Sermon for Pentecost 3: "Jesus the Blessed Burglar"

 + 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost – June 9^th, 2024 +

Series B: Genesis 3:8-15; 1 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Beautiful Savior Lutheran 

Milton, WA

 

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

 

 

We tend to think of coming home as a time of celebration. Bring out the welcome wagon. Throw a BBQ block party. But that’s not the homecoming Jesus received in his hometown of Nazareth. Members of his own family don’t understand or believe in him at this point. They call him crazy. A couple books short of the full Torah. 

 

But that’s nothing compared to the Scribes and their greetings. They came all the way down from Jerusalem to say, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

 

The Scribes didn’t question the fact that Jesus did something miraculous. They didn’t doubt a man was healed and demons were cast out. Rather, they attacked Jesus’ authority to do these things. While Jesus’ family thought he’d lost his marbles, the Scribes thought he was in league with Satan. 

 

So Jesus gives them a quick lesson in critical thinking: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.” 

 

The Scribes’ accusation is a logical impossibility. If Jesus were on the devil’s side then he wouldn’t be waging war against him by casting out demons. And yet, that’s exactly what Jesus does. Since his birth in Bethlehem, he’s on campaign to destroy the devil. Satan may appear to be a strong man, but Jesus is the stronger man. 

 

No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

 

Jesus reveals his battle plan: bind the strong man and plunder his goods. Jesus the Divine Burglar comes in human flesh, binds the devil, storms the dragon’s lair and reclaims you, his rightful treasure. We’re the plunder the Divine Thief carries off after He’s tied up the strong man. We who were once rebels and sinners are now Jesus’ greatest treasure through his victory on the cross. 

 

This is why Jesus came. To free us from sin and death and the power of the devil. To forgive. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter.” 

 

Stop for a moment and ponder the magnitude and depth of those words. How many sins? All. Yours. Mine. The whole world. How many people did Jesus die for? All. How many of our sins did he pay for on the cross? All of them. You are forgiven.

 

Why then does Jesus go on to talk about what some have called an unforgivable sin? What does it mean when he says…”whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”?

 

No doubt this is a tricky verse. But let’s look closely at the context. This whole conversation started with the Scribes accusing Jesus of going to the dark side with Satan. 

 

Rather than receiving the Holy Spirit, who fell on Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, they reject the work of the Holy Spirit by saying his work is the work of the devil.

 

Rather than receiving Jesus as the Messiah they’re saying he’s the mouthpiece of Satan. 

 

Rather than receiving the kingdom of God that comes in Jesus’ words, life, dying and rising, they’re saying he’s an ambassador of the kingdom of darkness.

 

This is what Jesus means when he warns his hearers against the sin against the Holy Spirit. It’s not some particular sin that’s somehow worse than any other. It’s what the Scribes are doing here. And what they were doing was a complete, fierce, and total rejection of the work of the Spirit through Jesus. To blaspheme Jesus and the Spirit is to say that heaven is hell, that God is the devil, the Spirit is Beelzebul, and Jesus is the devil’s servant. 

 

Usually we start to worry about this sin against the Holy Spirit when we’re concerned that we’ve sinned in some unforgivable way. And it’s not a bad thing to be concerned about our own sin. But remember, God has given us the answer to our sin: his gifts of repentance and forgiveness.

 

Not only that, if you’re worried about committing this sin you haven’t committed it. People who’ve committed this sin aren’t concerned about a troubled conscience. They don’t care about repentance or forgiveness either. It’s called the unforgivable sin not because it’s so big and bad. Jesus has already dealt with every big and bad sin for you on the cross. All sin is forgiven. The unforgivable sin is unforgivable because it’s saying, “I want no part of your forgiveness.” The problem with that, of course is that sin has to go somewhere. If it’s not taken away by Jesus then it’s all on us. 

 

But that’s not what Jesus wants for you. And not what he gives you. You belong to him. You’re forgiven in Jesus. You’re baptized into Christ. You live in his mercy and grace. You rejoice in his victory over sin and death and the devil for you. And don’t forget that even the so-called unforgivable sin can be forgiven. Remember how Jesus appeared to Saul the persecutor and turned him into Paul the apostle by the power of the very same Holy Spirit he had been blaspheming. 

 

And when the devil or your own sinful flesh starts throwing your sins back in your face, go back to Jesus’ words. Remember what Jesus said right before that verse. All sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. Not some. Not most. Not just the little ones. All. 

 

Jesus forgives you all your sin. Period. Full stop. You cannot out sin the love of Jesus in his dying and rising for you. Sure we have big sins, and plenty of them. But Jesus is a bigger Savior.

 

This is good news. Believe this. Live in Jesus’ victory on the cross. That’s how we continue to live – by his grace and forgiveness – as members of his family. As Jesus says, “Whoever does the will of God is my mother and brother and sisters.”  

 

That’s Jesus’ word of homecoming for you: by his word and promise and Spirit, you are brothers and sisters in Christ. Now and forever.

 

 

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

 

Sermon for Pentecost 2: "Jesus is Our Sabbath"

 + 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost – June 2^nd, 2024 +

Series B: Deuteronomy 5:12-15; 2 Corinthians 4:5-12; Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-6

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

In 6 days, God created the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

 

Ever wonder why God rested? He wasn’t tired, worn out, or weary. God rested from his work of creation to provide a place and time for his people to rest in Him. In his word. In his promises. In his gracious providing. To give rest in body and soul. To preserve life. God didn’t need the rest but he knows we do. Sabbath was a blessing, a gift. 

