Sermon for Pentecost 21: "The Things of God"

 + 21^st Sunday after Pentecost – October 22^nd, 2023 +

Series A: Isaiah 45:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 1; Matthew 22:15-22

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

A good boxer knows when his opponent is about to throw a heavy right hook, but a great boxer will use that attack, duck to the side, and throw a counter punch. A good chess player will see his opponent’s opening move, a queen’s gambit perhaps; but a great chess player will counter the opponent with a challenge or trap of his own. 

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus and the pharisees are in the ring for another round, trying to corner Jesus. There’s a chess game going on and the pharisees’ disciples think they have Jesus in check. And yet again, Jesus turns the tables on his opponents; he issues a challenge of his own…not for trophies or titles, but to bring his hearers to repentance and forgiveness.

Matthew sets the scene, “the Pharisees went and plotted how to entrap him in his words.” 

This also sets the tone for what follows. Jesus’ opponents aren’t motivated by truth or goodness. While claiming to follow God’s Law, their conversations have shown repeatedly that they did not hear or heed God’s Law from the mouth of the Son of God himself. While each group probably had its own opinions about the temple tax, neither group – the pharisees or Herodians – really care about the question or the answer. They care about one thing and one thing only: discrediting and destroying Jesus by any means necessary.

“Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.^[b]

You can hear their tone just by reading it. Their words drip with sarcasm and double meaning. Fake flattery. It’s all rather ironic too. The pharisees don’t even believe what they are saying, and yet, they are right. Jesus is true – the Truth of God in the flesh. And he speaks and teaches the Father’s ways and words truthfully. But they will say anything to trap Jesus. Solomon warned about this in Proverbs. A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 

In politics this would be called a gotcha question. So they toss him a controversial topic: the temple tax. If Jesus answers, “No, it isn’t lawful”, the political Herodians might have reason to go after Jesus for being a traitor or a religious nutcase. And if Jesus answers, “Yes, it is lawful”, then Jesus the pharisees can peg Jesus as a traitor and blasphemer for supporting the Romans. Again, Jesus’ opponents don’t really care about the answer. They only want to trap, discredit, and destroy Jesus. 

But like a champion boxer or a master chess player, Jesus knows it. He sees it coming a mile away. He doesn’t engage their question. instead he challenges their treachery…He knows their evil intent. He calls them out on it. And then punches back with a challenge of his own.

Jesus begins with an accusation, a rebuke; he knows their wickedness. “Why do you tempt me, you hypocrites?” Next, Jesus gives them a non-answer to the question they really don’t care too much about. 

“Show me the coin for the tax.”  And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”  They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Then pay Caesar’s things to Caesar.” A rather simple, clever reply, the coin bears the image of Caesar’s ownership. But notice that Jesus hasn’t really answered the question about whether or not it was lawful because the pharisees don’t care about the question and Jesus knows it. Jesus won’t fall for their trap. The one thing we do know the pharisees believe here is that they thought it was God’s will to oppose and reject and ultimately crucify Jesus.

Finally we come to the counterpunch. Jesus throws down his own gambit. Jesus’ opponents came pretending they wanted to know what God’s Law required. So Jesus gives them a full dose of His Law.

Render, or pay to God the things that are God’s.

This is the knockout punch. The checkmate move. The question really isn’t about Caesar’s authority – as Jesus tells Pilate at his trial before the crucifixion, “You would have no authority at all unless it had been give you by my Father in heaven.” No. the issue is whether or not the pharisees – and all who hear Jesus words – believe that he is and bears the authority of God, as the Son of God, as the one the Father sent with all authority to teach, preach, heal, forgive, live, die and rise from the dead. 

Jesus brings it back to the first commandment. It’s always a first commandment one way or the other. 

Who was their god? What or who did they fear, love, and trust in? It wasn’t Jesus. 

What about us? What are your hopes and fears about tomorrow? What weighs on your mind this morning or last night or throughout the week? Where are you looking for help and rescue from all that threatens your life and your future? In who or what do we fear, love, and trust? If it’s not Jesus, we’re no better off than the pharisees. Today’s Gospel reading isn’t really a matter of taxes, but a matter of trust. Have we given to God the things that are God’s? No. But there is one who has. 

