Sermon for Pentecost 22: "Turning Darkness into Sight"

 + 22^nd Sunday after Pentecost – October 24, 2021 +

Series B: Mark 10:46-52

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

This is about the time of the year when you wake up saying to yourself; it’s sure dark out this morning. The daylight shortens. Shadows lengthen. And even though Advent is still a little ways off, this week I couldn’t help but think of the great Advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel: O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting: Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. 

 

These days it seems like the seasonal darkness reflects the times we live in. We live in dark days. Darkness in the world. Darkness in the hearts of men. Darkness in our own sinful flesh. Abide with me; fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.

 

Today’s Gospel reading from Mark 10 begins in the dark as well. Not the darkness of spiritual blindness of unbelief, but the physical darkness of blindness. 

 

This blind man’s name was Bartimaeus, Mark tells us. His physical blindness evidence of the fallen world where everything and everyone is affected. The Old Testament prophets foretold this very thing. Isaiah listed the restoration of sight as the first of the signs of the coming salvation of God in the person of the Messiah. This is no coincidence that Jesus is there in Jericho to heal this blind man on his way to the cross.

 

Blindness in Scripture is one of those things that has a physical and spiritual dimension to it. Physically, it’s an enormous burden. Without the modern advances we have blindness to one degree or another would be much more common. Imagine a world without contacts or glasses, cataract surgeries or lasik. 

 

There’s also a spiritual dimension to blindness in the Scriptures. Not so much the physical burden of blindness but spiritual blindness which plagues all humanity, which Jesus has come to heal by his dying and rising. Ironically in Jesus’ own ministry it’s often the physically blind who see Jesus for who he is and believe in him while it’s those who physically see him and follow him are the ones who so often fail to see Jesus as the Messiah.

            

When he fed the five thousand, many of his own followers didn’t comprehend what it meant. Jesus even mocked their confusion – “although you have eyes, do you not see?”  

            

We’re not all that different really. We’re surrounded by darkness. Darkness in the world. Darkness within as well. Constantly tempted to spiritual blindness,; when we fail to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Or when we seek to cast God after the desires of our will or our flesh. How often might we hear the same words from Jesus? Although you have eyes to see, don’t you notice how off kilter your life and priorities are? Where do we fix our eyes? On ourselves and own wants and desires or upon Christ and the cross, the place where his focus is set?  

 

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”. That was the confession of blind Bartimaeus as he approached Jesus. That’s our confession too as we approach him here in this place. Bartimaeus had no illusions about his situation or his need for help from God. God’s Word brings us to the same conclusion. In the light of God’s Word, even the 10 Commandments alone, we see our sin for what it is. Darkness. Blindness. We are but blind beggars in need of mercy.

            

And that’s exactly what Jesus does for Bartimaeus. He has mercy on him. He called him over and gave him sight. Jesus turned darkness into light. Blindness into sight. 

 

 “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” Jesus tells him. And faith, you see, always has an object. His faith was not something he worked up on his own anymore than he healed his own eyes. Both his faith and his sight were a gift from Jesus.

            

Bartimaeus may have been blind in his body, but by God’s grace he was given to see where mercy could be found. Bartimaeus shows us the way of faith as well. To look to Jesus knowing that the faith we need, he gives. The eyes and hearts and minds that are blinded by sin that we need opened, he opens. The eyes of faith that look to Jesus and follow him to the cross, he fixes our eyes on him. In a world where we are surrounded by darkness, Jesus is the Light of the world; the light no darkness, no sin, no doubt, no shame, no guilt, none of it - the light no darkness can overcome.

 

For us and for Bartimaeus Jesus was revealing that the coming of his kingdom could only be seen and understood in light of his crucifixion and resurrection. That’s the sight Jesus truly wants us to have– to see that God’s kingdom has come in his flesh. In him. It’s surely what Bartimaeus saw with the eyes of faith that had been granted him by God. It’s what we also see when we believe that Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead have taken away our sins and saved and healed us. 

            

Indeed, the seeing one who follows in Jesus’ way – that one what makes us the Lord’s true disciple.  Discipleship is, as Jesus has described each of the past two Sundays, the ability to see everything in light of God’s promises. It is not loving our stuff so much that we walk away sorrowful from our Lord. It is not being so short-sighted toward God that we indulge ourselves by giving in to the temptations of this world, forgetting what God has promised in the world to come. From the Lord’s mercy to you in Baptism, Absolution, his Word, and the Lord’s Supper to the earthly gifts he also gives, he has granted you eyes of faith. Following Jesus is exemplified for us today by Bartimaeus, the beggar – a beggar can offer nothing, but only receive, and Bartimaeus, by faith, received everything.  Following Jesus will also mean carrying a cross, just as Jesus carried his cross. We too, are blind beggars, blessed in the cross of Jesus.

