Sermon for Advent 1: "Backwards and Forwards"

 + 1^st Sunday of Advent – November 27^th, 2022 +

Series A: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 21:1-11

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

There’s a phrase that’s common in hockey; players are told to keep their head on a swivel while on the ice. Players must be on the lookout for hits and checks, constantly looking both backward and forward.

 

We do the same thing while we’re driving. Eyes fixed on the road ahead. Eyes checking the rearview mirror. Backwards and forwards.

 

As this season of Advent begins, God’s Word reminds us to keep our heads and ears on a swivel. As we remember and celebrate Christ’s birth in the past, we keep our eyes fixed on the horizon for Christ’s return. 

 

The season of Advent calls us to look backward and forward. Backward to Jesus’ first coming in humility – a Virgin mother, a manger crib, a home in Nazareth, no place to lay His head, the suffering Servant, a cross. And forward to Jesus’ second coming in glory – the shout from heaven, the archangel’s trumpet, the clouds, the judgment, the resurrection, the power and the glory. Today we do a bit of both, a kind of “back to the future” look at Jesus’ appearing as our King in His kingdom.

 

Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. Zechariah 9:9

 

When YHWH called Zechariah to declare these words God’s people were returning from exile in Babylon. Imagine returning to your home after it had been engulfed in flames or demolished in a windstorm: will it ever be the same? Where do we even start? That was the Jerusalem that Israel returned to. The walls had been breached. The temple had been destroyed. Sure we can rebuild, but will it ever be the same? Where is the rescue God promised? How many times have we faced similar doubts, fears, and uncertainties

 

In the midst of doubts and uncertainty and hopelessness, God sends his prophet Zechariah. The prophet whose name means “YHWH remembered” delivers a promise that is unforgettable; a declaration from YHWH himself that he remembers his covenant and promise and will deliver. 

 

Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

 

And as we look backwards to YHWH’s word through Zechariah, Zechariah points us forward to the day his words are fulfilled. Jesus approaches Jerusalem with his disciples. The royal escort is prepared. The long-expected King is coming at last. Riding on a donkey just as Zechariah said he would. 

 

Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

It’s a beautiful scene. The creature carries her creator. The Son of David and Son of God rides in royal procession into Jerusalem. The sacrifice approaches the temple. And the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

 

This too is part of the Advent season that is now upon us. Preparation. And not only preparation to celebrate the birth of the King who came and was born to save us. But preparation for the coming of the King who will come again in glory to deliver us once again. This is what we prayed earlier… Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance.

 

Let’s be honest, this is a far different message than what we hear in the world around us this time of the year. Don’t wait, we hear. Act now. Buy now. Live for now. We live in a day and age where our eyes, ears, hearts and minds are constantly tempted to forget the past, ignore the future, and bend your gaze inward. Look after yourself. Be yourself. Live your truth. And on and on it goes, a selfish spiral swirling down the toilet drain. 

 

Advent calls us to do just the opposite. Lift up your heads. Stop your navel-gazing. Look backwards to Jesus the King who rode into Jerusalem to die for you. Look forward to the day when Jesus the King will return in glory to raise you from the dead. Behold, your King is coming to you.

 

And the crowds that went before Jesus and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

 

Hosanna is our Advent prayer as well. Hosanna means “Lord, save us.” Lord save us from the darkness of this fallen world. Lord, save us from our doubts, despair, worries, fears, and uncertainty. Lord, save us from our selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed sinful ways. Lord, save us. Today we join the Palm Sunday crowds. We look backward to God’s deliverance and promises in the past. And we look forward to the where the Son of David is coming.  Jesus came to die. Jesus came to lay down His life. Jesus is the King who dies for His subjects, who rescues them, who comes to them. You don’t come to this King, you don’t seek Him out. He seeks you out and comes to you. 

 

Behold your King has come. Behold your King will come again in glory. This advent, keep your head on a swivel. Look back to his cross and resurrection. Look forward to his coming again in glory. Your King Jesus is coming. 