And the good news is that Jesus did this for you. He is the image of God in human flesh, the second Adam, new humanity. He came into our flesh to render to God what was God’s, namely our humanity, and to restore the image of God to our flesh. He rendered to God the things that are God’s. He did it “not with gold or silver,” not with the coin of Caesar, but with His holy and precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death at the hands of the Pharisees and the Herodians and the Roman government all of whom served as God’s instrument that you would belong to him, be holy in him, be saved and declared righteous in him. 

The devil and world looked at Jesus on the cross and thought they had Jesus cornered at last. Thought they had Him nailed down. But not even death and the grave could hold Him, this perfect image of God in Man. Nothing can hold Him, for He holds all things. Yes, even you. 

God’s put His image and inscription on you in your Baptism. He’s restored His image and likeness. You are saved and declared righteous in Jesus. You holy and precious in Jesus. You don’t belong to Caesar. You belong to God in Christ crucified and risen.

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

Sermon for Pentecost 20: "Worthy in Christ"

 + 20^th Sunday after Pentecost – October 15^th, 2023 +

Series A: Isaiah 25:6-9; Philippians 4:4-13; Matthew 22:1-14

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

Holy Scripture begins and ends with a wedding and a wedding feast. It begins with Adam and Eve given to each other by God to be one flesh, and to feast on the fruit of Eden, save one tree. It ends with John’s vision of the marriage supper of the Lamb, you the baptized and all believers are the bride. Christ is the bridegroom who saves and sanctifies you. All your sins are washed away. You are his beloved. Holy to him. Holy in him. Though our sins were as scarlet; in Christ the bridegroom you are white as snow.

A wedding is the backdrop of many of Jesus’ parables as well…like the one we heard today. 

“again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son”

Who is the “them” that Jesus is speaking to here? The context is similar to last Sunday’s parable. Jesus once again speaks a parable directed to the chief priests and Pharisees. Jesus is teaching the chief priests and the pharisees once again that all the prophets – like Isaiah and Hosea – who prophesied that God was Israel’s husband and Israel was his beloved bride – they were all pointing to Him. The long-expected Messiah, who is also Israel’s God and Husband, is here in the flesh, standing right before them. Jesus’ parable reveals that He is the bridegroom, the son of the king, the Heavenly Father.

This wedding story is not without drama however. Rather than rejoice in the coming Bridegroom, the chief priests and pharisees reject Jesus. Rather than praise and confess his saving Name, they plot to kill him. 

This is what’s going on in the first part of Jesus’ parable. The invitation went out. The Bridegroom is here. Come to the feast. ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ And what was the reaction? They tossed the invitation in the round file. Ignored it. Rejected the Bridegroom.  they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business. 

This was more than a deep insult. More than disrespect. It was disbelief. Rejection of the bridegroom. Jesus was warning the chief priests and pharisees that in rejecting him they were un-inviting themselves to the feast. This is what made them unworthy guests. Not their behavior, not even their sins, but that the reject the savior who comes to rescue from sin. 

You’ll often notice this pattern in Jesus’ parables. The unforgiving servant is condemned even though he is forgiven at first. The invited guests become enemies even though they have a place at the table. And it’s all their own fault. They refused the king’s goodness and so they get the king’s wrath. Turn away from the Gospel, and all that’s left is the Law with its outer darkness and gnashing of teeth. Refuse the rescue swimmer who jumps out of a helicopter to save you from drowning, and well, you drown. 

This is why Jesus tells the parable to the chief priests and pharisees. It’s a warning. Not to reject or ignore or refuse the gracious invitation of the King to the wedding feast. And yet, this is what the religious leaders do, and in doing so, have made themselves unworthy by their opposition, hatred, and plot to kill Jesus. 

The parable goes on. The King has a feast ready, and a feast needs guests. Not only that, this King is generous…no one deserves a seat at his wedding feast, but he is a gracious host and invites everyone. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he was speechless. 

This fellow had the same problem as the first guests who were invited. He had no wedding garment. He was there deliberately despising the king and his son. That is what it means to be unworthy in this parable…to oppose, despise, reject seek to destroy the Son of God and his gracious rescue, his wedding feast he gives freely. The king essentially says to the man, ok, you don’t want grace, wrath is all that’s left. 

The conclusion of this Parable is frightening, if it is heard apart from faith in the Gospel.  But that is precisely the point and the problem at hand in the case of this man without a wedding garment.  He approached the Feast apart from faith in the Gospel.  He presumed to dress himself, instead of receiving and relying on the hospitality of the King in the righteousness of Christ. He thought he could stand before the King on his own terms. But that’s not now it works in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Worthiness to be in God’s kingdom, to be at his table, to be his holy bride has nothing to do with our worthiness – because we don’t have any on our own. Rather, it has everything to do with Christ who is your worthiness. In ourselves we are all unworthy guests. In Christ’s death and resurrection, clothed in his righteousness, you are worthy and holy and forgiven for he has declared it to be.