            

For although following Jesus will mean suffering and persecution in this life, he will lead you on the way to the resurrection of all flesh according to his gracious, eternal rule and reign. He will lead you as he did Bartimaeus and his disciples - through the cross to life everlasting. Turning darkness into sight.

 

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

 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 21: "Short-Sighted"

 + 21^st Sunday after Pentecost – October 17, 2021 +

Series B: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Hebrews 4:1-16; Mark 10:23-31

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Fix your “eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter” of your faith. Easy to say. Much harder to do. Sunday morning, sitting in church, hearing the Word, singing the hymns, the crucifix, the font, the altar – here it is easy to fix your eyes on Jesus. But that’s not always the case. Outside of church, when the stresses and grind of life wear at you, it’s easier to lose focus; to forget. It’s easy not to pray or open our Bible. 

 

In today’s Gospel reading in Mark 10, Jesus warns his disciples then and now about some of the snares laid for us by the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh.

 

“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

 

No this isn’t Jesus wearing a tax the rich robe to a Pharisees dinner. He’s not making a political speech, but pointing out a spiritual reality. 

 

Remember the rich young man we heard about in last week’s Gospel reading. He had great possessions – he was wealthy – yet he went away from Jesus sorrowful. Why?  Because Jesus’ words cut him to the heart. He thought he was righteous because of what he did or avoided doing; he didn’t murder, commit adultery, steal, or slander. He honored his parents. He was basically a good guy, so he thought. Yet His heart loved the things of this world. He coveted his own possessions and feared, loved, and trusted in them so much that he wouldn’t consider parting with them for the sake of others, or for the sake of his own soul. As he walked away from Jesus, he revealed that his love for his stuff was more valuable than God.

            

Today’s reading picks up where last week’s reading left off. Jesus teaching his disciples. “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”  

 

Indeed, Jesus goes on to say, “it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,” Jesus said.  Listen carefully to what he says. Difficult, but not impossible. This is Jesus’ point – what is impossible with man and all his temptations and idols and weaknesses is possible with God!  The wealthy young man thought he could do it himself. But he couldn’t do it.

            

And neither can we. What’s impossible for man…is possible for God. And before we go pointing our finger at the rich young man, Peter reveals that we’re not all that different from him. 

 

He began to say, “see, we have left everything and followed you.” And in one sense, he was right.  He and the other disciples had walked away from whatever living, whatever career they had, and they had followed Jesus. Thinking he could receive Jesus’ approval for what he had done, he was sorely mistaken.  

            

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time…houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands…” Yes, Jesus has a lot of good things to promise, and you can almost see Peter’s chest puffing up with pride at having put the camel through the eye of the needle, until the next words out of Jesus’ mouth: “with persecutions.”

            

Yes, you heard that right. Jesus said there was no one who left everything behind who wouldn’t receive a hundredfold now in this time…but with it would come persecutions. It all sounds good until that! Persecutions?  That’s not what they were after, they were after righteousness and didn’t want persecutions or anything unpleasant. Truth is, neither do we. Persecution is painful. It’s not what anyone wants or expects as a result of faithfulness. And yet, of all the things we’re given in this world of which we are stewards, if we are faithful to God above all things – if we fear, love, and trust in him above all else – we will not have control over how the world will treat us. As our Lord said, the world will hate us because it hated him first.

 

Sounds rather overwhelming and frightening; but it’s not hopeless. Jesus went on. Yes, persecutions would follow faithfulness, but then, after faithfulness and persecution, there is eternal life in the age to come. And that is Good News. Not and earthly glory, riches, power, or honor, but eternal life in the age to come. That’s the promise.

            

Again, the problem isn’t an abundance or lack of earthly things. After all, those are good gifts from God. The problem comes when we turn it all into an idol. And there’s nothing wrong with not being wealthy as long as it doesn’t embitter us and turn us against those blessed by God with more than you. The problem for the rich young man wasn’t the wealth he had; it was the faith in God that he lacked. 

 

And instead of seeking it in Jesus and finding every good thing from him, he looked for it in his own hands. We’re tempted the same way. Tempted to short-sightedness. The big picture is there but we, as we (like Peter) seek to find assurance in our own attitudes and deeds. The kingdom of God, however, isn’t found in our wealth or lack of wealth or in the work of our hands. But in the riches work of Jesus’ hands, outstretched on the cross for you. 

            

In the God who came to earth in human flesh in order to rescue us. In Jesus who delivers us from the weakness of our short-sightedness. He does it all by his gifts. He gives us many earthly things of which we are stewards. You also have time and talents that God has placed into your care. He has given you everything so that as his children, you may render thanks unto him for all he has given.