 

That’s the Sabbath day before Genesis 3 and sin, devil, and death creep into God’s very good creation. But even then, after Genesis 3, Sabbath was God’s gift, made for man to rest in his promises, provision, and peace – to point forward to the Sabbath rest won by Jesus crucified on the 6^th day and rested on the 7^th day for you. God’s gift of Sabbath in the Scriptures was a day where the Lord calls us to himself to receive his gifts and to give you rest in Jesus. 

 

And yet, even after Genesis 3, we see fallen, sinful man always finds a way to ruin God’s good gifts. To take and twist God’s blessing – and turning them into burdens. 

 

That’s what’s happening in Mark 2 and 3 this morning. A Sabbath Day showdown between Jesus and the Pharisees. Round one …the Pharisees spied Jesus’ disciples walking through the fields, plucking and eating grain. According to Deuteronomy, the poor were allowed to pick grain left on the edges of the field. For the Pharisees, however, it wasn’t what the disciples were doing, it was when that was the problem. Why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?  

 

You get the idea that the Pharisees would not have been all that fun to hang out with. Always score-keeping, measuring their holiness, walking around with their legal notepads taking making sure no one steps out of line; it’s all very self-righteous. And harvesting grain was just one of the 39 types of work forbidden on the Sabbath day. But of course whenever we point the finger at the Pharisees, we point out our own sinful, self-righteous ways too. There’s a little Pharisee in each of us that Jesus is constantly calling to repentance and restoring in forgiveness as well. 

 

Jesus, being a good teacher, replies with a question of his own. Haven’t you guys read your Old Testament? Don’t you remember how David ate the bread of the presence in the tabernacle when he was on the run from Saul? You guys got it all wrong. The Sabbath wasn’t about regulations and rule-keeping, but rest and restoration in my word. It’s supposed to be a blessing, not a burden. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 

 

If David did not violate the Law when he ate the bread of the presence, certainly, then neither Jesus nor his disciples are violating the Law as God gave it. Rather, the Son of Man who is David’s Son and David’s Lord is the one who decides what the Sabbath day is and what it means: it is for man; a day of rest for God’s people. Don’t tell me what the Sabbath is; I’m the one who wrote it! It’s me, God in the flesh. I am here and so is my kingdom. The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. And Jesus gives the Sabbath for resting in and receiving his good gifts.

 

Round two…Jesus is in the synagogue. On the Sabbath. There’s a man with a withered hand. And the Pharisees? They don’t care for the man. No compassion. They’re perched like a kettle of holier than thou hawks watching Jesus. Waiting to see what he’ll do. Their accusations knocked like arrows.

 

Jesus knows their game, so he plays one of his own. He invites the man with the withered hand. Publicly. Loudly, I imagine. Come here! 

What do you guys think? Is it lawful to do good or harm, save or kill on the Sabbath (to love the neighbor by healing on the Sabbath) or not? 

 

Silence. They couldn’t answer. Wouldn’t answer. That would mean Jesus was right about the Sabbath and all their self-righteousness was wrong. Notice Jesus’ response. Anger and grief. Why? Their hard-heartedness. Their lack of compassion. They’d exchanged God’s gift of righteousness for self-righteousness. in trying to keep God’s Law they fell into legalism. In trying to measure their own righteousness they neglected God’s mercy. They turned the Sabbath day blessing into a burden. A time of resting in God’s word to a time of recounting their own righteousness. A gift into a grind.

 

Jesus healed the man. The Lord of the Sabbath rest brought a Sabbath restoration. A down payment of what he had come to do in his own great Sabbath rest in the tomb after his death and before his resurrection on the third day. 

 

The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. This whole scene is drenched in irony. The Pharisees – champions of the Law – actually miss the whole point of God’s Law. The Sabbath day blessing became a burden. They’re concerned about Jesus healing and preserving life on the Sabbath while they begin to plot to kill Jesus on that very Sabbath.  

 

This Sabbath day showdown leads us to Calvary. To the cross and grave and risen Jesus. On the 6^th day of the week. A Friday. Good Friday. God finished His labors for man. On Good Friday, God, who this time took on our image, took on our humanity, completed His great work of Salvation. And by His blood, He paid the price for our sin. And bore in his body on the cross all our pride, self-righteousness, and sin. All the guilt and shame heaped on others and on ourselves. All heaped on him who knew no sin and yet was made sin for you. 

 

And then on the 7^th day, the Sabbath day, the Son of God rested. They laid Him in the tomb just before evening fell. Jesus did no work on that day. Because the work of love was already done. He had loved His Father with heart, soul, and mind. He had loved His neighbor as Himself. Jesus had sacrificed everything for you. That day right there. That day between Good Friday and Easter. That’s why God gave the Sabbath. That’s why God gave us rest. Because now, we rest from our sin. Now, we rest from our death. Now we rest from our war against God. It is finished. 

 

And for you, people loved by God, there is an eternal Sabbath rest that awaits. A day when burdens will be gone, and only blessing. A day of eternal gift. A day of rest and restoration in the resurrection of the body and  the new creation.

 

Until that Day, Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, gives us days and times and spaces and moments of rest here in this life: 

 

As you read God’s word daily He gives you Sabbath rest in his promises

As you confess your sins and receive absolution, he gives you Sabbath rest for in forgiveness.

As you live each day in your Baptism, he gives you Sabbath rest 

As you kneel at his table, he gives you Sabbath rest in his body and blood.

Here in his house, in his word, in water, bread and wine, he gives you Sabbath rest in his gifts.

 

Today, and every day, Jesus is your Sabbath rest.

 

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