 

Once He came by way of a Virgin mother; soon He comes with the angels.
Once He came by way of the crib and cross; soon He comes with the glory of heaven
Once He came riding atop a borrowed donkey; soon He comes with clouds descending
Once He came as a beggar King; soon He comes as the King of kings.
Once He came to die; soon He comes to raise the dead.
Once He came in weakness; soon He comes in power.
Once He came to be judged; soon He comes to judge.
Once He came to save us; soon He comes to give us salvation.

Come, Lord Jesus!

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

 

Thanksgiving Day Sermon: "Filled with Good Things"

 + Thanksgiving Day – November 24^th, 2022 +

Psalm 104; Deuteronomy 8:1-10; Philippians 4:6-20; Luke 17:11-19

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

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

 

Out of the many things Scripture reveals that God does for us, one of God’s favorite things to do is to feed and provide for his people. God loves to share a table and his gifts with his people. You don’t get far into God’s word – the very first chapter in fact – before we hear God setting up a feast for his people.

 

When God created the heavens and the earth he told Adam and Eve, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. 

 

When God visited Abraham and Sarah – even though it was Abraham and Sarah who prepared the bread and the calf for a holy barbeque – it was the Lord himself who came and dined with them that he might bless them.

 

When the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness, once again, it was the Lord who fed and provided for his people. He sent them manna and quail from heaven. Water from the rock. Later when the people of Israel were about to enter the promised land, the Lord reminded them… For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

 

Wherever you find the Lord in Scripture, you will find him feeding and providing for his people. Time and time again, this is what God does. He sits at the table with them and blesses them. Our psalm of the day is no different. 

 

These all look to you,
    to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
    when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

 

Passages like Psalm 104 certainly remind us of God’s goodness. So do days like Thanksgiving Day. These words and these days also remind us that without our Lord to feed, provide, and care for us, we have nothing. On our own we are in need. We are dependent upon him – certainly for forgiveness, but also for daily bread. On our own we are empty and need to be filled. One of the images that Scripture gives us of our sin is that of hunger. That we starve and waste away apart from the daily bread of God’s word. And in the absence of God’s gifts to us in his word we turn to anything and everything else that appears satisfying and good in our own eyes and a delight to our desires. It’s true…man does not live by bread alone…in fact cannot live by bread alone…but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

 

It’s no surprise then that when the Son of God takes on human flesh we find him eating and drinking with people all over the place. He dines with sinners and tax collectors and pharisees alike. He eats the Passover with his disciples. He enjoys a fish fry by the sea of Galilee after his resurrection. Many of his parables echo the Scripture’s constant theme that where God is present, there you’ll find him feeding and providing for and feasting with his people. 

 

It’s certainly true at our earthly tables, no matter how big or small they may be. Those gifts we give thanks for today are from our Lord’s hands. When he opens his hands, you are filled with good things. 

 

And it’s even more true of our Lord’s table where he gathers us together this morning. Where he opens up his hands – those hands that were crucified and pierced and glorified for you – and he pours out his body and blood for you. Where you are filled with the good things of his forgiveness and redemption in his body and blood. Where Christ our Lord comes once again, as he did for Adam, Eve, Abraham, and Israel, and he dwells with us and for us in a holy feast of life and salvation. Where he shares his table, and gives his very life for you. 

 

 

A blessed day of thanksgiving to each of you…

 

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

 

In Memoriam: Funeral Sermon for Jeanette Mitchell

 + In Memoriam – Jeanette Mitchell +

Psalm 23; Ecclesiastes 3:1-15; Romans 8:28-39; John 6:35-40

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Every so often you meet someone and within the first five minutes, you feel like you’ve known them for fifty years. The kind of person you could sit down and visit with for hours and not notice where the time had gone. The kind of person who loved being with people, and people loved being with. A people person.