            

And those gifts are joyous. They go beyond earthly things, and even beyond anything we might lose, even by persecution. Christ’s gifts to us are eternal. Never ending. Eternal life in the resurrection of all flesh. Eternal joy as his children. Eternal gifts of his grace and mercy that fix our eyes on Jesus. 

 

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

Sermon for Pentecost 20: "Superficial Eyes"

 + 20th Sunday after Pentecost – October 10, 2021 +

Series B: Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Hebrews 3:12-19; Mark 10:17-22

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

The author of Hebrews exhorts us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” In this Christian faith this is always true, especially when we look at the Scripture’s teaching on stewardship, as we’ll be doing these next few weeks. 

 

After all, everything in faith and life begins and ends with Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega. His words and deeds in these Gospel lessons, starting with the rich young man today, will lead us toward the fear, love, and trust in God above all else that puts every other thing in its proper place, giving us eyes of faith.

 

Jesus’ words with the rich young man in Mark 10 reveal not only his own sin but also ours. That we have superficial eyes. That’s the reality of our sinful nature, that all too often we see what we want to see when we look at ourselves. Problem is, this isn’t the right view of things in God’s eyes. After all, which is more reliable, God’s Word or our superficial eyes? 

 

This is why the Ten Commandments end and begin with the heart of man. The first commandment deals with faith; and the final commandments forbid coveting. Believing and coveting both originate in the human heart. Believing and coveting are more than thoughts, words, or deeds. Believing and coveting proceed from the depths of man’s nature; “out of the heart,” as Jesus says. To believe in God is more than simply thinking godly thoughts, speaking godly words, or doing godly deeds. So too,  coveting the world’s treasures runs deeper than the eyes, mind, tongue, or hands; to believe and to covet are fundamental yearnings of the human heart.

 

This is exactly what’s going on in our Gospel reading this morning. A man came to Jesus came seeking salvation, so Jesus began with the commandments. But did you notice…Jesus didn’t mention the beginning or the end of the commandments. Honoring father and mother, avoiding murder, adultery, stealing, and false witness were all listed, but Jesus was silent about believing and coveting. He listed the commandments that govern the thoughts, words, and works of man, but did not speak the commandments that govern the desires of the heart. Why? To reveal where the eyes of this man’s faith and desire were focused. Jesus is doing the same for us as well. 

 

You see, the beginning and ending of the commandments go straight to the heart of our life; they testify that above all else, man is a creature of desire. We hunger, thirst, and yearn. It’s another way of saying that man wasn’t created to be an independent, autonomous, or self-fulfilling being. No man is an island; no man is truly a rock. We are creatures of need. We need air to breath, food to eat, water to drink – and so on. To hunger means that food is a necessity. It is this necessity that is felt at the depth of our human nature.

 

Here is where we begin to understand the nature of what it is to covet. To covet is to believe, to desire, to need anything other than God. Coveting is not merely a superfluous want, and extravagant wish, or an impossible dream; coveting runs deeper than any thought, word, or deed. Instead, coveting is believing something to be a necessity. Coveting means that the need for God is overwhelmed by a need for something or someone else. 

 

The man in the Gospel is a picture of our covetous humanity. This man counts the wealth of this world to be a necessity, and makes himself a slave to this necessity. Coveting is the worst kind of slavery, for it is not a slavery that comes from outside of us. The covetous man is not enslaved from without, but from within. It is not unlike a fountain from which all sinful thoughts, words, and deeds proceed. It was desire that compelled Adam to grasp for what is forbidden; it moved Cain to steal his brother’s life; it inspired Jacob’s sons to persecute and sell their brother; it lead King David down the path of adultery and murder; and it compelled this rich man to reject Jesus and go on his way in sorrow.

            

“You lack one thing,” Jesus said, “go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” With these words, Jesus exposed the man’s heart. This man may have had righteous thoughts. He may have spoken righteous words. He may have done righteous deeds. But that is not what makes a man righteous. 

 

If we are to be truly righteous, then we must have a righteousness that reaches beyond the hands, the mouth, or the mind.  Indeed, we need the righteousness that penetrates to the very core of our humanity. We need a righteousness that creates a new heart, a new spirit, a new nature. This is the true righteousness that Jesus offered to this man when he called him to come and follow him in the way of the cross. In Jesus, God does not merely offer laws to govern the thoughts, words, and deeds of man; he offers his Son, who entered into human flesh and blood so that human flesh and blood would be created anew in his own image and after his own likeness.

 

Jesus is righteous not merely in what he thinks, says, or does; but even in what he believes, needs, and desires.  On the tree of the cross, humanity is fundamentally altered. Since it was at a tree that Adam filled man with a heart that covets, so now it is at the tree of the cross that Christ fills man with a new heart – one that fears, loves, and trusts in God above all other things. 