Jesus’ parable also reminds us that we shouldn’t attempt to feed and clothe yourself – that we don’t stand before God the Father on our own terms, but always in Christ. So do not stay away from the Feast in fear that you are not worthy. Perhaps you’ve thought that before…I am too sinful to come to the Lord’s Table; I’m not worthy. And that last part is true, none of us are worthy. But that’s precisely why our Lord invites us to his table, because we are sick and his body and blood are holy medicine. If you’re worried your sin is too great for God’s gifts, don’t because his forgiveness is always greater. Come to Christ’s table not in our own worthiness, but in Christ who invites you to come, eat, drink, and be forgiven.

Come in this confidence, that you are called to feast upon the One who has given Himself for you in love, and you are dressed in His righteousness from the waters of your Holy Baptism. That is where you received the wedding garment. It has already been given to you. It is already yours.  You are clothed in Christ.

And here your heavenly Bridegroom cares for you as His Bride, His beloved Church.  He clothes you, and He feeds you in His love for you, in His faithfulness and mercy, in His steadfast loving-kindness for you, whom He has sought and called to be His own. 

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

You are invited. You are clothed. The feast is ready. The table is prepared. Come.

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

Sermon for Pentecost 19: "The Gracious Vineyard Owner"

 + 19^th Sunday after Pentecost – October 8^th, 2023 +

Series A: Isaiah 7:1-7; Philippians 3:4-14; Matthew 21:33-46

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

These past few months we’ve heard quite a few of Jesus’ parables. And if there’s one thing they all have in common, it’s that Jesus’s parables are challenging. Sometimes the meaning is challenging. Like when the disciples as Jesus what the parable of the sower meant. Sometimes the parable challenges us. Like when Jesus told that parable about the unjust steward and his gift of forgiveness toward others. Other times – like today’s parable – the challenge isn’t because of a misunderstanding by his hearers. Just the opposite. The pharisees hear Jesus parable understand it just fine – and that was the problem. They understand Jesus’ parable just fine. And they don’t like it!

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 

 

They were right. Jesus was comparing them to the wicked tenant farmers. And you can just imagine their body language as they listen to Jesus tell this story. Scrunched faces. Crossed arms. Clinched fists. Waiting for their chance to arrest him. But not yet. First, the crowds. They had to be turned against him.

 

The chief priests and pharisees were right about this too. Jesus is a prophet. The Prophet. The One greater than Moses. The One who is the very Word of God made flesh. Israel’s true King. Israel’s long-expected Messiah. The Son and heir of the vineyard Owner has come to reign in grace and mercy. And yet the religious authorities want none of it. They opposed, confronted, and rejected Jesus. So, Jesus sent a laser-guided missile straight at their unbelieving hearts in the form of this parable. 

 

There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. The master spares no expense for the care of his vineyard. He plants. Provides. Protects. The master loves his vineyard with an everlasting love. Just as YHWH loves his people.

 

The tenant farmers, on the other hand, have no love for the master. When the season for fruit drew near, the master sent his servants to the tenant farmers to get his fruit. And the tenant farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 

 

That right there, is a pretty good summary of the Old Testament. Israel’s religious leaders have a long history of rejecting YHWH. Yet, YHWH has a longer history of love for his vineyard, for his people. YHWH sent Israel priests, judges, prophets and more prophets. And yet the religious leaders rejected YHWH’s messengers, His Word, and ultimately YHWH himself. 

 

Finally the master sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ Perhaps you’ve noticed by now that this master of the vineyard is a strange character. His patience towards the wicked tenant farmers is astonishing. He sent not one, but two groups of servants to the vineyard despite the actions of those murderous tenants. I don’t know about you, but if I was the master I don’t know if there would be such mercy. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to jail. Or worse. But not this master; he sends his own son to these wretched tenant farmers. 

 

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

 

This is where things get interesting. First, there’s the tenants. “Really? That’s your plan, kill the heir?” “Yea, if the son is out of the way, we can be our own masters.” Think about how crazy that is. It’s an insane, absurd thought. That’s not how inheritance works. But that’s exactly how the warped, sin-darkened, twisted hearts work. I am my own. Not so says Scripture. You were bought with a price. You are baptized. You belong to Christ.