 

Seems to me that this is one of the gracious gifts God gave Jeanette. She was a people person. She loved to visit. And in our visits together, whenever I would bring holy communion to her, I learned all about her swimming in surprise lake and time on family homestead picking berries, but most of all, I learned that she loved people. She asked how friends and fellow saints were doing at church. Even when she could no longer make it to church, her thoughts and prayers were with the people she loved.

 

As close family and friends, you all know that far better and have experienced that joy far longer than I have. You know that good friends and loving family can be hard to find in this broken world, but that you found one in Jeanette. Whether she was at work or camping with family; whether she was caring for kids who came over to the house or those she called upon to share the gospel with in the community, Jeanette loved to visit.

 

And that kind of love only comes from one place. We love because Christ first loved us. And Jeanette would be the first to tell you that her love for others was the gracious fruit of the love that God planted and nurtured and gave to her. As St. Paul reminds us, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 

 

If Jeanette was a people person, how much more is our Lord. Our Lord Jesus is the consummate people person. He loves to visit people with his gifts. He did so for Jeanette by calling her to faith in Him. He visited her with the new birth from above that came by the water and the Spirit in her baptism. Our Lord visited her with his word of the gospel shared with her throughout her life. Our Lord visited her with his forgiveness, life, and salvation every time she received his holy body and blood. And that word, Isaiah tells us, visits us as well, and through his word our Lord visits us with the same promises he gave to Jeanette. 

 

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

 

Our Lord loves being with his people so much so that he became one with us and one of us, for us. For Jeanette. For you. Jesus took on human flesh. For the love of Jeanette and you, Jesus visited us in our brokenness of sin, in our frailty of life, and even in the depths of grief and the grave. 

 

I imagine that is one of the things that brings us grief and tears on days like today. Knowing that death brings an all too painful interruption and end to our visiting and time together with Jeaneatte and with all who have gone before us. At least for now. Phone calls, conversations, visits may not endure long in this life, at least never as long as we would like them to, but, Solomon says, whatever God does endures forever.

 

And what God does best is visiting his people. Our Lord Jesus is the kind of God who loves being with his people. He was with Jeanette as she walked through this valley of the shadow of death. He was with her she fell asleep in death. He is with her and all the faithful departed forever. And he will be with us and visit us yet again when he calls forth our name and raises our bodies from the grave on the day of resurrection. 

 

You see, our Lord Jesus is the Greatest visitor of all; the Greatest people person of all. As our Lord says in John 6, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.⁴⁰ 

 

For, as St. Paul declares to us, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

 

Our days of visiting in one another’s presence – and most of all, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ – are still ahead of us. Death does not get the last word. Jesus does. And he died to destroy our sin, death, and the power of the devil. Jesus crucified and risen gets the last word and that word is “It is finished!” And, “Behold, I make all things new.”

 

That’s what our Lord’s visits us with, his promise, as he did for Jeanette, and all who die in the faith, an everlasting and enduring eternity; physical, bodily, resurrected, glorified new life in the presence of our Lord Jesus. Raised from the dead even as he rose from the dead. In a new, resurrected and glorified body even as is risen and glorified. A real, physical, bodily dwelling with Christ and one another. This is Christ’s promise to Jeanette and to you. For Jeanette and for you, our Lord Jesus is the kind of person who loves being with you, and in whose presence we will love being forever.

 

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.”

 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year: "Long Live the King"

 + November 20^th, 2022 - Last Sunday of the Church Year +

Series C: Malachi 3:13-18; Colossians 1:13-20; Luke 23:27-43

Beautful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

It’s early Friday morning. A rush order has just come into the workshop of a local, Roman woodworker. He takes a slab of wood. Places it on his workbench, and takes out his chisel and hammer. He crafts a sign for the ages. A sign meant to ridicule, yet it rings with truth. This is the King of the Jews.

 

That same Friday morning a contingent of Roman soldiers leave their garrison with boots and belts strapped, armed with spears, hammers, and cold iron Roman nails. Another day. Another criminal. Another cross. They jeer and joke…but yet they’re not entirely wrong. “If you really are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” What they cry out in mockery, Jesus reveals in his humility. He really is the King, which is why he will not save himself. Jesus is crucified to save you.

