειτουργία (leitourgia), public service and θεραπεύω (therapeuo), to serve willingly, to care for, especially the sick.
For the Greeks, almost all service was viewed as demeaning. Jesus turned that around. Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served, so Christians must serve each other. (Matthew 20:26-28) The church took this charge to heart. They called themselves servants and slaves of Jesus. (Acts 4:29, Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Revelation 1:1) They came to reason that if Jesus loved us, we should love each other.
The New Testament came to use the Greek words for service in two ways. In general, it came to stand for the preaching of the word and the sharing of the sacraments by Christians in every way. In its narrow use, it refers to the work of pastors. To carry out ministry, Jesus created the office of the Pastoral Ministry and the Apostles created the deaconate to support them. Today, pastors, professional church workers and laypeople serve together in ministry — to live and work dedicated to God and to others. It this way, we proclaim together the gospel and show the love of God to the world.
Encore Post: Elijah knew his ministry was nearing the end. At Mount Sinai he complained to God that all his ministry, including fire called from heaven, was useless. He believed he was alone. God showed his prophet his glory in wind, earthquake and fire. As Moses did in the same place, Elijah hid his eyes from the glory of God — this time with his cloak, the symbol of his call as a prophet. Yet even after seeing the glory of God, Elijah was unmoved. So, in a quiet voice, God told his faithful prophet he was far from alone. To Elijah he gave a final commission: to appoint his successors.
God sent Elijah to call Elisha to be his successor. Their names sound very close in English, but are very different in Hebrew. Elijah means, “Yahweh is God.” Elisha means, “God saves.” Elisha’s name is very close to Joshua’s name. Joshua means, “Yahweh saves.” Elijah threw his cloak over Elisha, who did not miss the meaning of that gesture.
When it was time for Elijah to go, he and Elisha went to Gilgal. There the people of Israel had first camped when they came into the promised land, were circumcised as God’s people, celebrated the Passover, saw the end of the coming of Mana and the departure of the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. There the Angel of the Lord commissioned Joshua. Then they went to Bethel, where Jacob had dreamed of the angels coming and going from heaven. Finally, they went to Jericho, where Joshua struck the first blow against the gods of Canaan.
When the two prophets arrived at the Jordan River, Elijah rolled up the cloak into a staff like Moses’s. He struck the River and it parted — just as it did in the same place for Joshua. Like Moses, Elijah would depart this world from just outside the promised land. As the chariot of fire carried Elijah into heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha caught his cloak. The new prophet struck the Jordan with it and it parted. God had made Elisha the heir of Elijah’s ministry.
Nearly two thousand years later, Moses and Elijah met with Jesus as those the Messiah would send watched. The new Joshua (Jesus’ name is the Greek form of Joshua’s name) would suffer, die and rise again to defeat sin, death and the power of the devil. Rising from the dead, he breathed the Holy Spirit on his appointed prophets. From generation to generation, one generation’s prophets have laid their hands upon those who would take up their stoles after them. God of the prophets, bless the prophets’ sons, Elijah’s mantle on Elisha cast. Make each one nobler, stronger than the last.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
There will always be beggars among us in the church and throughout the world. The charitable work of the church is not on the decline. It is as vibrant as ever and even better organized than it has even been. But, our common understanding of it on the decline.
There are a few factors contributing to our own weaker view of the mercy work of the church. In some cases, community or ecumenical efforts have eclipsed congregational or synodical activities. Mostly, the bottomless pockets of government benefit programs are steadily pushing out private charity in our minds.
Government is the enemy of charity and charitability. It anonymizes the recipient, stealing the blessing of shame. That shame is a twofold gift. It can serve to motivate our neighbor to better themselves, escaping their situation. That shame can also fuel Christian gratitude toward the benefactor.
Government further compels benefactors to participate by the irresistible force of violence or incarceration. Instead of choosing charitable vehicles, the tax-paying benefactor sees their money go where political winds blow it. This compulsion breeds resentment. The resentment is a result of the immoral or evil purposes, graft and waste overshadowing the good. Further, the irresistible force can create a mentality akin to, “I already gave at the door.”
As Christians, we have a duty to provide for the good of the needy, “the widow and the orphan.” The first Christians saw this and the fairness of it as a critical need in the work of the church. To free-up the disciples in their ministry, St. Stephen and the others were set-up in works of mercy, serving their neighbor (Acts 6:1-7).
Now, the widow and the orphan are not exclusive terms and ought to be understood well among us. In ancient near eastern culture, widows and orphans were the most helpless of society. Women could not own property. Without a husband, father, or grown son, a woman’s only option outside of starvation would be prostitution. This harsh reality is the genesis of the St. Nicholas legends, providing dowries for destitute girls to be married instead.
Orphans were similarly hopeless in their plight. Without an inheritance or ability to find work, shelter, or food, voluntary slavery was one of the few options outside of begging. And, beggars on the streets were easy prey for all sorts of brigands and ne’er-do-wells.
These examples are particularly useful for us in our society. Widows and orphans are in less dire circumstances among us. But, the helplessness of the 1st century folks gives us good guidance nonetheless. Those most in need are always here. For us, the disabled, the injured, and those impoverished by inescapable circumstance are like the widow and the orphan.
It can be easy for us to slip into a lazy charitability in different directions. Vehicular charity, government as charity, and indiscriminate charity are paths that can lead to giving that doesn’t benefit our neighbor.
First, we might insulate ourselves with vehicular charity through organizations, concealing the face and plight of the beggar. A bigger organization is often better in this way. Of course, we love to hear personalized stories of recipients, without knowing or seeing them in the flesh. It’s tidy and sanitary. We get a tax benefit and an emotional boost.
This isn’t evil. Giving via large organizations that are faithful in their service brings economics of scale into play. Those organizations can provide benefits to the needy that individuals and small organizations couldn’t muster. We can make it evil by hiding all of our charity here, excusing ourselves from other needs around us.
In a similar vein with the vehicular, we may fall into a notion that government programs cover the needs. “I pay my taxes, providing for the needy. Ergo, I need not give more or differently. ” The giving patterns of politicians are a strong example of this mindset. Many even give far less than the limits of tax benefits available, demonstrating a great lack of charitability.
When this mindset is true, it is evil.
The last, indiscriminate charity can be directly harmful to the beggar. I once ran across a woman who reported an example as normative in her giving. “This man, an obvious alcoholic, had a really detailed story. His story was so good, that I gave him $20. I know he was gonna buy booze. But, it was a great story. I’ll always give to a good storyteller.”
That kind of giving is harmful charity. The beggar is absolutely causing themselves harm by the gift. Your gift in this case is no different than a bat across the face. When we give, knowing the gift is likely to cause, increase, or encourage self-harming behaviors, the gift is evil.
In the church, we have a particular responsibility towards each other. Our charity toward each other in the congregation is some of the most personal and faithful giving we do. Charity toward the lazy is more obvious in our midst. St. Paul warns us against this. “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us… For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6,10-12)
Here our neighbor is dwelling outside the 7th commandment. They are compelling the congregation to give to them without genuine need. This is easy enough to discern. A person who can work, but won’t, deserves no charity. They are not just stealing from their benefactors. They are also stealing from those among us and outside our gathering in genuine need. We should not disregard the “widow and the orphan,” those without means or ability to provide for themselves in favor of the lazy.
Let our charity always help our neighbor, and never harm!
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Sole Pastor Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX and Mission planting pastoral team: Epiphany Lutheran Church Bastrop, TX