 

Second, if they haven’t figured out already, the chief priests and Pharisees start picking up the beat that Jesus is laying down. He’s talking about them. 

 

Jesus finishes his parable with a set up question. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” And once again, the religious authorities bring down the gavel on their own heads. They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Just as the religious leaders of old rejected YHWH’s prophets, they are now rejecting YHWH himself in the flesh. The master’s Son is standing right in front of them and they’re plotting his murder. 

 

Jesus’s parable ends with the son of the vineyard owner dead, certain punishment for his killers, and new tenant farmers chosen to care for the vineyard. But Jesus isn’t done yet. Jesus adds a little extra hot sauce. “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

 

Jesus quotes Psalm 118. A messianic psalm. A psalm full of explicit promise and vindication and exaltation of the rejected stone. The religious authorities may reject Jesus. They may put him through a sham trial. Beat him. Spit at him. Mock him. Even crucify him. But the stone the builders rejected will rise again on the third day. Nothing will come between the master and his vineyard. Nothing. 

 

So, what does this parable mean for us? After all, we’re not the religious authorities. Jesus’ parable is still his Word to us. A word of warning and promise.

 

Jesus’s warning is this. Never come between the Master and his vineyard. This is what the religious authorities had done. Wedged themselves and their authority between God and his people. YHWH and his Christ and his promises were no longer at their center. Like Peter, we’re tempted to cry out, “I will never fall away.” I will never let anything come between me and Christ and his good news.” Really? We never let fear, politics, money, anger, greed, lust, or our selfish desires come between us and our Lord? Of course we do. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.  

 

And you know what? Here’s the remarkable thing about God the Father, the Master of the vineyard. God loves us with an everlasting love. God will let nothing come between him and his people. God will let nothing – nothing - come between himself and you. God has promised. God is faithful.

 

Even when His Son is killed. Especially then. God’s love looks like Jesus crucified for you. Jesus risen for you. God spares no expense for your care. God sends His own Son, Jesus, to be rejected so we are redeemed. What a gracious irony. Jesus is beaten and we are blessed. Jesus is thrown out of the city and crucified to make us heirs of eternal life. Jesus is killed and in him we are alive forevermore. Jesus is rejected and you are redeemed. 

 

God loves his vineyard. God loves you. You are God’s planting. God’s beloved, redeemed, baptized people. He has given his own Son to heal, sustain, and save you. Today in simple water and words, bread and wine. And tomorrow, and every day after that. 

This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Sermon for Pentecost 18: "By What Authority?"

 + 18^th Sunday after Pentecost – October 1^st, 2023 +

Series A: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Philippians 2:1-18; Matthew 21:23-32

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

Today’s Gospel brings us right into the action, like an old western movie. The religious leaders – chief priests and elders – come up to Jesus in Jerusalem like outlaws facing the marshal. “This temple ain’t big enough for the two of us.”

“By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 

Conflict between Jesus’ divine authority and the supposed authority of the Jewish religious leaders has been building and stewing over the three years of his public ministry. In Matthew 7 Jesus taught as one who had authority, unlike the scribes. In Matthew 8, the centurion recognizes that Jesus is under authority like he is, only greater. In Matthew 9, Jesus heals the paralytic man and says, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, ‘Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” Jesus commands demons to depart, disease to be healed, waves to be calmed. His word and work reveal the answer to the chief priests question that we all know. 

By whose authority? By divine authority. God’s authority. Jesus is the authorized representative of the Father, His Apostle, the One uniquely sent to be the world’s Savior. The Father has permitted it; He approves of it; He delights in it. “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased,” the Father said at Jesus’ baptism.

It’s no wonder there’s conflict. If Jesus is the authority of God in human flesh, that means the chief priests and elders (who have rejected him) are not the authority. They were not acting and speaking with God’s authority, because if they had been, they would have believed in Jesus; they would have repented and lived in forgiveness. 

The chief priests asked Jesus this question in Holy Week. Who did He think He was? Riding into Jerusalem like some kind of Messiah? Turning over the tables of the money changers and calling the temple “His house.” “Who did this Jesus think He was, walking around the temple and teaching the people as though He owned the place? 

Jesus answers their question with a question of his own. “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” 

It’s almost comical if it wasn’t so tragic. You can hear the chief priests waffling this over. “Well…um..hmm. If we say John’s baptism from heaven, he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe him. And if we say it was from man all the John the Baptist fans are going to stone us.” “We don’t know.”