 

On that Friday afternoon two criminals were led to their death along with Jesus. There at the place called the Skull. One criminal on his left. One on his right. Jesus in the middle. And the words of the psalmist are fulfilled. Jesus is numbered with the transgressors.

 

One of these criminals who were hanged railed at him,^[d] saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

 

The other criminal, however, saw what Pilate had seen. What we see every time we read the story. Jesus, the innocent one, goes to the cross for the guilty ones.

 

This other criminal rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

 

The crowds, the soldiers, the criminals on the cross, Jesus’ disciples, even his own mother – they are all there as witnesses, at the foot of the cross for the greatest moment of history. 

 

To the eyes of the world, the soldiers, the crowds, and many still today, the cross is nothing more than a place of curse and death; an instrument of torture, punishment, and pain; that Friday afternoon is nothing more than unimaginable agony, horrific suffering, and humiliation.

 

It’s true. Jesus’ crucifixion is all of those things. But it is also more.

 

“Lord Jesus Christ, you reign among us by the preaching of your cross.” 

 

The cross of Christ crucified is the power to save. God’s power made perfect in weakness, as Paul writes in Corinthians. There is no other power to save, not in you. Not in in me. Not in anyone except the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It was true on that Friday outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It’s true today as we remember and celebrate the end of another church year. And it’s true every day until our Lord Jesus returns.

 

The cross is where Christ is king and where he rules and reigns for you. 

 

And of all the people at the cross, it’s the criminal, a condemned and dying thief hanging on his own cross next to Jesus who realizes this, believes this, confesses this.

 

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

 

He asks Jesus to remember him. And in the Scriptures, when someone asks God to remember, it’s not a request for God to do some kind of mental exercise, or memory game; to ask God to remember is to ask God to act. To save. To redeem. To rescue. To do the very thing Jesus is on the cross doing for that criminal and for you. This man’s prayer on the cross is our daily prayer. Our prayer as we long for Jesus to return in glory. Our prayer when life around us feels like the cross, full of suffering, agony, and death. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 

 

It’s a beautiful, bold prayer, asking Jesus… remember me when you come into your kingdom.

It’s a prayer that holds no pretentions. No delusions. A prayer that knows we, like the thief on the cross, don’t have a leg to stand on before God. We only have the blood of Jesus. We have nothing to cling to except his cross. And despite all appearances to the contrary, there on the cross, Jesus is ruling and reigning for this criminal and for you. He turns the curse of the cross into great blessing for you. He turns punishment and pain into eternal freedom and joy. He turns our sin, shame, and humiliation into forgiveness, holiness, and glory. 

 

He turns death into paradise. And it all happens as his head is crowned with thorns. 

 

So can you imagine the complete shock on his face, the pure yet surprising joy when that thief dies and finds himself in the presence of the very same man he had just hung next to on the cross. If an angel had come up to him at the moment he died and went to heaven the angel might ask him, “How did you get in here?” “I don’t know.” Well, surely you must know.” “I don’t. I have no arguments. I have no excuses. No pleas. All I know is this, the man on the middle cross said I could come.” 

 

For that thief on the cross, Jesus’ word and promise; Jesus’ death on his behalf was enough. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The same is true for you as well. Jesus is king on the cross for you. And “where Christ is King, everything is changed. Eyes see differently and the heart no longer beats the same. And in every hard and difficult palce the comforting voice is there and the hand that will not let go upholds us

 

 “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 

When you are baptized and united with Jesus in his death and resurrection. When you daily live in his gifts of repentance and forgiveness of sins. When you walk through this valley of the shadow of death that is so often full of our own burdens, griefs, and crosses to bear. When you pray that the Lord would come again as he promised. In all these things, you rest in the words of Jesus. For the man on the middle cross said so.