 

Jesus’ perfect righteousness is revealed in his cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These words reveal the depths of Jesus’ righteousness, for in this cry we see Jesus’ deepest desire, his most heartfelt yearning, and his greatest need. In the face of death Jesus does not cry out for life or breath, he does not yearn for vengeance or even an escape from his enemies; instead, Jesus simply cries out for God. His desire is nothing but the presence of his Father. For Jesus, there is only one necessity; there is only one need, one requirement for man – the presence of the living God.

 

“Come,” Jesus says, “take up your cross and follow me.” On the cross, Jesus keeps the beginning and the end of the law for you. Our sinful coveting is overwhelmed by Jesus’ righteous believing. The cross is the perfect worship of God, the perfect love for God, the perfect faith in God. On the altar of the cross Jesus offered his own flesh as the perfect sacrifice, the very flesh and blood you receive today from this altar. 

 

Here Jesus offers his own flesh and blood to be the one thing needful for you. Here Jesus’ righteousness becomes your justification; his holiness your sanctification; his life your resurrection. Here is true treasure the likes of which the world can never give. Here you are filled with an eternal wealth of God’s grace that fills your eyes, ears, hearts, and minds with the love of God. Here our Lord gives us eyes of faith that look to him for every good thing.

 

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

Funeral Sermon for Barbara Toma: "God's Own Child"

 + In Memoriam – Barbara Toma +

Job 19:23-27; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; John 6:35-40

 

 

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

 

Every so often you hear a song on the radio or sing a hymn in church and in an instant you think of someone you know and love. Maybe it was sung at a funeral – like For All the Saints. Or maybe it was your first dance at a wedding. Whatever the occasion may be, sometimes people and a certain song just seem to go together, like a good four part harmony. 

 

Now, there are probably a lot of songs that come to mind when you think of our dear sister in Christ, Barb. But the one that came to my mind this week was the old Sunday School classic, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”

 

And what is true of our Lord is true of Barb as well. She loved her children. She dropped out of nursing school to raise them, care for them, and teach them the important things in life, like the finer points of the rules of baseball. She even earned a black belt in taekwondo, no doubt, in part, to protect her children.

 

Barb loved the children of her church family as well. From VBS to youth group, from Sunday School to preschool she lived and proclaimed, and yes, even sang, of Christ’s love for all his little children. I know my daughter isn’t the only one blessed to have had Miss Barb, as she called her, as one of her favorite teachers. 

 

Yes, Barb loved children. Something she has common with our Lord. And she loved children – not because she was childish – no just the opposite, because our Lord gave her his gift of child-like faith and trust in him and his Son Jesus.

 

Barb loved children because she herself was a beloved, baptized, redeemed child of God. On a winter’s day in Chicago our Lord adopted Barb by his grace. By water, word, and the Spirit, our Lord made Barb his own dear child. And it was this new birth from above that filled Barb – as it does for all you who are baptized – with the love, joy, and grace of our Lord Jesus. From that day on, and into eternity, Barb was, and is, and ever shall be a baptized child of God, as are each of you, baptized into the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus.

 

And that is why we have a song to sing. That is why we have love for others, especially the children God places in our lives. The joy, praise, and love are God-given gifts to us, just as our Lord gave those gifts to Barb. 

 

For Barb knew that when it comes to the Christian faith, we are more like children than perhaps we care to admit at times. We are completely, totally, utterly, each and every day, hour, minute, and moment dependent upon the grace and love of our Heavenly Father for this body and life, and also for eternal life. Is it any wonder that our Lord places a child in the midst of his disciples and declares, ““Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” 

 

That is why God sent his only begotten Son to become – of all things – a little child for Barb. For you. For all. In love and mercy God sent Jesus to become a child so that in him – his perfect life, his death, his resurrection – we might become children of the heavenly Father. The Father sends the Son. The Son lives and dies and rise again to bring us rebellious, wayward children home. 

 

That our Father in heaven would fill us, as he did Barb, with the hope and comfort of Job’s words. I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in^[c] my flesh I shall see God.

 

 

That our Father in heaven would strengthen us and console us with the coming resurrection of the body for Barb and for all his children, as Paul proclaims, “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” 

 

That our Father in heaven would deliver his word of peace and promise to us in his Son Jesus. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us. That we – Barb, you, me, and all the baptized – should be called children of God. For that is who you are. That is who Barb is. 

 

I say, “is” because this is the way of things in our Lord’s family. Just we tell our children – you are always my little girl, my little boy. So too, God is always our heavenly father. Jesus is always our Savior and brother. And you are God’s children. Today. Tomorrow. And every day as we await the great family reunion of the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting. Until the resurrection…

 

The grace of our + Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.