Ironic isn’t it. The so-called religious authorities didn’t know. Many of them rejected John and now Jesus. Remember, this is Holy Week. Their plot to kill Jesus was just a few days away from unfolding. Yet even as tension grew, Jesus wasn’t confronting the religious authorities to show off his wit and wisdom; he wasn’t there to embarrass them. Jesus desired for them, as he desires for all, to bring them to repentance and forgiveness. To give them life and salvation under the authority of God the Father through his dying and rising.  

To illustrate all this, Jesus tells them a short parable about two sons, one who says he will work in the Father’s vineyard but doesn’t, and another who says he won’t work in the vineyard but does. Jesus quickly interprets the parable for them too. 

“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.

The parable is a dagger to their pride, a reminder that they do not have authority. It’s also a call to repentance, for them to see Jesus as the authority of God, as the one who saves sinners – the tax collectors and prostitutes saw it. Why didn’t they? 

The parable is missing something though. There’s more to the story. There is a third son. The Son of God who was sent by God the Father. And this Son not only said he would do the Father’s will, but did it perfectly. And he did this for you.

Texts like this are hard for us to see how they apply to us. We’re not the chief priests and elders Jesus aimed this teaching at. And yet, it does reveal several things. That apart from Christ, we lived under the authority of sin, death, and the devil. We lived in the foolish thoughts of our sinful flesh thinking we are our own authority. This is why our Lord gives us repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is why we come here to our Lord’s house, because we know that he has the authority to forgive, and he does it freely and graciously for you. 

It’s also a reminder of why Jesus was sent under the Father’s authority to live perfectly for you. Suffer and die for you. Rise again for you. To save us from ourselves. To bring us under the saving authority of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is good news; just as God the Father sent God the Son to save tax collectors and sinners; to call chief priests and pharisees to repentance and forgiveness in his name, Jesus still comes to rescue and forgive and save you. By the authority of his word, your sins are forgiven. By his authority your sins are washed away. By his authority bread and wine give you the righteousness that comes in Jesus’ body and blood. 

It’s no accident that this question of authority came in holy week, at the temple, the place of sacrifice. In a few short days, Jesus would answer the authority question once and for all by His death and resurrection. That’s the sign He offers to the world – His death and resurrection. And by this unique event in our history, He shows that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. The authority to save the world from death and decay. The authority to forgive the sins of humanity. The authority to bestow life. The authority to be your Savior. 

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

Sermon for Pentecost 17: "God Isn't Fair"

 + 17^th Sunday after Pentecost – September 24^th, 2023 +

Series A: Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30; Matthew 20:1-16

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

Kids say it on the playground when someone cuts them off in line for the slide. Adults say it as a car zips by you on the shoulder instead of zipper merging onto the freeway. Three little words. That’s not fair. 

That’s how we think isn’t it. In terms of fairness. You wait your turn in line. You get what you earn. Equal pay for equal work. I want what I deserve. And so on. Those are the ways of man. and that’s not all bad. It’s how the kingdoms of this world are supposed to work.

But as Isaiah the prophet reminds today, the kingdom of heaven is far different. my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

Right before Jesus tells this parable (at the end of Mt. 19), and right after it in vs. 16, he says those famous words: “The last will be first, and the first last.”

That hardly sounds fair. That’s because it’s not. Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard isn’t about the ways of the world, but the kingdom of heaven. And the kingdom of heaven doesn’t operate by our sense of fairness, by what is earned, or deserved, but rather on God’s justice, righteousness, and grace. 

Let’s see how it all unfolds in Jesus’ parable. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. (Think something like 6 AM) Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,  and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.

Whatever is right, our English translations say. The word behind that word is the word for righteous, and justified, and justification. Remember that word for later. “whatever is right/just, I will pay you.”

Again, the landowner goes out and does the same thing at noon and 3 PM (the 6^th and the 9^th hour), and he did the same. Later on, say around 5 PM, the sun was setting, there was still work to do. And he finds some guys bumming around, just standing there because no one had hired them.  

He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard too.’ 6 PM finally arrives. Quitting time. Beer-thirty. But before that, time to get paid. The workers head to the foreman to receive their money. And here’s where the parable gets interesting. 

The vineyard owner lines them up in reverse order, from last to first, from the eleventh hour late-comers to the first hour workers who agreed to work for a denarius a day. When they eleventh hour workers opened they pay envelope…surprise! A shiny denarius! Wow! One hour’s work and a full day’s wage. 