 

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 

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

 

Sermon for Pentecost 23: "Redemption Is Near"

 + 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost – November 13^th, 2022 +

Series C: Micah 4; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-13; Luke 21:5-36

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Where do you go when you suffer? Where do you turn in your hurt and pain? When the brokenness of the world overwhelms you?

 

We might pretend, like some do, that suffering doesn’t exist; it’s all an illusion. We might try amusing ourselves to death with distractions: drown our sorrows, numb the pain, scroll through social media and hope it all just goes away. We even might try giving ourselves a little pep-talk, and put on a brave face for the world.

 

But in the end, there are really only two places to go when we suffer: to hide in our works or in the work of Christ. To rest in our own restless hands, or to find peace and rest in the hands and wounds of Jesus.

 

Where do you go when you suffer? For centuries God’s people would’ve answered that by pointing you to the temple. To the place where God dwelt with and for his people. Where God heard the prayers of his broken people and spoke his word to heal them. Where God was present with his promise to make atonement for their sins, the place where he shared his holiness with them, to the place where he promised to set things right. 

 

So you can imagine the shock on the crowds’ faces as they stood admiring the white stones and gilded walls of the temple as they listened to Jesus pointing to the temple and saying; you see that…it’s all going to be destroyed.

 

“As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

 

Jesus was predicting the destruction that was to come some forty years afterwards when that very temple would be destroyed by Rome in 70 A.D. For the crowds, his own disciples, and all who believe in him, Jesus was preparing them for suffering that was to come.

 

While they are admiring the temple, He predicts its destruction. A destruction that comes in waves. First there are the false Messiahs (verse 8) and false prophets. Governmental persecution (verse 12). Jesus tells His disciples that they will be betrayed by friends and family. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers^[c] and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. ¹⁷ You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 

 

Doesn’t sound all that different from the world we live in today does it? That’s because Jesus’ prediction of the temple’s destruction is also a picture of living in the Last Days. Days when, as Jesus warned his disciples, suffering is coming. As Luther said, “When you’re baptized you have a target on your back,” - the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh will bring suffering and try and destroy you any way they can. 

 

 

It all sounds terrifying doesn’t it. And If that were all Jesus said, it would be. But it’s not all Jesus said. Suffering doesn’t get the last word when Jesus is around. Larger than the target on our backs is the name of the Christ written upon your forehead; so what if the devil has you on his hit list, your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life and all his threats and lies are empty as the tomb that Jesus rose from when he destroyed your sin, died your death, and crushed the devil under foot.  There’s no amount of suffering – no matter how severe it is, no sin big or small, not even death itself can take you that can take you out of Jesus hands. 

 

Where do you go when you suffer? Take comfort in, and find rest in the words and wounds of Christ who suffered for you. Who speaks to us in the midst of suffering.

 

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

 

Where do you go when you suffer? You go where God’s people have always gone, to the temple. Not the one with stones and gold and cedar, but the temple of flesh and blood and bone – to Jesus the new and greater temple. To Christ who dwells with you and for you. To Christ who atones for your sins. To Christ who shares his holiness with you in holy words, holy washing away of sins, holy eating and drinking of his holy body and blood. To Christ who sets all things right in his own suffering on the cross for you. 

 

Jesus spoke these words mere days before His death. The suffering Jesus will experience is for your eternal salvation. He will fight against death and die in the battle precisely so He can rise and reveal that he has overcome death for you. There is nothing in this life, therefore, which can tear you out of His strong, protective hand. 

 

You see, all these signs Jesus speaks of concerning the temple’s destruction are also the same signs present at his crucifixion. Persecution. Betrayal. Death. False prophets. Earthquakes. He endured all of it for you.

 

Where do you go when you suffer? To the place where Jesus went and suffered for you, to his death and resurrection. To his word of peace and promise that comes to us whenever we suffer.