Imagine what happens as the other workers start to hear the news. “He’s paying a denarius an hour!” The twelve hour workers at the end of the line are busy rubbing their hands together. Hmm…a denarius an hour. This is great! But as the workers are paid, reality kicks in. Everyone gets one denarius.

The workers are bumfuzzled at the Landowner’s behavior. But they’re also livid. “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. Imagine a youth soccer league where the last place team gets the same big trophy as the undefeated first place team, in that order. That’s crazy, ridiculous. It’s not fair!

“Friend, I’m doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius a day? Take what belongs to you and go. It’s my money and I do with it what I please. If I choose to give these last ones a full day’s wage, what’s that to you? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

This parable is a story of Judgment and grace. Judgment for those who resent and reject God’s grace. And God’s grace given to all who least deserve it. Judgment for those who, like the pharisees, and even the disciples from time to time, get it in their head that the kingdom of heaven is somehow something they deserved, or earned, or had coming to them. But in the kingdom of heaven God doesn’t operate by our sense of fairness, but rather his justice and righteousness. If the kingdom of heaven 

Fairness means you get what you deserve. Grace is the exact opposite Good News of outrageous forgiveness for undeserving sinners – you get what you don’t deserve. And that’s the Kingdom of heaven. If fairness is what gets us into the kingdom of heaven, then it’s all on us. But if God’s grace is what gets us in, then that’s Good News. Salvation is God’s gift for you. The last are first. The guilty go free. Sinners are justified. 

Like the workers, we expect God to be fair. But here’s the rub. If we want God to be fair, to deal with us according to our works, our achievements, our accomplishments and all the things we do, then we will be condemned. That’s what’s fair. Those are the terms. The wages of sin is death. That’s what we deserve. That’s what we confess every Sunday. “I justly deserved you’re your temporal and eternal punishment.” 

Ever notice how our confession has that word in the past tense? Deserved. Death. condemnation. That’s what we deserve. That would be fair. 

Isn’t it comforting to know then, that God’s ways are not our ways. That in Jesus’ death and resurrection we get what we do not deserve.

Thank God, he’s not fair. Because if there’s room in the kingdom of heaven for sinners, tax collectors; for Peter the denier and adulterous David, for doubting Moses and faithless Israel, the thief on a cross and 11^th hour workers – then there’s room in the kingdom of heaven for me and you.

Like the 11^th hour workers in the parable, we live off of the work of another. Jesus Landowner was crucified at the 3^rd hour, who from the 6^th hour was hanging on the cross under the heavy burden of our labors, as darkness covered the land, and at the 9^th hour he cried out “It is finished” as he died to save you. By the 11^th hour Jesus was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb for you, his work on the cross complete for you. Not to give you what is fair, but to give you what is just and right, his life for yours. Our wages of sin in exchange for his free gift of eternal life. 

With God we receive equal salvation for unequal work. A denarius just for being there, regardless of what you did. Everyone receives the same death and resurrection, the same Baptism, the same Body and Blood, the same forgiveness. All by grace through faith for Jesus’ sake.

So the last will be first, and the first last. With these words “The first shall be last” – Jesus takes away our pride, and then takes away our despair by promising “the last shall be first”.

We’re the 11^th hour workers, the last ones, the losers and failures, the broken sinners who make it into the kingdom by the skin of our teeth.

And this laborer, our savior Jesus, worked his hands to the bone and the nail for you. He worked himself to death for you. He rested from all the labors that he had done for you. 

We who are the last ones are made first because He who was first became last for us. In his mercy, Jesus does not give us what we deserved – the wages of sin is death. And in his grace, Jesus gives us what we don’t deserve, the denarius of his forgiveness, life, and salvation. The Scriptures repeat this promise:

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Is it fair? No. But all that Jesus gives you is good and righteous and just. In the kingdom of heaven you are not saved by fairness, but by the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. 

In Memoriam: Joy Longe - "The Lord is My Strength"

 + In Memoriam – Joy Longe +

Psalm 28; Exodus 15:1-13; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 20:1-10

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

Athletes look to their training and physical health for strength. Anyone who drives a truck, tows a trailer, or enjoys a good sportscar looks under the hood for strength. So often in this world we’re told to look for strength within.

Where do Christians look for strength? The answer may surprise you. Not within. But outside of you. Not in the works of your hands, but in the hands of Jesus Christ who was lifted up on the cross and rose again from the dead three days later. Not in our words, but the words and promises of God in Jesus. Strength for the Christian is found, not in our life, but in the life of Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is what we heard earlier as we read Psalm 28:

The Lord is the strength of his people;
    he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

This was Joy’s confession and faith as well. In one of our conversations these past few years – I can’t recall if it was when she was ill or just having a tough day – I asked her how she was doing. Her answer: “God will give me strength. The Lord is my strength.” Joy’s words echo the words of Psalm 28

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
    and with my song I give thanks to him.

Joy knew that her strength – and the strength of all who are baptized and believe in Christ – isn’t found within ourselves, but in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. 

For the Christian, strength comes from outside of you – from Christ crucified and risen for you. Like the old Sunday school song goes…I am weak but he is strong. God gives us strength to believe in Jesus. God gives us strength to confess his saving name. God gives us strength to love and serve others. If there is any strength within us, it is always God’s gift to us in Jesus.

On days when she was weak or tired Joy took comfort in God’s gifts which strengthened her. His promise to her in Holy Baptism, that by water and word – something that outwardly looks so weak and ordinary – God was pouring out his Holy Spirit upon her, washing away her sins, clothing her in Christ’s righteousness, and giving her eternal life in his name. No matter how weak or tired we may be or feel on any given day, the promises and grace of God in Christ are always stronger.

On days when Joy experienced loss in life – loss of family and friends, loss of health – she found strength in the victory that our Lord Jesus purchased and won for her on the cross and out of tomb. When we experience loss; when we grieve; when it appears as though the last enemy of death has triumphed yet again, we can sing like Israel did after they crossed the Red Sea, we rejoice with Joy that, The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. 

This was the source of Joy’s strength in life – even in the daily things from spending time with family, friends, and grandchildren to the countless ways she served our Lord and others here at Beautiful Savior – in all these things Joy’s strength came not from within, but from outside of her…from Christ our Lord. Joy believed and confessed the truth of God’s word that reminds us that whenever we look within for strength, comfort, or hope, all we find is sin and death. The answer, like our strength, lies outside of us…in Christ. 

As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians… the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

There on the cross, Jesus piled up all our weakness, all our failure, all our sin, disease and death itself, and he endured it all for Joy and for you. Jesus was crucified in weakness so that your strength – now and forever – would be found in Him. 

That’s another thing that separates a Christian understanding of strength from the sinful world’s point of view. Physical strength fades. It’s temporary and fleeting. Not so with the strength of God’s promises and salvation in Jesus. 

God’s promises to Joy and to you are eternal. When Jesus rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday, He rose in victory over sin, death, and the grave. When our Lord Jesus opened his tomb and walked out alive again he did that so that he would open the kingdom of heaven to Joy, to you, to all believers in Christ. Our strength, like Joy’s, is found in our Lord Jesus – in his cross and his resurrection. 

This good news and promise strengthens us not only in this life, but in the life of the world to come. Through Jesus’ resurrection we are promised our own resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Though this body is often afflicted with weakness and disease, Christ will raise our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body risen from the grave. Though our body is laid in the ground, through the strength and victory of Christ’s death and resurrection, he will raise us and Joy and all the faithful departed from our graves in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting. In the flesh and blood of Jesus crucified and risen, we have the sure and certain promise that he will raise us from the dead, flesh and blood, to live with him forever.

And there, in the new creation, we will join Joy and all the saints in singing…

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
    and with my song I give thanks to him.

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people;
    he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
The Lord is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation;

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard and keep you in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.

Sermon for Pentecost 16: "Sin and Forgiveness"

 +16^th Sunday after Pentecost – September 17^th, 2023 +

Series A: Genesis 50:15-21; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

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

Sometimes when Jesus tells a parable it can take a while to understand what it’s about. Not so with today’s Gospel reading. Jesus’ story is clear. It’s about sin and forgiveness.

Peter heard the same teaching on forgiveness from Jesus’ teaching that we heard last week. If your brother sins against you, go to him that there would be reconciliation.

“Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 

Peter remembered what the rabbis had taught him: three times you were obligated to forgive. And no more. Seven, seemed generous. It’s a biblical number. Surely that’s enough. 