 

“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

 

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

 

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

 

Sermon for All Saints' Day: "Blessed Beggars"

 + All Saints’ Day (observed) – November 6^th, 2022 +

Revelation 7:2-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Days before his death, Martin Luther did what he had done many times before. He threw ink at the devil. He wrote down several things on a piece of paper. Folded it. Tucked it in his pocket. Only after his death this note was found. On it, he had written these humble, yet beautiful words.

 

“We are beggars. This is true.”

 

And it’s still true today, on this All Saints’ Day. A day when we remember and give thanks to God for the lives of those family, friends, dear brothers and sisters in Christ who have died in the faith in this past year, and in years past. A day when we remember and give thanks to God for his promises given to all who believe in Christ. A day when we remember and give thanks to God for calling us to faith in Jesus, placing his holy name upon us, and declaring us to be his baptized, beloved, redeemed saints. A day when we remember and give thanks to God that we are all beggars.

 

Jesus begins his teaching in Matthew 5 the same way. He begins the beatitudes, and the sermon on the mount that follows, with words of blessing. Words that declare who you are in him. Words of promise. And yet, his words sound completely different from what we or the world around us expects.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

It’s not hard to see why Jesus’ words are often mocked and ridiculed. The way of the world is the way of self-sufficiency. The way of wealth, power, control. The way of strength and pride. “I did it my way,” sang Old Blue Eyes. Maybe you’ve heard something similar from folks you’ve invited to church. “Oh, I don’t want to go to church; it’s full of hypocrites.” “You’re right,” I say, “and there’s always room for one more.”

 

It’s tempting, isn’t it. To give into the lie that only holy people go to church. That the church is for saints who have it all together. Who are perfect and pious in every way. In reality, the church is not a gym or a rehab center where we go to bulk up and flex our spiritual muscles or seek out religious rehabilitation. The church is more like hospice care, where the dying care for one another and the dead are raised to life in Jesus. That’s why I’ve always loved the old quote, “What’s evangelism? It’s one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

 

That’s why we remember and give thanks to God for his saints on days like All Saints’ Day. Not because those who have died in the faith are a Norman Rockwell portrait of piety, but because they knew that we all come to our Lord empty handed. That we all come before Christ with nothing to offer except our sin and brokenness.

 

We are beggars. This is true. 

 

That is what it means to be poor in spirit. To be blessed not because of ourselves, our holy lives or our holy words or our holy works. But you are blessed in Jesus’ holy life lived for you. Jesus’ holy words spoken to you. Jesus’ holy works done for you.

 

To be poor in spirit is to be completely dependent upon God’s grace. To be poor in spirit is to know that we are empty and Jesus must fill us with his overflowing mercy, that we hunger and thirst, and that Jesus gives everything we lack. That you who mourn this sinful, broken world, and your sinful, broken flesh are comforted in Jesus who loves nothing more than to give his kingdom to beggars. To turn sinners into saints, to bless the poor in spirit with all the riches of Christ’s death and resurrection. To be poor in spirit is to realize you have nothing to give God; and yet receive everything from Him by grace.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

 

In these blessings, these beatitudes, Jesus is not only declaring who you are in him, but who he is for you. From this mountain Jesus can already see the mountain of his crucifixion where he became utterly, completely, totally dependent upon the Father’s word and will in order to take our place and exalt us. 

 

For us who are weak, Jesus became weak giving his life and final breath to bring you life forever. For us who are broken in sin, Jesus who knew no sin became sin for you that in him you would be righteous, holy, his saints. For us who are beggars, Jesus became the beggar. He emptied himself taking the form of a servant, and humbled himself unto the point of death on the cross for you. And he seats you at his heavenly banquet table here today. 

 

For you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus gives you bread that is His body and wine that is His blood. For you who mourn the death of his saints in the past and more recent, you are comforted in the Lamb who promises to wipe away every tear from your eyes. For you who are poor in spirit, who are beggars before God, yours is the kingdom of God.

 

We are beggars. This is true. But blessed beggars. Saved and sainted in Jesus. This is most certainly true. 

 

 

A blessed All Saints’ Day to each of you…

 

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