Jesus replied, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. (or 70x7 depending on your translation). It’s not about the number. The point is this, if you’re counting and keeping book, you’re not forgiving. “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” Forgiveness, Jesus tells Peter, is not like a battery or a gas tank. It does not drain or run out. Forgiveness has no end. No cutoff line. No threshold. No limit. Jesus’ forgiveness is inexhaustible. 

To drive his point home, Jesus tells a parable about sin and forgiveness. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants. There was a servant who owed an outrageous amount of money to the king. Ten thousand talents. 200,000 years’ worth of day’s wages. Today it would be billions of dollars of debt. The man owed a debt he could never possibly repay. 

The servant pleas for mercy, and the king is merciful. He wipes way the entire debt. Clears the books. The master wanted bring him into a new kind of kingdom. Not a kingdom where you pay your debts but a kingdom where your debts are paid. The master forgives the servant his debt and, the servant was to live in the kingdom ruled by mercy, where debts are paid by the deepfelt compassion of the master. 

He finds a fellow servant who owed him a couple hundred bucks, wraps his fingers around the man’s neck, and demands payment in full. When word gets back to the king, he’s not happy. And he summons the forgiven servant and condemns him to prison until his debt is paid in full. “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

If Jesus’ parable here is about sin and forgiveness what does that mean for us his disciples? Several things.

We’re meant to see ourselves in this servant’s sandals. Our sin is an unpayable debt. We’ve no chance of ever repaying it ever. You can never earn your freedom. All we can do, like the servant in the first part of the parable, is fall on our knees and beg the mercy of the King. And the King is merciful. He covers your debt by covering you in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus died for you. Debt paid in full. Sin cancelled by the cross and blood of Jesus. Every day, hour, and second we live in the abundant mercy and endless forgiveness in Jesus.

Think about it this way. If we were to take Peter’s question and ask it directly to Jesus, how would he answer? “Lord, how often will I sin against you and you forgive me, seven times? No. Not merely 7x, or 77x, or 490x. 

And out of mercy, the Master releases you and forgives your debt. Endless. Limitless. Abundant forgiveness.

Another thing Jesus teaches us in this parable is that we, his servants, are to be like him, the Master. To live in his unending forgiveness, and to forgive others as Christ forgives us. The way Jesus tells this parable is intentionally absurd. The unpayable debt vs. the smaller debt. Again, we’re meant to see ourselves in the servant of the parable. Although the sins against us by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are painful, hurtful, and real, what are they when compared to our own sinful debt before God? A fraction. A few denarius 

I don’t know about you, but that question always brings me back to the first part of the parable…to the Master’s mercy, to Jesus’ forgiveness. We know we should forgive. That it’s right. That Jesus commands us to forgive. The hard part usually is, how can I possibly do that? What do I do when forgiveness is hard, feels impossible even? The answer to that is in Jesus’ parable. Don’t look to the servant (don’t look at yourself), but the merciful, forgiving master. Jesus’ parable is meant to draw us back to him and his forgiveness, time and time again. To confess that we are poor, miserable sinners. To receive his forgiveness again and again and again. 

Whenever we’re dealing with sin and forgiveness…go back to the merciful, forgiving master, Jesus. When you’re struggling to forgive someone, go back to Jesus’ abundant, limitless forgiveness. When you don’t know how to forgive don’t look at the person’s sin, but look at your sin and see it forgiven and your debt paid in the blood of Jesus. 

This is what Jesus is getting at in verse 35

“…if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” It’s about the heart, which is not the seat of emotions, it’s not about your feelings but about your will. Forgiveness is an intentional act. From the heart. The heart is the place where Sin has had its way. From the Sin-infected heart proceed all sorts of sins – murder, theft, adultery, gossip, slander, you name it. If we are going to forgive from the heart, then our hearts must be changed, and we can’t do that. God does.

Forgiveness begins not in our hearts but in the merciful heart of God. In the heart that seeks and saves the sinner. In the heart that beats with compassion for the least and the lost, the heart that reaches out to the ungodly and the enemy. The heart of God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish in Sin, desiring everyone to turn and live. It’s the heart of Jesus who prays, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing,” as Roman soldiers drive nails through His hands and feet to crucify Him. “You mean this for evil, but God meant it for good.” 

The source of forgiveness is the cross of Jesus, pouring out forgiveness on the entire world. As St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 

Our forgiveness is nothing else than His forgiveness, the overflow flowing over to the neighbor. The King has wiped away your debt. More than you could ever repay. The Law with all of demands and threats and punishments has been fulfilled, paid in full by Jesus your brother. You are forgiven. 

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